Most newer smartphones come with two or more lenses for the camera. By changing lenses, you can create different photos of the same subject.
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| Observation Tower and walkway Port Angeles, Washington |
In the set of three pictures at the top of this post, I stood in the same place and took pictures of the observation tower and walkway. For the middle picture I used the standard or 1x lens. This is the lens your phone camera uses when you open the app.
Without moving, I switched to the ultra-wide or 0.6x lens and made the photo on the left. This lens "pushed the tower away", making it appear small in the image. But the lens also recorded much more of the walkway, making it seem longer.
Then I changed to the telephoto or 3x lens and made the picture on the right, again without moving from my original position. This lens "pulled the tower closer", making it look large in the frame. At the same time, the lens included much less of the walkway, making it seem shorter.
You can easily try this yourself. Choose a scene with objects close and far away. To select a different lens, tap on the lens choice numbers displayed above the word PHOTO. Use each of your phone's lenses to take pictures of the same thing without changing your position. Review the results before you leave the scene and notice how each photo is different.
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| Lens options highlighted in red Samsung Galaxy S22 |
I'll have more examples of using different lenses on your phone camera in upcoming posts.