Phone photography
The phone is now the most widely used camera in the world. Its sensor is small, but it makes up for it with several cameras and enormous computing power: every time you press the shutter button, the phone combines several images into one. Understanding what each lens does and what the software does will help you get far more out of it.
Several cameras in one phone
When you tap 0.5×, 1× or 3× in the app, you're not zooming: you're switching cameras. The 0.5× is an ultra wide-angle, useful for interiors and architecture, but it distorts the edges and performs worse in low light. The 1× is the main camera: it has the largest sensor and the brightest optics, and it's the one you should use whenever you can. The 3× or 5× is a telephoto, ideal for portraits and details.
Between those values, and beyond the last one, the phone crops and enlarges the image: that's digital zoom. Some models hide it well up to 2×, but beyond that the loss of detail is obvious.
Before using digital zoom, take a few steps toward the subject.
The same mug with the 3× telephoto and with 10× digital zoom.
What computational photography does
Your phone captures several photos before and after you press the shutter button and merges them. That's how it achieves HDR, which keeps detail in the sky and the shadows at the same time, and night mode, which stacks many exposures to reduce noise and shake. Keep the phone still until the capture finishes: it's what affects sharpness most.
Portrait mode calculates a depth map to blur the background. The result is convincing, but it fails on hair, glasses, wine glasses and complex outlines. Always check those areas and, if the app allows it, adjust the blur strength afterwards.
Five habits that instantly improve your photos
- Clean the lens before you shoot: grease from your fingers is the most common cause of milky photos with halos.
- Tap the screen to focus and slide your finger up or down to adjust the exposure before you shoot.
- Press and hold on the subject to lock focus and exposure (AE/AF lock) and reframe calmly.
- Avoid the built-in flash: it flattens faces and hardens shadows. Look for a window or move closer to a light source.
- If your phone allows it, shoot RAW (ProRAW, Expert RAW or similar) when you're going to edit the photo.
Your turn: three lenses, one scene
All you need is your phone and about 15 minutes.
- Without moving, take the same photo with 0.5×, 1× and 3×.
- Move so the subject fills the same space with each lens, and repeat.
- Compare the six images: background, proportions, sharpness and noise.
- Try night mode in a dark scene, with the phone resting on something and handheld.