SMARTPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY: The Best Photos + Settings & Useful Tips!
Contents – Open To Read
MY MOBILE SHOTS WITH ASUS 3 DELUXE AND ASUS 3 ULTRA
Who said that a mobile phone can’t take pictures comparable to a DSLR is truly mistaken! Below are my favorite pictures taken using my Zenfone Deluxe and Zenfone Ultra during my trips around the world. I had already published another article on how to take great pictures using you mobile phone, and a blog post on my favorite shots of Sardinia on Instagram.
Check them out for more inspiration and learn how to take some great shot with your smartphone, not just snapshots and selfies!
Check the Mobile Specs
Here are my Two babies ?
People also ask me which mobiles I’ve been using all the time so I thought I give a brief description of the two I’m currently using and what I like about them.
Asus 3 Deluxe
Both mobiles have great cameras for people passionate about photography, the colors and resolution of the pictures are great and the manual setting help A LOT in taking shots that sometimes have nothing to envy to a DSLR camera.
Check it out
Asus 3 Ultra
Compared to the Deluxe, the Ultra has a bigger screen, very useful if you are combining it with a mini tripod, you can see even the smallest details and the colors and sharpness are out of this world! Truly Impressive.
Check it out
My Favorite Shots
I will use some shots directly from my Instagram account: By the way, feel free to stalk me if you are still not doing it! Just be patient and wait for a couple of seconds as it takes a bit for the pictures to upload in here. For each photo, I will briefly explain why I have included it amongst my favorite ones and, when applicable, what kind of settings I used to obtain a certain effect.
Photos were taken using the Zenfone 3 manual settings
Tour Eiffel Shot
The light here was super bright, being shot in the direction of the sun so I adjusted the mobile manual settings to:
- Iso: 50 (the lowest)
- Manual Focus: panorama setting
- Shutter speed: 1/1000 (super quick)
- White Balance: 7000K (warm)
Pond Shot
Being a sunset shot, the luminosity was starting to get low very quickly so I adjusted the mobile manual settings to:
- Iso: 400 (not too high to avoid the noise)
- Manual Focus: panorama setting
- Shutter speed: 1/10 (for a brighter image + tripod)
- White Balance: 8000K (very warm)
More Photos I Love!
Probably among my top 3 favorite photos ever, including the ones taken with the DSLR.
To me this pic is amazing. For this shot I used the Deluxe in manual settings with the focus to “macro”, to blur the background, creating a more dramatic effect. I also calibrated other settings to get the best quality photo. The only edit I did to this shot was done with Lightroom where I desaturated everything but the bubble.
Settings Used:
- Iso: 50 (the minimum)
- Manual Focus: “Macro” Setting
- Shutter speed: 1/350 (quite fast)
- White Balance: 5500K (neutral)
- Camera Resolution: 13M (4160 x 3120 px)
- Detail Enhancement: +3
- Sharpness: +3
The Zenfone 3 smartphones have incredible bright colors
Straight from the camera, no edits!
Settings Used:
- Iso: 50 (the minimum)
- Manual Focus: “Panorama” Setting
- Shutter speed: 1/350 (quite fast)
- White Balance: 4800K (cold)
- Camera Resolution: 13M
- Detail Enhancement: +3
- Sharpness: +1
Definitely my N.1 Shot with Zenfone Ultra
Sunrise in low light condition using manual settings and the Mini Manfrotto Tripod.
Settings Used:
- Iso: 100
- Manual Focus: “Panorama”
- Shutter speed: 1.2 seconds
- White Balance: 6500K (warm)
- Saturation: +1
- Contrast: -1
Milky Way Pics with The Zenfone3 Deluxe!
This might come as a massive surprise but without any external app, you can indeed take good shots of the Milky Way with the Zenfone Deluxe!
I gave it a try while in Bacalar- Mexico- and all in all the result was not bad, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get a proper Milky Way shot in there because of the humidity and the light pollution from the nearby town. But! Another blogger took some great shots and even put a youtube video on the setting he used to shoot the milky way with the Zenfone 3 Deluxe. When I will be in more optimal conditions, I will add mine too!
Another blogger took some great shots and even uploaded a video on Youtube showing the setting he used to shoot the Milky Way with the Zenfone 3 Deluxe. When I will be in more optimal conditions, I will add mine too!
By the way, if you need it there is a super smart function the bg remover to eliminate the background, check it out!
The following text in an extract from a very interesting and detailed article by a photographer and blogger who tested the funcyions of the Zenfone 3 Deluxe to shoot the Milky way, to read the whole post and see more Milky Way photos, click on the button below.
“One of the headline features of the Asus Zenfone 3’s camera is its built-in manual mode that allows you to go all the way to ISO 3200 and do long exposures of up to 32 seconds.
And there it was: my first Milky Way photo shot on a mobile phone! For me, this was a bit of a turning point, because a lot of people who ask me for photography advice on social media are discouraged about not being able to afford the gear to shoot the Milky Way.
With my own setup costing well over $3,000, I couldn’t quite dispute that, but now that I’ve proven to myself that a smartphone can do it, that conversation changes”.
Click to Read the entire Article
Mobile Milky Way Photo
Picture of the Milky Way taken by Aaron Palabyab in great weather conditions in the Philippines. Photo Info: Naidi Lighthouse and the Milky Way. Shot on the Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe, 32s at ISO 3200, f/2.0. Edited in Adobe Lightroom CC.
Night Shot Mobile Photo
My first attempt using my smartphone but not in optimal weather conditions. Photo Info: Bacalar pier by night. Shot on the Asus Zenfone 3 Deluxe, 15s at ISO 3200, f/2.0. Edited (with very limited skills with Adobe Lightroom)
Have you ever tried experimenting with your smartphone? Any additional tip you want to share or you have a question? Leave me a comment below!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Clelia is an enthusiastic Italian traveler born in the beautiful Island of Sardinia. She quit her job at Burberry London in 2012 to realize her dream to become a digital nomad. Counting the number of countries visited? No thanks! She believes that travel involves memories and emotions more than a list of places.
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