The Nokia N8 has a stonking 12 megapixel camera, a flash and autofocus, but those features alone can’t guarantee great photos. Luckily, the Nokia N8 has a few more photographic tricks up its sleeve. Come with us, as we explore the Nokia N8’s photography talents, and tool you up to take professional-grade photographs in any scenario.
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Frame the shot
The first rule of taking great photographs is to frame your subjects properly. If you’re taking pictures of people, make sure their entire head is in the shot, not just their face. Tap the settings icon on the Nokia N8 viewfinder screen and you’ll see an option for “Face detect”. Make sure it doesn’t have a line through it, indicating that face detection is switched off. This will make sure the N8 keeps an eye out for people in your photos, and makes sure their faces are in sharp focus.
If you’re taking a photo of a building or landscape, you can call up a handy grid too, giving you guidelines to make sure everything’s kept level and framed correctly. Just tap the settings icon, and hit the “Grid” button to overlay the Nokia N8 viewfinder with a four line grid.
Composition and perspective
Now you have everything set up and framed correctly, think about how the viewers eye will be led into the scene, before pressing that shutter button.
If you’re taking a portrait, try experimenting with the Nokia N8 viewfinder before hitting the shutter button. Its roomy 3.5 inch touchscreen lets you frame up photos before committing them to memory. Tap the settings icon and press “Grid” too, and you’ll be able to use the rule of thirds to correctly compose your shot.
The rule of thirds is a principle used by photographers to make sure their subjects sit properly within a frame. The Nokia N8 helps by providing a handy grid, dividing a scene into nine individual parts. Important elements of a scene should be placed along the lines or intersections between those nine parts, to guarantee a balanced shot which leads the viewer’s eye towards the subject.
Use the grid to keep your shots straight and level, as well as balanced and punchy. If you’re taking a shot of a horizon, place it along the lowest horizontal line. Once you’re comfortable composing a shot, try bending the rule of thirds, or even breaking it altogether for less predictable results.
Maybe your muse would look good in profile, with the Nokia N8’s wide angle lens also taking in some of the scenery around them? Perhaps you should get up close with the Nokia N8, and choose “Close-up” from its scene modes to switch into macro shooting and pull every pimple, freckle and follicle into eye-tinglingly sharp focus. Let the Nokia N8 release your creativity and launch your imagination into new and exciting compositions.
Focus and depth of field
The Nokia N8 camera has auto focus, and is able to perform fantastic photographic feats. Press the shutter button down half way and you’ll see the Nokia N8 snaps subjects immediately in front of it into sharp focus. The focus indicator changes from red to green when everything’s pin-sharp.That’s your cue to push the shutter button down all the way, snapping a photo.
Unlike some cameraphones, which oddly take a photo when your finger is released from the shutter, the Nokia N8 acts like a traditional snapper, capturing an image when your finger presses down. Also make sure, if you’re photographing people with the Nokia N8, to tap into the Settings menu, and enable “Face detect” to automatically focus on people, rather than scenery.
Autofocus isn’t the only picture-sharpening trick up the Nokia N8’s sleeve though. Tap into the camera’s settings menu, hit “Scene mode” and switch to “Close-up” for much sharper photos at close range. Keep the Nokia 80 a maximum of 60cm from your subject when shooting with this feature, although the closer you get, up to 10cm, the more interesting effects you’ll achieve.
Try moving the N8 right up to a subject with Close-up mode engaged. Half-press the shutter, and notice how the background becomes soft, while the subject is sharp and clear. This is known as having a shallow depth of field, and helps give the subject the N8 is shooting much more impact.
Flash considerations
The Nokia N8 has a powerful Xenon flash, which is brighter and faster than the LED flashbulbs found on less equipped cameraphones. It’s able to illuminate a whole room, whereas other less powerful flashes only light up subjects directly in front of them.
That power comes in handy where you might not expect it. If you’re outdoors, it can brighten up a cloudy day, or counteract the brightness of the sun if you have to take photos of friends who are illuminated from behind.
Switch between automatic, forced flash and no flash by tapping the lightning bolt-shaped Flash icon on the Nokia N8 viewfinder. There’s also an option for red-eye reduction flash, which fires twice in quick succesion: Once to force your subjects’ pupils to contract, and another to take the photo when there’s less of their retina on show to reflect light, and cause red pupils to appear on your photos.
For the simplest, and most effective results, it’s best to leave the Nokia N8’s flash set to automatic, but be prepared to force it to flash, even in bright sunlight, if you need an extra boost to illuminate a darkened subject. Likewise, in low light, be ready to shut off the flash to preserve ambient lighting effects, such as candle light or fireworks.
Scene modes
In addition to all the manual tinkering above, the Nokia N8 camera comes equipped with eight scene modes, accessed through the settings menu on the N8 viewfinder, custom tuned to squeeze the best out of a shot, depending on what you’re shooting.
There are modes to emphasise landscape colours and skylines, a Portrait mode to make your mates look their best, and a Sport mode to speed up shutter speeds so you don’t miss the action.
Night and Night Portrait modes let you shoot in low light without the aid of a flash, while keeping digital noise and grainy effects to a minimum.
Whatever you shoot with the Nokia N8, using the tips above will make sure it’s framed well, correctly lit and in sharp focus. Share your own tips in the comments section below too!
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