01 How to Choose the Right

Smartphone for You

There are a few things to look out for when
in search of the ideal smartphone for
adventure photography.
Use a Third-Party Camera App
02 If your default camera app lacks any of the
basic CONTENTS
features, download a third-party camera app.
These apps can unlock a ton of functionality.

03 Smartphone Camera Modes and

Settings Explained
Smartphones come loaded with a
default camera
app for taking photos.

04 Use the Rule of Thirds

The most basic compositional techniques is the
rule of thirds.

05 Make Use of Leading Lines

Carefully compose lines in your
pictures.
06 Use the Foreground, Middle
Ground and Background
Include interesting elements in the foreground, mid
dle ground and/or background.

07 Change Your Perspective

Change your viewpoint by taking photos from
a bird’s-eye view or worm’s-eye view. CONTENTS

08 Play with Distance

To showcase a spectacular background.

09 Shoot when the Light is Right

Your best, most effortless captures will happen
in the “golden hours” just after dawn and just
before dusk.

10 Add Motion
Try playing around with time-lapse, slo-mo
and
video.
11 Add Camera Accessories
There are add-ons for phone cameras that can help
you.

12 Take a Portable Battery

Pack
Don’t run out of power.
CONTENTS

13 Edit Your Photos

Photo editing can go a long way toward
improving your photos.
01
How to Choose the
Right Smartphone
for You
There are a few things to look out for
when in search of the ideal smartphone
for adventure photography.

1. Ability to Shoot in RAW

2. Battery Life
3. Phone Memory and Storage
4. Megapixels
5. Lens Aperture
6. Flagship Models
Ability to Shoot in RAW

• There are a few things to look

out for when in search of the
ideal smartphone for you.
• If you really want to be able to do
something with your photos, such
as editing and printing them later,
then being able to shoot in RAW
is absolutely essential.
• RAW files contain more
information than
JPEG files.
• However, not all smartphones are
capable of shooting in RAW, so
be sure to check the specs when
you’re on the hunt for a new
mobile phone.
Battery Life

• Another thing to consider is the

battery life.
• Ideally, you’ll want a smartphone that
works at
4.000 mAh or even better.
• The reason for this is that when
you're shooting with a smartphone,
especially during the day, you’ll want
to have the brightness of your screen
turned up to the maximum to be able
to see what you’re shooting.
• Turning up the brightness can drain
your
battery very quickly.
 Phone Memory and Storage

• There are huge differences in price between models depending on the storage and you might
find yourself paying significantly less for a phone with 64GB of storage as opposed to one
with 256GB.
• There’s no need to splash out on the most expensive option though, as 128GB should be enough
to store photos from a couple of trips.
• My advice is to download your photos from your smartphone to another storage device such as a
hard drive after every shoot, much as you would with a normal memory card in a DSLR camera.
• This will ensure that you’ll have enough memory on your phone for new photos on your next
trip.
Megapixels

• While the megapixel count on a

smart phone is important in
landscape photography, a high
megapixel number doesn’t
automatically mean that you’ll be
able to take amazing pictures.
• The key to taking great photos
using your smartphone is actually
in the size of the camera sensor –
the bigger the sensor, the better
your photos will be in terms of
quality.
Lens Aperture

• Most in-built mobile phone cameras come with a wider aperture (lower
f-stop).
• The best aperture to have for a smartphone camera is something
between f/1.6 or f/1.8, as these lenses will be able to let in more light,
which can help you to produce better shots in dark lighting conditions.
Flagship Models

• Once a year, smartphone companies introduce their flagship models onto the market.
• These phones usually possess the best specifications for that company’s mobile
phone
technology at that moment in time.
• They’ll often contain the company’s best camera, their best battery, best microchips
and more, which can be useful if you want to be at the forefront of developments.
02
Use a 3rd Party
Camera App
If your default camera app lacks
any of the basic features,
download a third-party camera
app.
These apps can unlock a ton of
functionality.

1. SnapSeed(Free)
2. VSCO Cam (Free)
3. ProCamera (Free)
4. Afterlight (Free)
5. Camera+ ($2.99)
Perfect Your Shots with Free/Low-Cost Photo Editing Apps

• Snapseed, VSCO Cam,

ProCamera, and Afterlight are
great photo editing apps.
• If you’re willing to spend a
few bucks, you
might try Camera+.
• Subtlety is key and your goal
should be to create the
impression that you haven’t
adjusted anything at all.

Before and after editing for crop and

color
Snapseed (Free)

• Snapseed is a free, Google-owned

photography editing software.
• This app brings the power of a
computer editor to your phone with
simple-to-use preset filters.
• Beyond that, for professional or
aspiring photographers, there are
many tools to edit images in ways
that otherwise only exist in expensive
photo editing software.
VSCO Cam (Free)

• VSCO Cam is a feature-packed camera app

that allows you to take high quality
pictures and edit photos.
• The range of photo editing tools in VSCO
Cam is as good as any you'll see in a free
photo app.
• There are settings for exposure, temperature,
contrast, saturation, tint, shadows, and
much more, which can all be set easily
via a slider.
• This app allows you to control shutter speed,
ISO, white balance, exposure, and manual
focus.
• The settings are easy to access from the
bottom of the screen and adjustments are
made using a simple slider.
• There's also a smart crop tool with preset
aspect ratios, and a rotate tool.
• VSCO Cam also has great photo sharing
features.
Afterlight (Free)

• Afterlight is a full-featured photo

editing app with plenty of creative
options.
• With the Afterlight app, you can enhance
your photos with adjustment tools and
filters.
• You can create unique edits with
textures, light leaks and double-exposure
tools.
• You can even add text, artwork and
frames to your images.
ProCamera (Free)

• This free camera app can boast a full range of settings,

which you can use in semi-automatic and fully manual
mode.
• Moreover, ProCamera also offers a stabilization function
and has an intuitive interface for precise focus control
and exposure adjustment.
• In addition to the standard JPG format, this application
also shoots in RAW format, and photos can then be
slightly processed in the built-in editor.
• Perhaps, one of the main advantages of ProCamera is
the full-screen shooting mode.
• By turning it on, you can take a picture by tapping
anywhere on the screen.
• If you have a closer look at the app’s settings, you will
find a composition grid, a histogram, a timer and burst
shooting mode.
Camera+ Legacy ($2.99)

• Camera+ Legacy is an app that features

tools like Touch Exposure & Focus,
Digital Zoom, Horizon Level, and
Clarity.
• It also has different shooting modes,
scene modes, and effects to help users
in adjusting their photos.
• It has a built in image stabilizer, tone
adjustment tools, red eye remover tool,
white balance modifier and many other
impressive features and capabilities.
• You can share the edited images
directly
on Facebook and Twitter.
 03
Smartphone Camera
Modes and Settings
Explained
Smartphones come loaded with a default
camera app for taking photos.

1. Exposure Adjustment 10. Night Mode

2. Focal Point and Exposure Level Lock 11. Portrait Mode
3. Aperture Mode 12. Monochrome Mode
4. HDR Mode 13. Super Macro Mode
5. Timer 14. Burst Mode
6. Flash On/Off 15. Image Stabilization
7. Add Gridlines 16. File Formats
8. Shutter Speed Adjustment 17. Panoramic Mode
9. ISO Adjustment 18. Digital Zoom
Exposure Adjustment

• Many default camera apps let you adjust

the exposure of an image.
• Simply tap on your main subject (the
area you want to be sharp).
• An exposure/brightness slider will
appear on the side of the screen.
• Then swipe up on the slider to raise the
exposure, and swipe down on the
slider to lower it.
Focal Point and Exposure Level Lock

• On many phones, you can press and hold

your finger on a subject to lock the focal
point and exposure.
• This ensures that subject will be in focus
and exposed just how you want it to be
when you click the shutter.
• Experiment with bokeh, or “artful blurring.”
• Hold your finger on your viewfinder for a
sec to lock a point of focus (pick something
far away for a blurred foreground, extremely
close for a blurred background), then shoot
away for gauzy, dreamlike textures.
Aperture Mode

• The aperture mode controls the amount of light

that reaches your smartphone camera sensor.
• A bigger aperture means that more light will
land on the sensor as the diaphragm of the lens
expands, while a smaller aperture will restrict
the amount of light that is able to enter and
create a narrower depth of field.
• This results in a photo where the foreground
may be sharp and in focus, but the background
is blurry.
• This effect on a smartphone camera helps to
emphasize subjects that are within 6 feet of
you.
• Simply choose the aperture number that you
want to use and the camera will blur the
background.
• Once you’ve taken a shot, the photo will
usually
show up on the screen of your phone.
An example of how the aperture mode can emphasize subjects
in front of you. Left is f/0.95 and right is f/16.
HDR Mode

• When you take a photo in high dynamic range

(HDR) mode, your camera actually snaps several
pictures at different exposures and then combines
them to create a single image.
• This is a great way to capture the full range of
lights
and darks that are in a scene.
• Using HDR can be especially effective when you’re
taking pics of beautiful landscapes that have a range
of color and brightness, such as sunrise over the
countryside.
• You’ll want to play around with HDR to figure out
when to use it and when not to.
• In some instances HDR doesn’t do such a great job,
like when you’re trying to take a picture of a
subject in motion.

HDR mode allows you to recover

detail from the highlights and
shadows.
Timer

• Look for the self-timer option from the menu.

• The self-timer option icon looks like a clock.
• Set the time delay.
• Tapping on the self-timer icon will set the auto-timer,
which in turn can be set for a 3- or 10-second time delay.
• Once it’s set, you will be automatically back at the main
view of the camera app.
• Focus on the subject you mean to capture and click on the
Capture button on the camera app.
• Once you click on the Capture button, the timer will do a
countdown, which you will be able to see on your device’s
screen.
• Once the countdown is up, your camera will take a picture,
which will then be automatically saved in your device’s
gallery.
• This is a great feature that can help you take amazing
photos where there is no one around to take it of you.
• Just set it, press the shutter button and run into
place.
• If you have a tripod, great, if not find a place to set
your phone down and take a picture from far
away of you and the view.
• A timer is also handy for snapping pics in low
light when even the slightest tap to take the
photo can bump the camera and blur the image.
Flash On/Off

• In most cases, you’ll get better results by using natural

light rather than resorting to the phone’s harsh built-in
flash, so make sure you know how to turn the flash
off.
1. Open the Camera app on your Android device.
2. Tap on the lightning bolt icon at the bottom-center
of your screen.
3. Tap until the lightning bolt has a slash
mark through it, indicating that it's shut off.
4. If you've tapped to the point that the lightning
bolt has an "A" next to it, it's set to automatic
mode.
Add Gridlines

• Go into the settings for your camera and turn on

the gridlines.
• With a grid overlaid on your camera, it will be
easier to use the rule of thirds to compose your
photos and get the horizon line level.
1. Tap on Camera icon from the Home screen.
2. Tap on Settings.
3. Select and tap on Grid lines switch to
activate
it.
4. Tap on Back to return to the camera screen.
5. Grid lines will be shown in the camera
interface.
6. Move the device so that the object that
needs to be photographed is placed in
gridlines place.
7. Tap on Camera icon.
Shutter Speed Adjustment

• One of the fundamentals of

photography is shutter speed
– which is simply how long
the camera’s shutter stays
open to allow light to hit the
sensor.
• The slower (longer) the
shutter speed, the more
light will hit the sensor.
• If light is good, then you’ll want to use a fast shutter speed to avoid your images
becoming overexposed (too bright), but if light is low, using a slower shutter speed won’t
be underexposed (too dark).
• Experimenting with shutter speed is also useful for creating a number of different effects. A fast
shutter speed will freeze action, such as water splashing, while slower shutter speeds will create
a blurred effect, creating a milky sort of effect for water, or creating effects such as light trails.
• To change the shutter speed, tap the aperture icon again and use the slider to choose a speed
between 1/24000 up to 10 seconds.
• If you use a slow shutter speed, you’ll want to put your phone on a small tripod to prevent
camera shake from blurring the image.
 ISO Adjustment

• Like shutter speed adjustment, ISO

adjustment is a way you can control
the final exposure of the image.
• By increasing the ISO in your
phone’s camera, you’re making the
sensor more sensitive to light, which
will allow you to take pictures in
lower light.
• However, keep in mind that the
higher you boost the ISO the more
likely it is that you’ll lose a bit of
image quality; a higher ISO often
results in a grainier image.
• Smartphones can often be guilty
of ramping up the ISO, which can
lead to problems with image
noise creeping into your photos.
• Although most of the time,
leaving this setting in Auto is
absolutely fine, if you find the
phone is
choosing a speed which is too
Night Mode

• This mode relies heavily on using the available light to create

an exposure.
• As such, you may need to hold your phone very steady in order
to obtain a sharp image, particularly when shooting with longer
exposure times.
• When using the night mode function on your mobile phone
camera, it can take anywhere from 1-10 seconds to take an image.
• The best part about it is that even when you’re shooting
handheld, it is possible to get very sharp results without camera
shake or blurriness, even when the subject is moving.
• This is because when the night mode function is activated, your
smartphone will take several photos in rapid succession.
• It then combines the image data to achieve maximum light and
color information, creating a single high-quality image that
pulls data from the shadows and restores data to the
highlights.
• When using night mode in-field, try turning on the AI
Image Stabilization setting of your smartphone
camera, which will further help you to achieve sharper
images.
• This will reduce the need to use a tripod or to turn on the flash,
meaning that you’ll end up with better landscape images with
Portrait Mode

• Shooting in portrait mode on a smartphone camera is

very similar to aperture mode, though there are two
significant advantages.
• The portrait mode often comes with a range of beauty
and bokeh effects, which although designed for use with
faces, can also help you to get creative with your
landscape photography.
• Bokeh effect is the aesthetic quality of the blur
produced in out-of-focus parts of an image.
• For example, the beauty level can help you to smooth
out a rough foreground, while the bokeh effect allows
you to blur the light in the background with different
shapes such as circles, hearts, swirls and discs.
Monochrome Mode

• Monochrome mode can be very useful for street

and architecture photography.
• However, it’s also wonderful for shooting
landscapes, particularly if you want to produce
something that’s a little more in the realm of fine
art or if you happen to be shooting on a dark and
cloudy day.
• Some smartphones also have monochrome
aperture, monochrome portrait and monochrome
pro modes, which give you even more
opportunities to explore.
• Keep in mind that when you shoot in black and
white, you should pay special attention to textures,
patterns, lights, and shadows.
• Also, you’ll have to spend a little more time
editing monochrome photos in order to produce
more contrast between the shades of black and
white for more visual impact.
Macro or Super Macro

• Super macro is a great camera mode to use

when you want to shoot something that is
so close to your lens that you can't get a
good focus on the subject.
• Most smartphone cameras tend to get a
little bit blurry and have difficulty
focusing at a distance of around 5-6 cm
away.
• The most common subjects within the land
scape that you can use super macro mode
with are leaves, flowers, bugs, butterflies
and bees, though sometimes you can even
shoot food with the super macro function
for a better perspective!
Burst Mode

• You rarely get the shot you want on the

first try, especially when your subject is
alive and moving.
• Shoot a rapid series so you can go
back later and pick out the best.
• Hold the shutter button to capture a
burst
of images.
• Burst mode fires off a bunch of
pictures in
just a matter of seconds.
• This is great for capturing quick-moving
objects, like kids sledding on a bumpy
hill.
• Hold the shutter button to capture a burst
of images
Image Stabilization

• If you’re shooting in low light or an extreme close-up and struggling to get sharp
images, try using an app with image stabilization.
• This can help eliminate blur caused by camera shake.
File Formats

• Images are usually saved in the JPEG file format.

• Some smartphones and apps will allow you to save images in different file formats, such as
RAW,
to preserve image quality.
• RAW files can be edited a lot more than JPEGs.
 Panoramic Mode

• Sometimes, it can be difficult to fit the context of your location into one photo.
• If you have not already tried panoramic mode – you will love it.
• Quick tip: when you pan across – instead of tapping the screen a second time to stop the
recording, simply pan back in the opposite direction!
Digital Zoom

• Digital zoom nearly always produces poor results

as it reduces the resolution of the image.
• Digital Zoom is a software effect.
• The smartphone camera lens is NOT magnifying
anything.
• The image you see when fully zoomed out is the
same
as the fully “zoomed in” one.
• “Zooming” in this instance is just cropping the outer
parts of the same image, and increasing pixel size
(or extrapolating them).
• If you only have a digital zoom then instead of
using it, simply move closer to maintain the image
quality.
• Optical zooms however are fine as they do not affect
the quality of the photo and these are becoming
more common on smartphones.
04
Use the Rule of Thirds
The most basic compositional techniques is the
rule of thirds.
 Use the Rule of Thirds

• A good photo is in the composition, and one of

the most basic compositional techniques is
the rule of thirds.
• The rule of thirds says that by breaking your
image up into thirds vertically and
horizontally with gridlines and positioning the
subject(s) either along the lines or at the
intersection of two lines, you’ll end up with a
more balanced and visually interesting
picture.
• For example, rather than composing a photo so
that your friend is smack dab in the middle, try
taking the picture with them positioned off to
one side.
• Or, when you’re shooting a beautiful landscape,
try placing the horizon at the top or bottom
third of the photo rather than cutting across the
middle.
• Turning on the grid in your phone’s camera app
is an easy way to keep the rule of thirds on the
top of your mind while taking pictures.
05
Make Use of Leading Lines
Carefully compose lines in your pictures.
 Make Use of Leading Lines
• Carefully composing lines in
your pictures is a powerful
way of drawing the viewer’s
attention to the main subject
and creating a sense of
movement through the image.
• For instance, a picture that shows
a hiking trail coming in from the
bottom left of the image and
going off into the distance at the
upper right can guide the
viewer’s eye through the image
to the solo hiker at the end of the
trail.
• Trails naturally make good
leading lines, but so do
roads, rivers, shorelines, trees
and cliffs.
06
Use the Foreground, Middle
Ground and Background
Include interesting elements in the foreground,
middle ground and/or background.
Use the Foreground, Middle Ground and Background

• When composing your photos, try to

include interesting elements in the
foreground, middle ground and/or
background.
• For example, if you’re taking a
picture of the mountains, rather than
only including the mountains in the
photo, try incorporating something
interesting in the foreground and/or
middle ground to draw the viewer’s
eye through the image.
• This could be a person, a flowering
plant, some rocks or a beautiful lake.
• If you want to play around with blurring the foreground, middle ground and/or background,
you’ll need to see if your camera app has a mode that can do this, such as a portrait mode,
since most smartphone cameras won’t let you adjust the aperture for a shallow depth of field.
• You can also add blurring to photos with many editing apps (look for something called lens
blur
or similar).
07
Change Your Perspective
Change your viewpoint by taking photos from a
bird’s-eye view or worm’s-eye view.
Change Your Perspective

• When using a phone camera, it’s easy to get in the habit of always holding your phone in front of
you with outstretched arms and snapping photos from head height.
• But phones are so small and light that you can easily mix things up and shoot from just about
any perspective.
• Try changing your viewpoint by taking photos from a bird’s-eye view or worm’s-eye view.
Change Your Perspective

• You can shoot from the hip…

• …or use a forced
perspective.
08
Play with Distance
To showcase a spectacular background.
Play with Distance
• When stuck with a boring, poorly
lit, or overly distracting
background, get close and let your
subject dominate the frame.
• Note: This advice does not apply
when your subject is a wild
animal. Always keep a safe
distance from wildlife.
• For dynamic action shots, back
up to a medium distance, just
enough to get your subject’s full
height into the frame.
• To showcase a spectacular
background, try backing up
even more and using a person,
animal, or object in the middle
distance to create a sense
of grand scale.
09
Shoot when the Light is
Right
Your best, most effortless captures will happen in
the “golden hours” just after dawn and just before
dusk.
Shoot when the Light is Right

• Your best, most effortless captures will happen in the

“golden hours” just after dawn and just before dusk,
when the low-angled sun bathes everything in gentle,
golden hues. Determine when the golden hours are
each day, as they vary by season and latitude.
• Overcast days are nice, as cloud cover dampens the
sun’s rays, providing soft, even lighting.
• Just after a light rain is a good time to shoot
landscapes for extra bold colors and stirring close-ups
of droplets on petals.
• Always take advantage of natural light. If you
have control over your subject, set them up
in a gently sunlit spot.
• Use flash as a last resort. Exception: if you’re
shooting into the sun with your subject in the
foreground, try using flash to illuminate your subject
and prevent silhouetting.
10
Add Motion
Try playing around with time-lapse, slo-mo
and
video.
Add Motion

• If you’re struggling to capture the grandeur of

the scene around you with a still photo, try
playing around with time-lapse, slo-mo, and
video.
• These come standard on most phone camera
apps and can be a fun and beautiful way to
capture things like moving water, the setting
sun or your friend goofing around on the trail.

Normal vs. time lapse effect with a smartphone.

11
Add Camera Accessories
There are add-ons for phone cameras that can help
you.
Add Camera Accessories

• There are quite a few add-ons for phone

cameras that can help you achieve a
certain creative element that you’re
trying to capture.
• If you want to take longer exposures of a
night sky to show the stars or a beautiful
stream in order to blur the movement of
water, you’ll need a mini tripod to
stabilize your camera.
Add Camera Accessories

• Most phones these days are capable of

taking beautiful photos.
• However, another option is to add lens
es to your phone so you can take fish-
eye, macro and wide-angle photos.
• External, universal lenses allow you to
achieve unique perspectives.

Yoidesu 11-in-1 Phone Lens Kit

This clip-on kit includes 11 different lenses and
filters. Included are four standard lenses: a 0.36x
Wide Angle lens, a 198-degree Fisheye lens, a 20x
Macro lens, a 2X telephoto lens. You also get a
collection of filters that include four color filters
(orange, red, green, and blue), a CPL filter that
reduces glare off of reflective surfaces, a Starburst
filter that makes lights twinkle, and a Kaleidoscope
lens just for fun. All that packaged with a convenient
and (essential) travel case. $40 on Amazon.
12
Take a Portable Battery Pack
Don’t run out of power.
Take a Portable Battery Pack

• These handy devices will remove the

anxiety of running out of battery while on an
adventure outing.
• Simply attach the USB end of your
charging cable to the device to recharge
your smartphone.
• Some come with compatible cables
attached.
• If you forget the cable – then you can put
your smartphone on airplane mode to
conserve battery.
13
Edit Your Photos
Photo editing can go a long way toward
improving
your photos.
Edit Your Photos

• A little photo editing can go a long

way toward improving your photos.
• Most default camera apps that come on
smartphones allow some level of editing, but
by downloading a third-party app like
Snapseed (iPhone or Android), Adobe
Lightroom CC (iPhone or Android), or
VSCO Cam (iPhone or Android) you get a
lot more control.
• Apps like these allow you to adjust
brightness, tweak contrast, boost saturation,
apply filters, sharpen fuzzy images and a
whole lot more.
• Most of them also have auto adjustments
that make it really quick and easy to edit
photos.
Adventure photography
is probably the only field
of photography that is
exclusively shot by
participants.
Being a participant in the
adventure gives you a front
row seat to the action.