HDR Close up photography on Galaxy S2 Camera

Below is an example of closeup photography using the Galaxy S2. For this image, I've taken a photo in full resolution, cropped the area I wanted to get a close-up, and post-processed in Photoshop using HDR settings to subtly enhance the colour.

As previously discussed, you will often have better results if you take a photo from further back, and crop, instead of using close up photography with Macro Settings.

Botanic Gardens Sydney.

Tips & examples for close up photography using the Galaxy S2 Camera pt2

Below are the first attempts at close up photography I've tried using the Galaxy S2 Camera that have been post-processed using Photoshop. Admittably, I have some way to go!!! Both images have been cropped to tighten the shot, and the images have been colour adjusted. For example, you can see that we can get a sharper image of the daisies by taking a further away shot with better focus, and blowing up the subject. We can also use colour adjustments on 'shadow', 'highlights' and 'midtones' to bring out the desired detail.

Some general tips for Close up shots that I most definately need to apply in future are to: 1. rest or clamp the camera to something if at all possible to avoid blur and increase focus. 2. Play around with the 'Exposure value' and 'ISO' settings for each intended shot. 3. Take the shot further back in the highest resolution. 4. Get the lighting right by using an A4 white sheet. 5. Don't be afraid to take far more shots then I think I'll need.

Tips & examples for close up photography using the Galaxy S2 Camera pt1

When taking extremely close up shots with the Galaxy S2 you will likely want to choose 'Macro' setting, or opt to manually focus. In my experience Macro works well, and requires you tap where on the screen you want superfine focus.

When taking outdoor shots in bright settings, it will help to select 'Outdoor Visibility' from the camera settings menu. 'Outdoor Visibility' will illuminate your screen to make it easier to see what you are shooting, though bare in mind that what you see on screen will not correspond to the luminance of the actual photograph taken. Below are some examples of close up shots I've taken using macro. These shots were not cropped and represent the original distance from the subject.

As you can see from the latter shots, even though I used 'macro' and pressed on screen the focal subject for focusing, the images are not as sharp as I would of liked. Instead the background seems to be sharper than the foreground subject. A recommendation in future would be to take the shot from slightly further back, so as to sharply focus the foreground subject, and crop the image in post-processing.

Some general close up photography advice would be firstly to use a white sheet or black sheet to increase or reduce illuminance on the subject.

Another trick I've heard of but have yet to try, is to choose a low ISO setting, and turn on the flash. This means that you can be left with sharper and more illuminating photos.

For each image below, you can click on them for full resolution:

Day shot - Macro - 'Mushroom'

Day shot - with Flash - 'Mushroom'

Day shot - Macro - 'Mushroom'

Day shot - with Flash - 'Mushroom'

Day shot - Macro - 'Daisies'

Day shot - Macro - 'Daisy'

Day shot - Macro - 'Daisy'

Pudding Camera on the Samsung Galaxy S2

Pudding Camera is currently one of the most popular camera apps available from the Android Market. It has an interesting, simple and user-friendly interface which makes it nice to use:

Pudding interface

I took a number of photos testing out various filters with some of the results below. What I didnt like is that 'Pudding Camera' seems to vertically stretch some photos slightly, with most settings other than 'Snap'. I'm not sure if this is only on the SGS2 phone or whether it's a univeral issue.

Using 'Fantasy' and 'Dazzle' together does make for some nice surreal shots, and I've often seen the 'Fisheye' filter used for shots at nightclub events to great effect. Pudding has features for taking more Retro
looking shots such as 'Noir', 'Vintage Brown' and my personal favourite, 'Vignetting'.

What I do like about this app is that it allows you to choose 'Flash option' with all of the filters. Something even the Galaxy S2's own internal application doesn't allow.

Unfortunately, the Free App can only take photos to a maximum resolution of  1280px.

Basic Setting

Basic Dazzle

Basic Vivid

Snap Basic

Fantasy Basic

Fisheye Basic

Fantasy Vivid

Fantasy Dazzle

Comparing the Samsung Galaxy S2 Camera with the Nokia N8

The Nokia N8 is considered for many the current market leader smart phone for taking photos with it's massive 12 megapixel carl weizz lense and powerful flash. However, how does it compare to the the Galaxy S2 camera? Have a look at this comparison blog post which pits the two phones together for a number of shots.

http://sgs2vsn8camera.blogspot.com/2011/08/samsung-galaxy-s2-vs-nokia-n8-camera.html

We can see that the Galaxy S2 performs very well against the N8, but we can also take note the importance of adjusting settings for the best photo possible. For instance, night shots with the N8 outperform, however tweaking the SGS2 settings such as turning on the 'autocontrast' may make a big difference.

The sharpness and shutter speed of the Galaxy S2 also compared favourably against the N8, with settings like 'Macro' in 'Focus Mode' settings making a noted difference for close up shots. Finally, the blogger noted that the N8 seemed to pump up the colour compared to the SGS2 for some daylight shots, so it may be worth opting for a 'Scene Mode' such as 'Beach/Snow' to add warmth to shots.