10 ways to take better photos with your phone
Modern phones do a lot of the work for you, but the camera can only make the best of what you give it. Most disappointing phone photos come from a handful of small things: a smudged lens, the wrong focus point, poor light or a shaky hand. None of them needs new equipment. The ten tips below work on almost any phone; menu names differ by brand, so look for similar wording in your camera app's settings.
Quick fixes
| Problem | Tip | Go to |
|---|---|---|
| Everything looks hazy, lights have a glow | Clean the lens | 1 |
| The face is too dark against a bright window or sky | Tap to focus and slide exposure | 2 |
| Zoomed shots look smudgy and lack detail | Use the main lens, not digital zoom | 3 |
| Harsh shadows under eyes, or a flat flash look | Find better light, skip the flash | 4 |
| Night or indoor photos are slightly blurred | Hold the phone steady | 6 |
| Moving kids or pets always come out blurred | Use burst mode | 9 |
1Clean the lens
Your phone's lens is touched, pocketed and pressed against tables all day. A thin film of skin oil is enough to make every photo look soft and hazy, and bright lights pick up a glow or streaks. It is the quickest fix there is, and the most often forgotten.
- Wipe the lenses before any shot that matters, not just when they look dirty.
- Use a microfibre cloth or a soft, clean cotton shirt; avoid paper tissues, which can leave lint and fine scratches.
- If a case lip or screen protector covers part of the lens, check that it is not catching dust.
2Tap to focus, then slide exposure
The camera guesses what your subject is and how bright the picture should be. With a bright window or sky in the frame, it often gets the face too dark. Tapping on the screen tells the phone exactly what matters.
- Tap on your subject to set focus and exposure there.
- On most phones a sun or brightness slider appears next to the focus box; drag it up or down to brighten or darken the picture before you shoot.
- Press and hold on the subject to lock focus and exposure (often shown as AE/AF lock) so they stay put while you recompose.
- For bright skies, slide exposure down a little: dark areas can be lifted later, but blown-out highlights cannot be recovered.
3Use the main lens and avoid digital zoom
Most phones have several cameras, and the main (1x) one usually has the largest sensor and best low-light quality. Pinching beyond the optical zoom steps simply crops and enlarges the image, so detail turns smudgy.
- Stay on the 1x lens whenever you can, especially indoors and at night.
- Use the marked zoom steps (such as 0.5x, 2x, 3x) rather than pinching to an in-between value; the steps match real lenses on most phones.
- Walk closer instead of zooming in.
- If you must zoom further, shoot at the highest optical step and crop a little later.
4Find better light, and skip the flash
Light matters more than the phone. Soft light from the side shapes faces and food nicely, while harsh overhead light creates dark eye sockets and hard shadows. The built-in flash is small and right next to the lens, so it flattens faces, causes red eyes and turns backgrounds black.
- Indoors, place your subject near a window with the light coming from the side.
- Outdoors at midday, move into open shade; the hour after sunrise and before sunset gives the warmest light.
- Set the flash to off rather than auto, and use the phone's night mode in dim scenes instead.
- Use flash only as a small fill for a backlit face in daylight, and keep it at arm's length or farther (about 3 ft or more).
5Turn on gridlines and compose with intent
Gridlines divide the screen into thirds. They help you keep horizons level and avoid placing everything dead centre, which often makes a photo feel static.
- Turn on the grid in the camera settings; on most phones it is under Grid or Composition.
- Place the horizon on the top or bottom line, not through the middle.
- Put the main subject or a person's eyes near where the lines cross.
- Check the edges of the frame for poles, bins or stray hands before you shoot.
6Hold the phone steady
In dim light the phone keeps the shutter open longer or merges several frames, and any movement during that time softens the picture. Tapping the screen button can be enough to jolt it.
- Hold the phone with both hands and tuck your elbows against your body.
- Lean on a wall or rest the phone on a table, railing or bag.
- Press a volume button to take the picture instead of tapping the screen; this works on most phones.
- Use the 3-second self-timer when the phone is resting on something, so your touch does not shake it.
7Know when to use HDR and when to turn it off
HDR combines several exposures so both the bright sky and the dark ground keep detail. Most phones apply it automatically, which is usually good, but in some scenes it gives a flat, greyish or over-processed look, or ghosting on moving subjects.
- Leave HDR on (or on auto) for landscapes, backlit scenes and bright skies.
- Turn it off, if your phone allows, for silhouettes, high-contrast black-and-white shots or when you want deep shadows.
- If moving people show double edges, try the shot again with HDR off.
- Compare a shot with and without it the first time; then you will know how your phone behaves.
8Understand portrait mode's limits
Portrait mode fakes a blurred background with software. It works well on a single person at a short distance, but it often makes mistakes around hair, glasses, fingers and glass objects, and can blur parts that should be sharp.
- Stay roughly within the distance the app suggests; most phones show a hint when you are too close or too far.
- Keep a clear gap between the subject and the background; the further away the background, the better the effect.
- Zoom into the result and check hair and edges for cut-outs or smudges.
- On most phones you can lower the blur strength afterwards; a lighter effect usually looks more natural.
9Use burst mode for moving subjects
With children, pets or sport, the best moment lasts a fraction of a second. Burst mode takes a quick series of frames so you can pick the one with sharp eyes and the best expression.
- On most phones, hold the shutter button or slide it sideways to shoot a burst; check your camera settings for the exact gesture.
- Start shooting just before the action peaks and keep going through it.
- Choose the best frame or two and delete the rest, since bursts fill storage quickly.
- For a live, short motion clip, the phone's live or motion photo option is another way to catch the moment.
10Shoot RAW where available and edit lightly
Some phones can save RAW files (sometimes under a brand-specific name), which keep more detail in highlights and shadows and skip most of the built-in processing. They are much larger files and need editing, so they suit scenes where you want maximum control.
- Look for a RAW or pro format option in the camera settings or in a pro or manual mode.
- Use RAW for tricky light such as sunsets and high-contrast scenes; keep the normal format for everyday snaps.
- When editing, start with exposure, highlights and shadows, then straighten and crop.
- Go easy on saturation, sharpening and filters; small changes usually look best.
Before you press the button
- Lens wiped clean
- Tapped on the subject, exposure adjusted
- On the 1x lens or a marked zoom step
- Light from the side, flash off
- Horizon level on the grid
- Phone braced, volume button or timer
- Burst ready for anything that moves