Why is my iPhone or iPod not taking good photos?

Many people love their iPod, iPad, iPhone or any smartphone as such, for the nice photos it takes. It is true that in good light and in outdoor bright places, these instruments take nice photos. Also, they have very optimized display so even an okay photo will look bright and nice on any smartphone or on iPod/iPad. However in many situations, iPod or any camera as such will run into its hardware restriction. Because of its sensor's size and size/quality of lens, iPod/any smartphone can't work well in certain lighting situations. However if you are willing to help, you can still have better photos in some situations where your smartphone alone simply fails.

Here are certain things YOU can do to improve your photos in low light:

1) Shoot in good light. Avoid shooting in low light, indoor or in dark places. Outdoor and in well-lit places, your iPod will take nice photos but when light gets low, its tiny sensor and tiny lens can't take in enough light in 1/50 seconds which is required to take nice photos of people or moving objects.
2) In low light or  indoors, if possible, turn on artificial light. If you are in a room, turn on lights or use flash lights. If there is a flash on iPod, use it.
3) If you are shooting stationary items or very slow moving objects, put your iPod on some steady surface (instead of holding in hand) and that can eliminate blur in your photos.
4) Also, you can enhance photos with Picasa or similar software to some extent. There are many such software out there.
5) Not sure what kind of manual controls, iPod offers. If my iPhone5 is any clue, you can't do any thing to control iso, aperture or shutter speed. So except about tips, there isn't much you can do with your iPod.

You might like my blog where I write about such stuff.
http://photography-with-any-camera.blogspot.com/