The Best Phone Camera Tips and Tricks

Chances are, you're not taking advantage of all the cool things your phone's camera can do. Most of us are happy to just point and shoot and leave it at that.  If you want to go further, then we have some mobile photo hacks just for you. Use one or two of these tricks and you'll soon be standing out on your social network of choice.



Your Phone + Telescope
It's a simple, but useful little trick that you may not know. Just stick your phone's lens right up to the telescope from Buydig.com and you'll be able to capture the magnified image on the other side. You can also do this with binoculars or a microscope too, creating a nice zoom lens.

Snap a picture with your volume button
Taking selfies is serious business. But having to hit the virtual button on your screen can make it a difficult one. Instead you can just hit either volume button on most phone models to snap a picture. This works on both the front and back facing cameras, but it's particularly handy when shooting a selfie. You will never go back to shooting by tapping the screen.

Panoramic drive-by
Most modern smartphones from Beach Camera come with some sort of stock panorama function that allows you to capture big wide scenes by stitching together various images as you move your camera. While these are designed to be used by one person standing in one place, you can also make them work from the window of a moving vehicle, just hold it steady and point it out the window.

Cloning yourself (or a friend)
Speaking of the panorama effect, you can also use it to make clones of yourself, a friend, or anything you’d like! All it takes is a little running around on your friend's part. Have a friend stand in one part of your frame, capture them, and then have them move to another part of your scene to capture them again all as you’re doing a “slowpan” across a field of vision. You can repeat this as many times as you want until you reach the end of the panorama.

Water hacks
A lot of phones are waterproof now but that doesn't mean you can't have a little fun with dunking your mobile. Place it inside a glass jar as you dip it beneath the surface of a stream or pond, potentially giving you quality shots that include both what's under and above the water.

Macro Lens
Put a very small drop of water on the lens of your phone's camera,  creating a type of macro lens and bring very small objects into focus. It's tricky to get right, but again the results can be impressive.


Those are just a few of the ways you can use what you have around you to create shots that stand out with your phone camera.