GOHP Photos on your Phone
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Photos on your Phone Tips
The whole process of creating oral history podcasts encompasses a lot more than just recording an interview, and sometimes some good photographs can really illustrate and flesh out the story your interviewee is trying to relate.
Whether it’s action shots of your interviewee engaging in some of the activities you have talked about, posing shots with memorabilia, or bio shots, a few photographs add an extra visual dimension to the audio medium of podcasts.
Once upon a time taking photos was a bit of a chore. You had to get the camera set up, hope that you’d taken good photos, send the film off to be developed, and then finally get to see what you have. But these days we’re so much luckier and taking high-quality photos has never been easier.
Today, nearly everyone carries around an extremely powerful camera in the form of a smartphone. And while professional photographers and special circumstances might need more serious equipment, a phone camera has just about every feature you need to take photos for your oral history interviews. There’s even a brand new word for this new skill of taking great photos on your phone – Phonography
Basic Smart Phonography
Whether you’re just beginning, or have been working your way around your smart phone camera functions for a while now, it’s probably best to start with the basics and make sure they’re covered.
The videos below can help you understand more about how your phone camera works, and how you can make it work for you. Check out the videos below to start getting an idea of what your phone can do. Once you’re comfortable with how your phone camera works you can head down to some of the more advanced tips below.
How to take incredible pictures with your smartphone – The Fix
This Episode of “The Fix” produced by tech website CNET is all about making the most of your smartphone camera. It starts with the basics, showing you how to determine your camera’s image quality, then gives you some insider tips on taking better photos, and at the end, it features an affordable do-it-yourself project that can be built within minutes. (10:09)
10 Best Android Camera Tips You Should Know – Guiding Tech
Ashish Mundhra from India’s Guiding Tech website has 10 great tips to help you take better photos with your phone. Covering everything from the basics of cleaning the lens, though to Android camera features and phone handling techniques. (7:30)
Photography terms defined for smartphones
From Juan Bagnell at PocketNow comes this handy video that explains some of those composition and photography terms – what they mean and how they affect your photos. This video is a great primer to help introduce some basic photography terminology and concepts
More phonography tips
Once you’ve got your head around some of the basics of a smartphone camera, it’s time to start getting a bit more advanced. While some of the basic information is repeated in some of the guides below, there are also extra tips and tricks that you might want to try now you’re feeling comfortable with your phone camera.
But remember, the best thing you can do to learn about how to use your smartphone camera is to get out there and start snapping away – adjust all the functions, see how the same shot turns out with different processes working, and decide what’s best for you based on your own experience.
From Lindsay Kolowich at the hubspot blog comes this nice little primer giving you some ideas about how to take great photos with your smartphone.
From Hans-Georg Kluge at The Android Pit comes this helpful guide to taking better pictures on your smartphone
From David Neild at Gizmodo Australia comes this handy list of tips about taking better photos with your phone, including ways to use the in-built functions on your phone to take great pictures
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