Tips for Improving Camera Phone Photos
As a self-professed photo geek, I refuse to use camera phones even though I carry two around all day, every day. (No, I’m not that popular!)
Digital Photography School’s Blog has an article explaining some recommended “best practices” when shooting with your camera phone. Some favorites:
Get Close - One of the most common mistakes with camera phone images is that their subject ends up being a tiny, unrecognizable object in the distance. Camera phone images tend to be smallish due to low resolution - so fill up your view finder with your subject to save having to zoom in on the subject in editing it later (which decreases quality even more). Having said this, getting too close on some model camera phones creates distorition of either fisheye effect or lack of focus due to poor macro ability.
Avoid Using the Digital Zoom - As tempting as it might be to zoom in on your subject when taking your picture (if you have a zoom feature on your camera phone), it actually will decrease the quality of your shot to use your digital zoom. Plus you can always edit your shot later using photo editing software on your computer. Some camera phones are beginning to hit the market with ‘optical zooms’ - these are fine to use as they don’t enlarge your subject by enlarging pixels.
Full Article: 13 Tips for Improving Camera Phone Photos