Smartphone Photo Hacks

Smartphone cameras are always becoming more powerful and are capable of delivering pictures in top-notch quality. However, the smartphone is capable of a bit more than “just” taking photos. We’ll show you eight absolutely brilliant tips and tricks for photographing with your mobile!

The camera functions of a smartphone may be quite extensive, but a powerful zoom is unfortunately not among them. If you still want to try to take a picture of an object far away, you can enlist the help of a standard pair of binoculars. Just hold the binoculars in front of the smartphone’s lens, make sure they’re focused, and then you’ll be able to achieve your desired enlargement.

To keep from taking blurry photographs, especially when using a self-timer, using a camera tripod is very helpful. With just a few flicks of the wrist you can also adapt your tripod for use with your smartphone. To do this all you’ll need are, besides a corresponding tripod, a bracket from the hardware store, a fitting nut and bolt, and two adhesive strips. First you need to remove the mount from the top of the tripod on which the camera is normally set. With the help of the nut and bolt, you can now secure the bracket to the tripod. Next, stick both adhesive strips on the vertical part of the bracket. Once you affix your self-made mount to the tripod, you can easily secure your smartphone to the mount using the adhesive strips. In no time at all you’ve crafted a cost-efficient and secure tripod for your mobile.

For those who don’t happen to have their own tripod at home, you can use various household items (like a curved door stopper) and transform them into a smartphone stand. In order to take blur-free photos, just place your smartphone in the inner opening. Alternatively you could also use a cassette case as a mobile stand. Just open up the empty case and attach eight adhesive felt pads to the inside. These small square-shaped felt pads are available in any hardware or home improvement store. On the backside of the opened cassette case, attach on both the left and right side three adhesive felt pads on each other to secure the case. On the inside of the case, attach an adhesive felt pad on the left and right side of the top part. These will protect your mobile from scratches while inside the cassette stand.

This smartphone hack is unbelievably simple, yet effective. All you need for this is a water glass and you’re already ready to take photos underwater with your mobile’s camera! Hold the glass as far under the surface of the water as possible without letting any water inside. Now simply hold your smartphone in the glass and push the button. You’re now ready to take fascinating snap-shots underwater. Ingeniously simple, simply ingenious. Make sure to always keep an eye on the water to keep your mobile from getting wet.

With only a few drops of water you can transform your smartphone lens into a macro lens. Just trickle several drops of water directly on the lens and you can already begin to experiment with the possibilities of macro photography. You can use this trick to take detailed photographs of plants or perhaps photos of everyday household items from a completely new perspective.

This photo tip will ensure a lot of fun when photographing as well as produce tons of extraordinary photos! You’ll just need a smartphone with a panorama photo function, like an iPhone. The photographer should first activate the panorama function while the person being photographed stands on the very edge of the photo. Instead of simply moving the camera sideways quickly as is normal when taking panoramic photos, the photographer holds the camera still once the person being photographed is no longer visible in the display. Now the person being photographed has to run around the photographer while staying out of the camera’s view and make it to the other side of the picture. As soon as they’re in place, the photographer can then take a second picture of them. You won’t be able to take an endless panoramic photo, however you should be able to get in four or five shots. The photos can be especially interesting if the person being photographed stands at various distances from the camera and holds comical poses. This will give your panoramic photo an interesting depth. In order to take extraordinary panoramic photos, it will take a little practice. Important to keep in mind is that the person being photographed should hold completely still when standing in the focus of the panoramic photo to avoid body parts from being “swallowed up.” With this trick you can experiment to your heart’s content and the photos will be sure to make funny and exceptional memories.

With a large piece of cardboard, aluminium foil, and some tape, you can craft a reflector in the blink of an eye. Simply wrap the cardboard with aluminium foil and secure it with tape and voila! You’ve already crafted your reflector! Reflectors are used in photography to reflect present ambient light onto the person being photographed and bring a level or coherence between the photographed subject and its environment. You’ll be able to illuminate your own subjects very well with your self-crafted reflector and improve the overall quality of your photos. A common problem when photographing people is often the incongruity between the present ambient light and the illumination of the photographed subject, which a lens often has difficulty balancing out by itself. If you photograph without a reflector, either the person is well-lit and the background is dark, or the background is well-lit and the person is barely recognisable. With the help of a reflector, you’ll be able to solve this problem and take high-quality photos with your smartphone’s camera.

Everyone’s run into the same problem: you’re standing in front of an impressive monument and want to capture your visit with a photo. However, your arm’s too short to fit both the landmark and yourself in a selfie. What can you do? Here you can enlist the help of a set of earphones and use them as a remote-control release. Simply plug your earphones into your smartphone and hold your mobile at the desired distance (perhaps with the help of one of the mobile stands described above). Once the camera mode is activated, the volume controls on the earphones can be used as a release and this makes it possible to take selfies from a further distance with more of the background visible.