Fun With Your Camera Phone: How To Shoot Great Portraits

Isn’t it great that you have a great camera phone that helps you click every moment of life, even when you are on the move? Whether you are an average Joe on the street or a professional photographer who wants to capture the spur of the moment, a camera phone may come in really handy. These days, it is easy to get a resolution of 8 MP in the phones and the maximum limit can literally go to 21 MP and even beyond. There are special camera accessories that turn your camera phone into a great digital camera that captures high definition pictures, even in low lights.

As the craze for clicking great pictures with the camera phone is becoming more rampant all over the world, you should learn about the ways in which you can click some great pictures. Here are some simple tricks and hacks that shall help you in getting the best portraits with the help of your camera phone. Take a look!

Basic photography rules count

Yes, you are clicking with a really advanced phone camera but the basic rules of photography count here as well. Therefore, checking the lighting, the poses, as well as the frame composition, is important. Most of the camera phones will be giving you the option to adjust the ISO, exposure, and sometimes the exposure as well. You will also be getting different modes and filters which will be making your pictures look even better. So don’t think that a camera phone is only about clicking pictures when you don’t have a professional camera handy. You can compose great pictures with your camera phone as well. Just make sure that you explore the possibilities available with you fully and the results shall be great.

Zoom only when absolutely necessary

A lot of people like to zoom onto objects and then click pictures. Even some seasoned photographers often make the mistake of using digital zoom in their pictures. It completely distorts the pictures and you would certainly not be happy with the end results. Hence, it is advisable for you to avoid digital zoom with these camera phones, no matter how tempting the option looks. There are certain attachments available with the phones that could be used to zoom in manually on certain objects. It gives you better zoom-in abilities and the chances of the picture appearing blurry and distorted are also reduced to the minimum.

Avoid direct sunlight

When you are shooting with a camera phone, you should always make sure that there is no direct sunlight falling on the face of the subject. This creates unnecessary hard shadows and the subject also looks uncomfortable to some extent. When the sunlight falls from an angle, the subject looks more comfortable. This is clearly reflected in a great picture. You should be doing the same with floodlights when it comes to night photography or with architectural photography. Just don’t let any hard and intense lights fall on the subject directly. You would be glad to have taken care of this little detail when it comes to camera phone portraiture.

Make sure that the lens is clean

This may sound like a no-brainer but you will be surprised at the number of clicks that are destroyed because of an unclean lens. Therefore, keep a microfiber cloth handy and make sure that the lens has been wiped off properly before it is being used for the clicking pictures.

Don’t forget to select the highest resolution

You must always make sure that the phone is using the highest resolution and the highest image quality. Let’s say that you have a standard 8 MP camera phone. The camera phone would also be able to click pictures with 5 MP resolution, 3 MP, and even below that. Make sure that you have set the resolution at the highest. It would ensure the best pictures each time.

A little more tweak

When you are clicking with your camera phone, you first need to make sure that you have checked out each mode that the phone offers. Most of the camera phones would come with a normal mode, an HDR mode and some even allow you to click pictures in their pre-built night mode and low light modes. Depending on the make and model, the number of these scenes and the variation they offer might differ. You should certainly be checking out the details that every mode provides in advance. Click a few random pics to check what suits you and what does not. It would be helpful in the picture composition later.

Frame the shot

Of course, some of the pics would be quite random and candid and would have to be clicked in the spur of the moment. However, if you have some time, then use it to your advantage and frame the picture well. You should ideally be leaving some headspace, introducing a concept, and literally producing an image in your mind before it could be reproduced by your camera digitally. Get everything in order and finally bring in the subject. Take a test picture and examine it deeply in order to double-check your concept. Finally, click and you have a great picture ready in your smartphone.

Is it any difficult to shoot pictures with the help of these camera phones? Of course not. In fact, it makes clicking easier than ever. However, always remember that you will have to follow all the basics of photography here as well. While you are busy getting the best of clicks with your phone, don’t forget the fact that you need to send your phone to the airplane mode. Otherwise, some notifications or a phone call might bother you at the wrong moment. It would be better if you buy a camera phone specially for clicking pictures only so that these hurdles could be removed and you use the phone for capturing the best shots only. Our personal favorites are those from HTC and Nokia Lumia range. Check out your camera phone and let us know your favorites as well.