Many of the benefits of a professional camera can now be found on your smartphone – and with technological advances, great photos seem to be more and more often the result of creativity and technique rather than expensive equipment.

Jefferson Graham, photographer and creator of PhotowalksTV on YouTube, says lighting and timing are key to taking a great photo with your phone.

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Graham told Scripps News, “If you’re doing a family photo shoot and you want to get everyone together, you just pick the time, say, ‘Now let’s do it,’ and get it done quickly.”

“We can take panoramic shots with our phones, which are big wide-angle shots,” he said. Graham says that while we’re always told to pan our phones from right to left or in a horizontal direction, there’s also the option to take vertical panoramas. These could be useful when taking a picture with a tall object as the subject, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Graham recommends taking photos of your children together right before lunch.

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“This is actually a parenting tip, but – you know – find that one moment where they give you that two-minute, maybe one-minute, maybe 30-second smile. And reward your child with food,” he said.

Graham says there are many ways to accessorize your smartphone, such as mounts or clip-on microphones and other items that will enhance images and change the way you handle your phone to make it more compatible with professional cameras, too.

For more tips from Graham, watch the video above.