How to take great holiday photos with your smartphone camera
How to take great holiday photos with your smartphone camera
The holidays are coming! Whether you’re taking a break at home or overseas, chances are you’ll be taking photos of friends, family and yourself with your smartphone. Here’s how to grab great shots to remember this season by, with examples shot by the new OPPO R9s that's now available here.
1. Tuck your elbows in at night
There’s one mistake that most people make which sabotages their night shots — holding their smartphones with their arms straight. Having your arms out makes it harder to hold your smartphone steady for the slightly longer shutter speeds it needs to shoot in low light. So when you’re shooting night shots, remember this simple tip: Tuck your elbows near to you, forming a stable base for your camera phone to shoot from.
Did you know? A wide aperture is vital to capturing good shots in low-light, because the wider the aperture, the more the camera’s lens can open up to capture light. The OPPO R9s combines a new Sony IMX398 image sensor with an extra-wide f/1.7 aperture to capture 40 percent more light than previous generations.
2. Notice the small things in life
Holiday photographs that tell a great story have pictures of three things: The wide landscape, the portraits, and the details. So remember to shoot from far to near and near to far again as you photograph.
Did you know? The more megapixels a digital camera has, the more details it can capture. Picture it this way; if you can only have 16 dots to paint a picture, you’ll draw a very limited image. But if you’re given 16 million dots — 16 megapixels, in other words — you’ll get a more detailed photograph. The OPPO R9s’ rear camera has a customized 16MP 1/2.8-inch sensor for life-like images, and its front camera also has a high 16MP resolution for perfect selfies.
3. Capture the action
Early phone cameras weren’t very good at capturing action shots due to their sluggish autofocus (AF), but today’s smartphones have grown leaps and bounds over their ancestors. So don’t just stand there and pose when taking photos, shoot your friends as they’re doing things, for candid, natural-looking images.
Did you know? The OPPO R9s camera is built with Dual PDAF (phase detection auto-focus) technology, which is the same kind of AF technology used in high-end DSLR cameras. It increases the sensor’s pixel array by 100 percent, giving the camera lightning-fast focusing, even in low light.
Bonus tip: 3 more things to look for in a camera phone
Besides wide apertures, high megapixels and fast auto-focus, there are three other things to look for in a great camera phone.
The first is battery life, because you don’t want to run out of power in the middle of the day. The second is storage, because you don’t want to run out of space when there’s more to shoot. The last is speed, your camera needs to respond quickly so you don’t miss the shot.
The OPPO R9s is built with all three. A 3,010mAh battery supplies long-lasting battery life, and OPPO’s VOOC Flash Charge technology lets you quickly recharge the phone without excess heat.
The 64GB of built-in storage can be expanded by an additional 256GB, so you can shoot to your heart’s delight. And the R9s’ fingerprint reader has exceptionally fast 0.2-second touch access, so you can unlock your camera quickly.
Take the OPPO R9s and its camera with you on your next holiday, and take great photos you’ll love!