With the world’s latest technological advancements, smartphones are able to produce high-quality photos which are on par with some of today’s modern cameras.

While the camera lens of smartphones and cameras cannot be compared on a technical level, our eyes don’t seem to make much difference between photos taken from an iPhone and from a professional camera.

But regardless of whether you’re using a professional camera or your smartphone to take pictures, in this article, we are going to tell you some tips and tricks for taking the perfect photo for your portfolio, social media page, or even for your scrapbook.

1. Always set your camera’s focus

While modern cameras and smartphones automatically detect objects that need focusing, not every area that you want to sharpen is automatically focused by your camera. To do this, in the case of smartphones, simply press the area where you want the focus to be at.

In the case of taking a photo of something in motion, your camera might fail to follow up on it as it moves. To do this, again, tap the screen to correct your camera’s focus right before taking the shot in order to sharpen the picture and get that much needed clear view.

2. Set Up The Shot

The first things they teach you when you learn photography is to set up your shot before you take it. In the case of you needing to snap a single object, make sure that the object does fill the entire frame. At least two-thirds of the photo should be filled with negative space so that the subject can stand out from the rest of the frame. Another useful tip, when taking single object photos, is to use what we learned from the previous point and that means to set the focus on the subject.

3. Fully embrace the negative space in the frame

Negative space is the space around the subjects in the picture and it can eighter be good or it can be great. Negative space can often be referred to as the sky, a large wall, water background, an empty field, and stuff like that that serve only to make the subjects stand out. When taking the perfect picture, make sure to have enough negative space in your frame in order for it to work in your pictures way.

4. Use Perspective to Your Advantage

Taking pictures from an unusual angle can make them look better, more professional, and more memorable. The subject in pictures like these can stand out from a position of depth or height and create a sense of illusion around it.

5. Use Reflection to Your Advantage

Did you know that our eyes are mostly drawn to reflections? Have you ever noticed how your eyes always fixate on the reflection from the sun in the water while at the beach? So why not use reflection in your picture to make it work for you? If you are living in the city, there are a lot of places where you can go and create a reflection in your picture. Puddles, larger bodies of water, sunglasses, metallic surfaces, and mirror can be used to create reflections. They will lead to people’s eyes fixating on your picture just like any normal natural reflection.