How do you take good pictures, on an Android?

My Android gallery is full of moments I'm so glad to have commemorated -- the only problem is that action shots blur, and pictures of landscapes properly display the sky or the mountains. Recently, however, I realized I was missing simple solutions.

Without HDR activated

With HDR activated

In any setting that includes both dark areas and light areas, the typical camera will focus on either the light or the dark, depending on where you point, how you hold, or where you manually set. The result is excellent colors in some areas, with indistinguishable dark areas (like the mountain underneath a sunset); or else darker areas illuminated, and a bright white spot in place of lighter areas (like a window out to a sunny day, from inside a room). HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range, is a camera mode that essentially eliminates this problem. Don't you love easy and effective solutions?


HDR works by taking multiple shots, with focus highlighting different lighting in your frame, and then automatically combining them into one optimal picture. Some Androids include this feature out of the box, but if yours doesn't, there are plenty of HDR camera apps in the Play Store. Some are fully-automated, so touching a button results in the picture. Others are more manual, if you'd like control over where the focus is set and how the pictures are combined.




In these beautiful snowy day pictures, the difference HDR mode makes is easy to spot on the furniture and railings (the wood color and the grain are distinguishable) and in the screened porch (the interior of the porch is visible). Additionally, the mountain, though hazy behind the falling snow, is far more visible with HDR.

Now we're getting clear shots in multi-lighting scenes; clear action shots are our next goal. Again, the solution is easy: an app. There are paid or free options, but I've found free sufficient. Apps like Burst Mode Camera take from 10 to 30 shots per second, compiling a collection of photos from which you can choose your favorites. Blur is significantly decreased, because there is limited movement during the actual shot, taken in a fraction of a second.

There you have it! Check your stock camera for HDR mode and burst mode, or select a few options from the Play Store to try, if these modes aren't native on your Android. You'll be much happier with the content of your gallery.