Peeling back the layers on the ways to photograph vegetables, plants, gardens and nature, Stephen Studd continues his advice for optimising your business website images.
Peeling back the layers on the ways to photograph vegetables, plants, gardens and nature, Stephen Studd continues his advice for optimising your business website images.
This is the second article on improving your online photos, while the first one was about presenting images on your website this is about photography techniques.
So how do you get the most out of your camera phone? A lot of the rules are the same as in traditional photography. Stephen Studd writes:
Use the highest resolution
A recent survey revealed more than 60 percent of people who used camera phones used them on their standard setting. Selecting your camera phone to the highest possible resolution achieves better results.
This will reduce the number of images you are able to store but the quality will be so much better. Plus if you want to print them or use them on the web the higher quality original the better.
WorkshopsReduce the chance of blur or camera shake
Most cameras require a steady hand to capture sharp images, even more so with a camera phone as there is no exposure control.
Make sure you are well balanced when taking your shot with both feet on the ground, tuck your lower arms in to the body. Keeping the phone nearer to your body reduces the chances of blur, fully extended arms increase the chance of blur.
With camera phones there is often a delay from the time you press the button to the picture actually being taken, this is called shutter lag. Make sure the camera phone is kept very still until you know the image is captured.
Slow shutter speeds in poor light result in blurry images as the shutter remains open longer for light to capture the image on the sensor. A way round this is to have the subject in good light, a reason why most outdoor shots will be sharp. The tiniest bit of blur on an image creates poor results when enlarged.
PhotosUse good lighting
We might be able to see in poor lighting conditions, however our camera phone won`t. Most phone cameras struggle to get good results in low light conditions. Photos taken in poor lighting conditions will have those tell tale signs of digital noise and blurriness.
When using a camera phone it is better that the subject is well lit. To avoid silhouetting be sure to have the subject with the light source in front of it.
Avoid using digital zoom
Try to avoid using digital zoom as this will decrease the quality of your shot (pixelating it). Only optical zooms retain quality as they don`t enlarge pixels.
Instead of using digital zoom move in closer to the subject, giving you time to think about the resulting image. If you can`t do this it is better to crop the image afterwards than to use digital zoom.
Look after the lens
As with traditional photography the lens on a camera phone is really important to keep clean. Unless your phone has a lens cover, camera phones get damaged easily as they are often in pockets or bags and get dirty really fast, plus they are used in all weather conditions and environments and left lying around.
They easily pick up finger prints which results in poor quality images. Try to keep your lens clean and make sure to clean it, sunglasses cloths are ideal for this.
Images taken with camera phones can be greatly improved with post-processing software such as Elements or Photoshop enabling you to get better sharpness, tone and quality.
Stephen Studd will be leading workshops in 2012 on Garden and Flower Photography, details can be found on his website Stephen Studd Photography
Source: Landscape Juice – Don’t be Camera Shy, Stephen Studd’s Advice for Mobile Phone Classics
