5 Small Tips for Taking Stunning Halong Bay Photos with Your Smartphone

[:en]1. Crop, not zoom
While phone’s cameras do not offer high resolution compared to DSRLs, zooming can reduce the sharpness of your photos significantly. Another reason why you should not zoom is the likelihood of missing a surprisingly beautiful objects within sight. So instead of trying to zoom in, just take the photo then crop it if necessary. If you crop, the photo will reduce in size but still maintain its resolution thus the image quality remains intact.

2. Keep lens clean
Every camera lens needs to be clean for glorious photo capturing. While digital cameras are accompanied with lens covers, your phone camera’s lens is exposed to dust and dirt whenever you pull it out of your pocket. Even the pocket itself is not a clean place. As a result, your photos can be blurry and you’ll be left full of regrets. So, before taking photos with your smartphone, give it a quick wipe with a soft cloth. Your own t-shirt can be quite handy in this situation, as long as it is clean.
3. Wait for the sunset

The magnificent landscape of Halong Bay is at its best when the sun slowly descends onto the far horizon, leaving some glorious light beams between majestic limestone islets. It will be a flaw if you take 10 or so photos of Halong Bay without one at sunset. This magical scene is something you will never forget, definitely a highlight during your cruise trip in Halong Bay. Always take landscape photos (not portrait) and don’t place the horizon too high so you could miss the stunning sky.

4. Improvising panorama
With the cruise slowly moving between the mazes of karst formation, it is a perfect opportunity for a unique panorama photo. Every smartphone platforms today enable users to use do this. Just hold your phone steady and follow its guidance.
5. Image stabilization
No, not the technology provided by the phone manufacturer. You can do it yourself. Always embrace your phone by both hands and keep your arms close to your body to reduce unwanted vibration while snapping. In low light conditions, also remember to extend shutter speed to allow more light to enter the lens. This is a classic photography tip, not just for phones. To do this, you will need a camera app that allow you to manually adjust ISO, shutter speed, exposure…[:]