Marty,

If you're going to use your phone to take photos, put a clamp, like the Gorillapod to hold it steady and use the self-timer to keep the photo sharp.

See my thread here in the Picture Gallery on "How To Improve Your Photos".

See "Ausblade"s post at the bottom of page 2 of my thread.

The reason your photos are a little underexposed is the flash from your "camera" bounced off the shiny wood background and "turned down" the exposure.

Here's a few more:
Try not to shoot with the flash mode on,
you don’t want to wash out details in the subject.

Try not to use a shiny surface as your background.

Shoot outside on an overcast day for best detail.

A tripod will help steady the camera.

… and "film" is cheap.

Look at Tony's outdoor shot in the sand below. Looks professional!

Hope this helps.

Buck