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5 General tips for better smartphone photos

Clean your lens

Every time you take a picture, give the lens a quick wipe with a micro- fiber cloth. Remove any dirt or grime.

Shoot horizontally using the rear facing camera

Use the rear facing camera for higher resolution:

3:2 aspect ratio for photo
16:9 aspect ratio for video

Don’t use the flash

Instead, use natural or ambient light to illuminate your subject for a more natural look. If your smartphone has an HDR setting, select HDR mode so that your camera can take the average of an underexposed and overexposed image

Don’t use the digital zoom

Digital zooming occurs when pinching open an area of focus in camera mode. This produces noise and grain. Instead, take the photo at your camera’s full resolution setting and crop into the photo after.

Use the rule of thirds

Most smartphones have a photo and video setting that divides your screen into thirds. The subject of your photo should occupy 1/3 of the frame on either side, or fill the middle 1/3 if looking straight at the camera/addressing an audience.

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Tips for portraits/lifestyle photography in the field

Collaboration and field shots

Great opportunity to showcase team talent
Great way to show team culture, diversity and inclusivity etc.

Examples in the field

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Tips for portraits in an office setting

Try to include plant or some type of vegetation for branding consistency

*provide more examples of how to use rule of thirds, finding something of visual interest, mill environment, event, group photos, remove obstructions, people smiling, story*, what story are you trying to tell, PPE, howto take a good selfie

Utilise natural lighting from window source

Subject should take up 1/3 of the frame

Wear patterned shirt against solid, light coloured background or vice versa for contrast

Allow for negative space

Location and setup

Find a quiet, uncluttered place at the office with ample lighting (natural window light preferred)
Use a tripod mount (a) for your phone, and shoot in landscape mode (horizontally)
Use a tripod (b) and adjust leg length so that your phone’s camera sits roughly at eye level

Composition

Utilize the rule of thirds, where the subject occupies1/3 of your composition
If facing the camera, position subject in the middle third of the frame

(a)

Smartphone tripod mounts usually have a ¼” thread that fits most tripod heads

(b)

Examples in the office

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Optimizing photo settings for your iPhone

1. Go to your phone’s “Settings”

Scroll down to “Camera”

Go to “Formats” settings

Scroll down and toggle on “Portraits in Photo Mode, Lens Correction, Macro Control”

Scroll back up to Formats and select “Most Compatible”, then choose 24MP in “Photo Mode”, toggle on “ProRAW & Resolution Control,” set “Pro Default” to “ProRAW Max”

Scroll down and toggle on “Apple ProRes” and choose “HDR”

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Optimizing video settings for your iPhone

1. Go to your phone’s “Settings”

Additional tips

Ensure that you have sufficient storage/memory on your device to avoid interruptions
Choose a minimum setting of 1080HD at 30fps.
Choose a maximum of 4K at 30fps if storage is adequate
Under camera settings in step 3, toggle on "Grid” to enable rule of third guides to help with composition

Scroll down to “Camera”

Go to “Record Video” settings

Select either 1080p HD at 30fps or 4K at 30fps

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Optimizing video settings for your android device (ex. Samsung)

1. Go to your phone’s “Settings” by locating the gear icon, find �“screen resolution”

Change screen resolution to “FHD” or “Full HD”

Go to your home screen and locate the “camera” icon, then click camera settings

Select Video size

Select FHD (60fps) or anything above is also fine if you have space/storage, when done, reselect “video size (rear)” at top left to go back

Turn on Tracking AF

Additional tips

Ensure that you have sufficient storage/memory on your device to avoid interruptions

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Lighting considerations for indoor photos and videos (setup)

Utilize window light as your main light source. Position subject a few feet beside a window.

Use practical lighting like a) a small LED light panel, b) a desk lamp, or even c) a piece of white foam core to fill the shadow side.

Birds eye view

(a)

(b)

(c)

Available to purchase at Staples

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Lighting considerations for indoor photos and videos (preview)

Window light Cloudy, overcast days are best for nice evenly diffused lighting (less harsh than direct sunlight and moves as day progresses)

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Lighting considerations for indoor photos and videos

White foam core board

Using a piece of foam core board to bounce light on the opposite side of your main light source is an inexpensive way to lighten the shadow side of your subject

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Lighting considerations for indoor photos with no windows

Indoor tungsten lighting

Set your smartphone’s white balance to auto
Use a tripod whenever possible
If colour hues look off, ensure that “ProRAW & Resoultion Control” is toggled on, and that “ProRAW Max” is selected. Colour imbalances can only be fixed using this setting.

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Lighting considerations for outdoor photos and videos (setup)

Result

Avoid photos with the sun behind your subject unless you have an additional light source to fill in shadows (your phone’s flash won’t cut it)

BONUS:

a) Use a circular diffuser to diffuse sunlight

b) Use a polarizing to cut glare, and ND filter to lower the exposure

(a)

(b)

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Additional considerations

General

Plan your shoots, figure out who or what you want to profile
Ensure that you have permission from site/building authorities, as well as expressed written consent from people you plan to photograph
Consider the purpose of the event or session. If it is an award ceremony, get pictures of the award and the recipients holding the award
For lifestyle/collaboration style photos, try to go unnoticed in the background as to not attract attention to capture more candid moments
Back up your work. Ensure that you send and save the photos at full resolution to project primes within a reasonable time frame
Utilize file transfer services:

Dropbox
Google Drive
WeTransfer

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