How can I photograph a phone or tablet in someone’s hand while keeping both the person and screen clear?
Asked 2/13/2014
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I want to shoot a hand or person holding a phone/tablet, with the screen visible and readable, while also keeping the hand/device looking good and possibly using a blurred background. What’s the best way to light and capture this so the screen and subject both look clear? Is it better to photograph the device with the screen on, replace the screen later with a screenshot, or blend multiple exposures in post?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
5
If the picture's main purpose is to showcase the app design (like the example you've given), the standard approach is to Photoshop the screenshot on afterwards. Bear in mind though that a screenshot may be quite low-resolution compared to a multi-megapixel photo so it can be difficult to get a very high-res version of the composite picture that still looks sharp.
However, it is possible to get pretty decent publicity shots showing the software running on-device with no Photoshopping. Here are a couple of examples I did for a client some years ago:


Here are some tips I learned while trying to get those shots right:
Soft ambient light is best. There was no artificial light involved in those shots at all. They were taken in a large, airy atrium of an office building, so there was plenty of daylight but no direct sunlight or spotlights.
Use a smallish aperture so the whole screen is in focus, and keep the background as distant as possible so it's still nicely blurred. These were actually both taken at f/4 which is just about OK, but if you look closely the corners of the screen are out of focus. Given a second chance I'd use something like f/5.6 - f/8.
Turn down the screen brightness: an overly bright screen will always end up over-exposed when you're metering for the hand. Experiment with this to get it right.
This is the big one: use a large black card or the black side of one of those reversible reflector discs to eliminate reflections. However I posed these shots in the atrium, there was a window reflected in the screen, so I got an assistant to hold a large black reflector between the window and the phone and bingo - no reflections!
Have some screen wipes handy to clean the screen beforehand so dust and fingerprints don't ruin the shots.
Oh, and make sure your model has clean fingernails. :)
Originally by user3644. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user3644
12y ago
0
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For polished product/app photos, the usual method is to photograph the person/device normally and replace the display with a screenshot in post. That gives the cleanest, sharpest-looking screen. If you do this, it helps to show the same content—or at least a similar brightness—on the device during the shoot so reflections and glow feel believable.
If you want to minimize retouching, soft ambient light is your friend. Avoid harsh direct light, which makes screen reflections and exposure balance harder. A bright, diffused environment can let you get a decent result with the screen on.
The main challenge is dynamic range: the screen and the hand often need different exposures. A practical option is exposure bracketing: shoot one frame exposed for the hand/device and another for the screen, then blend them later.
So the best approach depends on the goal:
- Best commercial/advertising look: shoot the scene, then composite in a screenshot.
- More natural in-camera look: use soft ambient light and photograph the screen live.
- Best compromise: bracket exposures and blend hand + screen in post.
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