Most Android smartphones now offer a manual (or professional) mode for the camera. It allows you to take control of more settings than the auto mode and in some cases take better pictures because you are the one configuring all the parameters of the shot. And the good news is that you don’t need to have terrible knowledge to master it.
Why use manual mode?
Most users are still satisfied with the automatic mode for taking pictures with their smartphones. All the settings are preset for ambient light conditions and often does the trick. But since our Android smartphones have become photophones, the sensors on the back are not only there to do the trick, they can also enable us to take some very nice photos. You still need to know how to use them.
By choosing manual mode, you take control of all the settings allowed by your manufacturer (we will return to this point later) and control all the parameters of your image, leaving you with the possibility of exceeding the limits. mode.
Control the exposure yourself
Before triggering the shot, your smartphone’s photo sensor will calculate the ambient light. From there, it will decide whether to trigger the flash (if set to auto mode), but also whether to dim the brightness of your shot. In auto mode, most smartphones still tend to overexpose photos.
It can help achieve a better result in low light, but in direct sunlight it sometimes gives a burnt photographic effect or whites appear too white. That’s why it’s best to set the exposure yourself. On the latest Samsung Galaxy this is very easy to do, just swipe your finger up or down, on other smartphones you will have to open a small menu and select + or -.
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watch out for the flash
As with a “real” camera, the flash in our smartphones is very practical as it allows you to provide additional lighting in photos taken in low light. Most of the time it is set to auto mode and therefore will only be triggered when the sensor decides the brightness is too low. It remains necessary at night, but your smartphone can also trigger in broad daylight, especially indoors.
Under these conditions, as useful as it is, it can literally spoil your photo by producing too much exposure and unnatural colors. If you have any doubts, the best is still to try and try. But you will often find that the most successful is photography without flash.
ISO sensitivity, don’t abuse it!
Most Android smartphones now offer very good ISO sensitivity. But again, in auto mode, the sensor tends to overestimate the needs of your photo, sometimes choosing a very high ISO sensitivity. However, in a well-lit environment, it is not necessary to go above ISO 200, a value where noise is likely to occur in shots, thus making them less clear.
If you have really good light, it’s best to go down to ISO 50 if your smartphone allows it, otherwise at ISO 100 your photo will only be clearer.
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Choose the right white balance
The white balance (indicated by WB) is calculated automatically by your smartphone. Depending on the ambient light, the sensor adjusts the colors of the photo to make it as true to life as possible, but again depending on the lighting conditions the sensor has its limits. Fortunately, it is possible to set it manually.
This setting can sometimes seem complicated as it has to be redone every time light conditions change, but it can still change everything in the final result.
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Shutter speed
More and more smartphones now allow manual controls from Google’s Camera2 API, where you can significantly adjust the shutter speed, i.e. the amount of time the shutter will allow light to pass through the sensor. As you can see, this time is very short for photos taken under direct sunlight, and longer at night as the light needs more time to pass through the sensor.
However, you can also play with it to achieve different artistic effects in your shots. Unfortunately, currently not all manufacturers allow this parameter in photo applications yet. You can download the Manual Camera Compatibility app from Google Play Store to find out if your smartphone supports it. Note that this API also allows you to output your photos in uncompressed RAW format.
Don’t be afraid of filters!
This trick will obviously be used in addition to making good use of your Android’s manual mode. Note that you can sometimes manage to correct unsightly lighting or exposure by using filters wisely. There are many apps that offer their own filters, but the average user should be able to fix and optimize certain photos that initially fail, with the filters already offered on their smartphone.
For example, imagine taking a photo under a cloudy, gray sky. With a few well-chosen filters, you’ll easily bring some sunshine into your shots! Before declaring the photo as completely unrecoverable, also try to improve it with some photo editing apps.
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