If you are reading this, chances are you are reading it on a smart device. Whether you are reading this on a laptop, a tablet computer, or a smart phone, your mobile device is most likely equipped with a camera.. and a pretty good one by today’s standards. The truth of the matter is that this camera is one you can bring with you pretty much everywhere.
It is impressive how far camera technology in mobile devices has advanced. It almost feels like it was just two years ago that a camera with a 3.2 megapixel digital sensor on a Samsung slider phone was high-tech. Nowadays, we can easily find a 12 to 20 megapixels camera in a phone. However, the physical sensor size has pretty much remained the same. There are some drawbacks to having more megapixels on a small sensor, but that is something that we discussed in our ‘Image sensors’ article.
The most common practices that people use their smart phone camera for is to share one’s images quickly on social media and online messaging application. Cameras on mobile devices have become so good that they have become more than adequate to perform these practices. Therefore, it is unnecessary to have high-end equipment on mobile devices.
If you don’t own a higher-end camera than the one on your mobile device, don’t worry. You can be confident that you are well-capable to learn about various aspects of photography, and achieve great results. Not only is it a great tool to learn about composition, as you can quickly see what you are going to get on your screen, more and more smartphones allow you to manually set your aperture, shutter speed, and ISO to take control over the exposure of your images.
A world-renowned photographer, Chase Jarvis, published a book called: “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You”. At the same time, it is a powerful quote that teaches you that it does not matter what camera you own, whether it is large or small, old or new, expensive or cheap. What matters is that you actually use the tools that you have available to take your next photograph.
The quality of the final product is not determined by the camera and lens combination that you use. It is determined by you as the photographer. Your eye, your creativity, your style is what determines the outcome. A photographer who knows how to fully utilize a camera, and knows how to frame a photo, will always outperform an amateur who is just starting out in this craft.
Now you have all this knowledge, we are confident that you don’t prevent yourself form taking photos just because you think that your tools are inadequate. Well, we still believe that you won’t be taking photos with the camera on your laptop. There are some challenges in that, and we believe you realize that as well. However, with your smartphone in your pocket, and your passion to take great images, we would absolutely love to see your next worldly photos on your Instagram feed!
To inspire you to take your next set of images on your smartphone, here are a few great images to proof that your mobile phone is already good enough.