Better Photography !
Our Nokia 5800 has an awesome cam if used in the proper way. Though normal landscape shots are above average, close up or macro shots are just awesome!! Here are some tips and tricks for better photography using your phone or even a digital camera.
First things to note:Never use these two built in features on any camera - Flash and Digital Zoom
Flash must be used only if you need to get a photo at night. So never set it to auto, either to on or off.. Never use a flash during daytime, it will make the photo lose its naturality. This implies only for digital camera as 5800 has a weak led flash
Digital zoom is another useless feature. It makes the photo lose clarity. Digital zoom is pure anti-aliasing of pixels based on an algorithm. If your cam has optical zoom use it, its perfect, but never digital zoom.
Composing a shot:If its a normal landscape shot with a subject, follow the rule of 3rds.. Its like split your screen into a 4x4 matrix and keep your subject in the 2nd or 3rd box from top as well as from left and not to keep it in the centre. It will make a more professional shot, rather than a boring casual one.
If its a close-up or macro shot, keep it in the centre to focus the subject.
Basic Photography Facts:*Never take a shot against sunlight.
*If you are using 5800, remove the back cover/battery cover as it ruins most photos.
*If the enviornment is sunny, always make the camera face atleast 5 degrees downwards from the horizontal line. This will make the camera make the photos bright as cameras calculate exposure based on overall image brightness. So if your shot has a very bright background, say the sky, your subject will become a silhoutte, like a shadow. So its better to keep the background as objects or greenery rather than the sky.
*There is a beauty in every object in nature, you just need to find the right angle to expose it!! be it a normal grass or a leaf which you see daily. Take shots and see for yourself. Only practice and experience will show it to you.
This is something I see daily, but it looks different to me on photo..!!
When you take a photo of anything.. be it snaps of your friends, or even a close up of something, take a couple of shots and not just 1.. And whatever you take, dont delete it immediately.. Copy to pc and check.. Some photos look bad on mobile, but great one pc. So always take a few shots of the same thing, also try changing angles a bit for each shot.
Always focus onto a subject and shoot only when the box is green. Press the button halfway to focus and lock and then shoot after the beep.. Alternatively touch the onscreen shutter button, it will focus and shoot auto, but is not that flexible as the shutter button.
This is a normal shot with built in autofocus.
Shooting in Macro Mode\Close Up:
This is my favourite mode and hobby sometimes. Shooting close-ups!!
First remove back cover.
Put camera to close-up mode from options. Switch off flash. Find a subject not so bad, and hold the camera within a distance of 8cm-30cm from subject with the box in the middle having the subject, press shutter button halfway to focus. When box is green, exposure is correct and make sure object is in perfectly clear and not out of focus, then press the shutter button fully without shaking the cam.
Close up shots require cams not to shake at all and very good lighting. So take care of these two factors.
A normal close-up using 5800.
Find a subject, hold your hand infront of your sensor and focus onto it, noting the distance of your hand from the cam sensor. Hold your hand as close as you can to the sensor and focus again and again and try locking it with a green box and beep sound and your hand is perfectly focussed. Normally you can do that at around ~8cms, then when cam has locked the focus, do not release the shutter button and remove your hand and bring it to your subject while keeping the button half pressed and lens focussed with green box. Make sure the subject is exactly at the same distance as your hand was and depress the shutter button fully to make the shot. You might not get a good focus the first time, but you will be able to make wonderful shots with practice. Only thing to note is to keep the subject at exactly same distance as your hand was and make sure its crisp n clear and shoot. You can change the part of the subject in focus by slightly moving the cam front or back by a few millimeters. Also using this method, your subject need not be in the centre for your cam to focus.
A few shots using this technique which noone else will be able to make with this phone using any other method. Its a challenge to focus on such small objects!! Check out my shots!!
This sprout is so small you will never be able to focus onto it from this close in any other way!!
In this one, though the focus went to the middle of the firefly and its wings, still makes a digital cam like shot!!
This one will focus onto the middle of the shot, which i didnt need, so got a focus on the quarter part!!
This was shot in low light, of a very common plant in kerala.. Its a very tiny flower to focus normally!! Its malayalee's thottavadi!!
The main interesting point in close up shots is to detail the subject you need and blur the unwanted background.
Taking landscapes:
Always make sure you dont compose a shot with too much of sky, making the photo dull.
Make sure the background is neat and not complex with useless stuffs and waste. A good background always counts for a good photo.
Putting in landscape mode of cam options will help you take quick photos rather than auto as far objects dont need focussing to shoot. You can click quick photos in landscape mode without green box!
Dont mess around with ISO unless you know how to use it.. More will be added later when I get time, hope you all enjoy with this.!
Credits: This article on Better Photography has been written by Mr. Joseph Alukka (The Genius Guy).
It has been published on our blog with his generous permission.
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