Here at Ballymena Today our camera phone has become one of our most important tools for keeping you up to date with all the things that are going on in our Ballymena Community.

photo-1416149517343-b030f2729cbd

Ballymena Today loves Camera Phones

Here are some tips which we have to make the most of your camera phone.

1/ Don’t zoom in. When you are using a normal camera up to date lenses can be great for zooming in on details. Unfortunately most camera phones are unable to recreate the same quality when zoomed in. Our advice is to take your snap and then crop it later. That way you capture the whole image, it will be good quality and then you can crop it to frame you subject perfectly later on.

Lots of phones now have their own cropping function under ‘edit’.

2/ Edit before you filter. We all love adding a filter but any respectable photographer is likely to give filters a miss and edit the photo manually instead. That it what makes lots of professional images stand out for the rest.  Phone Apps such as SnapSeed or Photoshop Express can be really useful. Just upload your picture and place around with settings including brightness and contrast. This will help you to create your own style and make your pictures stand out.

3/ Take lots of pictures. Obviously the more photographs you take of a subject the more likely you are to snap one which you love. If you have people posing or a scene framed up and ready to snap don’t just take one picture – snap lots and then go back and delete the ones you wont use afterwards. Doing this has meant that I have captured lots of little moment which I otherwise would have missed. Just keep and eye on you phone memory and try to delete as many a possible when you get home.

4/ Don’t use the flash. Ever. Alway turn your flash off. It is unflattering to skin tones and casts unnatural light on to your subject. Professionals agree that capturing your image in natural sunlight is the best idea. So seek out places that are perfect for picture taking – it may be by your kitchen door in the morning, or a corner of your sun lounge. Just avoid that flash.

5/ Use negative space to your advantage. Sometimes filling the frame with your subject is exactly what you want but for something a but more interesting consider placing the subject of your photograph to one side of the frame and capture some of the background too. Make sure that the back drop isn’t too busy and experiment lots to get this just right.

6/ Focus on Flat lays. Flat Lays are picture which are often seen on Instagram and blogs where people arrange and outfit of objects and snap a picture from above. Margaret Zhang is a professional photographer and blogger who is the queen of the flat lay. Study her and learn from the best. Just remember not to use #flatlay if it isn’t actually a flat lay! Click here to view more photographs by Margaret Zhang.

7/ Ditch the selfie stick. Selfies have their uses but did you know that most cameras now have a built in timer. That means that you can set your camera up (use a few books and some sticky tape if necessary) and then the timer will take pictures at regular intervals as you pose. This is great for when you are out with a group of people and don’t want to be stuck behind the camera all the time.

8/ Turn your phone around. When taking photographs with your camera it is tempting to take them all in portrait. Remember to snap a few in landscape too.

9/ Share you pictures. Get on Instagram or another photo sharing site and share your great snaps with others. If you aren;t keen about sharing your images online then invest in a printer and some photo paper and start printing them out. Gather up some frames and start enjoying your photographs! A modern way to display pictures is to incorporate them into a photo wall.

Using a camera phone is a really convenient, easy way to capture great moments. Hopefully these tips from Ballymena Today will help you to build up some great photo albums. Click here to see some snaps we at Ballymena Today have taken on our smart phones.