Whats the main thing wrong with this photo ?

BADGER.BRAD

BADGER.BRAD

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Hello all,

I have been given a mobile phone and been thrust into the modern world ( don't really like it too much) The problem is the photos just don't look right but what do you think is wrong with them ? I will try some .raw edits but the .JPEGs just seem awful. The phone is a Samsung A10S , although it's not super high tech compared to some I would still expect better ! The only thing I have done is lowered the photo size for TP but this photo is pretty representative of what is throws out. To my eye the colours are wrong it looks maybe way over sharpened but what do you think ?

IMG_20230322_145826.jpg
 
I don't know if there was a light mist, and that's deceiving the eye, but the wooded background almost looks as if it's been dropped there from another photo. Or it could be the two trees in the foreground standing out. Colours I think are okay. Maybe the green is a little over saturated. I think it's maybe the nature of the composition you've chosen.
 
Hello Neville,

Maybe I'm just expecting too much from the phone, A lot of the photos look out of focus and the greens as you pointed out just look over the top , Converting to Black and white seems to help with most of the images but even then contrast seems far too high and black levels have to be altered as do the highlights which appear blown out although I have taken up to a stop down in order to help. I'll try a few .raw images tomorrow and see if I can get them looking better. I was hoping the phone may replace my compact but as battery life is awful (two days max, I'm used to 10 days or more with my previous basic phone) and the photos just don't cut it I think I'm going to go back to the simple phone and compact camera combo. I was hoping you could alter the .jpegs but this doesn't seem the case.
 
As you asked to me it looks too cluttered with trees, and maybe it would help if he dog was nearer as a focal point. But this is just my opinion
something like this maybe? but what do I know about photography? very little
xxxxx.jpg
 
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Massive DoF with huge oversharpening is the norm for mobile phone pictures and this one is no exception. Didn't spot the dog until Bazza pointed it out - it's got a bit lost in the excessive contrast.
 
Samsung have fairly good cameras, for what they are.

Have you looked what setting you can vary?

Or download another camera app that gives your more control.

It might also help to take the same pictures at the same time with a camera and compare, and see what type of shots it is OK for.

A friend of mine has been complimented several times on her photos, I asked her what camera she has, and she doesn't have on, nor even a computer, what we see is what she took on her phone, no adjustment, no cropping, it was a Samsung S6!
 
Well if its a picture of the dog in the middle then your much too far away

hope that helps :D
 
Sangoma said:
Samsung have fairly good cameras, for what they are.

Have you looked what setting you can vary?

Or download another camera app that gives your more control.

It might also help to take the same pictures at the same time with a camera and compare, and see what type of shots it is OK for.

A friend of mine has been complimented several times on her photos, I asked her what camera she has, and she doesn't have on, nor even a computer, what we see is what she took on her phone, no adjustment, no cropping, it was a Samsung S6!
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I have to agree. I find I'm using my phone camera more and more, for shots I'd normally take on a compact (phone way better than my old fuji compact) I think the biggest "issue" with phone camera is getting OOF backgrounds, although the new ones have a sort of manual focus or portrait mode with gives you a chance.
 
swanseamale47 said:
I have to agree. I find I'm using my phone camera more and more, for shots I'd normally take on a compact (phone way better than my old fuji compact) I think the biggest "issue" with phone camera is getting OOF backgrounds, although the new ones have a sort of manual focus or portrait mode with gives you a chance.
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same.. for outings and holidays when the pics are for social media I ahve boxed up my lumix and stick to the mobile phone..
 
I'd check if you've got the HDR setting turned on or set to auto - Overall it looks pretty flat with wishywashy shadows, yet somehow the sky isn't blown out...

Other than that, yes it's slightly oversharpened but that's normal for a phone shot.

I just tested adding a little contrast and a little saturation and it looked much better.
 
As phone cameras go, I don't see anything wrong with it.

No matter how good the camera is, it's still a phone with a tiny sensor. They are never going to be as good as a proper camera with a larger sensor.

I have a iPhone 14 Pro and it takes fantastic photos.........for a phone. No way it can complete with my R5 despite the megapixel count being very similar.
 
KIPAX said:
Well if its a picture of the dog in the middle then your much too far away
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It was nothing to do with the dog it just so happens they are all very good at photo bombing, It was taken to show the technical quality of the camera rather than the subject and see what if anything I could do about it.
 
BADGER.BRAD said:
Hello all,

I have been given a mobile phone and been thrust into the modern world ( don't really like it too much) The problem is the photos just don't look right but what do you think is wrong with them ? I will try some .raw edits but the .JPEGs just seem awful. The phone is a Samsung A10S , although it's not super high tech compared to some I would still expect better ! The only thing I have done is lowered the photo size for TP but this photo is pretty representative of what is throws out. To my eye the colours are wrong it looks maybe way over sharpened but what do you think ?

View attachment 384591
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Excessive unrealistic depth of field.
 
Ssoyd said:
Excessive unrealistic depth of field.
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The problem always is not having been there when the photo was taken. What appear wrong may actually be correct from the position it was taken from at the time. I suppose one has to also consider what the photo was taken with, that could easily affect the picture. A mobile phone offers very little leeway, if any, for adjustments
Over the years, from the Kodak brownie 127 era, I have noticed almost everyone sees something not to their liking in a photo and would have done it a different way. I always have maintained that if the person who took the photo is happy with it then it is good enough for them. If others like it as well then consider it as a bonus
 
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There's nothing wrong with it, it's a smartphone photo. You have a tiny sensor and focal length so you always have massive DoF. Nothing you can do about that it's just physics. Phones apply a lot of postprocessing these days to make the shots look good. Almost every phone oversharpens, as that looks good on a small screen. Samsung is well known for turning the saturation up to 11 in their photo processing as well. Phone cameras will take a series of exposures and blend them together to get over the limited dynamic range of the small sensor, but that can give images the HDR look with loads of shadow and highlight detail. I think you're expecting too much. It's a phone, designed for snapshots not serious photography.
 
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It's a terrible choice of picture to judge any camera on, surely you can find something a little 'easier on the eye' to assess it's capabilities?
 
Look in play store for alternative apps with more control maybe.
I have always had inexpensive phones but find them Ok for reasonably close up shots of people or architecture/vehicles etc - but waste of time on wider landscapes.
 
badlywornroy said:
It's a terrible choice of picture to judge any camera on, surely you can find something a little 'easier on the eye' to assess it's capabilities?
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Funnily enough it does really well on subjects close up within a few feet or so just a very over saturated, this is where it just seems to fall to pieces where there is quite a lot of depth to the image it just gives an unnatural look. I have now tried .raw files and also another camera app to the standard one but they still look pretty unnatural

Ssoyd said:
Excessive unrealistic depth of field.
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I would agree with you there !
RichardC27 said:
. I think you're expecting too much. It's a phone, designed for snapshots not serious photography.
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I think you are right Richard, I was hoping this much more modern phone would be an improvement on the smart phone I had a number of years ago but unfortunately I think if anything it is worse. I think for a number of reasons going back to my thick phone and my old Nikon compact will be a better option. Or even my little 110 :):)

Ironically taken with the smart phone on a rare occasion where it missed focus close up

phone.jpg
 
I hoped my new phone would be better for photography but it's awful. Pictures can look good on the phone screen but on my pc the issues are very often there to be seen.

Most people don't see issues or don't care.
 
BADGER.BRAD said:
I think you are right Richard, I was hoping this much more modern phone would be an improvement on the smart phone I had a number of years ago but unfortunately I think if anything it is worse. I think for a number of reasons going back to my thick phone and my old Nikon compact will be a better option. Or even my little 110 :):)
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It's an entry level smartphone which a quick Google shows was released almost 4 years ago, I'm surprised the image looks as good as it does to be honest. Cameras are probably the one remaining thing with smartphones where you can see a marked improvement over the past few years. One of the main differences now between entry level and flagship phones now is the camera quality. Stepping up to something from the Galaxy S23 line, for example, gets you a much bigger main sensor (though still tiny), a choice of focal lengths and, perhaps most importantly, a much improved Image Signal Processor to make the photos from the tiny sensor look much better.

Shooting Raw or using another camera app may give you more control but you will also probably lose all the multi-exposure image stacking computational photography so your photos will almost always look worse.
 
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woof woof said:
Pictures can look good on the phone screen but on my pc the issues are very often there to be seen.

Most people don't see issues or don't care.
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Most people will only show the pictures on the device they were taken with.
 
I've swapped the sim phone back to my old phone and slipped the little Nikon compact into my pocket. I feel much happier this way as I'm always worried about smashing the screen whilst out and about ( been there done that) plus battery life is totally naff at two days max.
 
Just as a comparison here is a photo taken today with my little compact. This is as from camera other than being reduced in file size for TP but to my eyes it looks a lot more realistic compared to how I saw it with the naked eye. Of course different day,lighting +++ The lesson is cheapish smart phone cameras are still naff !

trees.JPG
 
Mobile phones are not designed for photographers or anyone needing super high quality images they are designed to allow jo public to get a reasonably well exposed photo that is sharp enough. They specs and results of camera phone far and away exceed the expectation and photography requirements of 99.8% of people.

What's your next moan going to be, comparing a Fiesta with a Ferrari?
 
I just don't think the human eye is designed to see that much detail, to be honest. Or we'd see in pixels. That's why it looks unnatural to us.
 
redsnappa said:
Mobile phones are not designed for photographers or anyone needing super high quality images they are designed to allow jo public to get a reasonably well exposed photo that is sharp enough. They specs and results of camera phone far and away exceed the expectation and photography requirements of 99.8% of people.

What's your next moan going to be, comparing a Fiesta with a Ferrari?
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A strange and unhelpful analogy and needlessly argumentative IMO.

This is a photography forum, talking about stuff is what it's for and one persons moan is just another persons reasonable assessment of a tools strengths and weaknesses.
 
woof woof said:
I hoped my new phone would be better for photography but it's awful. Pictures can look good on the phone screen but on my pc the issues are very often there to be seen.

Most people don't see issues or don't care.
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Let be honest, it's going to be far easier to spot flaws on a 28" monitior than a 7" phone screen. I bet we've all had the same looking at the display on the back of a camera than on the computer screen.

The biggest issue I have with phone cameras is that the zoom is really detrimental to image quality. For the vast majority of phone camera users they are only going to be seen on social media or the actual phone, the manufacturer really try to promote their cameras ( I guess because it's basically the only difference between modern mobiles)but "proper" photography is a real niche part of their market, and for what 99% of buyer want the cameras are just brilliant.
 
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redsnappa said:
Mobile phones are not designed for photographers or anyone needing super high quality images they are designed to allow jo public to get a reasonably well exposed photo that is sharp enough. They specs and results of camera phone far and away exceed the expectation and photography requirements of 99.8% of people.

What's your next moan going to be, comparing a Fiesta with a Ferrari?
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While what you are saying is true I don't think it's relevant to people who are more serious about photography than 99.8% of people.
 
Everyone’s pussyfooting around the real problem with the piccy which is the DOG!. If you had an ”adorable kitty“ there it would have been a perfect mobile phone photo. :exit:
 
sphexx said:
Everyone’s pussyfooting around the real problem with the piccy which is the DOG!. If you had an ”adorable kitty“ there it would have been a perfect mobile phone photo. :exit:
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POST #7 I was beggining to think there was only me who could see the dog haha
 
BADGER.BRAD said:
I've swapped the sim phone back to my old phone and slipped the little Nikon compact into my pocket. I feel much happier this way as I'm always worried about smashing the screen whilst out and about ( been there done that) plus battery life is totally naff at two days max.
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Two days is exceptional battery life for a smartphone
 
I get 5 or 6 days from mine.
 
redsnappa said:
What's your next moan going to be, comparing a Fiesta with a Ferrari?
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Yes a Ferrari is a totally useless over priced tool for the job I wouldn't be able to attach my Mountain bikes to it, couldn't leave it parked in a lot of places I park normally, carrying a load of muddy dogs or fishermen would be sacra ledge and I'm sure it's not going to do 70 miles to a gallon ,It not going to be in the lowest insurance group and I'm sure tyres would be more than £45 a shot. On top of that they have a reputation for being unreliable !

All joking aside It was never a comparison to a top of the range camera and the phone it was more my previous smart phone ( low budget 2016) and my compact against the newer phone, Sadly the two phones were pretty much the same and the compact was still a great improvement !
 
4wd said:
Look in play store for alternative apps with more control maybe.
I have always had inexpensive phones but find them Ok for reasonably close up shots of people or architecture/vehicles etc - but waste of time on wider landscapes.
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Any suggestions about apps to try?
I've never used anything other than what comes with the phone!
 
stevewestern said:
Any suggestions about apps to try?
I've never used anything other than what comes with the phone!
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I think my alternative one is called open camera it certainly has far more controls than the app supplied. I aren't the person to ask though I doubt I took photos on phone more than a dozen times since I got it.
 
4wd said:
I think my alternative one is called open camera it certainly has far more controls than the app supplied. I aren't the person to ask though I doubt I took photos on phone more than a dozen times since I got it.
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ecoleman said:
I use Reeflex on IOS which is pretty good and not stupid money
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Thank you both, I'll have a look!
... And a moment later.....
Reeflex seems to be IOS only, but I'll give open camera a try.
 
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BADGER.BRAD said:
Yes a Ferrari is a totally useless over priced tool for the job I wouldn't be able to attach my Mountain bikes to it, couldn't leave it parked in a lot of places I park normally, carrying a load of muddy dogs or fishermen would be sacra ledge and I'm sure it's not going to do 70 miles to a gallon ,It not going to be in the lowest insurance group and I'm sure tyres would be more than £45 a shot. On top of that they have a reputation for being unreliable !

All joking aside It was never a comparison to a top of the range camera and the phone it was more my previous smart phone ( low budget 2016) and my compact against the newer phone, Sadly the two phones were pretty much the same and the compact was still a great improvement !
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Where the heck can you buy tyres for £45... have you got a time machine? ;)
 
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