Getting the most from your Android’s camera
STEP ONE IS REALISING YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE STUCK WITH YOUR DEFAULT CAMERA APP.
SMARTPHONE CAMERAS HAVE progressed to the point where they can capture excellent photos in a whole range of conditions. Perhaps more importantly, almost everyone has one on them for capturing unique moments. But while default camera apps are pretty good, there are a range of third-party apps, not to mention tips and tricks, which will help get the most from your Android camera.
SMARTPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY
It’s possible to take some great pictures with a smartphone camera, but it’s equally easy to mess it up. We’ve put together some tips to get the best out of your camera. While easy to forget, it’s best to avoid shooting in portrait mode (camera vertical), rather than landscape (horizontal). When using a smartphone, it’s very easy to end up placing a ngerprint on the camera lens, which leads to slightly blurry photos. Just give it a quick wipe on a so clean
part of your clothing for taking any snaps. Don’t forget the rule of thirds — try not to have your subject front and centre and instead position it slightly to one edge. On most smartphones, the rear camera is significantly better than the front, so avoid it unless taking a selfie. Avoid using the ash unless it is way too dark not to. Conversely, forcing the ash on during the day with a bright background can help provide ll light to a close up subject. As tempting as it is, don’t use digital zoom unless immediately sending or uploading the pic to social media. Instead, crop the photo afterwards.
HDR (High Dynamic Range) takes multiple photos quickly with di erent exposures, and combines the result to give more detail in the light and dark sections of the photo. While HDR is a great tool, it’s best avoided in situations where there is lots of movement, photos where you want dark/ contrast (such as silhouettes) or capturing bright colours. 360-degree photos are loads of fun, and now supported by Facebook. Not all camera apps can take them, but they are a great way to capture the entirety of a scene, rather than a single viewpoint. Many camera and photo apps have lters built in, but they need to be used in moderation. Don’t get too heavy handed — lters are a great way to make a picture pop a little more, rather than totally change it.
CAMERA CONTROLS
e basics are quite straightforward — most apps will focus and adjust the exposure on an area touched, and hitting the button takes the picture. is can actually be a little awkward, so most apps support using the volume buttons to take pics. Other options for direct control include quick launching the camera from screen o with options such as double pressing the volume down button to open up the app. Check your camera settings, or download one of our third-party app recommendations.
ADVANCED FEATURES
As smartphone cameras improve, many stock and third-party apps are including all sorts of advanced features. Manual controls simulate a DSLR experience, with options to control aperture, exposure, ISO, white balance and more. e option to save pictures in RAW format gives the best possible uncompressed photo quality for later editing.
THIRD PARTY APPS
For those who crave a wider range of advanced features, there are loads of apps available to take your smartphone photography to the next level. Another option to improve your happy snaps is using an editing app a er the fact. We’ve tested our ve favourite apps that can all improve your experience. Some of the best options aren’t free, but the low price tags are more than worthwhile.
A BETTER CAMERA
abc.almalence.com Free, with in app purchases, this camera app has loads of modes to help get the best pictures possible in all situations, such as at night shots.
CAMERA FV
www.camerafv5.com is $3.75 camera app is designed to give professional level DSLR like features on your smartphones and can capture RAW images.
OPEN CAMERA
opencamera.sourceforge.net A totally free and open-source camera app with loads of advanced customisations and features. It even has a home screen widget that snaps a photo right away.
VSCO CAM
www.vsco.co With over 10 million installs (free, with paid upgrade), it has in-depth camera controls and presets to make getting the best photo easy.
ADOBE PHOTOSHOP EXPRESS
www.photoshop.com One of the most well-known photo editing apps, available for free (with in app purchases) — Photoshop has great options for auto xes.
SNAPSEED
play.google.com is free photo editing tool from Google has options to edit, transform and apply lters.
GOOGLE PHOTOS
play.google.com is free app gives unlimited storage of photos, and allows direct searching of the actual images — for example, searching for ‘dog’ displays all your pictures that Google can spot a dog in.