CamCyclopedia
Dr. Film
Contents
- How to set up the manual mode in Galaxy smartphone camera
1) Difference between “Expert RAW” and “Pro Mode”
2) How to set the manual focus in camera
3) How to set manual exposure in camera
2. How to take pictures using the manual focus
1) Pan focus and out-of-focus
2) How to use the out-of-focus technique properly
3. How to take photos using the manual exposure
1) Night pictures using manual exposure
2) Night pictures using long exposure
How to set up the manual mode in Galaxy smartphone camera
▶ Difference between “Expert RAW” and “Pro Mode”
The manual modes in the Galaxy smartphone camera are ‘Pro Mode’ and ‘Expert RAW’. Pro mode is available in the default camera app, but you have to download the ‘Expert RAW’ app from the Galaxy Store. As shown in [Figure 1], both ‘Pro mode’ and ‘Expert RAW’ basically allow you to manually adjust settings such as ISO, Shutter Speed, Focus, and White Balance.
While both apps have the same functionality in terms of allowing you to customize your camera's exposure and focus, the results are quite different when shooting under the same conditions, as shown in Figure 2. This is because of "HDR synthesis" feature provided by the "Expert RAW" app, which, if properly utilized, can produce results with a little more detail in environments with large exposure differences between light and dark.
What's more, "Expert RAW" allows you to save your photos as Linear DNG 16-bit RAW files, which are more amenable to corrections than traditional RAW files. When properly edited in Lightroom or other photo editing programs, this can generate photos with fine sharpness and color, along with good detail in the highlights and shadows.
▶ How to set the manual focus in camera
There are two main parts to learn how to use manual modes on your Galaxy smartphone to take artistic photos. The first part is setting the camera focus. Touch the icon labeled "FOCUS" in part [1] of [Figure 4] to reveal a gauge that allows you to set auto and manual focus, as shown in [2]. Setting the focus to Auto, or autofocus, allows you to easily and automatically focus on the subject. If you touch the icon labeled Manual in [2], a focus gauge will appear at the bottom, which can be moved to the left to focus on objects near and to the right to focus on objects far, and the area in focus will be highlighted in green as shown in [3].
▶ How to set manual exposure in camera
We covered the theoretical aspects of camera's exposure settings in detail in "Understanding Camera Exposure" section of the last installment of "Camera setting and shooting techniques to take pictures like a pro with the Galaxy Camera", this time we'll focus on how to actually set them in "Expert RAW" or "Pro Mode".
Since the aperture of the Galaxy smartphone camera is fixed for each lens, you need to adjust the ISO or shutter speed to set the exposure of the camera. [When you touch the ISO icon in [Figure 6], you will see a gauge in [2] that allows you to adjust the ISO. Lowering this value to the left will darken the photo, and conversely, turning it to the right, as shown in [3], will brighten the photo. ISO is about the sensitivity of your camera to light, while increasing this value will brighten your photos, it will also introduce unsightly noise if you increase it too much, and you’ll want to set your camera to minimize this for high quality photos.
When you touch the SPEED icon in [Figure 7], a gauge will appear in [1] that allows you to adjust the shutter speed in [2]. Setting this value faster to the left will darken the photo, and conversely, setting it slower to the right will lighten the photo. We mentioned in the previous lesson that shutter speed is the time it takes for the camera's lens to open and close. Think of it this way: In 1/180th of a second the shutter is open for a longer period of time than in 1/1000th of a second, and therefore a greater amount of light is delivered to the image sensor. However, if you or your subject moves while the shutter is open, all of that movement will be recorded in the photo, if you set this value too slow, you'll end up with a bizarre photo where all shapes are unrecognizable due to all the shaking.
How to take pictures using the manual focus
▶ Pan focus and out-of-focus
If you're new to the concepts of manual focus and manual exposure, they can be a little intimidating. Let’s talk about how to apply these concepts in real-world photography. First, in order to properly utilize the manual focus of your Galaxy smartphone, you need to train yourself to mentally organise where and to what extent to focus when you are looking at your subject. For example, if you're eating some fancy looking sashimi, like the one in Figure 8, and you want to take a nice picture of it to keep as a memory, how will you approach it?
The first method is going for a holistic pan focus, which ensures that the entire sashimi is focused on evenly. You can easily pan focus by adjusting the manual focus gauge until you get a green focus highlight across the screen, as shown in [Figure 9].
This pan focus is often difficult to achieve with a smartphone lens with a wide aperture if the camera is not at a constant distance from the subject you want to capture. Therefore, , an aerial shot, or top view, looking down on the subject from above, will produce a sharp focused and clean photo, as shown in Figure 10.
The second way is to shoot in out-of-focus to augment dimension and detail by focusing on what you want to emphasize and blurring the rest. As shown in [Figure 11], you can easily create out-of-focus shots by positioning the main subject close to the lens and the rest of the scene away from the lens, and then using manual focus to partially focus on the areas you want to emphasise.
By lowering the angle of the camera capturing the subject and minimising the distance between the lens and the main subject, you can further blur the rest of the background except for the in-focus subject, as shown in [Figure 12]. This out-of-focus technique can give your photo a sense of depth because the out-of-focus areas become more blurred as the distance from the camera increases. This allows you to emphasise the detail on the subject in focus.
▶ How to use the out-of-focus technique properly
If you take a picture of a beautifully blooming camellia flower in the standard ‘Photo’ mode of your Galaxy smartphone camera app, and then use the "AF/AE lock" mode that we learned about last time, you'll get a picture replete with detail and proper exposure, as shown in Figure 13 [right]. However, part [1] in [Figure 13] that is closer to the lens than the main subject, the camellia, is not properly defocused, resulting in a photo that lacks depth of field.
By using the manual focus of your Galaxy smartphone, you can blur any area (both the near and far backgrounds) that do not share the same location as the camellia, as shown in Figure 14. You cannot get the same depth of field intact results using the standard ‘photo’ mode of the Galaxy smartphone camera app.
You can put the manual focus to good use by placing a blossom camellia bud in front of the camellia and then blurring it for contrast, as shown in [Figure 15] (left), or by blowing all the top parts of the flower except the camellia and leaves out-of-focus, as shown in [Figure 15] (right), to draw more attention to the flower. Practice by focusing on your subject and capturing from different angles and compositions. If you can get the hang of the manual focus of your Galaxy smartphone camera, you'll be able to create photos with depth, focus, and detail that DSLRs can only dream of.
How to take photos using the manual exposure
▶ Night pictures using manual exposure
At night, when light is scarce, it can be a challenge to get decent results with a smartphone camera, that has an image sensor relatively small as compared to a DSLR. To make matters worse, shooting in low-light conditions with your smartphone's built-in camera app in the standard "photo" mode automatically increases the ISO to ensure proper exposure. We've been saying for a while now that if the ISO goes up beyond a certain level, the image quality will degrade rapidly due to noise and other issues, so you should try to minimise it. However, getting the right exposure while minimising blur and noise in your photos is something that takes a lot of practice. I'm going to take you through a situation-by-situation explanation of how to get these settings right based on the amount of light, surroundings, and capture objectives.
The first is a night scene where you're looking directly or indirectly at a streetlight or other strong light source. This is a common situation in Korea, where most people live in urban centers, so I would first set the ISO value to a minimum of 50 and set the shutter speed to a gradually slower value to expose, because if you increase the exposure to make the dark street brighter, the overall photo will be too bright due to the strong light source at points [1] and [2] in [Figure 17], and at the same time, there will be a flare phenomenon that reflects the light. Therefore, if you want to take a properly exposed photo of a night street to capture what you see with your naked eye, I recommend that you focus on the bright areas, even if you have to give up on some details in the dark areas.
It's not easy to capture a fast-moving subject like the train at point [1] in Figure 18 at night when light is scarce, without creating artifacts, because you have to set the shutter speed fast enough to match the subject's movement and the result is an overly dark picture. In this case, you have no choice but to increase the ISO value to get the right exposure. When you're actually taking the picture, you'll want to try different shutter speeds first to find the one that doesn't create artifacts, and then work your way up from there until you find an ISO value that gives you a good compromise between image quality and brightness. For the relatively slow-moving Haeundae Beach Train in Figure 18, I found that ISO 125 and a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second created the most ideal results.
▶ Night picture using long exposure
Do you always need to set a fast shutter speed to get a steady jerk-free photo in low light? If you take advantage of the fact that the image sensor records all the movement of the subject while the camera shutter is open, you can draw the light trajectory of a moving car with your Galaxy smartphone, as shown in Figure 19. In this case, a smartphone tripod is almost essential to minimise camera movement while the shutter is open. Here’s how to do it, first, secure your Galaxy smartphone to the tripod, set the ISO to the minimum value of 50, and adjust the shutter speed depending on how fast your subject is moving. Usually, for fast-moving subjects close to the camera, a slower shutter speed of about a second will give you a pretty good light trajectory. If you're taking a car travelling down a long stretch of road, like in [Figure 19], you'll need to set the shutter speed much slower, at least 2 seconds, to get the long light trajectory. After several attempts with cars on the road at this time, I was able to achieve the result shown in Figure 19 with an ISO of 50 and a shutter speed of 4 seconds.
These long-exposure techniques can be utilised for other purposes besides capturing the light trajectory of a moving subject. [Figure 20 shows the Marine City and Gwangan Bridge at night when the waves are calm, using the long exposure technique. I used an ISO of 50 and a shutter speed of 4 seconds, to create a picture of waves dispersing like clouds in front of my eyes along with the glittering night view of the marine city. The movement of the waves is an afterimage because of the slow shutter speed of 4 seconds. You too can create unique and beautiful pictures by setting the shutter speed slow enough to avoid overexposure.
Concluding Remarks
Today, we learned more about manual focus and manual exposure, which are essential parts of the Galaxy smartphone camera's manual mode. The unfamiliar concepts of pan focus, out-of-focus, ISO, shutter speed, etc. may seem a bit difficult, but with enough practice, you will be able to capture yourself gazing at the starry sky as shown in [Figure 21].
Your daily life definitely be more aesthetic with your Galaxy smartphone camera! Thank you for tuning into this lesson.
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Notes
[1] The author of this article is Dr. Film, and the content and opinions expressed in this article are those of Dr. Film and do not represent Samsung’s official statement or purpose.
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