By Chuck DeLaney and the NYI Digital Photography Team
It took traditional cameras almost 100 years to evolve into handy tools that everyone could
use, and it took digital cameras about 10 years to complete the same cycle. We've seen camera
phones reach that same level of utility in just a few years.
As camera phones have gotten better, many people use them just like a point-and-shoot digital
model. The photos can be very good. Celebrities now face even more coverage when they're in
public - bad enough to run the gauntlet of paparazzi, but now adoring fans empowered with
cell phones are taking pictures too. Some of those have been sold to the picture agencies
that trade in celebrity photos.
It's all about quality: The photo industry, initially shocked by the implications of camera
phone revolution, realized that it must help people who take photos with their phones get
great results. Now, it's easy to send photos to other phones, download them into your computer
and quickly upload your photos to Facebook or other sharing sites.
While there are some limits to the lens and flash capability of camera phones, they are
getting better all the time. Phone manufacturers, spurred by the success of the Apple iPhone,
keep adding features to phones that are getting smarter all the time.
At first, news pictures taken by citizens armed with camera phones were in themselves news. Now the “Camera phone Citizen” photo credit is taken for granted, even on Page One. Camera phone users have snapped pix of perps to help catch them, and people are finding all kinds of clever uses for these handy cameras. At any big event, professionals with SLRs compete with camera phones for the best angle and the special moment.
Celebrities now face even more coverage when they’re in public – bad enough to run the gauntlet of paparazzi, but now adoring fans empowered with cell phones are taking pictures too. Some of those have been sold to the picture agencies that trade in celebrity photos.
It’s all about quality: The photo industry, shocked by the first rumblings of the camera phone revolution, overcame an initial reaction of denial, and now embraces the potential camera phones offer to make photography fun. The photo industry understands that it must help people who take photos with their camera phones get great results. That means images that are easy to send to other camera phones, download into your computer, upload to a sharing site, or transmit via e-mail. And, the companies in the business are making it even easier all the time. They want your business and they know they have to earn it.
In addition, the picture quality is getting better all the time. In the United States two Megapixel cameras are in wide circulation, and higher resolution cameras are making an appearance.
The camera phone is a special tool with many benefits and some limitations. I could fill dozens of pages with Tips for Great Camera Phone Pictures, but I know your time is limited. Feel free to read as many of ten tips below as you wish. One thing I can promise is that the more you read, the better you’ll improve your chances to win the “Picture Perfect Halloween” Photo Contest.
1. Sharp picture, steady camera.
 There’s a reason those hard-charging detectives in “real-life” police dramas use two hands to steady their handgun. When you’re holding something at arm’s length, steadiness can be a problem. With any camera, camera shake can be a big problem, and ruin pictures. When you use a camera phone, you have to hold it far enough from your head that you can see the image on the LCD panel. Try holding the phone with both arms. When you’re ready to take the picture, press the shutter release gently, don’t punch it. Many photographers either let their breath out, or take a breath in, steadying themselves before pressing the shutter. In low light, use the flash on your camera phone if it has one.
2. Technical stuff – focus, exposure and lighting.
Focus and exposure are automated on a camera phone. You should give the camera’s sensors a few seconds to adjust to the light level and focus on the subject in the center of the frame before you take the picture.
Lighting is very important with camera phones. They work best in bright light and can be a problem in low light situations. Some camera phones have a low light setting or allow you to boost the brightness a bit. Bright flat lighting, such as open shade or an overcast day, will produce the best detail in your pictures.
3. Those Three NYI Guidelines
When you look at the scene in your viewfinder, ask yourself three little questions: What is the subject of my picture? How can I emphasize the subject? How can I simplify the picture? It works every time. Often the solution is to advance on your subject. Remember that your camera phone can probably focus on relatively close-up subjects. As a veteran war photographer used to say, “If the picture’s not working, get closer.”
 4. Camera angle – up, down, or sideways.
Far too many photos are taken from about five feet above the ground with the camera pointed straight ahead. Experiment. For scary Halloween subjects – including all those costume categories - you might be better shooting from a low angle to make the monster looming over you all the more towering. However, and this is important: Don’t do this outdoors if that will put the bright sky behind your subject in the photo because that’s likely to affect your exposure and turn the monster into an outline. On the other hand, there are some costumes that might be very scary in silhouette.
With little kids in costume, make sure you get down to their level. Most of the time pointing the camera downward belittles your subject.
 5. Lighting – again!
Lighting is so important it deserves another tip. Flat lighting gives good detail in both the light and dark areas in your subject, but with camera phones and other digital cameras you can take pictures, review them, erase the results if they don’t meet expectations, and then shoot again. That means you should experiment. Try odd lighting to give a spooky Halloween effect. Shine a flashlight up on the face from below – so-called “ghoul lighting.” Put that creature of the night in darkness and then illuminate the vampire with the headlights of a car, or put your werewolf next to a big bonfire – just don’t singe the fellow’s fur – he won’t like that!
6. Resolution and Picture Quality.
The bigger the better. Choose “best,” “highest,” or “fine,” for optimum resolution and quality.
That means to make sure you deliver the most detailed images to this contest, take all possible contest photos using the picture-quality settings that give the best results possible with your camera phone. When in doubt, spend a few minutes with the instruction manual that came with your camera phone. You won’t regret it.
First, under “Resolution,” pick “best” or “highest.” This means you’ll capture the maximum number of pixels possible with your camera. There are one-megapixel (one million pixel) camera phones on the market now, and higher megapixel models are starting to arrive. Without getting into the specifics, just understand that more resolution means more detail in your photo.
If your camera phone has a “Quality” setting, pick “Fine” or “Best,” or whatever other word is used to denote the top quality. This will govern the way your picture is stored in the JPEG format. Again, we’re going to duck the specifics.
By using the best settings in these two areas, you’ll limit the number of pictures your camera can capture. Many users want large capacity for photos in their phone so they use low quality settings. That’s fine if you’re intending to use the photos you take only for e-mail or telephone screensavers or caller ID photos, but not for this contest. Some phones offer the option of adding a separate memory card. It’s not a big investment, and perhaps you even received such a card when you purchased your phone. Use it.
If you don’t have a separate memory card, to make sure you have a picture that will look great in the winner’s circle, you’ll have to learn how to move those photos off your phone and save them as prints or in folders on your camera phone or upload them to a service. That way you can keep shooting in high resolution.
7. Forget the frames and special effects.
These can be cute for LCD display, but they don’t add to the image content in a contest. Using these will just diminish the area you have available for your picture, so avoid them.
8. Color effects and color balance settings can be important.
While many colorful costumes call out for full-color photos, some demons and skeletons actually look spookier in black-and-white or some even more ghoulish monochromatic scheme. For example, my camera phone allows the user to choose normal color as well as black-and-white, sepia (brownish), and negative. The latter can be very scary since it makes your tongue blue-green. Sepia looks somewhat historic and might be good for old-time ghouls, and black-and-white is naturally great for ghosts.
Ghoul in original color, sepia tone, and eerie green tone.
Color balance is a complicated subject in digital photography. We won’t belabor it here, but if your camera phone permits selections other than “automatic,” you might find settings such as sunny, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, even manual. You can play around with these to either get the best possible color under different lighting conditions, or to try to create strange effects.
9. Review your camera phone pictures on a monitor or as 4”x6” prints before you decide which ones to submit.
One thing photographers learned early on with digital cameras is that the LCD viewfinder is hard to use for photo quality evaluation. This is particularly true for the small LCP panel on most camera phones. Use a service to get your photos onto a computer monitor or get prints made to make sure things really look as good as they appear to be in your camera phone’s LCD screen before you enter a photo. That small image can conceal a lot of flaws that you would correct if you could see them clearly. Take a tip from the pros – look at a larger version of your image before you decide.
10. Shoot, shoot, shoot!
Professionals invest time getting the picture “just right.” All too often, amateurs don’t. We’re not talking about taking all day setting up a photo or, like Ansel Adams, waiting all day for the light to be just right. But, if you see that soda can in the monster’s hand AFTER you take the picture, carefully and politely remove it and then shoot again. After all, with your camera phone, it doesn’t matter how many pictures you take since you can erase all the one’s that don’t come out just right.
 BONUS TIP: Twilight for night time.
This is a powerful trick that pros use. When it’s night time out, the sky is black and lacks detail. But at twilight, that rich purple-blue sky gives lots of great light and color to the photo. The viewer will think “night time” every time and you’ll have a better picture.
Parting Shot: Mr. Monster, please remove your mask.
 If your favorite Monster is wearing a mask as part of his or her costume, take the time to make some pictures of that Phantom without the mask. For the “Picture Perfect Halloween” Contest, you’ll want the mask on, but when you look back on these moments years from now, or decide to send some prints to your relatives as a Christmas present, the pictures that show your child’s face and not that of Spiderman or Vampira will provide the family memories that give photography a large part of its power.
Remember, if you make the effort to take some really great photos of your family, friends and neighbors this Halloween, you’ll be a winner in their eyes regardless of what the judges decide!
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