“It’s not the camera, it’s the photographer”

That quote is heard in photography circles about as often as the big hand goes around the face of a clock. Every photographer that has any confidence in their skill will tell you that they can capture a great images with any decent camera. Now it is time to find out.

Since almost anyone that has a cell phone now has a camera, let’s put that camera to use.

I recently attended an event with only the cell phone in my pocket. My original intent was to just attend and enjoy. I quickly found out that my obsession with photographing would not let me just sit and enjoy, so I pulled out my cell phone and went to work. My cell phone is a Droid Charge by Samsung.

I began “snapping” pictures. It was ok, however, when I began to look at the controls on the camera, I found I could make adjustments to improve the images.

Here’s what I found out.

1. My camera phone doesn’t handle back light well. (Backlight is when the light is brighter behind the subject than on them).
2. The camera needs a bit of time to process the scene, set itself and get ready to capture the image, usually about 10-15 seconds. When given the time, the images were better.
3. All of the usual rules of photography still apply to get a good image; composition, posing, lighting, etc.
4. The camera didn’t handle night photography well, even with the image stabilization on. The exposures were too long to hand hold them.
5. It is pretty fun to have a camera with me all the time. Yes, it has limitations. Knowing those limitations allows me to create within them.

I challenge you to go grab your phone and get busy photographing!