How to Make Your Smartphone Photos Look (Almost) Professional

We all want amazing-looking photos – the kind that make viewers think you must have an expensive DSLR camera and a hefty amount of photographic skill.

But at the same time, many of us love the convenience of a smartphone. They’re small, easy to use, and most take great snapshots.

So can you somehow get both the convenience and the excellent photography all in one? What can you do take your smartphone photos to the next level?

Make use of camera apps

Most smartphone cameras work just fine, but smartphone camera apps can make a huge difference in the quality of your shots.

If you’ve got an iPhone, Camera+ is an excellent app that can give you almost as many features as a DSLR.

For $1.99, you’ll get a stabilizer, a timer, and tons of other features, as well as a full editing suite that lets you adjust saturation, exposure, and other elements.

For just a bit more at $4.99, ProCamera 7 is another good app for both taking and editing photos. According to the iPhoneographers at iMore.com, ProCamera 7 can handle night shots better, and in general seems to take slightly better photos than Camera+.

Use backdrops, special lighting, and props

Simple photography equipment like a sweep, a source of light, and a couple of props can go a long way toward making your images look more professional.

If you’re taking a portrait, for example, natural light that’s hitting your subject from the side rather than the front, back, or top can instantly improve your photograph. This can be achieved indoors by using an external flash. External flashes are highly effective because you can move them to the most advantageous place – which may not be on the top of your camera.

Use a drone

If you want to get really high-tech, try using a drone. There are plenty of models that can be connected to your smartphone to allow you to take high-angle shots, bird’s-eye views, and action-packed video.

Drones come with various privacy and safety issues, so you’ve got to be careful how and where you use them. But they can give you photographic capabilities that up until recently, was only available to filmmakers and professional photographers.

Use an external lens

Just like you can add an external lens to your DSLR camera, you can add an external lens to your smartphone, too.

External lenses can give you options you just can’t get with your regular smartphone lens – not even with an app. For example, you can purchase wide-angle lenses, fisheye lenses, and telephoto lenses, as well as all-in-one kits that offer all of those options. Typically, however, these all-in-one lens kits don’t offer quite the image quality that the pricier, individual lenses do.

Use a tripod

Perhaps the easiest, least expensive thing you can do to make your photos look more professional is to use a smartphone tripod.

Because a tripod eliminates the miniscule movements that occur when you hold your smartphone to take a picture, using one can result in images with a sharper focus and better clarity.

Making your smartphone images look more like professional photos doesn’t have to be difficult. Beautiful photos deserve to be seen, so make sure you put yours on a Nixplay WiFi Cloud Digital Frame! For ideas on how to organize and display your photos, read our post “Photo Playlist Ideas for that Nixplay Digital Frame You Got for Christmas.”

Beatrice Bisais

Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.