The document provides tips for smartphone photography including using natural light from the side to create depth, avoiding direct overhead sun, applying the rule of thirds for composition, balancing subjects across the frame, considering backgrounds, using diagonals for dynamism, leaving headroom and space in front of subjects, and understanding exposure settings like shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.

1. Images: photo
Photos from Emil Parkaklis, Iphone photography school; Andy Bull,
multimedia journalism

2. Light
-Natural light
-Flash light
-A mix of ambient light and flash.
• Most safe in a cloudy day.
• If you are photographing in sunlight, try to position yourself so that
the sun hits your subject from the side, this will give you nice
'modeling' and help create a 3D effect in the picture.
• Sunlight behind the subject can give a very pleasing 'backlight' effect
but be careful that you are not getting 'flare' in the lens, which
degrades the contrast of the image.

3. A picture taken in the middle of the day, the overhead
sun casts deep shadows into the kids' eyes, spoiling an
otherwise quite nice little group portrait.
This picture was taken at the same time as the one on the left
but here the sun is at the side and behind the subject.

4. Composition: The
rule of the third
• The rule of thirds is one of the most
important rules of photographic
composition. Landscape photographers
are particularly fond of this one, but it
works well for many types of subject.
• The rule of thirds simply says that,
instead of placing the main focus of
interest in the center of the frame, which
makes for a very static composition, that
you look to position it on an intersection
of the thirds. That is to say one third up
and one third in or two thirds up and one
third in etc.

5. Example
Don’t put the horizon in the middle (almost
never).
The tree takes on more importance in this picture because it
now sits on the intersection of the vertical and horizontal
third, which is a very powerful position in the frame.

6. Reasons for the rule of
the third
1. The first is a more general feeling that a
subject in the center of the frame is 'at
rest', it's not going anywhere it feels . . .
And a bit boring.
2. Moving the subject, or main point of
interest, away from the center of the
frame shakes things up, makes the viewer
work a little, it just makes the picture
more dynamic.
3. The emphasis can be either horizontal,
vertical or both.
4. Rule of the third for smartphone
http://iphonephotographyschool.com/the-
rule-of-thirds/

7. Balancing the rule of the third
• The main subject of this scene is
clearly the bright orange cliff on
the right side of the river. But if
that was the only subject, the
weight of the image would be
focused on the right side.
• In order to balance out the scene,
the photographer the big rock on
the bottom left corner.

8. Use Diagonals
Setting your subject matter on a diagonal will almost always make for a more dynamic picture.
points. Move around the subject and look for a diagonal.

9. • 3. Background
• .
• https://www.atomiclearning.com/
video-storytelling-guide/shot-
rules

10. Framing images
1. Head Room
https://www.atomiclearning.com/video-storytelling-guide/shot-rules
-Too much headroom makes the person appear to be sinking. Most
novice photographers and videographers will frame shots of people with
too much headroom.
-Too little headroom places visual emphasis on the person's chin and
neck. When framing shots of people, pay attention to where the eyes
appear.

11. Framing images
2. Lead room
-Leave extra space in the direction
your subject is looking. This is also
called a nose room. Leave extra
space in front of a moving person or
object, like a runner, bicycle, or
automobile when following the
action.
https://www.atomiclearning.com/vide
o-storytelling-guide/shot-rules
https://www.atomiclearning.com/vide
o-storytelling-guide/shot-rules

12. 3. Looking at the background
• Make sure there are no
undesirable objects.
Especially, in the corners of the
frame, behind the head, bright
colors
• Or make he background of your
shot doesn't draw your viewer's
attention from your main subject.

13. Composition for mobile tool.
• In most cases, use your cell
phone with a landscape mode.
• Use the gridline when taking a
long shot.
Read
Rule of the third for iphones
Cropping for Instagram

14. Viewpoint & cropping
The first, most obvious difference between one viewpoint and another is the background. If a subject
that cannot easily be moved, the only way to change what is in the background is to choose a
different viewpoint. Do not think that you can crop the picture while editing, it will damage the
quality.

15. Exposure
• In photography, 'exposure' means the amount of light that falls onto the
sensor of your digital camera. In modern cameras the exposure is usually set
to automatic by default and, most of the time, it can be left there and will
produce beautiful pictures.
• The amount of light falling on the film is governed by four things.
1. The 'shutter speed' which is the amount of time the shutter is open, measured in
fractions of a second.
2. The amount of light reflected from the scene which, if you are outdoors, you can
do very little about.
3. The 'aperture setting' which is the size of the hole through which the light enters.
Aperture settings are measured in 'f stops'.
4. The ISO setting. This is the 'sensitivity' of the sensor.

16. Shutter speed
• Shutter Speed refers to the amount of
time the shutter is open. This is usually
measured in fractions of a second, a
'normal' (hate that word!) shutter
speed would be around 1/125th of a
second with a standard lens or mid-
range zoom lens on the camera.
• The shorter the time that the shutter is
open the sharper the photo will be. If
you are taking fast moving objects
such as cars, cyclists or people running
you need to select fast shutter speeds
to capture the sharpest picture you can.

17. Apertures
• The size of the aperture you choose
governs the 'Depth of Field'. A smaller
aperture will give you a greater depth
of field and a larger aperture will give
you a more restricted depth of field.
• Depth of field, or the lack of it, is
much more noticeable when taking
close-ups. It is often desirable to
render the background of your picture
out of focus. This is easy to achieve
by selecting a larger aperture.
• Conversely, when photographing very
small objects getting everything in
focus can be quite a challenge and
may require a very slow shutter speed
in order to be able to use the smallest
aperture available.

18. Shutters Speeds and Apertures
• Pre-set numbers.
• On a normal sunny day you might see something like '125 16' or '500
5.6‘ in your viewfinder. The first number is the 'shutter speed' and is
simply the time that the shutter will be open for, expressed as a
fraction of a second. So 125 means that the shutter will be open for
1/125th of a second, and 500 means that it will be open for 1/500th of
a second. 1/500th of a second is referred to as a 'faster' shutter speed
than 1/125th, which is a 'slower' shutter speed.