Taking the best shots with a phone camera. Any pro tips?

gypsy cola

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Jan 16, 2014
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So I got a collection between me and my fiancé that we want to show off but our smartphones are hit and miss when it comes to photos. Just never good enough to show the detail that we want to show. I surprised her with an avi. diversipes sling this weekend and she spent an hour of "oohing and awing"
followed by 2 hours of swearing out snapchat attempting to take a photo.

So does anyone have tips for the best smart phone camera pics?
I'm using Nexus 6 and she is on an iPhone 5s (she just preordered a moto x pure)


Thanks!
 

Tim Benzedrine

Prankster Possum
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The best advice I can offer (and I am not saying this to sound snotty) is to buy a point and shoot camera. I used to use a $79 (2011 price) Nikon Coolpix for close-ups of bugs and learned that with patience, I could get very good close-up shots. I've since upgraded to a more expensive camera, but I'll stack anything I have shot with it against some shots I took with that little Nikon.

Maybe somebody will suggest ways of getting good shots with a camera phone, I've next to zero experience with using those.

Here is an example of a picture produced by the Nikon, from another thread discussing the matter. Not high-end quality, but I don't think it is too bad.

 

gypsy cola

Arachnoknight
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Jan 16, 2014
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192
The best advice I can offer (and I am not saying this to sound snotty) is to buy a point and shoot camera. I used to use a $79 (2011 price) Nikon Coolpix for close-ups of bugs and learned that with patience, I could get very good close-up shots. I've since upgraded to a more expensive camera, but I'll stack anything I have shot with it against some shots I took with that little Nikon.

Maybe somebody will suggest ways of getting good shots with a camera phone, I've next to zero experience with using those.

Here is an example of a picture produced by the Nikon, from another thread discussing the matter. Not high-end quality, but I don't think it is too bad.

may end up going that route. 79$ for a shot like that is making me consider my options.

Thanks Tim
 

EulersK

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I used to work for a huge electronics retailer, and if you're willing to wait it out, I have some tips. Best Buy rotates out old cameras every year or so (sometimes more often), so walk in and ask if they have any on clearance. Retailers are always thrilled to get rid of them, as they would take a loss on it otherwise. Staples is even better - many stores have done away with their camera department all together, and still have cameras sitting in the back. Ask them if they have any. Don't trust an associate saying "Oh, we don't carry those anymore." Have a manager or supervisor actually check the back. Again, they'll be happy for you to take it off their hands. The same story can be told with Fry's. Any big-box retailer, actually, but especially the ones focusing on electronics. Don't bother with places like Target or Walmart.

I don't know a lot about the specifics of cameras, but since you're taking pictures of bugs, you certainly want great macro settings and an optical zoom (not a digital zoom).

The moral of this story? I got a very nice camera for about $50 when it originally retailed for over $300. It just took a few months of waiting.
 

Tim Benzedrine

Prankster Possum
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may end up going that route. 79$ for a shot like that is making me consider my options.

Thanks Tim

You are welcome, but oops! I just noticed that that picture was one that I in fact took with my Canon, not the Nikon. But I still stand behind my post, so I will just post another I posted in the thread I mentioned, one that I know was a product of the Nikon as I took it before I owned the Canon. Sorry that I misrepresented! :eek:


 

AphonopelmaTX

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The best way to get decent pictures with a phone camera is to use a lot of light. Natural daylight is best. Try taking pictures in the early morning in the shade and you should get better results with your phone camera. Also try one of those tripods for a phone. They are so hard to keep steady due to the awkwardness of holding a smartphone. For phone pictures, the two main ingrediants are lots of light and a steady camera.
 

Karmaz

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20150815_005805.jpg

My galaxy note 4 seems to do ok with pictures, depending on the lighting and such. This is a pic taken in normal household lighting with no flash. It could be better, but it gets the job done.
 

edgeofthefreak

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For phone pictures, the two main ingrediants are lots of light and a steady camera.
This ^ exactly.
1. Lighting is really important, but can be tough to control. I have some nice lamps that can be moved around, and they have 6500K CFL bulbs in them. If you don't speak "lighting", they are simply Daylight bulbs and are very bright white.

2. Steadying your camera is very easy to control. My wife was using her iPad for pictures, and it's huge. Very difficult to keep steady for free-shots, even holding it tight. Any time she can hold it steady against a wall, or place it on the floor and lean against something else, her pictures look pretty good.

3. Smartphones are touch screen enabled, and you should never use the "camera button" on the side for taking a shot. Touch the screen to take the shot, and it'll focus on wherever you touched. Often on AB, if a picture has a blurry spider with a perfectly focused background, they're likely using the button, not the touch screen.

4. Take 1000s of shots, and blow em up on a desktop computer. Then go through and toss any you don't want until you're left with a few really good ones. A lot of cameras (and desktop computers) have ways to improve your photos, without adding gimmicky effects. Any photos you see from me recently (or videos!) came from my HTC.

One more fun tid-bit: go to your phone's settings, and see if you can up the detail quality of the shots you take. My HTC defaults to 1080p for video and 6M for photos, but I can drop it lower. Some phones may start off with low quality for space saving. Always best (in a digital world) to take the biggest, highest quality shots, and scale down from there.
 

edgeofthefreak

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Here's a great example that I took with my HTC, for the "The Ten Foot Invert Challenge" thread. This is on my balcony at midday, so the lighting was already good. The subject stayed put, giving me good time to set my phone on the ground, and lean it against a flower pot. From there, I took about 10 shots before my subject began getting a bit stir crazy:

Neoconocephalus ensiger.jpg

I had tried with and without flash, and without flash won over. And since I used touch screen for focus, the Katydid is in focus and the background is just out of focus. This is only about 10" away from my phone, and I don't want it thinking I'm shooting the much darker door panel behind.
 

Philth

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Something about the words "pro tips for cell phone camera pics" doesn't sit right with me lol. I'm pretty sure the first thing most pro's would say is, don't use a cell phone camera ;)

Later, Tom
 

Belegnole

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Something about the words "pro tips for cell phone camera pics" doesn't sit right with me lol. I'm pretty sure the first thing most pro's would say is, don't use a cell phone camera ;)

Later, Tom
As someone who in the distant past made money using a camera I have to agree. After getting back into T's I have once again gotten bitten by the photo bug and am myself looking into what is offered these days in the digital format.

My advice
First: Study macro photography.
Second: No matter your price range look for a camera that is reviewed as being good with macro shots.
Third: Study macro photography.
 

PinkyDinky

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Feb 15, 2016
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I have a few things to suggest! ;;

One, though it may sound silly, is to be patient when taking pictures. I love to take pictures of my cat yet she can move around, dart away, and appear too dark in some. If I just sit still with my ipad, I can snatch some fantastic pictures in the moments I'm least expecting.

Another is when you do find the right moment, snap snap snap! Don't take one or two pictures - take as many as you can. Sometimes when I'm taking pictures of myself, I'll think 'Oh this one is nice', then when I'm done realize my eyes were closed or hair looking crazy. That way if you take a lot of pictures, you'll have lots of options to shift through.

And, you've probably heard this before, but get an app or photo editing program. On my ipad even the basic photo editing options can make a huge difference! If you have photoshop, that can be helpful too. Even if you don't have an app or a program, just search google - there are thousands, including some you don't have to download.

Hope this helps! <3 ;o ;
 

crlovel

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Nov 23, 2011
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Here are two of my recent photos:

Rosea:



Dragonfly:



The photo of the rosea was taken with a Galaxy Note 5 cell. The dragonfly was shot from about 15 feet away with a Canon DSLR with a decent telephoto lens, then cropped and enlarged with PhotoShop. My point is, you can shoot photos with just about any camera these days - just practice, and take as many photos as you can. Experiment with lighting. You don't need a fantastic setup to take good shots - you just need a good eye for what makes a good shot, and practice.
 

jrh3

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here is a shot with my note 5, i do wanna get a macro lense off ebay for it though 20160308_174606.jpg
 
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