Camera Features You Didn’t Know You Had Part 1

Last week during the Smartphone & Tablet class I was teaching, I learned about features that I didn’t know that my smartphone and tablet have.  This topic will be broken up into two sections.  Today, I will be talking about the settings and features before you take the picture.  And next time, I will talk about the settings and features for after you take a picture.

First,  a little background.  The class is based upon a goal type system, like the goal for the next 30 minutes is to call your partner. Because everyone comes in with a different device, the traditional setup of step 1, 2, 3 cannot be used.  This is the second time, I have taught this class and the students are more advanced than my previous class.   So in addition to a beginner goal like take a picture, I also give them an advanced like find zoom, timer and/or panorama style.

It was awesome.  These ladies found some really advanced features on their phones and tablets.  Of course, all the devices were different, but there definitely were some similarities.  All the devices had some type of shooting mode options like panorama, vintage even cartoon. My phone as an “add me option” where I can merge two shots together.  The also had scene mode options like fireworks, night, action/sports and indoor.  Other feature that you may find timers, zoom, focus, white balance, effects (black/white and sepia), gps, photo location, shutter sound.

To find these features, click on the settings button, the button that will give you more options, anything that looks like a drop down arrow.  Consult your owner’s manual or a teen, if you have to.  Explore to see what you can find.  Next time we will talk about what you can do after you take the photo.