How to Take Better Photos with Your Mobile Phone

From your website to your social media posts, being able to showcase your products or advertising your services using good photography is essential. But what can you do if you can’t afford a professional photographer or an expensive DSLR camera? Use your smartphone! Keep reading to discover my top tips on how you can take better photos with your smartphone.

Define your goals and know your audience

This might not sound like it has much to do with taking photos but knowing what you want to achieve at the start will save you time and give you a better result. It’s also important to understand your audience so that you take photos that will appeal to them.

Get to know your phone

Smartphone cameras have many features. Spending time going through your phone and having a look at what’s available is invaluable. What type of modes do you have, portrait, food, macro etc. How do these work and what works best for you? Spend time practicing beforehand so that you don’t waste time on the day.  

Composition

When taking photos with a smartphone our first instinct is probably to take portrait style. However, when you look at websites many photos are landscape. Try taking the same photo in landscape as well in portrait.

Most smart phones have a grid option. When this is switched on it allows you to make sure you subject is straight. Using the grid function also works well if taking pictures using the rule of thirds method which you can read about here.

Use different perspectives especially with products. Experiment by taking photos from different angles such as looking down onto the subject, from the side or upwards.

Don’t forget to take lots of pictures and experiment with composition. The great thing about a smartphone is that it costs you nothing. You simply delete what doesn’t work.

Lighting

Lighting falls into two categories; natural and artificial. Bright, natural light creates a soft natural feel. Photographing near a window works well and achieves the best results when using a smartphone.  You can also photograph outside but try not to do this on a very sunny day as this can cause shadows.

The key tip here is not to use your smartphones flash as this really does not give good results.

Background

This is important because it can total distract from the main subject if you get it wrong. Most smartphones now have a portrait mode which enables you to blur backgrounds giving you a depth of field feel to the photo which you would get with a DSLR. Experiment with different types of background using this blur feature. And of course, don’t forget to tidy up whatever might be lurking in the background if it might be visible.

Don’t Zoom

When you use the zoom on a smartphone you immediately loose quality, and the picture becomes grainy. If you can’t move closer, then readjust the composition of the shot.

Most smartphones have a focus feature. This is where you tap the screen where you want the focus of the picture to be, and the camera will adjust accordingly. This is important to do if you’re following the rule of thirds as the focus point won’t be the centre of the screen.  

Use a tripod

This does make a big different to photos in terms of being in focus and sharp. You can get a variety of tripods all varying in price and sizes. And you can even go one stage further to avoid camera shake by changing the shooting method to waving your palm or by saying “smile” or “cheese” depending on your phone’s settings.

Use a photo editing app

Your smartphone will offer limited editing options within the photo, so my final tip is to edit your pictures using a specific app. There are some great free editing apps available on both Android and iPhone and for Desktops. Examples include Photoshop Express, Gimp and Canva. These app have a lot of features so it’s also important to allow time to explore how the apps work and allow time for editing.

Don’t let your lack of equipment stop you from showing casing your products and services on your website and social media.  Most smartphones purchased in the last couple of years provide you with the ability to be able to take great photos. This is good news for small businesses because with some research, practice and planning you will get some great results.

If you would like to know more information about how I can help your business, then why not get in contact for an initial chat. We can talk about what you've tried so far with PPC, if any, and what you want to achieve. I'll take you through the next steps and pricing. Click here for more information.