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How to become an ace smartphone photographer
Because there’s only so much ghastly stuff our eyes can take
The smartphone is now the defacto standard for 99 per cent photographs shot in this world. People do use other photography equipment, but it’s mostly DSLR for pros, point and shoots for people that still don’t get that their phone has a better camera, and cameras like GoPro for those that need action photography.
The world is taking more pictures than ever before. And, since the phone camera is digital, instant, doesn’t need to be taken to a place to develop the pictures, and storage memory is now so cheap that you can save a million pictures for a few rupees, everyone shoots everything and takes a few extras just to be safe!
At the same time, some terrible photographs are being taken now than even before.... Just take a look at your social media accounts, everyone you follow on Instagram, all the pictures on your phone. It’s a ghastly, barbaric torture chamber of pictures that all of you have to endure
This is my quest to make all of you better photographers and to ensure that we don’t have to go through the torture of seeing the same BS pictures on social media accounts and still like them.
Here are some tips that will make you a better photographer without any additional equipment, nothing complicated, no tech jargon and no new learning curve. Let’s start our journey to save the world from horrible pictures....
3 things for the perfect picture
Light, light and light! Understand that and you basically resolve 90 per cent of all problems with your photography. The more light that enters your camera lens, the better the picture will be. Use a simple rule whereby the light comes from behind you and onto your subject, and you’re going to have a masterpiece every time. The number of people that break this rule is astounding, with subjects standing in front of windows in broad daylight or in the sun. Remember, a picture speaks a thousand words and most of those are four letter words if you don’t have light on your subject.
Another 3 to get the perfect picture
Still, still and even more still. You cannot get a great picture unless your camera is absolutely still at the moment the shutter is pressed. Look at what you’re shooting with. A thin, feather-light slab that doesn’t balance well in your hand and moves at the exact moment when you press a button or the screen. Don’t extend your arms outward, jam your elbows into your body, stabilise your body with a wall or a tree or any other immovable object, and don’t breathe at the point of taking a picture. Keep a mini tripod when you know you’ll be shooting a lot of pictures. Invest in a phone that has good optical stabilisation. I can bet you that almost 80 per cent of all your pictures on your phone have motion blur. You just can’t see it as it is on a small little phone screen.
When and how to use Portrait or Bokeh effect mode
It’s the newest whiz bang feature and almost every phone now has it. The capability to shoot a subject in the foreground in focus and defocus the background. This was predominately one of the hallmarks of professional photography on a high end DSLR and now everyone has this capability in their hands. And boy, are they screwing it up. Bokeh mode in the hands of most people should be called Botch mode. On most phones this is achieved with two lenses at the back. On some it’s done with one. But predominantly the heavy lifting is done with software
and AI.
The phone must be able to identify the subject in the front (human, animal, box, bottle, object), trace its edges and then blur everything. And in doing that, it can truly butcher things bad. Hair, ears, neck are usually the collateral damage by being included in the defocused background, resulting in people with strange hairstyles, no ears and strangulated necklines. Shoot with a clear distinct background, don’t have something very busy in the front and back, don’t merge foreground colour with background, and keep adequate distance between the two. Keep these things in mind especially for selfie portraits. First we have to see you making duck faces, and then you’re also bald with no ears and neck. There’s only so much ghastly stuff our eyes can take.
That’s just a starter for making your an ace smartphone photographer. Lots more next week, including the magic rule of thirds, why always shooting in auto mode is silly, and the one thing that everyone should know but don’t!
Rajiv Makhni is managing editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet 3
Techilicious appears every fortnight
From HT Brunch, November 25, 2018
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