Gadgetory

welcome to CNET's the fix the show about do-it-yourself tech and how-to i'm donald bell and i'm eric franklin and this week we take a look at photography on your smartphone yeah we've got some tips on how to take better photos and we've got to do it yourself project that'll take your smartphone photo game up a notch but first eric franklin here is gonna break down everything you want to know about your smartphone's camera when it comes to smartphone camera quality the meta pixel spec seems to dominate the conversation megapixels are determined by multiplying the number of horizontal pixels the cameras capable of capturing by the vertical ones for example the iPhone 5s takes 32 64 by 24 48 resolution images that's roughly 8 million pixels or 8 megapixels but just because one camera has more megapixels in another doesn't guarantee higher-quality images the size of the camera sensor also plays a huge part the larger the sensor the bigger its pixels can be bigger pixels means more light can be captured which eventually leads to more accurate and colorful images and with a larger sensor you can also expect better low-light performance less noise and more dynamic range before light can even reach the sensor to create an image that has to pass through the lens and the good lens can make all the difference in the quality of the picture and its aperture controls how much light actually reaches the sensor list it as an F number in Linde specs a larger aperture can lead to better low-light pictures and potentially less motion blur but don't be confused with apertures the lower the F number the larger the actual opening and then you have what happens after the image is captured the actual processing of the picture how well an image is processed really comes down to the manufacturer of the phone bottom line the camera is more than just as megapixels with plenty of other factors from the camera firmware to how well it handles image processing to the quality of his LED flash that ultimately determine the camera's image quality all right time for a quick break but when we come back we're gonna go on a photo shoot that's right you and Sharon Vaknin are gonna show us how to turn any photo into a masterpiece maybe not a masterpiece but close you welcome back most smartphones these days have so many camera features crammed into them that you don't even know what they are or when to use them yeah it's kind of like HDR mode on your phone right we all have this mode on our phone but we don't really know when to use it well in this next segment we're gonna show you some insider tips that will help you figure it all out here we are the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco a beautiful setting to show you some photography tips that'll help you maximize the modes and features that are already on your smart phone to show you these tips I'm using the iPhone 5s and I'm using the LG G flex for example HDR mode almost every phone is gonna have this maybe you know it is maybe you don't it's called high dynamic range it's a great way to take really great-looking photos but there's ways to use it in ways you should probably avoid what HDR is doing is it's taking three photos consecutively and then combining the best aspects of those three photos into one super image so it's gonna be great for landscape photography it's gonna really bring out the detail and trees things like that we have a key thing about HDR photography is that you need to hold your camera very steady taking three photos if you're moving while you're taking those it's gonna look weird now you probably already know about that feature that lets you tap your screen to set the focus and exposure for your shot well if you want to make sure those settings don't change all you need to do is tap and hold to lock those settings that's great I mean I think that's another great way to take close-up photos - especially if autofocus is having a hard time locking in what you want to take the picture of being able to really lock it down with your finger is a good way to go another great tip is to know that there's more ways to take your picture than just hitting the shutter button on your screen a lot of times you can get a shaky shot because you're pressing the screen so hard now on the iPhone you might already know that you can use your phone's volume up button to snap the photo well you can extend that feature with your headset and when your husband is plugged in you can use the inline Mike's volume up to also snap a photo and use it as a sort of remote shutter that's cool and then you're totally erasing any kind of vibration that might be transmitted to the phone on the LG G flex you there's a cool feature where you can actually activate the shutter with voice commands I could say cheese and just took a picture I mean you can also say whiskey whiskey random that's right whiskey another great thing about today's smartphones and their super fast processors is that you can enable a burst mode that allows you to take our rapid succession of like 20 shots all at once and then you can just pick out the best one later on it's really great for taking pictures of kids or pets or sporting events anything where there's a fast-paced action shot you want to capture you just take all the shots all at once and then pick out the best one later on hopefully you get some that aren't blurry on the iPhone all you have to do is tap and hold that shutter button and you'll just see that number of shots climbed super fast and when you're done at least on the 5s the phone will create a thumbnail that you can tap and then choose your favorites that you can keep as your primary photos yeah on the LG G flex actually have to hit the mode button go into burst mode it's still pretty quick and then it'll do a rapid fire boom 20 shots right there so now that you know how to use more of your phone's modes and features hopefully you'll be taking more creative and interesting photos to upload to Instagram yeah I'm pretty excited to use my camera again and have an excuse to shut whiskey in public whiskey if I can work oh it was really cool yeah I feel like my food photos are gonna finally look decent now that's right but if you want to get even more advanced Sharon Vaknin has a DIY project for how to make your own tripod mount for your smartphone if your smartphone is your primary camera then there are lots of good reasons to mount it to your tripod in order to do that you'll need a smartphone tripod mount which normally cost thirty bucks but today we're doing it ourselves for this project you'll need a few simple materials you'll need a smartphone case hardshell is best like this one a quarter-inch nut and l-shaped bracket some double-sided adhesive a wrench and fine some spray paint so the first thing we need to do is prep the l-shaped bracket first of all I want to give it a cleaner look but also I want it to match my iPhone case so I have some black spray paint and it's really as simple as putting on a coat of paint so let's do it okay that was pretty simple now all we need to do is let it dry for about 25 minutes and when we come back putting together the rest of the mount is really easy so our bracket is dry and now it's time to put that smartphone on our tripod so what we want is our double-sided adhesive I'll take one side off and stick it to one side of the l-shaped bracket this happens to be the perfect size for my bracket but if you need to just go ahead and trim it so that it's that nice clean look okay we'll take off the other side here and place it in the center of your iPhone case this looks about right just want to make sure it's sturdy next we'll bring in our phone slip it into the case so with our l-shaped bracket in place secure to our case the mount is pretty much done and you're ready to put it on your tripod so check out how simple it is I already have my quick release mount on the tripod so I'll take the l-shaped bracket put it over that screw then we'll grab our quarter inch nut and secure it to the screw now you can hand tighten it but if you want a little bit more security just use a wrench give it a little twist that's perfect and our super cheap DIY tripod mount is done why don't we take it out for a test drive so there you have it a super simple and very useful mount for your tripod and by the way all of these materials they only cost me a few bucks at the local hardware store us for the smartphone case whatever you want to pay is up to you but you can find them for really affordable prices online that's it for this week's show thanks for watching if you have any ideas for us any feedback you can reach us on twitter i'm at dawn and i'm at mid opal and check out next week's show which is all about home security thanks for watching we'll see you then you