As the functions of mobile phones become more and more perfect, mobile phones are being chosen by many people as a tool for shooting. In the past, we also launched a lot of articles about mobile photography, including mobile photography skills, interviews with mobile photographers, mobile photographic works appreciation and others. However, there are still many photographers who will ask how to learn to take a better photo with a mobile phone? Here, I would like to share some steps to learn mobile photography with you. In fact, these are also some experiences about my using a mobile phone to take photos. I hope that you can benefit from them.
1.Be ready to take photos at any time
Why mobile photography is so popular? One of the most important reasons is its portability. Wherever people go, they will bring their mobile phones, and those amateur photographers will take photos wherever they go.
Good photographic works are accumulated through long-term shooting. If you want to learn to take photos well with your mobile phone, it is important to insist on taking more photos. Whether you are enjoying the scenery on the journey, or walking on the familiar streets of the city, you should pay more attention to the special details in the daily life and record the rare moments. Please be prepared to take photos anytime and anywhere. It is the beginning of making a good work.
2.Shoot carefully at any time
You can shoot at any time, but you should have some thoughts before shooting, and ask yourself why you should take this picture. Do you want to simply record this beautiful picture, want to shoot the light and shadow of that moment, or want to capture a story? You should not hold up the phone and press the shutter without thinking. Only when you have the idea of shooting can you take a better photo.
Like a special light and shadow ▼
A moment with a story ▼
Or a special picture ▼
3.Be particular about finding a view to photograph
It is undeniable that framing and composition are the key to determine the quality of a photo. For same scenery, the image effect photographed by different people using the same device will be very different. So even if you just shoot with your mobile phone, when you shoot at a good angle and arrange the composition, you can also make a good-looking photo.
If there is no large aperture blur in your mobile phone, you can select a simple background when shooting, which will make the picture cleaner and make the subject more prominent.
More kinds of compositions are found, like frame composition and guideline composition, which can make the picture more stereoscopic and more layered.
4.Make best use of the advantages of the device and bypass its disadvantages
The shooting device in your hand is like a gun on the battlefield. In order to better play its functions, you need to know how to operate it and know its advantages and disadvantages. Knowing how to use your device is often more important than having a good device which you don’t how to use it.
Usually, the mobile phone comes with a wide-angle lens. When you are close to an object, the photographs are prone to more serious distortion. Thus, when shooting, you should pay more attention to the geometric lines in the frame, or choose a large scene composition to shoot at a flat angle to avoid distortion.
(Watch out for the distortion of the lines when taking pictures of the building)
Another great advantage of the mobile phone lens is that it can be focused at close range, so you can capture some details when you take photos, such as the texture of an object and the water drops, so that people can see a more delicate and tinier world.
Certainly, there are more features to be unlocked, and you need to try it out yourself.
5.Use professional mode
Most mobile phones now come with a professional mode that provides more playable functions for photographers. If you have mastered the framing and composition, have many ideas, and have enough knowledge of the device, the next step is to try the professional mode in your phone. When shooting, you can adjust the ISO, shutter, color temperature and others as needed, so that you can get rid of the limitations of mobile phone shooting and achieve the effect that you want.
With the professional mode, the long exposure of night scenes taken by the mobile phone is nothing difficult.
6.Later refinement will make the photo more attractive
You tried to take the photo you want before, and if you can beautify the photo later, the photo will be more attractive. Don’t ignore the later retouching work. In fact, it is also a part of photography creation. If you want the photo to look more textured and complete, then it is quite necessary to do the proper retouching. Of course, don’t just retouch the map simply, but adjust it to achieve the effect you want.
(The distortion of the photo is mainly adjusted in the above picture. The colors are adjusted to black and white and the contrast is improved. The picture is cleaner, with the theme more prominent)
(The cropping, brightness improvement, and color adjustment have been carried out in the above picture, which make the picture fuller and the whole is cleaner)
Like I said before, if you want to take a good photo, you need to think more, learn more, act more and stick to it. If you can improve your photography taken by your mobile phone in other ways, you are welcome to share your points in the comments section.
