Camera quality for today’s smartphones is more scrutinized than ever. This is also backed up by consumer statistics – 86% of Americans consider camera quality when buying a new smartphone. But great mobile photography is about more than just the hardware. AI does a lot of the work making your pictures look better.

With AI, you don’t need to know the more technical side of photography, like knowing what aperture, ISO, or shutter speed are. Special AI algorithms trained to process image data, mimicking human sight. Then, AI adjusts the camera accordingly to get the perfect photo, every time. AI can see and therefore adjust much more than the average person would think of to adjust. When you point your camera at a scene, the algorithms quickly identify the setting and adjust appropriately. Light sensors help AI determine the right exposure, brightness, and white balance for each photo – within the limits of your hardware. Facial recognition algorithms tell the AI where to focus the camera and blur the background of an image when in portrait mode.

Even with the limitations of your hardware, some AI has been made to work around those restrictions. AI has been programmed to make your otherwise ordinary photos into artistic pictures. It uses a number of techniques such as the Bokeh Effect, where the AI blurs the background behind a subject. Another few common techniques are HDR, or high dynamic range, combines 3 photos with different exposures to get the best lighting possible, and Top Shot, where instead of a picture, the AI takes a 3-second video and selects the best frame from the video. 

But even with all these features that are now standard for today’s smartphones, sometimes a little more is necessary. Find some extra hardware and software that can take your photo game to the next level here.