4 ways to do more with your smartphone camera
STILL USING YOUR PHONE’S CAMERA ONLY FOR SELFIES AND QUICK VIDEOS? YOU’RE BARELY TOUCHING ITS POTENTIAL
Even if you don’t have the latest smartphone, the tools for your photography can go beyond the more commonly used ones like the portrait and lowlight modes. With a reasonably up-to-date operating system, you can have voice-activated photo sessions, create wide-screen images, record video at different playback speeds and visually search the internet.
Here’s a quick tour of the things you can do with default apps like Google Camera for Android and Apple’s Camera app for the iOS system on its iPhones.
Virtual assistant
Your phone’s virtual assistant can handle part of your camerawork. For example, with the Google Assistant, just say, “OK, Google, take a picture” or “OK, Google, take a selfie” — and Google Camera pops up, displays a countdown and snaps the picture. Google Assistant is available for Android and iOS. Apple’s Siri assistant also responds to many requests. The software opens the iPhone’s Camera app if you say, “Hey, Siri, take a photo,” but leaves the actual press of the shutter button to you.
Panoramic mode
Want to take a picture that’s too wide to fit on the camera’s screen? You just need to use the camera’s panoramic mode, wherein you take a series of photos and the software combines them into one big picture.
Open Google Camera and swipe to the left along the horizontal menu. Tap the Modes button, select Panorama and press the shutter button while you slowly move the phone to capture the shot. In Apple’s Camera app, swipe to the left, select Pano and follow the instructions on-screen. You can also ask the Google Assistant or Siri to open the camera directly in the panoramic mode.
Cinematic effects
Google and Apple’s camera software include modes for adding cinematic effects to your video. The time-lapse setting speeds up the playback of slow events like sunsets or storms rolling in. The slow-motion setting records normally and then decreases the speed of the action in the clip
Keeping the phone steady makes for a better time-lapse video, so consider a tripod if you don’t have a solid place to prop up the device. And slow motion works best outdoors.
Modes menu
Google Lens is image-recognition software powered by artificial intelligence. And it may already be on your phone, as it’s included on the Modes menu in Google Camera, in Google Photos and in the Google Lens app for Android. Those with iOS devices can find it in Google Photos or the Google app.