How to take stunning pics using your smartphone
What's the story
Smartphone photography has evolved as a popular hobby and even profession for many.
Automatic settings can deliver good enough photos, but with manual ones, you get more control over the final image.
By knowing and adjusting them, you can easily take your smartphone photography skills to a whole new level.
Here's how you can use manual settings to capture stunning images with your phone.
Exposure control
Mastering exposure for better photos
Exposure determines how light or dark an image appears. Adjusting the exposure manually lets you highlight details in bright or dim environments.
Most smartphones have an exposure slider, which lets you increase or decrease brightness before taking a shot.
Experimenting with this setting helps in capturing well-lit images without losing detail.
ISO adjustment
Utilizing ISO for low-light conditions
ISO determines how sensitive your camera's sensor is to light.
In low-light situations, increasing the ISO can help brighten up an image, but it may also lead to noise or graininess.
The key is to find a balance; start with a low ISO and gradually increase it until you reach the desired brightness without affecting image quality.
Shutter speed setting
Shutter speed for motion control
Shutter speed controls how long the camera's sensor is exposed to light.
A fast shutter speed freezes motion, making it perfect for action shots.
On the other hand, a slow shutter speed captures motion blur, which can be used for creative effects such as light trails.
Adjusting shutter speed according to your subject's movement would enhance photo clarity and artistic expression.
White balance adjustment
White balance for accurate colors
White balance plays a key role in ensuring color accuracy in photos.
It compensates for different lighting conditions, be it daylight or artificial lights, and manually adjusting it makes colors appear more natural and true-to-life in your images.
Most smartphones provide presets like daylight, cloudy, or tungsten, which can be tuned even further according to specific lighting scenarios.
Focus control
Focus techniques for sharp images
Manual focus gives you precise control over which part of an image is sharpest, particularly handy in macro photography where depth of field is shallow.
Many smartphones also offer touch-to-focus features that allow you to select focus points directly on-screen before capturing the image - ensuring critical elements are crisp while keeping the integrity of the overall composition intact.