Use Lighting to Your Advantage

The most important aspect of photography is lighting. If you have poor lighting, it ruins the entire picture no matter how well you do everything else. Avoid taking pictures in direct sunlight, but use natural light when you can. The "golden hour" is a perfect example of using natural light to create an incredible picture. The golden hour is the hour before sundown when there is enough sunlight for the picture, without it being too bright.

Take Several Pictures Before Looking at Any of Them

A big mistake many beginner photographers make is to immediately look at a picture they've taken. This prevents you from capturing special moments if you're taking pictures of other people. You might miss the perfect smile or a unique expression. Instead, take many pictures before pulling back and looking at what you've got.

Learn How to Frame

Framing is so important in photography because it allows the photographer to tell a story and provide a more aesthetically pleasing picture. Avoid putting subjects in the middle of a shot, especially if they are walking or moving in one direction. You can use grid line tools to help create balanced, well-framed photographs on your phone.

Try Unique Perspectives

Perspective can change the meaning of a photograph, so don't be afraid to play around with it. Get low and take shots of things above you or climb up a ladder and take shots of things directly below you. Perspective allows you to explore some of your creativity when taking pictures.

Avoid Zooming In

Smartphones have significantly improved their cameras over the last decade. You can take incredible pictures that look like they were taking with an expensive camera. But that quality quickly diminishes when you start to zoom in on your subject. Your smartphone quality is at its best, by far, when it is completely zoomed out.

Keep it Simple

If you have too much going on in your pictures, it can look crowded and feel a bit overwhelming to look at. When photographing a subject, keep the background and surroundings as minimal as possible. This allows the eye to capture and focus on what the picture Is about.

Edit Your Photos (But Don't Overdo It)

You should strive to take the perfect photo while actually taking the picture, but that doesn't mean you can't edit it a bit afterward to make it look even better. You can edit pictures to make the subject pop out more, or enhance the colors and lighting. You can also use editing to create a unique style or aesthetic for the photos you take. Read more here about some creative photo ideas. But make sure you don't overdo it. Too much editing can take away from the beauty of the original picture.

Use Your Camera's Focus

Utilize your smartphone's focusing ability whenever taking a picture of a subject. This allows the camera to sharpen on the subject, and slightly blur the background making the image pop a lot more. Get creative and play around with which part of the frame you want to focus on. Sometimes focusing on background objects instead of the subject can create a uniquely interesting photograph.

Look for Leading Lines

Using leading lines in your pictures can create a unique sense of depth. Leading lines are straight, circular, or spiraling lines that lead towards the focal point in your frame. Think of roads, spiraling staircases, or trees as some great leading lines to create more depth in your photographs.

Find Symmetry

Symmetry can create an incredibly aesthetically appealing photograph. To create symmetry, you need to use framing to make your picture perfectly balanced. There should be something in the center of your picture, and the exact same thing on either side. Symmetry creates a powerful photograph if done correctly.

Look for Repetitive Patterns

Using repetitive patterns is another way to create a beautiful and powerful picture. They are pleasing to look at and create a powerful image. Look for repeating lines, geographical shapes, or objects to create this appealing effect. You can either create these images on your own or look for them where they naturally occur in the world.

Understand the Importance of Small Details

The tiniest of details can tell a story in a photograph. Use your phones focus and get up close to capture these small details. For example, you can photograph the tiny crevices of a tree trunk, or the incredible detail of a spider web. There's beauty all around you, all the time, waiting for you to notice and capture it.

Take Candid Photos

When photographing people, there's something magical in capturing the most human moments. It's one thing to ask someone to look at a camera and smile big. But it's something entirely different to capture the way a lover smiles at their partner when they aren't looking. Capture these everyday moments that make us who we are, and you'll end up taking some incredible pictures that could never be recreated with something that's posed or planned.

Don't Be Afraid to Break the Rules

While there are many rules in photography, it's important to know that you can break them and still capture a brilliant picture. Aim to be unconventional and unique. Take pictures from strange angles, use different lighting, experiment with ideas that other people try to avoid. If everyone followed the same rules of photography, there would be no creativity in the art. Find your style by trying new things and stick to it.