Taking photos of nature with your Smartphone

Today the article is very quick and to the point because I will give several tips on taking photos of nature with your Smartphone.

Whenever I walk around I see a lot of people taking pictures with their smartphones and soon I wonder how many good pictures would be coming out of each camera. And especially when I’m in a park or on a busier trail I think about how to take beautiful pictures in nature using just my phone.

Make no mistake taking cool pictures in nature is not an easy matter most of the time, especially if the subject is pictures of wild nature. So if you are like everyone else, I included, who always has a camera attached to their pants or purse. Let’s see the tips for taking nature photos with your smartphone.

Tips for taking nature photos with smartphone.

One thing is for sure, if you want to be a better photographer you have to be ahead of more interesting things. Looking for really beautiful places to photograph is something that is part of our daily lives. So having majestic places to photograph is in itself a good path for a beautiful photo.

But it’s also true that if you have no idea what you’re doing, it’s no use being in the most beautiful place on the planet. You need to have some notion to be able to create images that you will surely be proud of. And for that, following certain paths helped a lot!

Pay attention to the horizon

The first thing I notice in a nature or landscape photo is where the horizon should be. And when it is out of place, and in a not very pleasant way, I already get upset. Of course, sometimes the out-of-place horizon is intentional and works very well.

But paying attention to where it is in how to frame it in your photo is something you should always exercise. This will help you a lot to frame the scene and bring people’s attention to where you want it.

Over time this will be with an involuntary movement, and you will always be trying to add the horizon to your photos.

Use HDR or RAW mode

Shooting in HDR can be a good solution to help you take better nature photos. And it is one of the tips for taking pictures of nature with your smartphone that you may still be interested in using. Many smartphones today have this capability, just as there are many applications for this purpose.

HDR (High dynamic range) photography, is nothing more than several photos taken with “different” settings that are combined later. Of course, such adjustments are not made in any way, they are made in order to preserve details in both dark and light areas of the photos.

So if you’re in a scene with a lot of contrast try using your smartphone’s HDR mode to take the photos. It will take several photos and then combine them into a single image much better balanced than a single photo. A tip here is when using HDR mode is to hold the phone as firmly as possible to avoid shaking between shots.

You can choose to shoot in RAW, which we talked about a lot here on this blog, but unfortunately not all smartphones have this option. It is not a question of which app makes RAW photos and which does not, but a limitation of the device itself. So if you are lucky and have a more modern device it is very worth photographing in RAW.

Of course, at first glance your photos were “ugly” when shooting in RAW, but all long after you develop the photos. For this process you can use some apps to develop the photos directly on the phone, or pass them on to the computer and use some dedicated software for that.

Apps like Snapseed and Lightroom Mobile have the ability to edit RAW photos . Enjoy and free download the presets for Lightroom Classic CC that you have here on the site.

And we can also use Lightroom , Luminar or On1 Photo Raw .

See more about RAW photography here

Choose the perfect time of day to shoot

It’s not just for those who are going to use their cell phones, it’s for those who will be using any camera. This is done off-camera, just choose the time of day you are going to photograph. Choosing the time of day when you are going to shoot is very important, as this way you can better incorporate and control the color of the photos.

And controlling the color of the photos will have an effect on how we understand and feel things. To know everything about natural light take a look at the article below that you will not regret.

See more about colors here

If you want to shoot during the Golden Hour, there are several options to know exactly when and how long it will take. One is this one http://golden-hour.com/ the other one is this one for Android users . So plan your day well and look for the best times for the type of photo you would like.

Don’t forget the details

Of course, taking pictures of great and epic landscapes is nice, but luck will not always be on your side. You separate that big weekend, go to a place where everything is beautiful, and suddenly it just rains!

Then the details come in, properly speaking, take pictures of the details. Take pictures of small things that would likely go unnoticed, a leaf, a branch or any other available detail. Don’t miss the opportunity to photograph things that maybe nobody saw!

Be careful where you put the sun

You are responsible for everything you do and it is clear that when you go to photograph you have to choose where you are going to put things.

And knowing how to frame the sun in your photos is important, not just for aesthetic reasons. Knowing where and how to frame the sun in your photos, especially using a smartphone, help keep reflections under control.

Since smartphone lenses do not have anti-reflective layers, you have to be very careful with strong lighting or the sun. Caring for reflections, lens flare or glare are things you may not want in your photos.

Use the rule of thirds with caution

It’s okay to use rules of composition that make life a lot easier, but there is nothing ahead of you with the photos always looking the same. There is nothing more boring than a single note piano. Be very careful while composing your photos, and avoid being repetitive.

Diversify your photos and try to use the rule of third with caution. Many applications already have large visualization enabled and because of this we always try to use them.

Try different things, look for new angles or points of view. Don’t get carried away by the apparent ease!

Scale your image

The camera has a way of making spectacular things look less impressive. The trails don’t look so steep, the mountains don’t look so high and the forests don’t look so majestic.

But of course it all depends on the type of lens you are using. The smartphone’s wide-angle lens is partially responsible for not-so-majestic photos. But you can fight it by looking for ways to scale your photos.

And one of the tips for taking pictures of nature with your smartphone is to try to compose your photos so that they tell some story. And a good way to tell stories is to include some relationship between the objects that appear in the photos. This is necessary for any type of camera, especially for smartphone cameras.

Create counterpoints that really show the size of things and avoid falling into the trap of smartphones’ wide-angle lenses. Known figures such as humans, birds or animals are great for giving us the feeling of size in the photo. And using such figures will help you taking photos of nature with your smartphone.

Taking pictures of nature with your Smartphone – What you should remember.

● Pay attention to the horizon  

● Use HDR or RAW mode      

● Choose the perfect time of day to shoot      

● Don’t forget the details      

● Be careful where you put the sun      

● Use the rule of thirds with caution      

● Scale your image      

You will also want to see these articles if you use your phone to shoot:

● 10 tips for taking great photos with your smartphone      

That’s it, if you have some more tips for Taking photos of nature with your Smartphone, leave them in the comments!

It seems like I haven’t been here in almost a year, which is not true, it’s almost 2 months with no new posts. All of this is due to the fact that my life has changed a lot in the last few months, which is why I am a little distant from everything.

In addition to the blog being left out, the YouTube channel also got a break, but life is full of surprises. Soon I decided that at the beginning of the year I would post more, do more, interact more, I had to take a break from everything.

So now I will not make any promises !, after all, it is not always possible to keep them! During this period I ended up traveling and seeing certain things along the way, and one of them was an absurd amount of people photographing with smartphones.

Of course, I know this is common, but this time it kind of impressed me, I walk around with a camera clutter, while everyone else walks around with a “camera” in my pocket.