( CNN ) -- Wondering how to get the most of your smartphone camera ? Is there more to mobile photography than filters to make your pictures look better than they really are ? Multimedia journalist and iPhone street photographer Richard Koci Hernandez recently joined the CNN iReport community on Facebook for a chat about how to become a better smartphone photographer . `` People do not understand the unbelievable opportunity that mobile photography is giving photographers , '' Hernandez said . `` It 's a golden age . '' Hernandez offered these tips : . 1 . It 's all about the light . `` Photographing in the right light -- early morning or late evening -- has the potential to make the most 'boring ' situation into a spectacular one ! '' 2 . Never use the mobile zoom . `` It 's terrible and the first step to an unsuccessful image . If you want to get close , zoom with your feet ! Get close and your images improve , '' he said . 3 . Lock your exposure and focus . Your photos will improve 100 % , Hernandez said . `` With the default camera app , you can tap and hold on the screen to set where you want your exposure and focus . Once the box `` blinks , '' it 's locked . You can also use other apps like ProCamera to separately set and lock the exposure and focus . 4 . Silence your inner critic . `` See if you can go one day of shooting every time your inner voice says , ' I 'd like to take a picture . ' '' 5 . Edit , edit edit . Restrain yourself from sharing everything . Post only the best , and your audience will grow . `` We do n't need to see all 10,000 of your ugly children , '' he said . `` I try and pick my least ugly . it 's hard to choose and very personal . '' 6 . Technical proficiency is overrated . `` Exercise your power of observation . Learn to look and see deeply . '' 7 . Filters do n't replace a good eye . `` You still need the basics . Look for the moment and light and subject . If you choose to add a sepia , black and white or other nostalgic or creative filter later [ with an app such as Instagram or Hipstamatic ] , that 's OK , but remember lipstick on a pig , it 's still a pig . '' And if it 's for journalism , he added , `` then it needs to be unfiltered . '' 8 . Shoot from the hip for better candids . `` Hold the phone about waist-level and tap away . Your friends and family will not know what you 're doing . Be sneaky about it . The moment they know you 're shooting , the images become less candid . You 'll get a lot more bad shots , but when you get a good one , you 'll want to hang it on the wall ! '' 9 . Give yourself assignments and deadlines . Take 20 images of one thing from different angles . You 'll begin to see the world differently , even if it 's just walking around the bowl of fruit on your kitchen table and observing how the light falls on it from different angles . 10 . You have to know what you want to see before you can see it . `` Make a list of things you want to photograph today and find them ! If you know my work , then you know the No . 1 thing on my list are men in fedoras ! Or any hat for that matter ! '' 11 . Study other photographers . `` I spend an unhealthy amount of time looking at images . It 's the only way to get better , in my humble opinion . My favorites are Roy Decarava , so happy we discovered Viviam Maier , and on Instagram , a dude named Daniel Arnold out of New York is just killing it ! '' 12 . Always be ready . `` You want to make sure that when your mind and heart says 'shoot , ' you have no excuses , like , Oh , my camera was in my purse , pocket , or , gasp , your camera was n't around . It 's one of the main reasons I love mobile photography -- my camera is always with me . ''
iPhone photographer Richard Koci Hernandez shares 12 tips . Filters do n't substitute for good photography , he says . Shoot from the hip to get better candids . Give yourself assignments and deadlines .