Your smartphone photos can look way better. It takes a little more work, but phones can now legitimately rival point-and-shoot cameras. If you are willing to put in some extra effort, use third-party apps, and spend a bit of time editing, it is possible to take photos that — under the right circumstances — can rival those from dedicated digital cameras.
Many people ask how to take better photos on their phones. It makes sense. As the saying goes, “The best camera is the one you have on you,” and we practically always have our phones with us these days. Over the last few years, smartphone camera sensors have gotten bigger, with better light-gathering capabilities and higher resolutions. But even though the sensors have improved, the straight-out-of-camera quality through default camera apps hasn't improved much, if at all. In some respects, smartphone photos have actually gotten worse — aesthetically, at least.
Why default camera photos look flat
The main reason is that smartphone cameras are mostly optimized for information transfer — sending photos of menus, signs, faces, and objects that are clear and easy to see. This means phones will usually pull down highlights and pull up shadows, creating a flatter image that makes it easier to see more information in the frame. But showing more information does not automatically make a photo better. In fact, much of our perception of aesthetics in a photo has to do with its ability to present depth. A photo with too much information in the shadows and highlights will appear washed out.
Phones also introduce artifacts like over-sharpening and noise reduction to compensate for their small sensors, which further contributes to the “muddy” smartphone camera look you are used to seeing. This is less necessary now, but many smartphones still do it. The good news is that the sensors in modern smartphones have gotten so good that many can rival dedicated point-and-shoot cameras on the market today. Knowing how to utilize those sensors is the part most people don't know how to do, and it really comes down to using some third-party camera and editing apps.
The apps that can transform your photos
There are plenty of apps available today that will give you an instantly “aesthetic” photo. Apps like Dazzcam and Hujicam try to emulate film aesthetics like light leaks and polaroid borders, and they do a fantastic job if that's the look you want. There are also apps like Moment Pro Camera II and Halide that offer “Natural” and “Process Zero” modes, which apply far lighter processing than the default camera offers. These options are great if you want your pictures to look better instantly without needing to do any additional editing, but if you want the best possible photo, you'll need to shoot RAW or DNG.
What is RAW photography?
RAW files are a bundle of practically all the information your camera collects, with extremely minimal processing. In most cases, RAW photos won't necessarily look better than photos straight from the default camera app right away, but that's because the default camera app makes a lot of creative decisions for you. If you want the highest-quality photo, it's best to make these creative decisions yourself.
There are tons of apps available that let you shoot RAW. On iOS, popular choices include Moment Pro Camera II and Halide. On Android, apps like VWFNDR and Zerocam are worth trying. I wouldn't recommend shooting RAW on every photo you take on your phone. Your phone camera is, after all, optimized for what you are probably taking photos of every day. I generally shoot RAW when I see a nice landscape or city scene that I want to share, or if I'm trying to take a portrait of someone and don't want all the automatic computational phone processing to apply. Really, shooting RAW is best when you're taking a photo for artistic purposes, not for informational purposes.
Tips for shooting RAW on your phone
When you're shooting, you'll want to tap on your subject in the viewfinder to get the best possible exposure for it. If the rest of the image is a little bright or a little dark, don't worry too much. RAW photos retain a lot of information. However, under extremely dark circumstances, RAW on smartphones won't always be the best option. Physics is still physics, and sometimes it's better to use the computational photography capabilities your phone offers, which mostly shine in low-light environments by stacking multiple frames to reduce noise.
You'll notice that when you shoot in RAW, the apps will force you to stick to the native focal lengths your phone offers. That's because RAW images are information straight off the sensor, and cropping applies processing. Photos from the main sensor will often be the best quality, since it usually has the biggest sensor on your phone, so I recommend shooting with it if you can. I do often shoot with the telephoto lens while traveling, though, because sometimes you want a little more reach or a little more compression, and you can usually get good photos from that lens as well.
Editing: where the magic happens
After you take your photos, you're going to need to edit them. Most phones won't show RAW images in the camera gallery, so in order to get them into an editing app, it's best to use the share sheet and share directly to your editing app of choice. Snapseed is a great option since it's totally free and has a user-friendly interface. If you're an Adobe subscriber, Lightroom Mobile is also excellent, especially if you're already used to Lightroom's tools on your computer.
RAW photos don't usually look great right away, and the magic of RAW is just how much you can tweak the files. Once you import the photo, try hitting the auto button just to see what the general boundaries are for the image. Auto mode tries to make everything a mid-tone, meaning it will pull down the highlights and pull up the shadows. This will already look better than straight-out-of-camera from your phone's default camera app, because it isn't applying noise reduction or sharpening, just highlight, shadow, contrast, and saturation tweaks. But it usually still needs more, or different, adjustments.
Contrast and tone
A good photo has a natural amount of contrast, with relatively deep shadows and bright highlights. You usually don't want to go too hard on either of these things, and having a little bit of detail in both is usually preferred. But honestly, this is subjective. Occasionally, it's preferable to crush the highlights and shadows completely if you're going for an ultra high-contrast look. The key is to experiment and see what works for each image.
Color adjustments
For color, RAW images are usually flatter than most people find pleasing, and you can fix this with either the saturation or vibrance sliders. Generally, vibrance is better than saturation. Saturation increases the saturation of all colors in the image linearly, while vibrance is weighted, increasing the saturation of flatter colors more than already-saturated colors. You can overdo this pretty easily, so it's best to have a light touch. You can also use white balance to color your image, and many people find a warmer white balance more pleasing, especially when taking photos outside.
Another useful color tool is the color mix or selective editing tool. This allows you to tap on a portion of the image and change some of its values. In Snapseed, you can change the brightness, contrast, saturation, and structure. In Lightroom Mobile, you have access to selective hue shifts, which are extremely handy. This allows you to shift a yellow tone towards more orange or green, or shift a blue tone more cyan or purple.
Geometry and perspective
Most editing apps also include geometry or perspective tools. These tools allow you to adjust distortion, aspect, scale, and offset. If you're not familiar with these, try hitting the auto button in the geometry or perspective setting. You might be surprised how distorted your phone captured a scene compared to what it looks like in reality. This is image-dependent. If you want to straighten lines in your photo, some editing apps offer a guided tool that allows you to manually add guidance lines to tell the program what lines should be straight in the image.
Finishing touches
The tools you'll want to use depend heavily on what you want the image to convey. For example, when doing architectural photography, perspective tools are more important because the aesthetic of the image is heavily dictated by its geometry. When photographing a landscape, focus more on tone and color. Not every scene needs to be tweaked with every tool, and how you edit comes down to personal taste. That taste can also take a while to develop, so study the photos you like and try to figure out how they were edited.
When you're done with your edits, many editing apps like Snapseed and Lightroom Mobile also come with a handy tool to put a matte (or border) around your image. Many photographers think that photos look better with a white border, as it isolates the image for your eyes. You don't have to use this tool, but it can add a polished, intentional feel to your work. Have some whimsy!
This process is a lot more work than just opening your camera app and snapping, but the results are worth it. Smartphone sensors have advanced to the point where they can produce remarkable image quality, especially when you take control of the capture and editing process. By shooting RAW, using third-party apps, and learning to edit with care, you can lift your mobile photography to a level that rivals dedicated cameras — and develop your own artistic vision along the way.
Source:The Verge News