15 Essential Tips for Taking Photos on Android

There are dozens of apps that promise to enhance the photos you take with your smartphone, but all you really need to do is learn how to use your camera effectively. There are several ways to enhance your photos on Android using only the features available on your device. If you're curious, just check out some of our top tips for taking better quality Android photos without much effort. The full list can be seen below!

1. Change the resolution

Most current smartphones have Full HD or even 4K resolutions for their images and videos, but generally a resolution enabled by default is much lower. This helps your photos not take up too much storage space on your device, but makes the quality obviously worse.

Fortunately, just go to the camera app settings and change the resolution as much as possible. In most cases, just open the camera and you'll find it right there.

2. Keep the lens clean

Many people do not pay attention to one of the most important aspects of the smartphone camera: its lens. Although it is protected by a glass on the back, you always need to make sure the glass itself is clean.

Any kind of dirt, dust or fingerprints can get in the way of your photos, so we suggest that you clean the lens glass very carefully.

3. Adjust focus manually

Many smartphones offer an auto focus feature, which can disrupt your photos. This happens when the device insists on focusing in the wrong place and leaves people or main objects totally blurred.

To handle this, you can turn on manual focus or click on the screen to point wherever the camera focuses. On some handsets, this can be more difficult, so it's always wise to research exactly how to do this on your particular model.

4. Take multiple photos in a row

You can't just take a picture of something and expect it to be perfect, so we advise you to make the most of photos followed by the same situation. This way you can take a good look at them all and choose the best one.

This is something most photographers do and even those who like to take selfies end up doing it without realizing it. The tip is to do this process on all your photos, but don't forget to erase the excess afterwards so as not to overfill your smartphone storage.

5. Use accessories

Although you don't need additional apps to take great pictures, some accessories can help you a lot. There are several photography items specifically made for modern smartphones, such as special lenses, brackets or even ways to manually zoom. In this case, it depends more on the type of photo you are wanting to make with your device.

6. Use both hands

Unless you're taking a selfie, it's important to use both hands to take your photos with a smartphone. This helps you get a lot firmer and get a better frame. Other than just using one hand, you can end up shaking your smartphone just in time to hit the capture button.

7. Use the framing grid

Almost every smartphone today has the option of adding a grid to the screen so you get a better sense of the framing of your photos. This allows you to better adjust the angle of your photos and decide what can be centered (especially in landscapes). It's also a good way to prevent people or objects in your photo from being bent or missing parts by accident.

8. Take horizontal shots

Many people still insist on taking vertical shots to capture a larger object or even a full body person. Unless this is absolutely necessary, we recommend that you always make your photos and videos horizontal.

You'll have more framing options and you can include a little more of the scenery around you, which usually results in a much more interesting composition. This also helps when viewing photos in other ways, whether on TV, computer or even if they are printed.

9. Adjust the distance

You can follow all the tips in this list, but it is still possible to spoil a photo if you do not get the correct distance from the camera and the photographed object. Getting too close or too far turns out to be a big problem, but it can also be difficult to figure out the perfect distance without testing first.

So our tip is to try different distances of the same photo whenever possible and make multiple images to gain a better sense of space.

10. Observe background objects

Something very common to see in more casual photos is unnecessary objects appearing at the bottom of the photo, something that takes the focus off what you really wanted to show in the image.

As you adjust the frame, start paying attention to it and remove whatever you think is necessary. Just don't take anything away from it, as certain objects can help create a sense of depth in the image.

11. Enjoy the natural light

One of the elements that makes a photo fantastic is its lighting, especially when it consists of natural light. As much as some situations require artificial light, we recommend that you always try some alternatives with the actual lighting of the place of the photo.

Another tip is to avoid bright lights directly on the subject (unless the subject is overexposed) and to use shadows in your favor.

12. Avoid Flash

As tempting as it may be to use your camera's flash, it is more than recommended that you avoid using it whenever possible. The flash changes the real color of objects and people, makes the background fade most of the time, leaves artificial lighting, creates shadows in strange places, and can even leave a person's face with kinda bizarre effects.

Flash is there for emergency use only, but it can always have a much better solution available. In any case, natural lighting or even a darker picture can produce better results.

13. Avoid Zoom

Smartphone zooming is another feature that should be avoided at all costs. Since it is not a true zoom, you will only be zooming in and not zooming in on the subject.

This makes the image distorted, has less detail and a much lower resolution. Currently, there are some smartphones that are offering some real zoom, but generally it is minimal and rarely found.

14. Enable HDR

Most of today's smartphones feature HDR, which can greatly improve the quality of your photos. It helps you achieve great contrast, more vibrant colors and much better detail than usual.

To do this, it automatically takes three photos at different exposure levels to match your best looks and then deliver the highest quality result. Photos taken with this feature take a little longer, but are worth it.

15. Use perspective to your advantage

Finally, we recommend not just taking photos that only feel too flat or straight. Play with the perceptive of the place, especially if it's a photo of a scene and not of people or objects.

To do this, you can try different angles or less uniform distances from one object to another. Of course, this doesn't work well for all kinds of photos, so it's a matter of testing what works.

Liked the tips for taking photos on Android?

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