USE LOTS OF LIGHT

The better lit your subject is the clearer your

image is likely to be.
Shoot outside or turn on lights when
shooting inside.
If your phone has flash try using it for
daylight shots - the extra 'fill' light gives a great
effect.
If your phone has a 'night' setting try
turning it on during daylight shots.
GET CLOSE TO THE SUBJECT

For best results, you want to be about a metre

from the subject. Camera phone images tend to be
smallish due to their lower resolution so fill up
your viewfinder with your subject. That way you'll
avoid a common phone camera problem, the
subject being a tiny, unrecognisable object in the
distance.

PRESS AND...WAIT

There's often a delay between the push of the

button on a camera phone and the moment when
the picture is captured, it's called Shutter Lag.
Don't move the camera until you see the captured
image on your screen. Also keep the camera as
still as possible, lean against something if that
helps you, this is especially true for low light
conditions when the camera takes longer to
capture the shot.
DON'T THROW AWAY 'MISTAKES'

The quality and size of your phone screen is no

match for a proper monitor. So a picture that
doesn't impress you on your phone might end up
impressing you when you see it at full size on your
PC. You'll also find that even 'mistakes' and
blurred shots can actually be quite useable (in an
abstract kind of way).

AVOID USING DIGITAL ZOOM

Digital Zoom achieves magnification by enlarging

the pixels in your image and it leads to loss of
image quality so try and stay away from it. Some
phones however offer Optical Zoom (check out
the Samsung G800 on page 14). Optical zoom
uses the optics (lens) of the camera to bring the
subject closer with no loss of image quality so it
can be very handy when composing a shot.

USE THE HIGHEST RESOLUTION (IMAGE

SIZE) POSSIBLE ON YOUR CAMERA
PHONE

If your phone has a 3 megapixel camera for

example, go into the settings and makes sure
you're taking 3 megapixel images. The higher the
resolution, the more options you have with it - a
larger image means you can produce good quality
large prints or it gives you the option to crop it
down to a smaller size when editing it with
photography software.

TAKE LOTS OF SHOTS AND BE CRAZY!

The beauty of digital photography (including

camera phones) is the ability to go crazy and shoot
off many shots quickly and without cost. So take
as many shots as you can, use the portability
advantage a phone camera gives you and break the
rules. Shoot from down low, up high, close up,
from the hip - you'll end up with interesting and
fun shots!