You know how much I love gadgets and would own every single one if I could. One in particular is the Nokia Lumia 920, a Windows Phone that’s supposed to be a great alternative to the iPhone and top Android phones. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to get my hands on one but for now, I want to share some photography tips and suggested apps from members of the We Are JUXT community of expert mobile photographers.
When Microsoft challenged this group, they more than impressed with the resulting images they took with their Nokia Lumias. Here are some tips from We Are JUXT members, some of which you can use with your own smartphone!
We Are JUXT Tips
Panoramic Shots
1. Photosynth is the way to go – the app is easy to use and very intuitive.
2. Use 16×9 default format for wide-angle shots – the Nokia Lumia native camera is great for landscape and nature shots.
3. From landscapes to close-up shots, the lens is perfect for capturing details.
Low-Light
1. Understand the light sources and leverage product features – focus assist light and background light on the Nokia Lumia help you capture high-quality images in low-light scenarios.
a. Focus assist emits a burst of light that helps the lens focus on a subject while background light helps when there is a brighter light source behind your subject.
2. Lower your EV (Exposure Value) – this gives you more control than the auto settings.
3. Set your ISO – the PureView is great and ISO helps in stability in low-light situations.
Group/Self-Portraits
1. Allow for extra space around your subject – this enables more creative cropping when needed. Minimize the amount of cropping you do on a smartphone as it may decrease the image resolution.
2. Know and control your light sources – photography is all about the light, so this is key to capturing a great portrait.
3. A high-quality lens – this is one way the Nokia Lumia stands out when taking group and self-portraits.
Have a Windows Phone and looking for a great photography app? Here are the most popular ones:
· Instance (Free) – Similar to Instagram, this app lets you register, upload, comment, like follow and find your Facebook friends and people who are Instagram users can also follow you. It also has filters to edit your photos and you can pin your favorite users to your Start Screen. You can create your own account or log-in via your existing Instagram account.
· Lomogram (Free) – Lomogram is a photo editing app with more than 40 filters and lots of borders and light effects that can be combined in numerous ways to achieve unique look.
· Phototastic (Free) – Create a collage using classic frame borders or choose from one of the film templates like Polaroid, photobooth or filmstrip or try out the new Facebook cover photo frames.
· PhotoGrid (Free) – Convert your photo collection into amazing collages and share them via Facebook, twitter, email or Weibo.
· Blueprints ($0.99) – Blueprints is a Tumblr with an attractive look & feel that matches perfectly with your Windows Phone. Just log in with your Tumblr account and we’ll sync your phone with it right away so that you can view your dashboard, manage your posts and see what’s new with your favorite blogs.
· Picture Perfect (Free) – Picture Perfect includes all the editing tools you need to make your photos picturesque.
· Tumblr (Free) – Find and follow things you love, share photos, gifs, video, quotes, chats, links and text.
· Camera Roll Sync (Free) – With Camera Roll Sync app you can literally do just that – sync your camera roll folder to SkyDrive in high quality.
· Camera360 (Free) – With Camera 360 you can edit, add filters and frames and share your photos with your friends!
· Photosynth (Free) – Photosynth for Windows Phone is the panorama app that makes it easy and fun to capture and share interactive panoramas of the places, people, and events that are important to you.
· PhotoFunia (Free) – PhotoFunia is a cloud-based photo editing tool that gives you a fun filled experience. Take any photo and just wait to see the magic.
· Fhotoroom (Free) – Fhotoroom is a pro camera, photo sharing network and professional mobile photo editor. “Community App Awards Best Photo App of 2012” with over 1.5 million downloads.
· BLINK (Free) – With BLINK for Windows Phone 8, you’ll never miss the best shot. The app captures a burst of images before you even press the shutter, and continues to capture pictures after you’ve taken your shot.
· Apict ($0.99) – Exclusive to Windows Phone, Apict is a unique app that creates polaroid-inspired images. You can input captions and share with their family and friends on Twitter and Facebook.
· Smart Shoot (Free) – Smart Shoot lets you take your pictures your way. It shoots five frames for each picture. You can then pick the best faces from each frame and Smart Shoot automatically creates a great picture. Alternatively, you pick your favorite of the five and then remove any people or objects, ensuring you get the picture you want. When you are done, share your pictures directly with friends on Facebook, Flickr and Twitter.
· Pic Stitch ($1.49) – Quickly combine multiple photos into one beautifully framed picture. Pic Stitch packs a simple design with a powerful editor to give you everything you could possibly want to make your photo’s simply amazing. Share your masterpiece with all your family and friends with tons of in-app sharing options. Use Pic Stitch to create a before-and-after sequence, combine great photos of each of your kids.
Nicole K
This post is written by me with information that was provided by Microsoft’s Windows Phone team. There was no compensation and my opinion is 100% my own.
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