 |
| Thermal pool along Firehole Lake Drive Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming |
Your phone camera has a dedicated Level feature that helps with keeping the phone and thus your picture straight. The Level displays two different ways, depending on how you are holding the phone.
When you are holding the phone to take a picture of something opposite your position, a line appears in the center of the screen. If the line is a broken white one, you are not holding the phone level. Slowly rotate the phone left or right. When the line becomes solid yellow, the phone and your photo are level.
 |
| Level line broken white (left) and solid yellow (right) Line enhanced for visibility |
When you are holding the phone to shoot straight down on a subject, the Level appears as two plus signs (+) in the middle of the screen. Slowly tilt the camera until the two symbols exactly overlap and turn yellow. Then the phone is perfectly horizontal.
 |
| Plus signs separate & white (left) Plus signs overlap & yellow (right) |
Turn on the Level Feature
iPhone
From the Home screen, tap Settings, then Camera. Scroll down to the Composition section and tap to turn on Level.
Android (Samsung)
Open the Camera app. Tap the 4 squares icon below the image. Tap the Gear icon, scroll down to Composition Guide and tap to activate it. On the next screen tap either Level only or Grid lines and level.
If you are looking for more help with your smartphone camera, check out my classes at the Lifelong Learning Center in Missoula, Montana.