Android Smartphone Photography For Dummies

Mark Hemmings is an internationally recognized professional photographer and instructor. Each year he conducts fun and informative photo workshops in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. He is the author of iPhone Photography for Dummies, published in 2020. He’s also a prolific online photography course instructor, with six courses available online and more to come.

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 3

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Using Your Camera Straight out of the Box 5

Chapter 1: Introducing Android Smartphone Photography 7

Becoming Familiar with Your Android Camera 8

Single-lens models 8

Dual-lens models 9

Triple-lens models 9

Models with more than three lenses 11

Taking a Look Around the Camera App 12

Taking a Picture 13

Viewing Your Photo 15

Editing Your Photo 16

Sharing Your Photo 18

Chapter 2: Taking an In-Depth Tour of Your Camera 19

Holding Your Phone Properly for Steady Photos 20

Using Different Ways to Open Your Camera 24

Zooming In to Your Subject 26

Using the digital zoom 27

Trying optical zoom instead of digital zoom 29

Capturing Selfies with and without Background Blur 31

Understanding When to Use (and Not to Use) the Camera Flash 32

Photographing with the Camera Timer for Sharp Photos 36

Landscape photography using your timer 36

Family portraits 37

Selfies with a tripod or stand 38

Chapter 3: Altering Your Camera’s Settings and Storing Your Photos 39

Opening and Activating Google Photos 40

Choosing Storage Options for Your Photos 42

Deciding on photo upload quality 43

Managing on-device photo storage 45

Transferring photos to a PC or Mac 50

Being Mindful of Cellular Data Over-Usage 52

Allowing Your Camera to Track Your Location 57

Chapter 4: Taking a Deep Dive into the Camera App 59

Preparing to Take Selfies 59

Lighting and background 60

Selfie sticks and stabilizers 62

Taking Selfies 64

Choosing the Portrait selfie mode 65

Adjusting background blur amounts 65

Adding facial skin smoothening 66

Choosing your favorite selfie effect 68

Adding Live Filters to your selfies 71

Adjusting selfie zoom to add your friends into the picture 72

Considering Alternate Aspect Ratios 73

Creating Panorama Photos 77

Horizontal panorama photos 78

Vertical panorama photos 81

Part 2: Having Fun with the Fundamentals of Photographic Genres 83

Chapter 5: Capturing the Perfect Landscape Photograph 85

Camera Considerations: Levels and Exposure 85

Levelling your camera 86

Controlling exposure 87

Lighting Considerations 90

Photograph during the magic hours 90

Timing the magic hours 90

Gear Considerations 92

Steadying your Android camera with a tripod 92

Choosing a lens (for multi-lens Android cameras) 95

Photography Tips for Your Next Outing 97

Applying the Rule of Thirds for better compositions 97

Framing an “L” shaped composition 98

Positioning a primary and secondary subject 99

Chapter 6: Shooting Sports Photography 101

Camera Considerations: Using Burst Mode to Capture Motion 102

Gear Considerations 105

A tough smartphone protective case 105

A smartphone screen protector 106

Battery packs or battery cases 106

Touch-sensitive gloves in cold weather 107

Lighting Considerations 107

Photographing into the setting sun 107

Capturing team sports with the sun behind you 107

Using the setting sun for portraits 110

Incorporating cool and warm color tones 111

Choosing high contrast lighting 111

Photography Tips for Dynamic Sports Photos 112

Using your Portrait mode 112

Allowing the subject to enter the composition 114

Choosing curved backgrounds 115

Framing your athletes 116

Creating negative space 117

Chapter 7: Saving Memories through Family and Individual Portraiture 119

Camera Considerations: Portrait Mode and Lenses 119

Knowing when to use Portrait mode 120

Understanding lens compression 121

Gear Considerations: Editing Tools for Better Compositions 123

Lighting Considerations 125

Avoiding certain types of interior lighting 125

Dealing with interior backlighting 126

Creating silhouettes for artistic family portraits 127

Using shadows to create artistic portraits 127

Placing family members in the shade for even light 129

Photographing from a lower position 131

Photography Tips for Your Next Portrait Session 132

Taking multiple photos at your location 132

Avoiding objects sticking out of people’s heads 133

Composing small for artistic portraits 134

Including family member’s interests 135

Practicing close-up portraits 135

Including mirrors for hands-free selfies 137

Using food as bait for pet photos 138

Chapter 8: Photographing During Your Travels and Vacations 141

Camera Considerations: Multiple Lenses and Exposure 141

Photographing the same scene with multiple lenses 142

Quickly using exposure control for fleeting subjects 143

Gear Considerations 144

Protecting your Android smartphone 144

Packing a tripod 146

Lighting Considerations 147

Front light 147

Back light 148

Side light 148

45-degree diagonal light 150

Blue and golden hour light 152

Lens flares from photographing into the setting sun 152

Making use of cloudy days 154

Photography Tips for Your Next Trip 156

Leaving space for text 156

Placing s-curves in your compositions 157

Composing using geometric forms 159

Reviewing newly discovered businesses 159

Searching for faces 160

Chapter 9: Creating Dynamic Still Life and Product Photography 163

Camera Considerations: Creating Background Blur 163

Gear Considerations 166

Choosing the background for your product 166

Using tabletop tripods 168

Lighting Considerations 170

Using raking light for products 170

Positioning for sunset light rays 171

Exterior architecture photography 174

Interior architecture photography 176

Creating Beautiful Still Life Photos 176

Positioning your background for equidistance 177

Photographing through a window 177

Photographing food 178

Chapter 10: Taking It to the Streets: Photographing Strangers 181

Camera Considerations: Choosing Lenses and Locations 182

Choosing your lens 182

Selecting your location 183

Gear Considerations 185

Lighting Considerations 187

Tips for Your Next Street Photography Session 191

Using arrows for conceptual street photography 192

Considering the flow of your composition 192

Converting your composition to black and white 193

Choosing design-based backgrounds 193

Appreciating the mundane 195

Maintaining anonymity using scale and shadows 195

Being sensitive to people’s privacy 196

Part 3: Editing, Organizing, and Sharing Your Photos 199

Chapter 11: Editing with the Google Photos App 201

Using the Google Photos App Editing Tools 202

Choosing a filter 202

Saving changes 202

Choosing between Save and Save as Copy 204

Applying Filters 205

Vivid 205

West 206

Palma 206

Metro 207

Eiffel 207

Blush 207

Modena 208

Reel 208

Vogue 209

Ollie 209

Bazaar 210

Alpaca 210

Vista 211

Cropping a Photo 212

Using the Auto Straightening tool 212

Adjusting the crop handles 214

Rotating your photo 216

Understanding crop aspect ratios 218

Rotating your photo 90 or 180 degrees 222

Skewing your photo 223

Editing Your Photography 228

Editing Your Portrait Photos 234

Portrait 235

B&W Portrait 235

Blur 236

Depth 237

Colour Focus 238

Portrait Light 239

Chapter 12: Organizing and Sharing Your Photos Like a Pro 241

Understanding Post-Production Workflows 241

Deleting Unwanted Photos 242

Deleting a photo 243

Restoring a deleted photo 244

Favoriting Photos with the Star icon 246

Mastering Album Organization 247

Selecting photos to create a new album 248

Removing a photo from an album 251

Naming albums logically 252

Exploring the Search Tools 253

Finding photos of a single person using People 253

Checking your location using Places 255

Using Things to locate photos by type 256

Accessing photos using Your Activity 257

Using Categories and Creations to sort by media type 257

Sharing Your Photo Albums 259

Part 4: The Part of Tens 263

Chapter 13: Ten Android Apps to Further Your Skills 265

Adobe Photoshop Express 266

Adobe Photoshop Camera 267

Photo365 268

Foodie 269

Prisma Photo Editor 269

Facetune2 270

Canva 271

VSCO 272

TouchRetouch 273

PhotoScan 274

Chapter 14: Ten Tips for Creating Stunning Videos 277

Accessing the Video Camera 277

Properly Holding Your Camera for Videos 278

Trimming the Length of Your Video Clip 279

Reducing Video Shakiness 281

Exporting a Still Frame 282

Cropping Your Video 284

Adjusting Your Video 286

Applying Filters to Your Video 287

Capturing Video Clips with Slow Motion 288

Creating Time Lapse Video Clips 288

Chapter 15: Ten Extra Google Photos Features 289

Viewing the Memories Carousel 289

Watching Creations 290

Creating Auto Panoramas 291

Adding a Partner Account 292

Marking Up Your Photo 293

Accessing Your Metadata 294

Searching with Google Lens 295

Buying Photo Books 296

Creating Screenshots 297

Clearing the Clutter 298

Index 299