READY STEADY… SHOOT!

Your cellphone manual comes with a list of several things. But the one thing no  one talks about is how to hold the phone. What if you could make your images dramatically better just by holding your phone the right way when you clicked a picture? Ketan Kundargi tells you how.

The moment you pick up a camera, a compact or a DSLR, you know how to hold it. The buttons, display screen and the grip are designed to use it in a single defined way. Switch to phones who have no such design. This is a challenge, but also where the fun begins.

Better Grip for Sharper Images
Every new phone in the market is sleeker and lighter than the existing phones. This results in hardly any weight to anchor the phone for stability. To make up for this, hold the phone like a camera! Use both your hands to grip the device and the thumb on the right to focus and release the shutter. Always hold the camera close to your body to minimise any camera shake. Better grip and reduced shake means sharper pictures.

Stability Versus Convenience
While using two hands results in better stability, using a single one is simply a more convenient option. When taking a picture, what is your priority? If you are amidst a crowd and have just taken out your phone, then photographing with a single hand is more convenient and considerably faster.

Is There a Single Correct Orientation?
Everything around you is a horizontal image. Almost every camera till date has been a horizontal device. And then, there are cellphones. Unlike anything before, you use it in the vertical orientation at most times. This is a complete shift from the way we see.

Thankfully, there is no single orientation that is correct or works best. Different situations demand you to hold the camera differently. Except for videos, when you should always hold phone horizontally, there is no hard and fast rule, and maybe that’s what makes framing fun. Make the most of this freedom and use the phone such that it does justice to your vision!