2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
The smartphone is the easiest tool to capture the events and emotions of your trip. However, the quality of the resulting images is often poor. Cole Rice, photographer and traveler, reveals several secrets of mobile photography to help you bring stunning shots from your trip.
Cole Rise is a popular photographer, traveler and creator of the Rise preset for Instagram. His photographs are distinguished by the fact that even after processing, they look natural. Cole shared his secrets on how to shoot with a mobile phone and edit photos so that they are close in quality to those from a DSLR.
1. Add highlights to shadows and darken highlights
Most photo editing tools have options for adjusting highlights and shadows. And this should be used.
To enhance his nature photography, Cole balanced the exposure by adding highlights to the shadows and darkening highlights a bit. He also applied the Winsy filter from Litely's collection to the photo to add warm tones to the image.
2. Add vignette and shadow effect to make the photo brighter
The vignetting effect adds a dark border around the perimeter of the photo and brightens the middle. This is one of Cole's favorite tricks. The original photo would have been too dark, so Cole increased the saturation and added a bit of harshness to separate the balloon from the landscape. This kept the photo natural.
3. Edit the image and then return all settings back to 50%
It is very important.
The trick is to make your photo look natural. Edit the image as you are used to, and then set all settings back to 50%.
Last year, Instagram users finally got a chance to control the strength of their filters. To take advantage of these settings, simply select a filter and then click on it again.
And one more tip: don't use the LUX tool on Instagram. Its job is to correct the lack of contrast that makes the photo look unnatural.
4. Take pictures of people wherever possible
To make things easier for yourself, hold the camera upright: it's easier to fit everything you need for the frame into a square area. Better yet, set up your camera to shoot square images only.
10. When shooting landscapes, press the volume button to release the shutter
Did you know you can just open the iPhone camera and press the volume button to take a photo? The same is true for Android phones. On the Samsung Galaxy S4, assign the shutter function to the volume button in the settings instead of the default zoom function. Such castling of buttons will make it more convenient to take the phone to avoid the effect of “shaking hands”, which can ruin the photo.
11. Get closer to the ground if you want to bring the subject to the front
Photo posted by Cole Rise (@colerise) Nov 14 2014 at 6:19 PST
Smartphone cameras have poor depth of field, so you can resort to trickery. For example, lower the camera closer to the ground.
12. Do not draw attention or carry a backpack with you
Photo posted by Cole Rise (@colerise) Apr 1 2015 at 9:21 am PDT
A tourist covered with gadgets is a great bait for thieves. When traveling, Cole never wears provocative clothing, keeps his camera and phone close to him, and always leaves his backpack at home. Before filming a merchant or just a person on the street, be sure to ask his permission. You'd be surprised how helpful people are.
13. Bad weather = great photo
Don't run away when it starts raining or hail. These are great conditions for taking a good shot. Cloudy and cloudy days are an opportunity to capture interesting patterns in the sky. Don't stay at home even when the weather seems bad.
14. Be prepared to shoot even in the most unexpected moments
It is not always possible to thoroughly prepare for the shooting; unexpected moments also happen. Like, for example, this shot with a low flying plane. Therefore, if you do not want to miss out on great shots, learn the hotkeys of your phone. For example, Samsung smartphones have a Camera Quick Access option in the settings. And the new Galaxy S6 has built-in hotkeys, you just need to double-tap the Home button.
15. Go Farther Than Others to Get Better Pictures
Photo posted by Cole Rise (@colerise) Sep 25 2014 at 7:24 PDT
The only way to discover beautiful places is to force yourself to explore. Do you want to get non-standard footage? Move further away from touristy areas.
In general, as Cole says, live a bright life, then great photos will appear on their own.
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