Phone cameras are evolving rapidly to the point where the quality of the images now rivals that of higher-end camera bodies by names like Canon, Sony and Nikon.
This photographic arms race between the traditional dedicated SLR (single lens reflex) camera bodies along with the newer mirror-less camera bodies, versus the smartphone makers Apple, Samsung and others, is shrinking considerably as each new product release cycle happens each year.
I’m currently waiting for my recently ordered iPhone 15 Pro Max to arrive in a few weeks. It’s quite the upgrade from the iPhone 13 Pro Max
My ancient (by smartphone standards) 13, which I purchased two whole years ago, is now left in the dust by the capabilities of the new 15 model.
It boasts a 48-megapixel camera with a bigger zoom ability, while that "old" 13 is scraping by with a mere 12 megapixels.
The old one makes great images, to be fair, but the new model, with its 48-megapixel sensor, is now in another universe of quality.
To put that into perspective, the iPhone 15 camera has the same sensor size as my new pro Canon camera body, the mirror-less R5 model, which is pretty incredible, really.
Having that much image-capturing power in a phone is impressive. But what does that mean for the average person out there who likes to snap pictures of their lunch, their sleepy cat purring, close-ups of a dog’s nose, and, of course, those duck-face selfies?
It means it's time to (mostly) stop doing all that and evolve your own camera eye in lockstep with the technology.
Granted, cute cats and dog noses are always welcome, if you ask me.
This is certainly not an advertisement for smartphones. This is me trying to help your photography grow and utilize this amazing new tech that sits in your pocket everywhere you go.
Let’s start with something easy.
Try to always keep the sun at your back. Make the most of all that fabulous free lighting to illuminate your subjects, especially if they are fast-moving ones, like during sports events and such.
Another biggie: get down to the eye level of your smaller subjects. When capturing kids or pets, get down on the ground and look them in the eye. Proper perspective is key.
And speaking of eyes, when making a portrait photo or capturing any person or animal, make that the main point of focus. Always focus on the eyes before any other part.
And get rid of all that dead space. Nothing burns my toast more than someone taking a picture of a person and that subject is positioned in the centre of the photo and taking up only a small part of the overall image. Get in close. Make them stand out as much as possible.
For me, as a photographer and photojournalist, balance is the single most important aspect in the making of a good, quality photograph.
It’s hard to put into words describing exactly what I mean, but over time and with more experience, it becomes instantly obvious when you look at an image if it has balance or not. I will add a few good examples of balanced images in the photo gallery of this column to hopefully get across what I mean.
A balanced image, to me, has an equal amount of empty or dead space around the edges, and follows the rule of thirds in many cases, but not always. Look up that rule online, as describing what that is will take up far too many precious words in my word count, plus you’ll get bored with this story, if you aren’t already.
An easy way to determine balance is to imagine a line down the middle, or across the middle, depending on where your subjects are in the photo.
Is there an equal amount of foreground or background subject matter split between the two imaginary sides, and neither subject is cropped in a particularly awkward fashion?
If there is more than one person or semi-important background subject matter items — like trees or cars (parked or moving), fire hydrants, background dogs, flying birds, buildings, or anything else that is not plain and uniform in the image such as sky, water, or grass — make sure they are not half-cropped out of the photo.
Make sure these items I just described are balanced in regards to each other on either side of that imaginary line you made in your photo.
After a while practising this method, you will not even notice yourself doing it, when you are cropping or editing your images after you have taken them, and soon you will actually be framing your shots in-camera as you make them, using this strategy, which eliminates unnecessary editing later.
It’s easy-peasy and makes a whole world of difference when composing and capturing a good, everyday photograph.
These are just a few basic simple rules I follow as I point my lens all over the city of Barrie every day.
I hope this helps, but I also hope you don’t get good enough as a photographer to take my job as a photojournalist away from me just yet.
Hit me up by email if you have any questions about photography. I’m more than happy to help and can talk all day on the subject.
In the meantime, tap into that power in your pocket.
Kevin Lamb is a staff reporter at BarrieToday and a bit of a wizard when it comes to photography. He can be reached at [email protected].
