Quick Smartphone Hacks 1 – Camera

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Learning to do anything takes a bit of effort. Smartphone photography is the same. Here’s one short post – short tips – simple stuff to practice now…

Find Your Camera!

Believe it or not, lots of cat lovers waste 10 seconds swiping through apps just to take a picture. Here’s how to open your camera in under 1 second:

1. Lock Screen Swipe On iPhone, swipe left on your lock screen. On Android, double-press the power button (or drag up from the bottom-right corner).
2. Control Centre Shortcut Add the camera icon to your swipe-down control panel; or add its icon to your front screen.
3. Action Button or Shortcut If your phone has a customisable button or double-tap back feature, map it directly to the camera app for speed. Not sure about anything? Check your phone brand online.

See if your smartphone shows you a horizon line. This helps you keep your smartphone camera level.

Challenge Activity

Take a quick ‘photo walk’. Practice opening your camera as you go. Choose somewhere like your room, garden, on a bus ride as you get comfortable with simply using your camera. You are not looking for works of art – you are building confidence so you can open and shoot quickly.

Pro Tip: Clean your camera lens on your T-shirt or with a microfibre cloth. Half of your bad lighting or blurry issues may be a greasy finger smudge!

Marjorie Dawson

Cat Photographer, Instructor and Writer

Marjorie is an award-winning cat photographer, tutor, and published writer based in New Zealand. A Professional Member of the Cat Writers’ Association, she helps cat lovers strengthen the bond with their pets by improving their photography and editing skills through short how-to videos and posts. Marjorie believes anyone can take amazing photos and show off their cats to purrfection!

Professional Member of the Cat Writers Association,
Winner of the Kuykendall Image Award
Published at the Guardian newspaper