Four Tips for Shooting Vibrant
Nature Photos with your Smartphone
Capture the amazing around you #WithGalaxy
Many of us feel a deep, innate connection with the natural world. Even if you’re more at home in the city, there’s a good chance that you’ve been mesmerised by a towering mountain, soothed by the motion of a cascading waterfall or inspired by the limitless beauty of a star-studded night sky.
Nature has been the most popular subject matter for photographs for as long as there have been cameras. Being outside, or simply viewing scenes of the natural environment, can have a positive impact on our emotional wellbeing. Spending time outdoors can even contribute to better physical health, as the feel-good benefits help regulate heart rate and the production of stress hormones.
If you are keen to take stunning nature photographs for your social feeds, check out our four top tips to ensure every shot is one you’ll be proud to share.
Seek out the best light
When shooting landscape photography, paying attention to the time of day can help you take better photographs. Taking snaps at key moments can make all the difference between a mediocre natural scene and one that truly wows. Try not to flood your scene with strong light from the late afternoon if you can help it, as overhead sunshine casts distracting shadows, obscuring any fine details you may wish to highlight. If you must take your photograph when the sun is harsh, try to wait a while until the clouds eclipse the sun for a more flattering shot. The best time of day to take nature photos is golden hour: the first hour after sunrise and the hour before sunset. The sun is soft and dreamlike at this time of day, and will imbue nature photographs of lakes, forests and fields with an ethereal glow.
Image courtesy of Unsplash
Play around with perspective
If you enjoy experimenting with photography, nature is one of the best subject matters to exercise your creative eye. It is easy to fall into the habit of photographing every scene from eye level, but changing your perspective can dramatically alter your composition. It might feel ‘right’ to take nature photos in landscape orientation, but switching things up can take your photo to new heights – quite literally. Tall trees, looming cliffs and imposing mountains can look majestic in portrait orientation. Try moving your angle higher if you’re shooting down towards a river, or up through the branches of trees in autumn to highlight the colours of the leaves. Aerial photos of nature are amazing because we almost never get to see the world from a bird’s-eye perspective.
Get to grips with composition
Gone are the days when you would need a formal qualification and a cumbersome DSLR to take exquisite photographs of nature. With smartphone camera technology advancing, your Samsung Galaxy is the perfect piece of kit for nature loving photography enthusiasts. While you don’t need to invest in specialised equipment to take expert pictures, understanding a key professional technique can certainly improve your photography game. A golden rule is the rule of thirds. Imagine the nature scene that you view through your lens is divided into nine equal sections, divided by two vertical and horizontal lines. Frame your subject on the intersecting lines, or place a key element in one of the squares to make any nature photograph instantly more dynamic. You actually have the option of turning on gridlines on your Samsung Galaxy to help you adjust the position of your subject.
Zoom in for perfectly natural wildlife shots
Taking snaps of wildlife is one of the most exciting facets of nature photography, particularly if you are capturing a once-in-a-lifetime moment you could never plan for. Whether you’re taking a picture of a family of swans swimming in a lake or a lone deer in the woods, ensure you give the animal space and respect by maintaining appropriate distance. Today’s advancing camera technology means you don’t need to get up close and personal to take exceptional photos of wildlife. The Samsung Galaxy S20 camera is packed with innovative features, one being Space Zoom. This impressive hybrid optic zoom can be activated by using two fingers to pinch-zoom in the viewfinder. The Galaxy S20 and S20 Plus can zoom up to 30x, while the Ultra can go up to 100x – perfect if you have a passion for photographing animals in their natural environment.
Ready to explore nature and take some amazing photographs #withGalaxy?
Here’s everything you need.
Galaxy S20 | S20+ | S20 Ultra
Galaxy S20FE
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