How to take great smartphone photos #2: finding the best accessories

In this three part series, we’ll look at how to take brilliant photos on your smartphone. So far, we’ve looked at which phones are the best for taking photos, and later we’ll look at some of the best apps on the market for taking and editing photos. Right now though, we’re recommending some of the best accessories you can use to extend your photographic capabilities. Let’s get right into it!

Tripods

First up we have a classic photographer’s accessory: the tripod. Phones are quite a bit smaller and lighter than a full-size DSLR (or even most compacts), so we get correspondingly smaller and more portable tripods as well. Some, like the Kanu Stance Compact for Lightning or Micro USB phones, are extremely light and slim, while others are a little larger but are also extensible like the Arkon Flexi Tripod. Either way, you’ll get a stable platform that allows you to take sharper photos with less blur. They’re also good for taking self-timed shots – although there are other solutions, as we’ll see later.

Lenses

Next we have another popular option, lenses. These clip to the back of your smartphone and modify the look of your photos – zooming in, getting a wider angle or fisheye look, changing colours. Usually you get multiple lens options in one product; e.g. the OlloClip 4-in-1 comes with 4 lenses for the iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus. You can get some pretty impressive photos using these lens options – taking photos of things far away or really close up that you couldn’t otherwise. They also work well for video, e.g. recording a skateboarding video using a typical fisheye lens. You can even get lenses that take photos at an angle – the Periscope Lens, letting you capture shots that would otherwise be impossible.

Selfie Sticks

Selfie sticks are the smartphone camera accessory du jour, letting you take wider-angle selfies without contorting your hand into an uncomfortable position. There are a few different types on the market, from simple sticks that rely on the use of a self-timer, and more advanced options that allow you to control the shutter using a button on the stick. These either connect to your phone via Bluetooth (like the Olixar Smart Selfie Pole) or use your phone’s 3.5mm audio port instead (like the Olixar Ninja Selfie Stick). Either way, it’s easy to see why selfie sticks have become so popular in the UK and abroad!

Remote Shutters

    

Remote shutters are exactly what they sound like: little remotes that let you take a photo. Sometimes they’re included in selfie sticks, but you can also get standalone versions like the ShutterBall (which also comes with a little stand). These are useful for taking any photos that involve your own participation, whether you’re pulling off a trick or just taking a remote selfie.

Photo Lab

    

Here’s a cool one – it’s possible to get mobile photo labs that let you instantly print out and see your photographs! You get a Polaroid-style effect, with rapidly developed photos that you can hold onto without needing to connect to a printer or take to a shop. The Impossible Instant Photo Lab is a great example, offering a simple development procedure that doesn’t require any connection to your camera, it just reads the image directly from your screen.

Flash

Photographers have long relied on external flash units to create or change the lighting of a scene. While your phone does have a reasonable internal flash unit, their limited size and power mean that they can be improved. Handheld flash units such as the Nova Bluetooth iPhone Flash are triggered just as you take a photo, vastly improving the lighting of your subject. If you’re using an Android phone, then the cross-platform iBlazr LED Flash is another fine option, which is a little smaller but attaches to your headphone jack.

Micro SD Cards

If you’re taking a lot of photos, you’ll want to ensure that you have enough space to keep them all. Micro SD cards are a great way to add this space to phones that have an Micro SD card slot, letting you add 16 to 64GB of space at a low cost. This line of Lexar Micro SD cards come highly recommended thanks to their low cost, high capacity and high speed, but other options are possible too from Samsung, SanDisk and more.

Power Banks

Another little-remembered consequence of frequent mobile photography is increased power use; taking photos is one of the most intensive things you can do on your phone. An external power bank can provide the extra power you need to finish an extended shooting session, recharging your phone while you’re away from a mains socket. You can also find a battery case for the most popular phones, such as the iPhone 6 or Galaxy S6.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading our suggestions for the best photographic accessories. Be sure to check out our first article, where we looked at the best camera phones, and our upcoming third part, which covers some great apps to use when shooting or editing photos.

Did you find this second part of our smartphone camera guide helpful? Let us know in the comments below. Feel free to suggest more topics for us to cover too! You can also reach us on Twitter @mobilefun!