Phone cameras have gotten absurdly good. The limiting factor in most phone photos isn't the hardware anymore - it's the person taking the picture. The good news: a few simple techniques dramatically improve most photos, and they don't require any special equipment.
I'm not a professional photographer, but I've spent years taking and editing photos on my phone. These are the techniques that made the biggest difference for me.
Light Is Everything
This is the single most important thing in photography, and it costs nothing. The same scene looks completely different at noon versus golden hour. The same subject looks flat under fluorescent lights but beautiful by a window.
Quick lighting wins:
- Shoot during golden hour (hour after sunrise, hour before sunset) for warm, flattering light
- Face your subject toward the light source, not away from it (unless you want a silhouette)
- Cloudy days are great for portraits - even, diffused light without harsh shadows
- Indoors, position people near windows rather than under overhead lights
- Avoid mixed lighting (some sunlight, some artificial) - it makes colors look weird
The biggest mistake I see people make is shooting into the sun or in deep shadow. Your eyes adjust automatically; your camera can't handle the same dynamic range. If you're squinting, your photo will probably look bad.
The Rule of Thirds
Enable the grid lines in your camera app. Most phones have an option for this. You'll see two horizontal and two vertical lines dividing the frame into nine sections.
Place your main subject at one of the four points where lines intersect, not dead center. This creates more visually interesting compositions. It's not a strict rule - sometimes center works better - but it's a good starting point when you're not sure.
Simple composition hack: If you're taking a photo of a person, put their eyes on the upper third line. If you're shooting a landscape, put the horizon on either the upper or lower third line instead of cutting the frame exactly in half.
Get Closer
Most phone photos would improve if the photographer took two steps forward. Zoom with your feet, not the camera - digital zoom degrades quality, and even optical zoom often produces softer images than the main lens.
Fill the frame with your subject. Cut out distracting backgrounds. If you're photographing a person, don't include their full body unless there's a reason - a tighter crop often looks better.
Clean Your Lens
This sounds stupid, but I'm including it because it's so often overlooked. Your phone camera lens lives in your pocket with lint, gets touched by fingers, catches oil from your face when you take calls. A smudged lens makes photos look hazy or adds unwanted flare.
Wipe the lens with a soft cloth before important shots. Takes two seconds.
Use Portrait Mode Thoughtfully
Portrait mode (the feature that blurs the background) is genuinely useful, but it's overused. The artificial blur looks best when:
- Your subject has clear edges the software can detect
- There's some distance between the subject and background
- The blur amount is set conservatively (too much looks fake)
Portrait mode looks worst on subjects with fine details (hair blowing in wind, glasses frames, complex patterns) where the software struggles to figure out what to blur. If you see weird artifacts around edges, switch to regular mode.
Editing: Less Is More
Every phone comes with a capable photo editor. The photos that most benefit from editing are the ones that came out okay but not great - bad photos rarely become good through editing.
My basic editing flow:
1) Crop and straighten if needed. 2) Adjust exposure if the photo is too dark or bright. 3) Slight bump to contrast. 4) Maybe adjust color temperature if it looks too warm or cool. That's usually it.
Common editing mistakes to avoid:
- Over-saturating colors until they look radioactive
- Cranking up contrast until you lose shadow detail
- Over-sharpening until edges look crunchy
- Heavy filter presets that make photos look dated
The goal of editing is to enhance what's already there, not completely transform the image. If you find yourself spending 10 minutes trying to save a photo, it might be easier to just take a better one.
Stabilize Yourself
Blurry photos from camera shake are still common, especially in lower light. Your phone compensates somewhat, but you can help:
- Hold the phone with both hands
- Tuck your elbows against your body
- Lean against something stable if available
- Take a breath and shoot on the exhale
For anything critical (group photos, travel shots you can't retake), take multiple photos. It's free. One will likely be sharper than the others.
Know Your Phone's Limitations
Modern phone cameras are excellent in good light. They're much worse in low light, despite marketing claims. The sensors are small, and the aggressive computational processing creates artifacts.
Accept that some situations just don't work well on a phone:
- Dark concerts and events (you'll get blur and noise)
- Fast action in anything less than bright light
- Subjects very far away (optical zoom is limited)
- Extreme high-contrast scenes (bright sky, dark foreground)
Rather than fighting the phone's limitations, work with them. Move to better light. Get closer instead of zooming. Take photos of what works well rather than struggling with what doesn't.
Practice Seeing
The best way to get better at photography is to take more photos and look critically at the results. When a photo doesn't work, ask why. When a photo turns out great, figure out what made it work.
Over time, you start seeing compositions before you take the picture. You notice when light is good. You anticipate moments. This comes from practice, not from tips articles - though hopefully these tips give you a useful starting point.
Your phone camera is a better camera than most professionals had twenty years ago. The tool isn't the limiting factor.
