Editor’s Tip: Have you struggled with taking quality photos with your camera phone? Most camera phones have low resolution & few settings, but these tips will help you get the most out of your camera phone shots.

Your first goal is to hold your phone steady to focus the subject. When you switch to the camera setting on your phone, it can take a couple of seconds for the image on your phone to catch up with you as it’s adjusting to the right exposure. So, when you see a great shot, take a moment to get your hand steady & hold your phone in place while it is focusing. For phones with wide touch screens, it can help to hold the camera with two hands landscape style so that your thumb is aligned with the shutter button.

For iPhones, the animated shutter that you see on screen is just that – an animation. For example, with the iPhone 4, the photo is captured at the moment you tap the shutter button, then the animation continues for about 4 seconds. Practice with your phone to get the timing right, because the phone’s screen is not always coordinated with the moment the camera takes the photo. While you’re at it, explore your phone’s camera settings: on the iPhone, you can choose the HDR setting, which increases the quality of the photo in some instances. With many Blackberry phones you can adjust settings for Picture Size & Quality, & turn on Image Stabilization & Autofocus.

The picture in this example is of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. By holding the phone steady, the photographer, Leah Llach, was able to capture the details of the architecture with just her iPhone. With a little help from her Krome photo editor, the details really pop!