7 Clever Smartphone Photography Tricks

Excited about your new smartphone, but never really thought of its camera as good for anything more than the occasional snap or selfie? Check out the video below where photographer Lorenz Holder uses his iPhone to demonstrate how you can use your smartphone camera for amazing photographic effects:

Here are seven smartphone photography tricks that you can try right now:

  1. Panorama Sequence. Make your panoramas fun by asking your model to move to different parts of the scene as you take the sequence.
  2. Pano Drive-By. Take a panorama from the window of a moving vehicle.
  3. Zoom Lens. Use binoculars as a zoom lens.
  4. Macro Lens. Put a small drop of water on the lens for a macro effect.
  5. Reflector. Just because you’re using your smartphone doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive for good lighting. A car foil screen can be used as a reflector. This is especially handy for portraits.
  6. Tripod & Shutter Cable. Reduce camera shake by building yourself a miniature tripod with a few pieces of cardboard. Then use the volume control on your headphones as a shutter release.
  7. Underwater Housing. Place your smartphone in a clear glass to simulate underwater housing.

What do you think?

underwater-smartphone-photography

The Glass as Underwater Housing Trick

The DIY zoom lens, macro lens, tripod, and shutter cable are downright ingenious. The underwater housing tip, however, seems a bit risky. It may be wiser to buy a cheap underwater camera than to put your smartphone underwater.

smartphone photography ideas

The Panodash

Try these tricks and share your results in the comments!

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4 responses to “7 Clever Smartphone Photography Tricks”

  1. This is an additional tool for birdwatching. Mainly used for documenting redtail hawks, falcons, jays and mockingbirds in their nest tree or pairs sitting nearby. This is NOT to be compared with a GOOD CAMERA; this is only a device to extend a good phone camera. It takes a few minutes to set up, and as many have written, it is hard to keep the phone camera steady. But following directions it works well on a Galaxy5. Need patience and steady hand. FUN ! Used numerous times in last two weeks.
    I hope this helps.
    Jerome Howard

  2. Ashish Kumar says:

    Really awesome tricks man.
    I think aperture plays a really important role in cameras performance.
    But playing with manual settings can sometimes create stunning results.
    I have also made a post about photo editing apps which can also help in final results.
    Do check that as well. Would love your feedback

    Thanks for sharing this with us. Keep up the good work

  3. Rezan says:

    The white balance impacts the color tones of the photographs. Common Presets for White Balance.

  4. shailesh Chaudhary says:

    Hi,
    Awesome tricks Dude.. thanks Specially Panorama Sequence Tricks

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