While there have been numerous upgrades in the world of camera phones, they’re still not up to snuff with their standalone counterparts. There are tips, tricks, and hints that will help improve the quality of your camera phone-fueled snapshots however. A recent guide was released that outlines a few of these pointers, and while some of them sound pretty obvious, you’d be surprised how many people don’t pay attention to these factors.

The guide describes eight tips in all.

1. Hold it steady: The lens on a camera phone is small, so it’s very prone to camera shake. When you press the shutter button, you inevitably move the phone just a bit, resulting in blurry shots. Try to stay as steady as possible.
2. Watch the light: This refers not only to the quantity of light (dimly lit shots typically suck), but also how the light is arranged. Be aware of the primary light source.
3. Get close: Get as close as possible to your subject, because the resolution just isn’t there to handle faraway objects. This also minimizes the effects of camera shake.
4. Pose people: Less movement results in clearer shots.
5. Edit later: The built-in image editing software in camera phones is “rudimentary at best.” Use PhotoShop on your computer instead.
6. Keep your lens clean: Pretty self-explanatory.
7. Use the highest resolution: We all know that you can’t go wrong with more megapixels.
8. Take lots of pictures: When it doubt, give yourself as many options as possible.