Pro tips to get the most out of smartphone photos

Thinking about getting a new camera for Christmas? 7 On Your Side's Michael Finney looks at what's hot in photography.

Two of the best cameras out there haven't been traditionally thought of as cameras. But times are changing.

San Francisco Chronicle photographer Scott Strazzante has captured several stunning images using an iPhone.

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"It's really great quality. I use the iPhone 6 which is really good, but the iPhone 7 is incredible," said Strazzante.

Strazzante prefers Apple, but says the picture quality of the Android is comparable. The camera is now the most popular and used feature of smartphones.

"I think the iPhone and Google Pixel, those are the two smart phones that are really putting the camera at the forefront," said Jeff Lee, Tech Bargains.

Lee says that as people move to the convenience of smartphones, sales of compact digital cameras have fallen.

"Because everyone wants to take pictures, they want to do Instagram. They want to Snapchat. That camera quality is becoming the prime feature for most smart phones," said Lee.

7 On Your Side asked Lee to give some tips on taking good pictures.

"I think the best thing to do for photography is get low, especially if you're shooting children. Get down low and get at their angle," said Strazzante.

For Strazzante, even shooting down is better than shooting something straight on. Shooting from an angle can give you cleaner, less cluttered, and more interesting backgrounds.

"I'm looking not only at the foreground, but background. I want to have interesting things in the foreground, but as well as the background," said Strazzante.

One of the drawbacks of smartphone cameras are the limited ability to zoom in and out on a subject. But even that's changing with apps like the Hipstamatic. The app gives photographers different film and lens options.

"I have different lenses and they all have different views on them. They take different types of photographs," said Strazzante.

The Hipstamatic works on IOS systems, but there are similar apps for Android as well.