Camera Phone Photography Skills

Good photography skills are not so easy to come by. That’s why you have professional photographers. To get a good photo, you probably need both good photographic equipment and good photography skills. Professional photographers have their professional camera rig. But how about camera phone photographers? I think camera phone photography requires even more skills!

You probably want to ask why that is so. Camera photos have limited capabilities, so it makes it so much more difficult for a photographer to capture something just right. There are limited options for framing, zooming, control lighting, depth of field, etc. It is unlike your usual DSLR that has so many features to help compose the perfect photo.

The most difficult thing isn’t even about any of the above. You’ve probably heard many times that some of the best photos are captured on the spur of the moment. In just that split second, a professional photographer snaps that winning photo. That’s great, and that’s why they need DSLR that react lightning fast. Photographer must be fast, camera must be fast too.

But if you think about camera phones, their reaction time is so obscenely slow! If you press the shutter at that right time, the actual photo taken is one that is like two or three seconds later! Or even worse than that! To that right photo, a camera phone photographer does not snap a photo at that split second; He actually has to predict when that split second is going to come up, and press the shutter seconds in advance!

I find it so difficult to capture beautiful photos of Vanessa, because she doesn’t keep still for a photo. In fact, with little children, they are always moving. It is so difficult to capture just the right expression to make a good photo.

So what happens with the slow reaction speed of a camera phone, I’d have to predict when that “right moment” will come, and then press the shutter in advance, in anticipation of that right moment happening at the right time.

Once in a while, I do get that great photo with my camera phone. It’s not easy, but I’m beginning to predict when the right moment will come.

Compared with DSLRs, compact cameras tend to be slow to respond too. But at least they are much faster than camera phones. I think a good first step for phone manufacturers to go for is to match the speed of compact cameras. It will make camera phone photography so much easier.