I have a confession to make. I broke up with my beloved 6mp digital camera. I’ve gone crazy with my new Nokia 3.5mp camera phone and I believe I won't be looking back.

All the layout, cards and product shots I have been taking for more than a month now (see my month-old posting in the MSW Gallery including some photos for the MSW blog) were ALL (I repeat, for emphasis!) ALL taken with my camera phone. It performs and delivers absolutely perfect shots that I no longer bring my digital camera EVEN when I know there would be lots of picture taking in events I go to. I now leave my digicam behind (unless I'm going to an extensive pro-photoshoot assignment.)

My husband scoffs the idea that I’m no longer as attached to my digital camera. He doesn't believe me.

He states that I still DO need it as much with all 23 auto settings and all the digital gravy that goes with it. I will eventually use it when I want to take great pictures DAW. I probably will. But not now or until the end of the year with a 5mp camera phone to look forward to come Christmas (nagpaparinig po sa nagsusulat sa column na ito! Haha!)

If you have a 2mp camera phone and above, read on. If lugging your digital camera always to “capture” those scrappable moments is something you don’t look forward to very much, this article is dedicated to you.

A 2mp camera phone can get you pictures sharp and clear for 3R printing. A 3.5mp phone can give you about 5-7R. You can do wonders with outputs from both IF you know a bit of photo enhancement using a digital software (go ask Alby about PhotoFiltre). The key is in increasing the resolution more than the size. Try not to increase the size too much even if you do increase resolution. It will result to moiré showing, a.k.a. bad photo.

Settings?
Go for the highest resolution setting as possible. The largest or the biggest. Why? Aside from the obvious that the highest resolution will give you the clearest, sharpest shot, it will give you the CHOICE of being able to tweak the raw photo and blow-it up some more (just in case you need to print something bigger than what it can offer). Shooting in the smallest format would save you phone/memory card space but will not give you enough “room” to tweak the photo using your computer later on.

Imagine this:
You set your shot in black and white and got it. Later on you realize you want it in color.  You can’t. Shoot it in hi-res, in color, and THEN make it smaller if you desire, using your computer, later. And yes, black and white even. It would always be easy to “step down” but impossible to “step up” once you have your raw photo file.

This goes without saying that if you are bent on shooting with your camera phone, make sure you have a bigger flash card installed. Hi-res photos can take up so much space in your phone and memory card that you might not be able to take all the shots you want before you see the warning: lack of space to store your photos.

So what should you bear in mind when bent on shooting from your camera phone?

1. Lighting. Try to get your shots in well-lit conditions. If you will be indoors or under a shade, use the night mode or flash/fill-in. Tweak with the ISO and the White Balance. This way, you won’t have any shadows. Let the light shine from the side of the subject and NOT directly over it. Direct lighting has a tendency to wash-out colors. All my recent LO shots were taken indoors with natural side lighting.
2. Be still. Be very, very still. Some camera phones are so sensitive to shaking. Mine is but I heard some Ericsson cellphones have anti-shake built-in! Neat!
3. Refuse to use the zoom unless you have no other choice. You think the zoom function will make your shot sharper simply because it’s “nearer?” Forget it. Zoom will decrease quality even more. Go near your subject. Physically step closer. Don’t let your fingers (fiddling the zoom function) do the walking!
4. Frame your shots! Some camera phones visibly display frames. Ever so lightly depress the shot button for the camera to “calculate” the photo to be taken (in terms of lighting, size, balance, etc) and then fully depress the shot button when you are ready.
5. Shutter Delay. Pressing the shot button will not automatically take your shot. There would be some sort of a few seconds delay when the actual shot is taken. Keep this in mind as you would most probably start moving again after depressing the shot button and end up with a blurred image of something you weren’t even aiming for! Keep still and steady a few seconds longer.
6. Go for the volume! Take as many shots as your memory card will allow, download them into your computer (either via phonecable or Bluetooth) and tweak everything from there. Refuse to use the photo editing features of your cellphone unless you don’t plan on archiving them.

So what’s so great about camera phones? Well, I can draw mine in a flash (just like a gun slinger in Old Western movies) and shoot from the hip! Fast and easy! Best of all, I can even go on shooting without my subject knowing, so he/she or they end up less conscious, less stiff and more of their natural selves ---- and THAT makes for a great shot! PS: Photo below taken using an N95 camera. The phone I want for Christmas!