Taking Decent Cell Phone Photos

Motorcycles

Motorcycles parked in front of the Old Elbow Inn, Saint Robert, Missouri

I try really hard to carry at least a decent compact digital camera with me wherever I go but let’s face it, cameras are not always allowed, not always convenient, and invariably, if you have a good camera you are most likely watching the fun that everybody else is having (kind of like an out of body experience).  Such is the case when I am out with friends or family to have a good time that does not revolve around a photography session.  My wife refuses to carry my stuff in her purse, and I am just too darn vain to walk around with anything resembling a man-purse.  I do have my phone, and it has a camera (if you want to call it that), but it does the job when absolutely necessary.

Is it possible to capture a decent photo with that tiny little lens on your cellular phone?  Sure it is, because good photos are not about size (unless you are a commercial photographer shooting for a billboard ad) but about content and composition (and lighting, don’t forget lighting), and if you all you have is a teeny tiny cell phone camera, a small low res image is better than nothing to capture the memory.  Certainly, there are varying degrees of quality when it comes to these devices, and I currently carry a Motorola Blur with a 5 MP, non-stabilized camera with no flash.  Even though it has a 99% discard rate, I’ll let you be the judge of what it is capable of capturing.

The namesake bridge of The Elbow Inn

The above two shots may not win any prizes, and without real help in post-processing can be blown up to anything usuable beyond an 8×10 print, but they are decent images of a scenic location or memorable event. I was there to eat ribs, not photograph them, and they were huge and delicious. Had I realized the photo opportunities available, I might have brought better equipment, but then I would have been eating cold ribs and drinking warm beer.

Suppose you are primarily interested in  blog writing.  I’m not, but I have all this storage space to fill up, so I write anyway.  For bloggers, a small portable cell phone may be ideal to capture great little shots associated with the blog’s theme, as in this snapshot of a shrimp cocktail served at Sunny’s Seafood and Steak House in El Paso Texas:

Shrimp Cocktail at Sunny's

This would probably work for a restaurant or dining out blog just fine.

And last but not least, a shot of my wife shopping the outlet mall might work for a shopping blog:

My wife Becky shopping at the El Paso Outlet Mall

To me, the motion blur of her arm suggests the frenzied shopping technique she applied during the outing (she called it a date, I called it punishment, but I got a photo anyway so we both won).
All of these had a little post-processing applied in Adobe Lightroom, but so do high-res images so no biggie.  A little contrast, a little curves, and voila, an image suitable for a blog, no?
When you having nothing else, don’t discount the capability of your cell phone to do the job when necessary.  You might not be too disappointed, and still get to be a part of the fun everyone else was having for a change!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 8th, 2011 at 10:03 pm. It is filed under Photography and tagged with , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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