Camera phone tips

Phone cameras are still a cell phone add-on toy and as such cannot produce photos that match even the cheapest of real cameras. However, they are getting much better and are loads of fun to use.

Here are some cell phone camera usage tips that should help you get better results from your phone camera.

* It's best to shoot outdoors in good light with your back to the sun. Photos taken outdoors are usually clearer and contain more detail than those taken indoors. This is because the lower light levels found indoors require longer exposures that result in more digital noise and camera shake.


* Avoid indoor shots unless the lighting is very good or your phonecam has a built-in-flash.

* If you must shoot indoor or outdoor backlit scenes, use an additional light source or move the subject to a brighter area.

* Avoided including the following in the composition: highly reflective surfaces, bright lights, large dark areas and bright white or gray skies.

* Always move in close and fill the frame with your main subject in order to maximize detail.

* Know your closest normal and macro focusing distances by experimenting with your camera.

* Keep the lens clean in order to obtain good sharp focusing.

* To help reduce camera shake caused by shutter lag and low-light conditions, stand with your feet apart and keep two relaxed and steady hands on the camera. For additional stability, prop your elbows tight against your body and lean against a wall etc. Press the shutter button smoothly without moving your body.

* These cameras are slow to take and save the image so after pressing the shutter button do not move until it is done.

* If your main subject is light and surrounded by dark areas, your photo may end up overexposed. In order to avoid this, try recomposing so that the main subject fills most of the frame.

* Finally, use an image editing program to correct exposure and color problems once you save your cell phone camera pictures to a computer.