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Dear <<First Name>>,

I am afraid of mobile phone cameras…terrified. I have never really been comfortable holding wafer thin (by comparison with my camera at any rate) phones and composing pictures. I do not have a single selfie to my name for the record.

That also puts me in awe of the people who shoot very successfully with their phones, which now include the majority of people who have a phone.

Then, why do I want to tell you how to make masterpieces with your phone, and why should you care to read the rest of this letter?

Because good pictures are made by the mind and devices only write them. <<First Name>>, you are good at holding the phone; you will be great at making your masterpiece with it.

All the pictures in this letter are shot on my phone.

Today I write about:

• the amazing capabilities of mobile phone cameras to make art

• how you too can make your masterpiece

• I break your heart

I hope you find this entertaining.

The amazing things that mobile cameras do

This may not have been shot the way you imagine. This is the easiest shot that you too can shoot. Ask me if you want to know how.

Mobile cameras are significantly different than the real cameras (pun intended). They take pictures that are different than the cameras that people like me use.

Often it is far quicker to create a dramatic picture with a mobile camera than regular bigger ones.

REMEMBER THIS: Mobile camera lenses have extremely short focal lengths. The objects near the lens look quite big and decrease in size exponentially as they go farther. This is the cornerstone of your masterpiece.

Mobile cameras see very wide. That is why a group selfie is no sweat at all. For a DSLR or a bigger camera to do the same would need a tripod, often a lens change, and plenty time.

Mobile cameras can go rather near the subject without startling them or creating shadows on them. This makes phones excellent to shoot things up close.

Going near also means you can shoot small things and creatures at some magnification so they look bigger and better; what is known as macro photography in my pretentious circles.

A very wide lens lends the magical power of resolving everything clearly from near to far. Photographers call it depth of field.

And most times a mobile camera expects nothing from its owner. No setups, no settings, no thinking even; just point and click!

Alas! Making art needs a bit more thought. I will come to that in a while. Allow me first to show you a few images from my phone. Do read the captions too.

Mobile phones shoot very wide. This is the London Eye easily fitting into the shot. Also notice the pavement lights leading the eye

Speed and the inconspicuousness of phones make them ideal to catch everyday drama on streets. Follow the gaze of the Panda and then the direction of the lady’s head.

Infinite depth of field and dramatic reduction in the sizes of background objects makes narrating stories so much easier on mobile phones

Notice how the grass and the flowers in the foreground add to the interest in the shot.

A wide foreground that decreases exponentially. This one idea will significantly change your pictures.

And how I love this shot! The intrigue, the drama, the 007 feel!

Make your next mobile phone shot a masterpiece

Streets present opportunities to create art, a phone camera makes it possible

• Most situations look dramatic if shot correctly with a mobile phone camera.

• Give your shots some depth…have something very near to the camera in a corner if you are shooting a large landscape.

• Go near your subjects. The farther away they are, tinier they appear.

• Beware, the closer people are to the lens, fatter they will look 😊

• Do not frame your beloved in the centre of a large landscape…you will need a magnifying glass to find her

• Shooting people? Be spontaneous. do not pose them. Catch an unguarded moment and you will have a portrait to cherish.

Look at some more examples below:

If you wanted to shoot the person in the distance, you wouldn’t do this.

No subject is too dull. Composed well, a phone camera will make drama.

Go near, very near to the subject. Here I am millimetres from the flower.

A mobile phone is very forgiving…no settings, no fuss.

Catch your subjects in action. Here she is struggling to save her hat from blowing off in the wind while balancing herself on a pillar

A spontaneous laugh makes a far better portrait than a say cheese smile

Fine art from a phone camera? Sure.

But, it takes a little more effort…

Let me break your heart…the picture right after the click is seldom dramatic. You need to process it a little. A phone’s native editor is kind of ok, but do consider the following tools to polish your pictures. You may find many more…this is just a starting list. They are mostly free and not difficult at all:

• Snapseed

• Adobe Photoshop Express

• Prisma Photo Editor

Most of all, quantity may be the enemy of quality. Shoot when you really have something worth shooting.

Thank God not as many people have guns (outside USA anyway) as do have phone cameras!

I hope reading this has been worth your while. Please do shoot great masterpieces and show them to me too. I’d very much love to be in awe of you.

~Cheers

Jitendra | Jiten | JC

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