Many top end mobile phones have cameras of 12 megapixels or more and in theory they should take fantastic high resolution photographs. Do they? Here's how to improve your phone photography.

The reality is that taking good photos with a mobile phone isn't easy. The fact that you can hardly see the screen on a sunny day doesn't help when you are trying to frame the subject. There are bigger problems and if your snapshots are fuzzy, dark or otherwise poor, let's see what you can do to improve them.

Clean the lens

When you put your hand in your pocket to get your phone, it is hard to take it out without accidentally touching the lens. There might be fingerprints or greasy smudges on it that will take the edge off a photo and make it look a tiny bit fuzzy. Always clean the lens before you shoot a photo.

How many times have you taken a photo and only later realised that a thumb or finger is over the corner of the image? Keep your fingers out of the shot!

Steady the phone

One way to improve your photos is to ensure that the camera does not move when you take the photo. One of the reasons why professional photographers use a tripod and a remote shutter release is to reduce camera movement and vibration at the instant a snap is shot. Both can be the cause of blurred images. We're not talking about major blur and it is a tiny effect, but it is certainly noticeable.

A tripod is often out of the question and hardly anyone walks around with one under their arm, well not phone photographers anyway. However, there are other ways to steady a phone while you take a shot.

It is often possible to rest the phone on a wall or post for example, or to rest your elbows on a wall or shoulder on a post while taking a shot.

Related: Use a fisheye lens to take striking iPhone photos

Avoid vibration

Phones usually take photos when you tap the screen, but stab it with a fat digit and the vibration could well blur the photo. Some phone camera apps allow you to press and hold, and they take the photo only when you lift off the screen. Lifting off your finger will produce less vibration than tapping. Check if your phone has this feature by trying it.

Some cameras, provide voice control, so you can simply speak to take a photo and doing this would totally eliminate the vibration you would otherwise get from tapping. Check your phone for voice control.

With an iPhone you can say to Siri, "Take a photo" or "Take a picture". Some Android phones have a similar voice command and not tapping means no vibration, which results in sharper photos.

Adjust the focus and exposure

Focus and exposure are often set at the same point and in many camera apps you tap the screen to set both the focus and the exposure. You will get better photos if you can set these two items separately. Your phone's camera, or a photo app, may let you tap with two fingers, one for the focus and the other for the exposure.

Some camera apps let you easily over or under expose by adjusting a slider. If there is a lot of sky or it is a snow scene, you should over-expose slightly to counterbalance the large amount of light, but if you are taking a silhouette you should under-expose slightly to darken the foreground.

Adjusting the amount of sky in the photo affects the light balance and pointing the camera down slightly to reduce the sky brightens up the image. Turn the camera so the sun is just off the screen avoids it bleaching out the image or turning everything dark.

Shoot with the sun behind you, is old but still good advice for photographers, although people in photos can get the sun in their eyes and be forced to nearly close them, which doesn't look good.

ISO rating and aperture

If your phone camera app lets you set the ISO rating, which may be in the advanced section of the camera settings, this opens up a lot of opportunities. For example, a high ISO is good for night shots, but it can also be used in the day when a fast shutter speed is required along with a small aperture.

High ISO settings produce a lot of noise like old film grain, so setting the ISO rating to the lowest number will minimise this and produce the highest quality images. Set it to ISO 50 if you can, but beware of camera shake caused by slow shutter speeds. If you can rest the phone on a wall or post and shoot at ISO 50 you will get great photos.

A wide aperture can be used to reduce the depth of field, such as when taking a head and shoulder shot of someone and want to blur the background. Some phones have a portrait mode that produces this effect, so select it when you need it.

Related: Add lens flare and other effects to iPhone photos

Get the lighting right

Getting the lighting right is essential and dawn and dusk are great time to shoot photos. Indoors you may need extra lighting but shooting next to a window can help.

Add grid lines

There is a rule of thirds and for some reason photos look best when the horizon is one third down from the top or one third up from the bottom. When taking a photo of a person or pet, don't position them dead center, position them one third from the left or right. Instead of a person facing you, slightly angle them away.

Some cameras can display a grid on the screen that divides it into thirds and this helps you, and reminds you, to position the subject or horizon for best effect.