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Your phone camera packs a lot of punch. Even though they’re still far off from the quality of DSLRs, they can make some great images. Some phone cameras can even shoot in 4K, and such high-quality pictures take up a lot of space.

Because of that, the latest iPhones switched from the standard JPG file format to HEIC. To learn what HEIC is, visit https://macpaw.com/how-to/what-is-heic-file.

No matter what brand of phone you have or the operating system you use, these tips will take your phone photography to a whole new level.

Know your phone camera capabilities

The first step to taking fantastic shots with your phone: find out what your camera is capable of. Once you know this, you can comfortably experiment with the auto mode. Check out how it focuses and how it responds to light exposure.

If you want more control or the auto settings just aren’t working in a situation, switch to manual mode. You can adjust the same settings as you can with a DSLR, including shutter speed, ISO, focus depth, and white balance. Once you get some practice in, you can take incredible photos with your smartphone.

Lighting: Natural, Outdoor, Indirect

The best pictures are taken outside and in natural light. A majority of smartphones fall short when it comes to taking indoor photos. Their small sensors limit the amount of light they can process.

Once you have your natural light, position your subject to be in indirect light. This will help the contrast in your image be more balanced.

Stick to HDR

HDR is a common feature in smartphone cameras. It stands for High Dynamic Range. This mode combines detail from the light and dark areas to give a more balanced exposure. This prevents the sun from looking too bright or the ground too dark in an image. It is excellent for outdoor landscape photography.

Don’t use digital zoom

Images are best captured at a certain distance, and that is why there is the zoom option. But there are two types of zoom; optical and digital. Digital zoom often produces a poor shot as the resolution of the image is reduced. Optical zoom should be your go-to as it does not affect the quality of the picture.

Make use of gridlines

Gridlines serve two roles when it comes to taking pictures, but they are often ignored. First, they make it easier to judge visual weight and balance. Second, they make it easy to use the rule thirds.

The rule of thirds is a design composition term that refers to placing your subject in a manner that makes it more aesthetic. When you activate the gridlines, your screen is divided into nine equal parts (like you’re about to play tic-tac-toe). Usually, you want your subject on the lines.

Take multiple shots

Like DSLRs, your camera phone should have an option to take multiple or burst shots. This is great for people who like to take sequence shots. So you can quickly shoot 20 pictures in succession to follow a movement of the subject. Aside from this, taking multiple photos means that you can take your time to select the best ones.