There is a great world-widely known saying - you know the one - “the best camera is the one you have with you". You’d be hard pressed to find anyone without a camera phone in their pocket or rucksack nowadays, most almost as good as a top of the range DSLR (and a hell of a lot cheaper than forking out for one of those bad boys!). Follow these top tips to get the best out of yours.

SEEK OUT GOOD LIGHT

One of the limits of the humble camera phone is its limited dynamic range due to its small sensors. Search for good light however and you can create beautiful images that are just as good as ones from a DSLR. The golden hours around sunset and sunrise are the best, but open shade and window light are always beautiful too.

GET LOWER

The reason everybody’s photos look the same is that they are taken from the same place - head height from a couple of feet away. Get lower and closer, and your photos will instantly become more dynamic.

USE SELECTIVE EXPOSURE

Use apps like Camera+ or my favourite, VSCO Cam which let you decouple focus and exposure so you can keep your image sharp while using the exposure target to create much more dramatic images. In the image above I focused on the foreground but moved the exposure to the sunset which threw the veranda into a silhouette.

THINK LIKE A STREET PHOTOGRAPHER

I try to carry a small camera with me at all times but if I don’t have my trusty Fuji, I always have my phone and it can be great at capturing little vignettes of life. Check out the work of British photographer Martin Parr for loads of inspiration!

DON’T FORGET COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES

Just because it’s a phone doesn’t mean you should forget everything you know about photography. Just remembering the rule of thirds will help your images massively.

SEE IN SHAPES

See everything not just in terms of colour, texture, subjects and stories, but shapes as well. It’s easy to miss this as it requires you to see something that your eye can’t see. In the image above I could see lots of texture in the trees but I knew the camera would turn them pure black if I exposed for the clouds.

USE SELECTIVE BLUR

This can be overused and has caused a resurgence of the use of tilt-shift lenses with photographers, but if used subtlety it can add a lot to an image and is a great way to get around the large depth of field that camera phones have.

LOOK UP

Photographer Ansel Adams said “always look behind you”. This has been a great bit of advice that I always remind myself of. Once you have trained yourself to look around and see like this you will notice an almost infinite wealth of possibilities everywhere you walk.

GET CLOSER

This is a good rule for all photography but it seems to get forgotten on most photos shot on a camera phone. You needn’t show the whole subject for the viewer to understand what the image is about - it will often make a much more compelling image.

BE ABSTRACT

Use motion to create abstract images; the image above is a London tube train as it pulled into the station.

John Barwood is a brilliant Bristol based Wedding Photographer who very occasionally moonlights as one of our professional photographers. To see more of his portfolio or ask him any questions, visit John Barwood Photography.