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Due to advances in technology, people have easy access to a good quality camera in their smartphones itself. Add to that the option of being able to edit your photos using mobile and desktop applications. So, many people have turned photographers (they call themselves so!). When so much is possible with just your smartphone, why should you hire a professional photographer? Will it make any difference? If you have noticed, they charge a lot too. So, why are professional photographers so expensive? Are they worth it? Let us find out.

For a minute, compare photography to any job – plumbing, mechanical repair, etc… Just because you have all the necessary tools, will you call yourself a plumber or a mechanic? You will still need professional help, right? The same goes for photography. You are not paying the photographer only for the photos they click. It is for the skills they have acquired over time – be it in capturing or editing. Every factor such as the angle, lighting, the focus has been studied by a professional. The quality of pictures clicked by a professional speaks volumes about their work.

Apart from the things we are generally aware of, there are technical aspects too. As an amateur, you may not have much knowledge about shutter speed or aperture size. But a professional will know how these factors will affect your photo. They will use proper gear. Most importantly, they know how to make the most of the gear they own. Anybody who owns a camera cannot become a photographer. It takes time to gain experience. You should be able to picture the location/shot/pose in your mind. It takes great skills to execute what you have imagined. Or to even judge if what you have imagined will turn out to be a good picture!

Smartphones have affected our lives in ways we cannot imagine. When we had our old keypad phones, taking pictures with your phone was not something you’d look forward to. You could use the camera app, but the phone camera was not well-equipped. You would mostly depend on a camera to take good pictures. Today, you do not need a camera to take beautiful photos. A good smartphone is enough. Phone cameras today are capable of capturing high-quality pictures. Here are a few tips to make the best use of your phone camera.

• Use gridlines. Enabling gridlines on your camera app will divide your screen into 9 equal-sized boxes. Placing the objects you are capturing at the intersection of these boxes will give you the best picture. Practice aligning your objects of focus along the gridlines.
• Negative space – If you look at pictures that have large empty spaces in the background, the actual subject can be highlighted even more. A large expanse of sky, a huge plain wall etc…can act as negative spaces for your pictures.
• Since the phone is an object that is used so often, it is common for the phone camera lens to get soiled with fingerprints and dust. Make sure that the lens is clean before clicking pictures.
• use natural light wherever possible. What we mean is, do not use flash unless it is necessary. Pictures clicked with the flash on having glowing eyes or unnatural looking skin. These elements take away the beauty of the picture.
• Do not use the zoom. Zooming in on the subject using a phone camera negatively affects the picture quality. Just move close to the subject while clicking the photo.
• Lastly, you always have the option of editing your photos using photo editor apps. Download these apps on your phone to correct the angle, lighting etc…on your photos.