How To Become An Ace Smartphone
Photographer
Because
there’s only so much ghastly stuff our eyes can take
The
more light that enters your camera, the better the picture will be!
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
COOLEST CLICKS OF THEM ALL You cannot get a great picture unless your camera is
absolutely still at the moment the shutter is pressed 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.
Rajiv Makhni is managing
editor, Technology, NDTV, and the anchor of Gadget Guru, Cell Guru and Newsnet
3
HTBR 25NOV18
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