*Cell Phone Pic Discussion*

[1engineer]

OK you serious guys have a nice thread for good pictures. How about coming over here and telling me, a complete novice who has no aspirations to become a photographer, how to take decent pictures with a cell phone? Things like lighting, framing the subject, megapixels, etc. I always have a cell phone with a camera and I don't even own a regular camera. I think a decent picture could be taken with a cell phone if I only knew how. Basic tips please because you are the guys who look at them!

 

[Stick Figure]

Some general things for shooting with the phone are the same things I would say for someone with any camera.

Just say no to a digital zoom, either get closer to the subject or live with it being tiny, but digital zoom always seems to end up REALLY grainy.

steady steady steady .. stabilize it on whatever you can to help keep it stable and not blurry.

try to have good light, low light will cause long exposure time and lead to better chance of blur, or will push the ISO way up and get a bit grainy again.

You might also post up what phone you have so people can give you some tips for your specific model.

Here's a favorite of mine from our recent trip

shot with my HTC EVO in its "HDR" mode

 

[Titanpat57]

I think to start you need to tell us what cam/phone you're using...that would be a good way to figure out exactly what you may, or may not be able to do.

I think the common problem with many cell phone cams are you don't hold them steady enough while shooting....try to be more conscious about being still..and move on from there. Lighting etc. will just be getting a feel for the cameras actual capabilities.

Good luck!

 

[1engineer]

A Blackberry of course lol! I have the Bold model.

 

[Stick Figure]

I think we found a good amount of your problem:

Camera & Video Recording

2.0 MP camera (BlackBerry Bold 9000)
3.2 MP camera (BlackBerry Bold 9650, BlackBerry Bold 9700)
5 MP camera (BlackBerry Bold 9780)
Flash
2X digital zoom
Video recording

 

[the great him]

[MENTION=28064]Stick Figure[/MENTION], what happened to that telephone pole man... lol

 

[Stick Figure]

SHHHH you never saw that! lol I didn't actually notice it until I posted it here. I guess thats a byproduct of the HDR setting at speed. Strange that it didn't effect anything but that though. I have a few similar shots, from hwy 50 maybe I'll post them up and we can play "whats wrong with this pic" and see who can spot the most errors.

 

[Thai]

For beginner, buy latest iPhone that you can afford. Simple. Consistently good pics. No fudging needed.

 

[Titanpat57]

A Blackberry of course lol! I have the Bold model.

Can't help with that model buddy..an old iPhone guy and now a Samsung addict.

But if an upgrade becomes available...check to see some of the capabilities of the next unit....

*mumbles to self..who the hell still uses BB..*

Hey!..did I just say that out loud?...my bad!..hoto:

 

[kenski]

Clean your lens

A big problem I see frequently with my cell phone pictures is dirt from pocket lint. This can create blurry or splotchy pictures.

My dad got a new phone and for the life of him could not take a non-blurry picture. Turns out he didn't remove the clear protective sheet that came with the phone. So you might wanna check that too.

 

[Hepar]

I think the best quick tips I can think of is to first decide what it is you're shooting. Sports, portrait, landscape, whatever. Then I would look at what the light source you have to work with is and how you maybe could better it by either simply changing your shooting position or by adding or subtracting light. Then just think about framing and what is going to be in the shot. Try to not have a lot of clutter in it if you can avoid it.

And remember the rule of thirds and where it's good and not good to use it!

Oh and have fun!

 

[kenski]

*mumbles to self..who the hell still uses BB..*

Seriously. Actually, that's a great tip. Ditch the bb and get a real phone. I have a Bold 9970, and if my work didn't pay for voice and data, this piece of crap it would already be at the bottom of a river.

 

[gaterose]

[MENTION=60147]the kid[/MENTION]
The power pole is just HUGE, it's actually behind the mountains!!

 

[Thai]

Well, BB10 is just around the corner...end of this month, we should know more!

 

[TCMach]

I think the best quick tips I can think of is to first decide what it is you're shooting. Sports, portrait, landscape, whatever. Then I would look at what the light source you have to work with is and how you maybe could better it by either simply changing your shooting position or by adding or subtracting light. Then just think about framing and what is going to be in the shot. Try to not have a lot of clutter in it if you can avoid it.

And remember the rule of thirds and where it's good and not good to use it!

Oh and have fun!

x2 on this. I know with my iPhone just tilting the thing can adjust my focus point and change the light registered enough that the picture looks 20 times better. Here is one I took with my 4S

 

[ATL4R]

For beginner, buy latest iPhone that you can afford. Simple. Consistently good pics. No fudging needed.

1Engineer, I hate to say it but I totally agree with this post. I try my hardest to not be an apple fanboy - I have many products with Android OS as well as Apple iOS products, but the iphone's camera just seems to work! (and is FAST!)

I do a little photography on the side and have shot a few weddings. Of course I do not use my iPhone for this type work, but I do use it for everything else I need to take pictures of...

Bought the Nexus 4 a month ago and while the camera is decent, it can't compete with my iPhone 4s in quality of photos and ease of capturing GREAT photos.

 

[1engineer]

Can't help with that model buddy..an old iPhone guy and now a Samsung addict.

But if an upgrade becomes available...check to see some of the capabilities of the next unit....

*mumbles to self..who the hell still uses BB..*

Hey!..did I just say that out loud?...my bad!..hoto:

Anyone who deals with encryption and Lotus and global communication lol.
I could get a personal phone but then I would never carry it. My point is I'm just looking for basic photo tips not so much get a better camera.

 

[JB.]

I'm just looking for basic photo tips not so much get a better camera.

Don't know what kind of settings cell phones have, so if this is off topic, I'll gladly delete. I'm not a camera guy at all, but have taken massive amounts of pics with point and shoot. (Brute force learning method).

Step one is to avoid bad. What problem seems to come up the most? Blurry, too dark or light?

As far as blur caused by camera movement, if it can take consecutive pics with a single push of the shutter button, letting it do so will give you a handful to choose the best from. If not, just take a few of the same shot, maybe from slightly different locations with slightly different framings. Using the timer can let you focus on stabilizing the camera without introducing the shake of a button push. Embrace being lucky rather than good.

 

[rickashay]

My iphone 4 takes terrible and grainy pictures. Although the 4S and 5 are quite impressive.

Rule of 3rds is a fundamental theory for framing and picture balance that can help any photographer. Another point that I always consider is to try and square up the horizon or making the background horizontal. I always hate it when I snap a pic and the horizon or background is at like a 30 degree angle. You can fix this in post process but if your taking cell phone pics and uploading directly to the internet it might be easier to just avoid it in the first place.

 

[1engineer]

My iphone 4 takes terrible and grainy pictures. Although the 4S and 5 are quite impressive.

Rule of 3rds is a fundamental theory for framing and picture balance that can help any photographer. Another point that I always consider is to try and square up the horizon or making the background horizontal. I always hate it when I snap a pic and the horizon or background is at like a 30 degree angle. You can fix this in post process but if your taking cell phone pics and uploading directly to the internet it might be easier to just avoid it in the first place.

Thanks for this info! This is what I'm looking for. It's easy to tell someone to get a new piece of equipment, a little harder to improve results with existing equipment. I used to coach kids at a fairly high level in a few sports. It would have been much easier to just tell the kids to "grow" or "run faster" instead of teaching them to use what they have to improve performance. I understand that ultimately my quality of pictures with a poor cell phone will be limited by the actual camera in the phone itself. I am at the point right now though that I could use a top of the line camera made by angels and still take a terrible picture. These ideas are good. I know I could search the web for tips but you guys have a certain "perspective" (get it haha) on vehicle photography.