Do you want to take great photos? Of course you do. With smartphones being loaded with decent cameras, that dream isn’t that far away. But before you jump into the battlefield, you might want to arm yourself with the the kind of things that might come handy.
- Force focus:
A lot of phones have this feature built-in, but it can be achieved on most phones through app. Manually forcing the focus allows a depth-of-field effect and is very useful for exposure control, reducing unwanted shadows in favour of details.
- Grid Lines:
Sure, photos have a lot to do with having an eye for details, but it doesn’t hurt to get the measurements right. Symmetry is very important – you’d think no one cares, but it’s the kind of thing that scrapes at the back of your mind. Tl;dr: grid lines are helpful.
- Use Volume Buttons
I personally had difficulties using this at first, but the reason volume buttons wins over the virtual one on-screen is because once you get used to pressing that button, the camera will shake less every time you snap. Plus, your thumb won’t have to go out of its way for that selfie.
- Tripod Mount for Phones
You think your hands don’t shake that much, but don’t forget that you’re just human. While this might not be the kind of thing you’d use for everything, let’s face it – what is? Tripod mounts help keep the camera in place, eliminating the camera shake. This is probably the only thing on this list that requires buying something, but you can find a few for less than Tk 500.
- Experiment with the angles:
This one is more relevant to you than the camera, but the right angle can make the difference for any photo. In fact, it can mean everything, from getting the right amount of detail in your shot, to excluding unwanted details. Start playing around, you’ll develop a good idea of what is suitable pretty soon.
- Photo Editing App
This one should be pretty obvious, and I’m not talking about Instagram. Get something free that doesn’t butcher your photo resolution. You’ll find that photos are served better with a slight amount of adjusting the brightness, contrast and saturation than throwing in a crazy filter. Colour correction does wonders for your photos.
