You can take much better pictures on your smartphone than you might think. It’s not only the technical specifications that determine how good your photos will be. Compared to a full-size DSLR or DSLM, for example, a smartphone is much lighter and quicker to use, giving you the chance to take great photos on the fly.
With a little basic knowledge of lighting, perspective and composition, you can take impressive landscape, portrait or night-time shots.
This guide has practical tips and tricks that you can put into practice straight away, without any prior knowledge.
1. Clean your camera lenses
Our first tip may sound obvious, but it’s effective: make sure your smartphone’s camera lenses are clean. With daily use or when carried in your pocket or bag, fingerprints, lint and dust can quickly build up on the camera module. This can lead to blurry photos.
Clean the lenses with a soft microfibre cloth before taking photos. If you don’t have one to hand, you can also use a tissue. Stubborn smudges are best tackled with a little glass cleaner, which you can spray onto a kitchen towel and use to clean the camera module. If you’re taking photos in the rain, regularly check that the camera lens is dry. Even small splashes of water can lead to blurred photos.
2. Use natural light
Although the LED flash built into your smartphone is handy, it rarely helps you take good photos – unless you’re going for a direct-flash or party-snapshot look. Natural light is far better.
Landscape shots can convey a completely different mood depending on the light. Direct sunlight creates deep shadows and a dramatic effect – especially if you convert the images to black and white.
The so-called ‘golden hour’ (one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset) provides a particularly warm and flattering light. During the ‘Blue Hour’ (before sunrise and after sunset), city scenes with golden street lamps in particular look very atmospheric thanks to the cooler lighting. Enable HDR mode in your camera app to capture as much detail as possible.
Tips for portraits: If you’re taking photos in the midday sun, find a spot in the shade, as direct sunlight creates very harsh shadows on the face. The light quality is best at the point where the sun meets the shade – for example, at the entrance to an underpass or a passageway. You can also achieve ‘beauty light’ (ie soft, indirect light) by having your subject face a bright wall. This allows indirect light to fill in the shadows. Even on cloudy days, check where the sun is in the sky and position your subject’s face accordingly.
3. Use different perspectives
A little bit of physical effort can also help you take better smartphone photos. Don’t only take photos while standing – try crouching down or finding a higher vantage point. Changing your perspective adds more interest to your pictures.
For example, always photograph your dog or children while crouching down. This puts you at eye level with your subject, resulting in personal and lively pictures. A group photo, on the other hand, looks more interesting if you take it from above – for example, from a window.
The so-called ‘frog’s-eye view’ also gives an unusual angle. To achieve this, hold the camera very close to the ground and shoot upwards. This makes people look taller, buildings more imposing and trees downright huge.
4. Compose your shots
The classic rules of composition from the world of art can also be applied to smartphone photography. Enable the ‘Grid’ or ‘Gridline’ function in your smartphone’s camera app. This divides the image into three equal horizontal and vertical sections and helps you follow the so-called ‘rule of thirds’. Always position your subject at one of the intersections of the lines. This makes your landscape shots and portraits appear more balanced and harmonious. Useful tip: you can also use the lines to ensure the horizon is lined up straight before taking the photo.
So-called ‘leading lines’ also add more visual interest to the image. For example, position a path, a river or a railway track in your photo so that it leads from the foreground towards the centre of the frame. This allows you to guide the viewer’s gaze towards your main subject. Frames are also a great compositional tool for creating varied images. For example, use archways or windows to ‘frame’ your subject.
5. Take sharp night-time photos
Almost every modern smartphone now offers a night mode. When activated, the smartphone takes several shots in quick succession and combines them into a single image. This reduces image noise and gives you a brighter photo with more detail.
When taking night-time photos, however, it’s essential to keep your smartphone steady to achieve the best results. To do this, place your phone on or lean it against a wall, for example. Also, make sure to activate HDR mode. At night, artificial light sources such as street lamps or neon signs create a particularly atmospheric effect. After a rainy day, you can also achieve great results by capturing reflections in puddles.
If you find that night mode produces results that look too artificial, try using manual mode with a long exposure. To do this, keep the ISO setting as low as possible and increase the exposure time. Again, it’s essential to keep your smartphone steady while taking the photo.
6. Use your smartphone camera’s AI features
Denise Bergert
Almost every modern smartphone now offers so-called generative editing features that use artificial intelligence. On Samsung’s Galaxy S models, for example, you can use the AI Eraser to remove objects from your photo. The AI automatically reconstructs the background and fills in the resulting gaps appropriately. It’s now also possible to move or enlarge individual areas of an image directly within the Gallery app.
With Photo Assist, you can also edit images by entering text, swap out sections or insert additional elements. If you want to experiment creatively, you can also use AI to transform your photos into comic, anime or illustration styles.
Group photos can also benefit from AI support. Features such as ‘Best Face’ combine multiple shots to ensure that, as far as possible, everyone appears in the final image with their eyes open and a friendly expression.
7. Optimise images in post-processing
Skylum
Photo editing has never been as easy as it is today. Instead of sitting down at your PC and painstakingly familiarising yourself with the features of Photoshop and similar programmes, you can get the most out of your photos from the comfort of your sofa, using a smartphone app.
Basic functions such as rotating and cropping are usually already available in your phone’s photo editor. If you’re looking for more advanced editing options, check out Lightroom Mobile. It’s a free app that allows you, among other things, to adjust the exposure and offers a range of colour presets.
Specialised image editing programmes such as Luminar Neo offer even more extensive options. The software can help you to optimise lighting conditions, retouch portraits or make targeted adjustments to individual areas of an image. Once downloaded, you can try the software out for free for seven days. The lifetime licences are currently on sale.
8. And… avoid these mistakes
Digital zoom may well be tempting because it allows you to zoom in very close to your subject. However, this always comes at the expense of quality. Zoomed-in images usually look pixelated and blurry. This problem gets worse the closer you zoom in. It’s better to move closer to your subject to get a sharp and well-exposed photo.
Also, make sure you don’t accidentally get your finger in the shot when holding your smartphone. This can happen quickly, especially when using the wide-angle lens. While this lens is useful for landscape shots, avoid it altogether for portraits. The ‘peephole effect’ can quickly make your subject’s nose look huge and their ears tiny.
Keeping your distance also applies to your smartphone’s main camera. With a focal length of typically 24-28mm, it’s also classified as a wide-angle lens. Portraits look more flattering if you keep a little more distance from your subject and crop the image during post-processing. If your smartphone also has a portrait lens, use that instead.
To take the best pictures possible, check out our recommendations for the best camera phones we’ve tested.