Most people rely on smartphones to capture and share favorite memories in today's digital age. However, taking great photos with a phone can be more challenging than expected. Getting the most out of your smartphone means exploring your camera settings, learning a few tricks, and leaning on tips from experienced snappers.

Capturing Perfect Moments

There are a few basic steps you budding photographers should take, regardless of the type of photos you want to produce. Great portraits of loved ones and beautiful landscapes, memories of special events, or simply treasured moments can be kept forever with the perfect snap.

The first step is getting to know your smartphone and its camera. If there's a tutorial for the camera app, follow it and note down any modes you think will be useful to you, then have a play with the settings. Take some practice shots and find out which settings improve the overall image. You can even play with any special effects from your camera app to make your pictures truly unique.

Check Your Phone Camera Settings

[Could include a screenshot of camera settings from different devices here]

While all smartphone brands are a little different, most modern phone cameras will have some common settings. Once you get the hang of the basics, you can try the more advanced settings and even develop your photography style! When you're just getting started or just trying to improve your daily snaps, these are the settings you should check:

Flash: For most situations, turn the flash off. In daylight shots, it makes faces look washed out. In darker shots, it looks artificial and can make your subject squint or even cause stress to smaller kids. Natural light is better, always.
Live photo: This is an iPhone feature, but there are equivalents on some Android devices which may be called "motion stills." You take a shot, and the phone records 1-3 seconds of motion. This gives you a moving photo which, while it looks pretty cool, isn't very useful for photo books, albums, or scrapbooks. You can turn this feature off with a single tap.
Night Mode: When your kids are running around in the evening or you've spotted something cool out on a nature walk, you might find that your phone prompts you to use "Night Mode". This is another feature you can tap on and off which makes shots in dark areas brighter without a flash. Top tip: This mode only works well if you stay really still.
Zoom: Most phones have simple "pinch to zoom" settings these days, so you get closer to your subject in exactly the same way as you'd expand an image on a web page. Just remember, some phones drastically lose the quality of the shot if you zoom in too far. In general, it's much better to move nearer to your subject than use the digital zoom feature this way.
Portrait mode: Your phone might have some "quick modes" along the bottom of the screen when you open your camera app. These are usually accessible by swiping left or right. Portrait mode focuses on faces and slightly blurs the background to make the person stand out. This is a great mode for snapping smiling kids or you and your partner enjoying a well-earned break. Top tip: The closer you are to the person, the better this mode works.

You can explore more settings on your smartphone by clicking the settings button that looks like a gear (Android) or swiping up from the bottom of the screen (iOS).

Use the Gridlines

A hurried point and click might get you a lucky fabulous shot, but you're far more likely to get the type of picture you'd like to have on your wall by using the phone's built-in gridlines. These are straight white lines that appear on the screen while you take the shot to help you line everything up beautifully.

Switch gridlines on for iOS devices:

Go to "Settings"
Find "Camera" (you may have to scroll down quite far!)
Find "Grid"
Slide the tab right to switch it on

Switch gridlines on for Android devices:

Open camera app
Click the settings icon
Toggle the grid function on

Think about what you really want in the finished picture and what's important in the memory you're capturing. Your kid's favorite toy at one of the intersections of the gridlines could make a photo you'll treasure forever, for example.

Check Your Lighting

Light levels are everything with photography! If you're fed up with dull photos or pictures where all the kids are screwing their faces up, the chances are you need to think about the lighting a little more. The top tips here include:

Don't take photos of people when they've got the sun in their eyes. Move them slightly around, and you benefit from natural light without the less-attractive squint.
Also, avoid shots where people have the sun right behind them, as they will be a dark silhouette even if the rest of the picture is bright and cheerful.
If an indoor photo looks dull or lacks color, turn a light on in that room and try again. You could also move a lamp closer to your subject.

Some smartphones let you manually adjust the lighting as you take a shot. If an icon on the screen looks like a meter, see if it slides up or down. This will brighten or darken the shot, giving you more control and helping you feel like a professional photographer! On some phones, you can tap here once your light level is spot on, and the phone will lock it in place, allowing you to move around without losing the great light.

Keep a Backup of Your Photos

A broken or lost phone can lead to losing pics forever unless you back them up. Check if your phone takes a backup automatically or if you need to connect to a service such as OneDrive or Google Photos. Backing up your photos like this also means they're instantly available when you create photo books or other photo-based gifts.

Top Phone Photography Tips

These are some favorite tips for taking quick snaps of family, friends, and special moments that won't take forever to master!

Tap to Focus

It's simple but easy to forget — you can tap anywhere on the screen when taking a photo, and your smartphone will focus on that spot. This is great for noticing a shot isn't as sharp as you'd like.

Use HDR

We mentioned HDR in the settings section. It stands for "high dynamic range" and prompts your phone to layer shots that make details really stand out. Check your phone's settings, as some iOS devices default to HDR, but Android phones might need you to click the option.

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Use Panorama Mode

Panorama mode allows you to take much wider shots of beautiful landscapes, but did you know it's also useful for people photography?

Turn your phone so the panorama line is vertical instead of horizontal.
Get your person in the shot with a point of interest behind them. This might be a favorite tree, a building, or a famous landmark.
Start the photo and slowly move your phone upwards, keeping the arrow on the line until everything you want in the shot has been captured.

Voila, you now have a gorgeous shot of one of your favorite people with a cool background behind them.

Try a Different Angle

If a shot looks busy and overcrowded, or you can't really tell what the focus is, try shooting it from a different perspective. Get closer, lower down, or even higher up. You might even find that if you walk around an object, it's beautifully lit from another angle. Experiment and find your style.

Zoom Out for Better Selfies

While digital zoom can impact photo quality, zooming out could make some pics better! Selfies, in particular, benefit from pinching the screen to zoom out to 0.5 x the normal image distance. It creates more space around your face and is ideal for when you're trying to take funny or affectionate selfies with the kids or your spouse.

Using Your Phone Photos

Now you know how to take stunning photos on almost any smartphone camera! What's the best way to show off your new-found photography skills? You could create your own unique photo book showcasing the best shots from a particular event, special day, or vacation. Mixbook provides many inspiring themes, from sports to yearbooks, so you can perfectly display your photos.

Get started making gorgeous photo gifts with Mixbook today.