9 useful tips to help you not miss beautiful photos on your smartphone

Taking photos without thinking about composition will get you far in your early days of photography. However, you will miss out on great photos if you don't consider composition. Understanding the different rules and how to use them is crucial to this.

1. 6 tips to help you take more impressive selfies

9. Standard curve

Guidelines are one of the first compositional techniques photographers learn, and for good reason. They're a simple way to draw the viewer's attention to something interesting. Roads, rivers, and valleys are all great options for using guidelines.

Straight lines are especially great for landscape photography, especially if you're in the mountains. However, they work well in urban areas too. Cities like New York are especially great for this because there's always something interesting at the end of the street.

What you include in your baseline focus point is up to you. A sunrise or sunset might work, but you might also want to include people.

8. Symmetry

Symmetry is one of the many ways to turn rainy days into beautiful works of art using your smartphone. These conditions are great for capturing reflections in puddles, for example.

However, you don't need a rainy day to capture beautiful symmetrical photos. Some buildings will make this easy, especially if they are triangular in shape. Additionally, you can use reflections in lakes and other bodies of water.

Use the camera grid to frame your shot properly. Make sure both sides of the photo take up roughly the same amount of space.

7. Focus on one subject

Intention is one of the most important aspects of creating an interesting photo and the best way to achieve this is to focus on one subject. Use the rest of the scene as a frame to tell your story more effectively, but focus on one main aspect.

The main subject can be anything. Portraits of people always work, and if you're shooting street photography with a smartphone , you might choose something like an umbrella or a bicycle.

Planning your photo shoot will help you determine what your main subject should be. However, you can also take some time to look around before choosing something interesting.

6. Use people and objects to create scale

When photographing landscapes or other large locations, consider showing the magnitude of the location using scale. For example, you might use a person in your scene when photographing a mountain. However, instead of taking a portrait, make them appear smaller by zooming in or standing further away.

Animals can also be a great way to show the scale of a scene. Instead of using Portrait Mode, use your smartphone's main shooting setting. This will help you get more of the scene in focus, further emphasizing the scale of the image.

5. Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is another classic photography composition. As the name suggests, you divide your image into thirds. Each section should tell a unique story while still supporting what you want to convey as a whole.

You can use the rule of thirds in all kinds of situations, such as landscapes, portraits, and street photography. It works well in black and white as well as color photography. Arrange the photo from left to right or top to bottom; it's up to you.

Turn on the camera grid on your phone to frame your shots more accurately. While it's easy to do, it may take some practice before you can really get interesting subjects in your photos.

4. High contrast shadows and backgrounds

While increasing contrast in your photos is easy, shadows and high contrast backgrounds can be effective if you're clever. You can control contrast through external lighting or through post-production software.

If you plan to shoot this style of photography, it's best to go out around sunrise or sunset. Or you can shoot in the middle of the day. However, you want the light to shine on you, not against you.

You can emphasize the contrast by moving the Shadows and Contrast sliders later. Any photo editing app, including the native smartphone app, will work fine.

3. Place the subject in the center of the photo

Many people say that you shouldn't center your subject in a photo, but this isn't always true. In many cases, it can make your photo more interesting. However, it's important to make sure they work with the scene, not against it.

Placing your main subject in the center of the photo can be part of the rule of thirds. This is also an easy way to create emphasis. Make sure that others can see what is going on; for example, you may need to hold the camera a little higher.

2. Take photos from above

While it's often better to use a DSLR or mirrorless camera to shoot skylines and other aerial scenes, you can get great results with your smartphone. You just have to understand the limitations of your smartphone. While the zoom isn't great, you can get some nice wide-angle shots.

The scene also needs to be interesting and you should choose something to focus on, for example a particular building. Aerial photography can also include looking down at something on the street or below the waist.

1. Diagonal

Diagonals like stairs are less photographed than standard lines. However, they are still worth considering. When used with lighting, you can achieve great results.

Diagonal lines can give your photo more dimension than straight lines. Getting this right is significantly harder than other types of composition, and will take more practice. In addition to stairs, look for street lines, buildings, and even plant patterns.

Learning how to compose photos on your smartphone is essential to becoming a better photographer. Over time, you'll take your photos from "good" to "great" and figure out what interests you most. What's more, these skills are transferable to video and other visual mediums.

David Pac

Update 25 May 2025