It’s decided, this year, you won’t miss your photos and videos for Christmas and New Year’s Day. Even your great uncle will be entitled to his most beautiful portrait and the turkey will never have looked so good on your Instagram story! Depth of field, handling of moving subjects, macro, portrait mode, etc. : the most recent smartphones are full of features to allow you to take pretty photos, without having to be a photo expert. Keep your eyes peeled, we’ll share our best tips with you!
1. Control exposure
A good photo is, above all, good light. On your smartphone screen, tap the subject you want to photograph to focus and adjust the exposure, then slide your finger up or down to choose the best light. This will allow you to control what you want to highlight in your shot, while limiting unsightly shadows or backlighting.
Bonus tip: do not hesitate to reduce the exposure when the situation lends itself to it, on night photos for example, because our smartphones often tend to overexpose. However, the brighter the image, the more its quality degrades. In reality, it is better to have an image that is slightly too dark to retouch later than an image that is too degraded when taken. Additionally, leaving some elements of your image in shadow to highlight the brightest subjects is sometimes very pretty.
2. Take pretty portraits
What better occasion than Christmas to take portraits of your children or their grandparents? Apart from a pretty frame which will enhance your subject, selecting Portrait mode (when available) allows you to play with the depth of field to add background blur and to change the focus to bring an interesting dimension to the subject. your pictures.
If you have a recent iPhone, Portrait mode also works as a selfie and allows you to adjust the depth to “align” a group photo for example, or capture a clear photo of your moving pet.
On Android, most models have more or less effective Portrait modes within their Camera applications. Some like Google Pixels can also add background blur after shooting. If your Android phone does not offer this function, know that you can download a specific application like Blur Photo Background.
3. A Macro mode to make you salivate
Are you a fan of social networks and like to share your plates? Note that Macro mode (in photo or video) allows you to go relatively deep into details, to the point of highlighting the texture of food with a surprising level of finesse. It is activated automatically by moving you closer to the subject up to 2 cm on an iPhone 15 Pro or 15 Pro Max, or 2/3 cm on the best Android smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or Google Pixel 8.
Some devices even have special lenses dedicated to Macro like on the Samsung Galaxy A23, which allows you to take images 3/4 cm from the subject. For best quality, remember to place the subject in the center of the image.
4. Fast and smart photo editing
For owners of an iPhone equipped with the latest iOS17 update, Apple is offering a very practical new feature. From the photo album, apply your own settings to a photo (exposure, white balance, etc.), then copy these settings to several photos simultaneously, simply by selecting them from your album. A real time saver!
Android smartphone users can also do this through apps like Adobe Lightroom. An excellent photo development (and not retouching) application by the way.
5. Rework your videos afterwards
Have you captured a video on the fly and want to make a few changes to improve it and give it a more “professional” look? Depending on your smartphone, the possibilities are more or less advanced.
If you have a Google Pixel (running Android 8.0 or higher), you can adjust your video by adjusting the exposure, the level of detail in the brightest or darkest areas, or by improving the color intensity or contrast as a professional colorist would do. All these settings are accessible by clicking on “Edit”, then “Adjust”, after opening your video.
Are you more of an Apple person? The Cinematic mode offered on the latest iPhones allows you to zoom in on a specific point, change the focus and depth of field, or track an object retrospectively with great ease. You can even make tracking shots to give new life to your personal videos. If you want to go further in the menus, Apple also offers free workshops in all of its Apple Stores, to train on a wide variety of topics.
Read also :
⋙ We tested the iPhone 15 Pro Max: is Apple doing its best for your photos?
⋙ We tested the Apple Watch Series 9 on a bike: does it make you want to get back into sport?
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