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Seven mistakes that ruin your smartphone photos

March 5, 2022 by Linda Holt 9 Comments

Are you someone who struggles to get a good photo using your smartphone? Maybe you think you’re just a bad photographer. I’m telling you anyone can take a great photo using just their smartphone. The phones today, especially the newer ones, do an amazing job of taking a beautiful photo. The secret is to stop making these seven mistakes that ruin your smartphone photos.

Mistake #1: Not controlling the exposure

Most of the time, your smartphone will do a pretty good job of getting the exposure correct. However, when you rely solely on the in-camera light meter, there will be times you may be disappointed. The best practice is to get in the habit of controlling the exposure manually.

Snow scenes, cloudy days and poorly lite interiors are all lighting situations when your photo may look too dark or underexposed.

smartphone mistakes underexposed
underexposed Photo on a cloudy day

To control the exposure on your iphone, touch your finger to the camera screen until a yellow box with a little sun appears. Then by swiping your finger up or down the screen you can lighten or darken the image to control the exposure.

If you have an android phone, hold your finger on the camera screen until you see a yellow circle. Then swipe left or right to lighten or darken the image.

adjusting the exposure on the smartphone
#exposurecontrol

Below is the same image as above where I set the exposure manually to achieve a properly exposed image.

smartphone mistakes
manually setting exposure with smartphone

#2: Not paying attention to the lighting

Another common mistake that will ruin your smartphone photos is not paying any attention to the lighting. Professional photographers always time their shoots and you should do the same.

An ideal time to shoot outdoors is during the “Golden Hour”. That is about one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset. The light will be soft, warm and directional. The golden hour is such a beautiful light for capturing stunning images.

The image below was taken around noon when the sun was high in the sky and behind the house causing lens flair. Terrible lighting!

photography lighting mistake
Noon lighting causing lens flair

Below is the same house, photographed around 7am during the golden hour. See what a big difference timing can make?

golden hour lighting
golden hour lighting

#3.Taking only one shot

Are you someone who shoots a single photo, walks away, and then later find yourself disappointed by the results? Taking just a single shot or two can greatly decrease your odds of getting a fabulous shot. Professionals will take dozens of shots of a single scene. The more images you shoot, the better chance you will capture that one “killer shot”.

Next time you shoot something of interest, reframe your image and shoot again. Move around, change the camera angle, shoot high, shoot low, try as many different compositions as you can think of.

4. Not editing your photos

There are three elements to achieving a great photo, good composition, good lighting and editing. Skipping the final step of editing will rarely result in a photo you are proud of.

Today there is no excuse for not editing because it is so quick and easy. You can use the in-camera editing feature or download an app like Snapseed or LightRoom.

The image on the left is how my photo looked directly from the camera. Removing the distracting circled items and lightening the image made all the difference in the end result of my photo. All the editing was done on my phone in a matter of minutes.

editing on the smartphone

Even something as basic as cropping can make such a difference. The image below was taken of a rose while out to brunch. The photo has too many distracting elements in the background adding nothing to the image.

smartphone editing
Before cropping

Simply by cropping the photo which took only seconds, I made a much stronger image of the rose.

using the crop tool to edit
#editing by #cropping

5. Not using any of the cameras features

If you have purchased a camera within the past few years, your camera will have some amazing features. Depending on which phone model and year you own, features will vary.

At the very least, most newer model phones have portrait mode, burst mode, panorama, and HDR.

Using portrait mode to take a photo of my dog sticking his head out of the car window, was a much better composition than had the background been busy and in sharp focus.

portrait mode
dog shot using Portrait mode

Live mode is a feature that is handy when you want to create a loop, bounce or long exposure photo. Below is a waterfall shot taken with my iphone while on a hike.

waterfall shot in live mode
Waterfall shot in LIVE MODE

It was so easy to edit the image and turn it into a long exposure for a more interesting photo.

waterfall edited in live mode to make a slow motion photo
Live Mode turned in a slow motion image

Don’t know how to use Live mode? You can see instructions HERE.

6. Rarely taking photos

If you’re serious about improving as a photographer you need to practice! Make it a goal to shoot everyday or at least a few times a week. Don’t wait for a special occasion or the “once in a blue moon”, blue moon!!!

There are interesting things to shoot all around us. In my free facebook group I give the members a weekly photo assignment or “challenge”. It’s always something more or less mundane. Assignments such as, photograph the color RED or photograph water or your favorite “cheat food”. Here is a post I wrote about shooting everyday items if you need some inspiration.

The facebook group is non competitive, fun and so many have said, simply by practicing weekly they have become a better photographer.

If you are interested in practicing and want to join the group just click on the link below.

Cellphone Photo Challenge by Linda Holt

7. Never cleaning your lens

This is by far one of the biggest mistakes that ruin your smartphone photos. I have polled people multiple times and four out of five people tell me they rarely or never clean their phone lens. SHOCKING!!!

biggest smartphone mistakes that ruin your photos

Think about where your phone is on a daily basis. In the cup well of your car, on the kitchen counter while you’re cooking, stuffed into your bag or pocket. The lens gets dusty, greasy and dirty and needs to be cleaned every now and then. Otherwise, you run the risk of blurry photos.

You don’t need any fancy cleaning tools. The Phone lens are not like traditional digital camera lens that are finely ground optical glass. A soft damp cloth is all that’s required.

How many of these mistakes do you make? Simply by changing a few of them you will be surprised at how much better your photos will look.

Designers, stagers and other home professionals,be sure to grab my free download

Five Smartphone photo tips for magazine worthy interior photos

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Filed Under: Photography, Uncategorized Tagged With: cellphonephotography, iphone photography, iphone photography tips, photo mistakes, smartphone photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Suzie Winston says

    March 5, 2022 at 9:02 am

    thanks for these amazing tips!! i’m also very bad about cleaning my lens😉

    Reply
    • Linda Holt says

      March 5, 2022 at 9:09 am

      Most people always forget to clean their lens. It really can make a difference though in the quality of you photos.

      Reply
  2. Christie says

    March 5, 2022 at 11:47 am

    These are great tips! I’m confused how you did the long exposure edit on the water shot? What tool is that on an iphone? Thanks

    Reply
    • Linda Holt says

      March 5, 2022 at 11:50 am

      Thanks Christie. Full instruction on how I created the long exposure are linked in the blog post. It’s very easy!

      Reply
  3. Janet Lorusso says

    March 5, 2022 at 4:46 pm

    Such great tips, Linda, and gorgeous examples! That Eiffel tower shot is straight out of a magazine, as is the harbor shot (is that Rowes Wharf?)

    Reply
  4. Amy Wax says

    March 5, 2022 at 9:40 pm

    All great tips once again Linda, I really enjoy reading your advice and tips. Thanks for sharing your expertise!

    Reply
  5. Leslie Carothers says

    March 6, 2022 at 7:09 am

    Good morning, Linda ~

    Thanks again for another post full of such helpful tips! I am going to try the LONG EXPOSURE tip, which I’ve never tried before -especially now that I have my new phone.

    And.. my lens definitely DOES need cleaning, and I don’t do it often enough – so thank you for that reminder.

    You’re always so generous with your info, I really appreciate it!

    Reply
  6. Deborah Main says

    March 6, 2022 at 1:45 pm

    Another fantastic post with such helpful tips!! Do you know that I’ve read your tips and am taking your fabulous online course and each time I learn something new. I’m glad you’re drinking it into us,cause evidently it takes several times for me to “get it”. Lol! I finally now see the yellow circle on my Droid to adjust the lighting. Thanks so much Linda for focusing on this important subject so we can all take better photos!!

    Reply
  7. Rachel says

    March 6, 2022 at 2:28 pm

    OMG! Never knew about turning a Live Photo into a SloMo! Thank you! 🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏾‍♀️🏃🏾‍♀️* runs to clean lens! 🤦🏽‍♀️😂

    Reply

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