You’re already probably enjoying the camera features of your new Galaxy S9 and S9+. The more pictures you take, the greater your photography skills become. At some point, you’ll come looking for better results.

Photography is like driving a car. You need to check everything first before driving. And most importantly, you need to know the basic traffic rules before earning your driver’s license. For all photography buffs out there, here are the basics in snapping a great photo.

Clean the Camera Lens

The grade of the camera lens is important in photography and Samsung already handed you the pleasure to enjoy the best camera lens in today’s Android phones. It would be a shame if you just let dust and grease have the most of it.

Regularly wipe your camera lens. It is susceptible to grease because that is where your fingers are positioned when holding your phone and the fingerprint sensor is close by. A greasy lens would only mean blurred results.

Make use of Shooting Modes

Samsung included camera modes in the Galaxy S9 and S9+ for a reason. Use it. The camera allows the user to switch between different shooting modes like Auto, Pro, Super slow-mo, and more! Take note that the front and rear cameras have independent modes. Therefore, you can even get better selfies.

Auto means the default settings. If you want to get better results, adjust the lighting, shutter speed, ISO, and other camera settings you can always switch to Pro.

Turn on viewfinder grid lines

Grid lines may only look like a view obstruction, but you’ll find it pretty useful once you learn how to use it.

The viewfinder gridlines enable one to align its horizontal and vertical perspective which is very important in photography. You can get better horizon shots on sunsets and mountain ranges. It is also one way to determine the position of your subject if you’re aware with the “rule of thirds” in photography. But, of course, for Instagram-worthy shots, you need to have the subject in the center to earn more likes.

Shutter Button for zooming

Samsung included another handy camera functionality with the Galaxy S9. It allows the user to zoom in and out using the shutter the button. If you’ve noticed the two dots beside the shutter button, its main purpose is for zooming if you slide your fingers back and forth.

The feature is very convenient because it now only requires one hand to zoom in and out. You’ll find this very satisfying once you get used to it.

Press and hold the record button to preview video

There is a hidden feature in Galaxy S9’s camera you may have heard nothing about. Holding down the record button actually allows you to preview what you’ll actually be recording, position your phone, and start recording upon releasing the button.

It’s a small thing, but it saves time in editing every video you record.

Experiment on your Galaxy S9 settings and find the best settings that fit your needs. Of course, if you found yourself making the wrong decisions ending up in a mess, you can always hit ‘default’ and go back to your original settings.