How to Take Great Shots of Nature With Your Smartphone Camera

How to Take Great Shots of Nature With Your Smartphone Camera

Nature provides unparalleled sights that connect humans with the greater earth, from grandiose mountain vistas to the vast blue line of an ocean horizon. These views are awe-inspiring in person, layered with movement, color and emotion. It can be difficult, however, to capture the essence and depth of nature with a photo taken by a smartphone camera. These tips will help you take wonderful photographs of your adventures in the great outdoors:

Composition

The composition of your photography is the basis for the aesthetic merit of the image. Make sure you have a clear idea of how you’d like to frame your photo. Keep in mind the foreground and background image, so your photo doesn’t feel flat. For example, if you want to take a photo of a flower, a straight-down shot won’t capture a large depth of field. If you get down on your knees and take the shot from the side, the blurred background will enhance the image.

Also, for photos with a discernible horizon, make sure your image is properly aligned. Utilize the grid feature on your smartphone camera, so your photos aren’t off kilter. Additionally, shoot your photos in landscape orientation, rather than portrait, as the length of the photo will help capture the grandiosity of your experience. The landscape orientation is a more accurate depiction of what the human eye sees, and it will make your viewers feel like they’re in the world you captured.

Content

Having an Instagram account is a must, and make sure your images are relevant to the account as a whole. Many people follow accounts that have a special style or repeated subject matter, versus accounts that are unfocused with photo genres all over the place. Look to established Instagram accounts for inspiration and examples of congruency such asPeakproject, Scott Kranz, Bearfoottheory, Poler Stuff and The Feed Feed in a different field. Find XShot on instagram too ?

Technique

Your camera is a tool. And like any tool, you must know its nuances to fully engage its potential. Know the technical elements of your smartphone camera. Make sure you can set the exposure and focus in a way that complements the photos. A good rule of thumb, for landscape photos, is that the color of the sky should serve as the basis for exposure. If the sky is a clean blue color to the eye, however your camera captures it as a dulled blue-white, your exposure is too high. On a cloudy day, the sky can become whitewashed and lack texture or tone. Try setting exposure in accordance with clouds, so you can capture the detailed shadows and enhance the depth of the sky.

Editing

A false notion is that the editing or filtering process of a photo makes the image disingenuous and contrived. Contrarily, editing tools and filters help you adjust the technical limitations imposed by your camera and create an image that is more aligned with how it looks in reality. Yahoo partnered with a professor at Georgia Tech for research on how filters affect online engagement. They found that filtered photos were 21 percent more likely to be viewed compared with non-filtered photos. The filtered photos were also 45 percent more likely to receive comments. Additionally, filters that enhance the warmth of the colors will drive more engagement than filters that will cool the colors.

There are tons of good editing apps for smartphones you can use and it makes a big difference. But please don’t overuse them and stay authentic. No worries in enhancing a little bit as your smartphone picture does not always do justice to the beautiful scenery and colors you are marveling at, but don’t turn a cat into a lion…

Tools

When you are on the go, hiking or traveling, you don’t want to carry a lof of gear and you usually pack light. Unless you are a professional landscape photographer on a photo shoot, you may not want to carry a big cumbersome tripod with you. With a smartphone you can go lighter on the accessories, and a mini tripod can go a long way with a phone holder. Perfect and easy to carry around and fold in your pocket, it will allow you to make great time-lapse photography or slow-motion video. Don’t forget to bring your faithful camera extender to get hard to reach angles and shots over a cliff, and get yourself in the picture once in a while. Check out Samuel Martin’s pics while he was hiking alone the famous John Muir Trail. More about his journey here.

Looking forward to seeing your photos!