The Wedding Cell Phone Photo

This is one of my favorite photos. Just after the bride and grooms wedding  the mother of the bride answered a call from her cell phone. We planned to take a few family photos at the front of the chapel, and the bride was patiently waiting for the call to end. As the call became longer and longer her patience ran thin. I decided to move into position to capture the mother on her phone and the bride looking in disapproval. Photographers, especially wedding photographers must watch for those rare moments and take advantage of them.

See the large image below!

Cell Phone Camera Tips

•  Keep it still!
  The number one issue I see with camera phones is their shutter speed is incredibly LOW! Sure it takes 8 megapixel photos, but if they are blurry whats the point?  If you want a clear picture on your phone you must get still. The best way to stabilize a camera is using a wall. Simply lean against the wall and grip the phone or camera tightly with two hands. You will be amazed at how easy it is to take pictures in low light using the wall trick.
• Zoom is convenient for the LAZY
  As technology advances so does our camera phones. But digital zoom is still in its infancy. When you use your zoom on a low end camera  (such as a camera phone) it use less of the image senor (this captures the image). When you use less of the censor it causes more: noise, blur, color aberration, and loss of needed pixels. You may have seen Nokia’s 41 MEGAPIXEL camera phone. The reason it has 41 megapixels is to create a better zooming. So long story short, move closer to your subject instead of zooming in.
•  BUT I MUST ZOOM IN
  Ok maybe you need to zoom in because there is a giant tiger standing in your way … or whatever, don’t use your digital zoom, use your computer! This is a secret of cell phone photographers. If you need to zoom, do it after you take the picture. A program like Photoshop or Gimp can do amazing things with pixels, your digital zoom CAN’T!!!
• White Balance is your friend (aka your friend will not look orange or purple)
  Many camera phones these days have limited white balancing functions. Look in your manual for white balancing options. Auto white balance can be easily fooled, even on a $8k DSLR. I never use auto white balance. Let me say that again. I NEVER use auto white balance. Its easy, if I am in a room with tungsten lights I use the tungsten setting. Its that easy. Look no more oompa loompa colored friends.