All geared for your trip, but not sure if this will fit into your frame of memories with a camera on mobile. Trust me DSLR’s are old game, unless you are a professional, typical tourist, gadget freak. For all others, I think a mobile camera is enough for the World. Supported by reasons like, it’s not bulky and heavy to carry, isn’t accompanied with a carry bag, no sophistication, instant click, highly portable, and many more. If you are not used to Mobile cameras, we have created some best tips that might make you never part from your photo buddy.
Facing the sun – Take shots of frame that faces the sun, never take photos facing the sun or you will probably going to ruin the image. If the shot has to be taken facing the sun, and you are around for the entire day, then wait for sun to go around you. It is just in case if you are very peculiar about a shot. Plus images of object facing sun will have best pictures. If sun is on top, you can take pictures on either sides.
Research your Location – Before starting your trip, one thing that you must do is research the location. This might sound obvious, but you got to research the location for the potential places where you can take amazing pictures. Every destination has some places or the other that offer the best view. To search for such locations you can refer to Instagram or Pinterest.
Click when it rains – If during your trip it rains, then make use of it. Pictures taken in rainy backgrounds are the best. Not everyone tries it, but be cautious to keep your mobile phone away from rains. Take a picture especially if clouds are still there and its around 5 pm evening. Trust me you will get perfect Twilight shots. This is the time when you will have not too much of light and not too much of darkness.
Preparation is the key – Before starting your journey you must already know that the pictures you are going to take will be from your smart phone. For the best experience be prepared for it. Like make some extra space for pictures, so you wont have to delete other stuff before taking a click at the destination. Carry a power bank with you, as taking pictures can consume lot of battery.
Natural lighting is the best – Photos taken indoor from mobile camera will have their quality dependent on the source of light and how well it reaches the lenses. Reason that photos in natural light have best quality. These days lighting in the picture are taken care of automatically, but still keep it a priority to take pictures in natural light. When indoor try to capture pictures in yellow light if available, or white would also do.
Same object, Different angles – Take different shots of same object from different angles and in both landscape and portrait mode. We are not here for Product Photography, but trust me some angles can be better than others, and you won’t be visiting the place anytime soon. By taking lots of pictures of same thing will ensure at least few good ones. You can also try the burst mode of photography.
There is no Limit – As long as you have spare memory in your phone, there is actually no limit to how many pictures you can take. Sop make the best use of it and try to take maximum pictures. There will be times when you will click bad pictures, but there will also be times when you will click good pictures. When your trip is over you can always choose to pick the good ones and dispose others.
Bold photography is about details – When taking bold photographs, focus on the elements covered in the photo. Its always better to cover all details if they fit in, or capture a part of it with all details. The details are the key to clicking great bold photographs. It is applicable when you are clicking a picture of some monument or you are clicking a picture of some artwork kept in some highly decorated museum.
Add meaning to pictures – When taking photographs, try to include elements that add meaning to the picture. After all the picture is all about the elements present in it. For example, a fisherman looks good aside beach, not a businessman, or you might say that people look good in traditional clothes especially when there is some festival or some religious event. Pictures like these speak for themselves.
Golden Hours – Keep a tab on the golden hours. The best time to click pictures is one hour before or after the sunset or the sunrise. This is the time when sun rays are at their most beautiful form. The light around is golden and the pictures clicked in this time period stand out from the rest even when taken at the same spot but at different time.
Candid Photography is good – People look good in photographs, till they are not posing in it. In photography this is called candid photography. The best pictures are taken when the elements or people being clicked do not know or they pretend to do not know that they are being clicked. This golden rule will make you click remarkable and memorable pictures. Though for fun and family, this is an exception.
Avoid the crowds but not the people – Too much of crowd in a picture can take away its quality and create distraction from the focus on the element you want to highlight. At times it could be good to keep crowd in your frame, especially when you are trying to click a picture of a market, or some religious place. People in pictures should always be encouraged, in numbers of one or maximum two. Human element in a picture has been tried and tested to be good.
Do not use the zoom feature in your phone – Zoom feature is very different in DSLR Cameras and mobile phones. In DSLR cameras there is optical zoom that works on the physical movement of the lens, but in mobile phones there is digital zoom which works by enlarging or minimizing the picture by adjusting with pixels. If you use zoom feature on your mobile phone you can end with distorted picture.
Make use of HDR – HDR stands for High dynamic range. These days many smartphones come with HDR feature in their photography suite. This feature helps you take detailed pictures of places that are too bright or too dark. You will know when to use it when there is too much difference of exposure of light in elements in your picture. It is best suited for landscape photography, and you must use it.
Capture every moment – This is the beauty of photography that you would not like to miss. Whether you are waiting at the airport, or commuting in your cab or eating some local cuisine at a local joint, capture it all. It will not only serve as an entire memory, but you can also create a photo book of your trip. Plus your followers on Instagram are going to love the every detail of it.
Stay online while clicking pictures – Keep a note of being always online while taking pictures. This is for two reasons. One is for Geo tagging, as Instagram Posts with location gives reality vibes to viewers. The second most important reason, is to be able to sync your pictures to Google Drive or One Drive or iCloud. This will be your partner for data backup, in case of damage or a lost phone.
Selfies are a yes – Don’t be shy of carrying a Selfie Stick, but buy a portable one that would fit in your travel trousers. As you would not want the world to know that hey here is another person who love himself and is carrying ab selfie stick. Also take selfies especially when you are lightened up. Taking selfies is never a bad idea. Most of the times you are always behind the lens and when the trip is over you will realize that you have too less pictures of yourself. To avoid such a situation, take selfies and smile when doing so.
Make use of Mobile Applications – There are thousands of mobile applications these days that are present on play store and apple store to enhance the pictures you take and improve your photography skills. They might be dependent on the flexibility that the in built camera application provides but still these apps are helpful. You can play around with the aspect ratio or the aperture, and lots more.
Don’t blur the objects – Never blur the background if you are clicking a person, even if they are super-hot. This is exclusively for objects. This can ruin the beauty of the picture. Portrait mode that comes in built in the camera, is made for similar purpose. These type of adjustments should be done especially in cases when the objects in the frame are very far from the person and are hard to be captured.
Make use of time lapse videos – These days many mobile phones come with a feature of taking time lapse videos. Make sure to utilize it. These videos could be high speed video of flower blooming, or sun rising, or sun setting down, or the movement of traffic. They look super cool and with adorn your social media feeds. But you got to have a stable tripod stand for phone for capturing such videos.
Make it Unique – Try making you pictures unique, and never seen before. This can accomplished with help of experimenting with angles, placement of elements in the frame, symmetry of elements in picture, choosing never seen before elements, or mixing human emotion in the image. Low angle, reflections, light flares are some of the tips you can use to make the picture unique from other photographers.
Clean the lens – The last thing you would not want is a blurred picture just because your lens wasn’t clean. We carry our phones with us all the times. We touch it numerous times during the day. At times we even use the phone when we are dining. It makes the phone vulnerable to foreign material and dust. So always carry a separate cotton cloth piece or lens fabric to clean the lens often.
Smile Please, In the pictures ahead!
