Here’s a quick tip for phone photography. When you want to get a closer shot of something, don’t zoom in. That’s because your phone has a digital zoom instead of an optical zoom. You aren’t really zooming in, you’re just cropping the photo.
A digital zoom can make your photo unsteady or blurry. You either need to move in closer or just crop the photo later using the photo tools on your phone or your PC. You’ll be surprised at how good those crops look. Here’s an example from my Galaxy S4. The camera is 13 megapixels which means you could blow this shot up to a 15″ x 10″ image.
This is a photo of Emerson the Galapogos Tortoise as the Toledo Zoo. I couldn’t get closer to him, and 100-year-old tortoises move at their own pace, so he wasn’t coming closer to me any time soon.
I took the shot from a distance and cropped it later on my phone.
As you can see, it’s possible to get a very good close shot of Emerson by cropping.
It also gives you more options for just where your subject is in the photo later.
~ Cynthia
Better yet, get a real camera. Phone cameras are getting better, and mine is often the only camera I have for a shot, but I’d rather use a real camera e.g., Canon Rebel T3i, that gives me both optical zoom and a much more detailed picture, which makes cropping even more powerful.
Excellent suggestion that I will pass along to the photo taking members of my family.
Thanks so much.
Great suggestion! I never would have believed you could have gotten such great closeups using the crop feature. I am using your idea from now on. Thanks
Very good idea. I can use it to improve my amateur photography.
I tell people this all the time. Like Donald Q. Says a real camera will also help, though IMO it doesn’t have to be a big expensive DSLR like the cannon he mentions, many little point and shoot cameras have a real auto focus and optical zoom. They are easier to carry than a DSLR and cost around $100. If you use the optical zoom you may want to rest your hands on something to avoid movement, zoom also magnifies the movement.
This is a great tip. Problem is, I don’t know where the crop option is. We also have Galaxy 4 phones. I have the larger one and my family have the mini.
Open any photo in the Gallery, then tap the menu button. Scroll down the options and you’ll see “crop.”