11 Helpful Smartphone Photography Tips to Improve Your Photos

If you are looking to improve your smartphone photography, you have come to the right place! Smartphone cameras have evolved incredibly over the last few years, and in 2026, the phone in your pocket is a powerful camera system.

In this article, I share my favorite, updated smartphone photography tips. They are helpful, easy to apply, and will instantly elevate your shots. Let’s get into it!

1. Look for great light

Great light does not necessarily mean a bright, sunny day. While good weather is wonderful, you want to avoid direct, harsh sunlight, especially at high noon.

Instead, look for places where the light gets diffused. Think of buildings with big open windows, or alleys and streets that are in the shadows. Soft, evenly distributed light is incredibly flattering for both portraits and street scenes.

2. Clean your lens

This might be the most important tip of all, yet it’s the easiest to forget. I have to admit, I am bad at it myself!

Your phone lives in your pocket or your bag, gathering dust and fingerprint smudges. A dirty lens leads to blurry, hazy photos with weird light flares. Just take your phone out of your pocket and give the lens a quick wipe before you shoot. I usually just do it quickly with my T-shirt.

3. Apply the rule of thirds

This is the very first smartphone photography tip I give my students during my workshops. Most smartphones have a feature to overlay a 3×3 grid in the camera app. Turn this on immediately!

The rule of thirds helps you compose your image by placing your subject on the intersections of those lines, rather than dead center. It makes your photos feel more balanced and professional. I couldn’t imagine a world without this feature.

4. Master your lenses (and avoid digital zooming)

A few years ago, zooming on a phone meant destroying the image quality. Today, things are different. Most modern smartphones have multiple optical lenses: usually an ultrawide, a standard wide, and a telephoto lens.

Always use your optical lenses (the default zoom options like 0.5x, 1x, 3x, or 5x). If you pinch the screen to zoom in or out of those fixed numbers, you are using digital zoom, which simply crops the image and makes it pixelated. 

If you need to get closer and don’t have a longer optical lens, use your feet!

5. Know your ecosystem (iPhone, Samsung, & Pixel)

Users are always asking about the best camera settings for specific devices like the Samsung S26 or the Pixel 8 Pro. While the basics apply everywhere, knowing your ecosystem helps:

• iPhone: Take advantage of “Photographic Styles” to set a default tone (like rich contrast or vibrant), so you spend less time editing later.
• Samsung: Dig into the “Expert RAW” app for maximum editing flexibility, which is perfect for capturing high-dynamic-range scenes.
• Google Pixel: Lean into their computational photography. Pixels are incredible at handling tricky lighting, and tools like Magic Eraser are brilliant for cleaning up street photos.

6. Take control: use manual / Pro Mode

If you want to push your creativity, go into your camera’s manual or pro mode. This way, you can adjust the shutter speed on your phone camera.

• Shutter Speed: Controls how long the lens stays open. Use a fast shutter speed (like 1/1000s) to freeze motion on the street. Use a slow shutter speed (like 1/10s or slower) to capture motion blur or shoot in low-light situations.
• ISO: Controls light sensitivity. Keep it as low as possible (e.g., ISO 100) to avoid grainy photos.
• Focus: Manual focus lets you lock onto a subject without the camera “hunting” for it, which is perfect for shooting through windows or framing subjects creatively.

7. Hold it like a real camera

Hold your smartphone as if it were a heavy DSLR. Use two hands to stabilize your phone, especially in low-light situations or when playing with slower shutter speeds. Tucking your elbows into your sides helps you stabilize even more.

8. Go further than vertical

It’s a habit to hold our phones vertically because that’s how we scroll. But when doing smartphone photography, it pays off to turn your phone 90 degrees and shoot horizontally. 

This is especially true when photographing landscapes, wide architecture, or creating a cinematic feel.

As a quick rule, I always say, if the subject is wider than it is high, shoot horizontally. If it is higher than it is wide, shoot vertically.

9. Take plenty of photos

Take as many photos as you want! Usually, when I photograph, I take a lot of photos. This way, I am absolutely sure there will be one that is exactly as perfect as I want it to be. You can always delete the rest later.

Ofcourse, this only works if you try different settings, lenses, and angles. Don’t just take the same photo 40 times.

10. Use editing apps

A great photo is made in the camera, but it’s finished in the editing room. Install a couple of photo editing apps to give your shots that extra “oomph.” My top recommendations are still Lightroom Mobile, Snapseed, and VSCO. Play with the contrast, lift the shadows slightly, and make the colors pop.

11. Back up your photos regularly

It amazes me how many people keep all their artistic work solely on their phone’s hard drive. When the day comes that your phone crashes or gets lost, all your beautiful smartphone photography goes with it. My solution is simple: make backups regularly. I back up my work to the cloud every Friday.

Frequently Asked Questions