Top 14 'Phone-Camera-Beating' Photography Techniques to try for beginners to finally leave Auto Mode
Let's be honest. The camera in your smartphone is a modern marvel. It's smart, convenient, and captures surprisingly fantastic images with a single tap. It's so good, in fact, that when you finally invested in that shiny new DSLR or mirrorless camera, you might have felt a little... underwhelmed. Why don't your pictures automatically look like the ones you see online?
The truth is, your "big camera" is a powerful creative tool, but leaving it on Auto Mode is like buying a Ferrari and never taking it out of first gear. You're using a fraction of its potential. That magical "professional look"—the creamy blurred backgrounds, the tack-sharp subjects, the perfectly captured motion—doesn't come from the camera itself. It comes from you taking control and telling the camera what you want it to do.
This guide is your roadmap to finally breaking free from the green square of Auto Mode. We'll explore 14 simple yet powerful techniques that will transform your photography. These are the fundamental skills that separate a snapshot from a photograph, allowing you to create images your phone can only dream of. Get ready to unlock the artist within you.
1. Master the Magic of Aperture (f-stop)
Think of aperture as the pupil of your camera's eye. It’s an opening inside your lens that can get wider or smaller to control how much light hits the sensor. This is measured in "f-stops" (like f/1.8, f/4, f/11). Here’s the slightly confusing part: a small f-number (like f/1.8) means a large opening, letting in lots of light. A large f-number (like f/11) means a small opening, letting in less light.
But aperture does more than just control brightness; it’s your primary tool for controlling "depth of field." This is the amount of your image that's in sharp focus. A wide aperture (small f-number) creates a shallow depth of field, blurring the background and making your subject pop—this is the secret to those beautiful, professional-looking portraits. A narrow aperture (large f-number) creates a deep depth of field, keeping everything from the foreground to the background sharp, which is ideal for landscapes.
- Try This: Put your camera in Aperture Priority mode ("A" or "Av"). Find a subject, like a flower in a garden. First, take a shot at the widest aperture your lens allows (e.g., f/1.8). Notice how the flower is sharp and the background is a soft, beautiful blur. Now, change to a narrow aperture like f/11 and take the same shot. See how much more of the background is in focus? You've just taken creative control.
2. Harness the Power of Shutter Speed
If aperture is the eye's pupil, shutter speed is the eyelid. It’s the length of time the camera's sensor is exposed to light. It's measured in seconds or fractions of a second (like 1/1000s, 1/60s, or 30"). Shutter speed is your key to controlling motion.
Want to freeze a moment in time? A fast shutter speed (like 1/1000s or faster) is your best friend. It’s perfect for capturing a bird in flight, a speeding car, or your kids running around the park without any blur. On the other hand, a slow shutter speed (like 1/30s or slower) will intentionally blur motion. This can be used creatively to show the flow of a waterfall, create silky smooth water effects, or capture dramatic light trails from cars at night. Remember, for slow shutter speeds, you'll need a tripod to keep the camera steady.
- Try This: Switch to Shutter Priority mode ("S" or "Tv"). To freeze action, head to a busy street and try to capture a moving car with a shutter speed of 1/500s or faster. For motion blur, find a small waterfall or fountain. Put your camera on a tripod and use a slow shutter speed like 1/2s. The result will be a beautifully artistic shot your phone's standard camera app can't easily replicate.
3. Understand Your ISO
ISO is the third piece of the "Exposure Triangle" (along with aperture and shutter speed). It refers to your camera sensor's sensitivity to light. A low ISO (like 100 or 200) means the sensor is less sensitive, which is perfect for bright, sunny days. A high ISO (like 3200 or 6400) makes the sensor much more sensitive, allowing you to shoot in low-light situations without a flash.
There's a trade-off, however. As you increase the ISO, you also introduce digital "noise" or grain into your image, which can make it look speckled and reduce its quality. The goal is to always use the lowest ISO possible for the lighting conditions you're in. Don't be afraid to raise it when you need to, but understand that a photo taken at ISO 400 will be cleaner than one taken at ISO 6400.
- Try This: On a cloudy day or indoors, keep your aperture and shutter speed the same but take three photos of the same subject: one at ISO 200, one at ISO 1600, and one at ISO 6400. Zoom in on the images on your computer and compare the amount of grain in the shadows. This will give you a real feel for how your specific camera handles noise.
4. Shoot in Aperture Priority Mode (A or Av)
Jumping straight from Auto to full Manual mode can be intimidating. The best stepping stone is Aperture Priority mode. In this mode, you choose the aperture (controlling your depth of field), and the camera automatically selects the right shutter speed to get a correct exposure.
This is the mode many professional photographers use for the majority of their work. It gives you creative control over the most important artistic element—depth of field—while letting the camera handle the technical heavy lifting of exposure. It’s the perfect balance between creative freedom and convenience, and it’s a game-changer for portraits, travel, and everyday photography.
- Try This: Set your camera to "A" or "Av" for the entire day. For portraits, choose a wide aperture (low f-number). For landscapes or group shots, choose a narrow one (high f-number). Pay attention to the shutter speed the camera selects. This will help you learn how aperture and shutter speed relate to each other.
5. Embrace Exposure Compensation
Have you ever taken a photo of a snowy landscape and had it turn out gray? Or photographed a dark subject and it looks washed out? This is because your camera's light meter is trying to make everything a "middle gray." Exposure Compensation is your way of overriding the camera and saying, "Hey, you got it wrong!"
The button is usually marked with a "+/-" symbol. Dialing it into the plus (+) side makes the image brighter, which is perfect for those snowy scenes. Dialing it into the minus (-) side makes the image darker, which is great for preserving a moody, dark atmosphere. This simple tool is one of the most powerful ways to take control back from your camera's automatic brain.
- Try This: Find a scene with a lot of white (like a white wall or a piece of paper) and take a photo in Aperture Priority. It will likely look gray. Now, use exposure compensation and dial it up to +1 or +1.3 and take another shot. It will look much closer to true white.
6. Shoot in RAW Format
Your phone and your camera's Auto mode likely save photos as JPEGs. A JPEG is a compressed, "finished" file. The camera makes decisions about color, contrast, and sharpening for you. A RAW file, on the other hand, is like a digital negative. It captures all the uncompressed data from the camera's sensor.
Shooting in RAW gives you incredible flexibility in post-processing. You have far more control over adjusting exposure, recovering lost detail in shadows and highlights, and fine-tuning colors. The files are much larger, but the quality and editing power are unmatched. It’s the single biggest leap you can take in image quality.
- Try This: Find the "Image Quality" setting in your camera's menu and set it to "RAW" or "RAW+JPEG" (which saves both file types). Take some photos and then open the RAW files in a program like Adobe Lightroom or your camera's free software. Try adjusting the "Exposure" and "Shadows" sliders and see how much detail you can recover compared to the JPEG version.
7. Ditch Auto White Balance
White Balance (WB) controls the color temperature of your image, ensuring that white objects appear white. While Auto White Balance (AWB) does a decent job, it can be fooled by tricky lighting, often leaving a yellow or blue cast.
Learning to use the presets like "Daylight," "Cloudy," "Tungsten," or "Shade" can give you more accurate and consistent colors. The "Cloudy" or "Shade" settings, for instance, will warm up a photo taken on an overcast day, counteracting the cool blue light. Taking control of WB is a subtle but crucial step toward creating a specific mood in your photos.
- Try This: Photograph the same colorful subject indoors under a standard lightbulb. First, use Auto White Balance. Then, cycle through the WB presets like "Tungsten," "Fluorescent," and "Daylight." Notice how dramatically the colors shift with each setting.
8. Learn the Rule of Thirds
This is the first rule of composition every photographer learns, and for good reason. Imagine your frame is divided into nine equal squares by two horizontal and two vertical lines. The Rule of Thirds suggests placing your most important subject matter along these lines or at their intersections (the "power points").
Placing your subject directly in the center can often feel static and boring. By moving it slightly off-center, you create a more dynamic, balanced, and visually interesting image that naturally guides the viewer's eye through the frame.
- Try This: Turn on the grid display in your camera's viewfinder or on its LCD screen. When composing your next shot of a person or a landscape, consciously place the horizon on the top or bottom third line, or place your main subject on one of the four intersection points.
9. Look for Leading Lines
Leading lines are one of the most effective compositional tools. They are natural lines within your scene—like a road, a fence, a river, or a row of trees—that draw the viewer's eye from the foreground of the image toward the main subject.
Using leading lines creates a sense of depth and dimension, turning a flat, two-dimensional photo into a more immersive three-dimensional experience. They give the eye a path to follow, making the composition feel intentional and engaging. Once you start looking for them, you'll see them everywhere.
- Try This: Go for a walk and actively search for leading lines. A winding path in a park, the yellow lines on a road, a pier at the beach, or the edge of a building are all great examples. Position yourself so the line starts near the bottom corner of your frame and leads toward your subject.
10. Use Framing to Create Depth
This technique involves using elements within the scene to create a "frame within your frame." This isn't a literal picture frame, but rather things like doorways, archways, tree branches, or windows that you can shoot through to surround your main subject.
Framing adds context, creates a strong sense of depth, and draws more attention to your subject by isolating it from the rest of the scene. It’s a creative way to make your images feel more layered and thoughtfully composed.
- Try This: Find a subject you can view through something else. It could be a person seen through a window, a landscape framed by overhanging tree branches, or a distant building viewed through an archway.
11. Change Your Perspective
One of the biggest mistakes beginners make is taking every photo from eye level. This is how we see the world every day, so it often results in predictable photos. A simple change in perspective can dramatically alter the mood and impact of your image.
Try getting down low to the ground for a "worm's-eye view." This can make small subjects seem heroic and grand. Or, find a higher vantage point for a "bird's-eye view" to reveal patterns and relationships you couldn't see from below. Don't be afraid to move around, crouch down, and explore different angles.
- Try This: Pick a simple subject, like a pet, a child, or even a pair of shoes. First, take a photo from your normal standing height. Then, get down on your stomach and take a photo from ground level. Finally, if possible, stand on a chair and shoot straight down. Compare the three photos and see how different they feel.
12. Create That Blurry Background (Bokeh)
That beautiful, creamy, out-of-focus background is called "bokeh," and it's one of the most sought-after looks that truly separates a dedicated camera from a smartphone (which often fakes it with software). As we learned in point #1, the key to achieving this is using a wide aperture (the smallest f-number your lens can do, like f/1.8 or f/2.8).
There are two other factors that enhance this effect. First, get closer to your subject. The closer you are, the more out-of-focus the background will become. Second, increase the distance between your subject and the background. If your subject is standing right in front of a wall, the wall won't blur much, no matter your aperture. Pull them away from the wall, and the magic will happen.
- Try This: Use Aperture Priority mode and set your lens to its widest aperture. Place a small object on a table. For the first shot, place it just a few inches in front of a busy background (like a bookshelf). For the second shot, move the object several feet away from the same background. The difference in the background blur will be astounding.
13. Master the Focus Point
In Auto mode, the camera guesses what you want to be in focus, and it often gets it wrong, focusing on the background instead of your subject's face. Taking control of your focus point is essential for sharp images.
Switch your camera's focus mode to "Single Point AF" (or a similar name). This allows you to use the directional pad on the back of your camera to move a single focus point around the frame. Now, you can place that point directly on your subject's eye for a portrait, on a specific flower petal, or on any other precise detail you want to be tack-sharp. It's a simple change that gives you 100% control over what's in focus.
- Try This: Practice the "focus and recompose" technique. Place your single focus point in the center of the frame. Aim it at your subject's eye, press the shutter button halfway down to lock focus, and then—while still holding the button halfway—recompose the shot to follow the Rule of Thirds before pressing the button all the way down.
14. Embrace Negative Space
Negative space is the empty area around your main subject. Beginners often feel the need to fill the entire frame, but experienced photographers know that negative space can be a powerful compositional tool.
Leaving a lot of empty space around your subject can create a sense of scale, simplicity, and minimalism. It helps to isolate your subject, drawing the viewer's eye directly to it without distraction. It can evoke feelings of peace, loneliness, or freedom. Don't be afraid of what's not in the photo; use it to make what is in the photo more powerful. This is a concept that the Goh Ling Yong blog often emphasizes as a hallmark of more advanced, thoughtful photography.
- Try This: Find a lone subject against a simple background—a single tree in a field, a person on an empty beach, or a boat on the open water. Compose your shot so that the subject takes up only a small portion of the frame, letting the vastness of the sky, field, or water dominate the image.
Your Journey Starts Now
Leaving Auto Mode behind is a journey, not a destination. It can feel overwhelming at first, but you don't need to master all 14 of these techniques overnight. Start with one or two. Spend a week shooting only in Aperture Priority. Practice using the Rule of Thirds on your next outing.
Every time you consciously choose a setting or compose a frame, you're building a new skill and developing your creative eye. Your camera is an incredible tool waiting for your direction. By applying these techniques, you'll soon be creating compelling, beautiful, and intentional photographs that a smartphone simply can't match.
Which of these techniques are you most excited to try first? Head out, practice, and share your experiences or questions in the comments below. We’d love to see what you create
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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