4 Mobile Photography Tips for the New Year

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With the new year, it's a good time to make a quick list of photography goals you'd like to achieve.

For many photographers, their primary camera is the one in their pocket - their smartphone. And as these cameras get better and better with every passing year, it makes more and more sense to use them for a variety of purposes, from portraits to landscapes, nature scenes to abstract photos.

No matter what type of photography you wish to pursue with your phone, this list of four mobile photography tips will help you get the results you're looking for.

Don't Be Afraid to Get in Close

A common theme you see in many smartphone photos is that they are taken from a relatively wide perspective. Since mobile phones have a wide-angle lens built-in, it's a natural tendency to take wide-angle shots. But, close-ups are possible as well - it's just a matter of moving your feet and getting closer to the subject.

The key with a close-up shot is to constantly change your angle of view and take multiple photos. Even the slightest change in the height from which you shoot, for example, can dramatically change the photo. What's more, the more frames you take, the more likely you are to get the shot you want where all the elements of the scene come together just right.

Chase the Light

One of the seminal "rules" of photography is to look for lighting that adds impact and drama to the shot. The best light, of course, is during Golden Hour, that hour or so near sunrise and sunset when the light is warm, soft, and gives incredible depth to your images.

The difficulty of chasing light with a mobile phone is getting a well-exposed image when shooting into the sun. Though smartphone cameras are vastly improved, they still lack the metering capabilities of DSLR and mirrorless bodies. However, an easy way to get around this is to block the sun with an object and create a gorgeous backlit photo with a silhouetted subject.

To cast the subject in shadow, make the focal point of the image one of the brighter areas of the shot. That will allow the background and well-lit areas of the photo to come through well-exposed while giving the subject a shadowy, dark presence in the photo.

Find Beauty in the Mundane

One of the best things about having a camera right there in your pocket is that you can pull it out virtually anytime and snap a photo of just about any subject. That means you're able to capture day-to-day moments that often go overlooked as being worthy of capture in a photo.

However, finding beauty in the mundane is an excellent tool for practicing your photography composition skills. When the subject is nothing particularly special, you have to make it special with your framing, perspective, and post-processing choices, to name a few. What's more, challenging yourself to photograph everyday scenes will help you develop your creative eye and look for things that make photos more dynamic - lines, shapes, shadows, colors, and so forth.

In the new year, make it a point to pull out your smartphone and take advantage of all the daily opportunities you have to create something compelling!

Outfit Your Phone With a Lens

Something that will help you take better mobile photos whether you're trying to get in close, chasing light, or finding beauty in the mundane is an add-on lens.

Though smartphone camera lenses have come a long way, especially in recent years, they just cannot match the capabilities of a lens that you attach to your phone. Lenses like the Kenko Real Pro 0.65x Wide/Macro Lens gives you both wide-angle and macro shooting capabilities. That means you can photograph gorgeous landscapes as the sun sets behind your subject, then get up close and create a macro photo that offers a new point of view of an everyday object.

Something else to appreciate about this kind of lens is that it simply clips onto your phone, tablet, or another gadget that has a built-in camera. With fine processed class and a 120-degree angle of view for the wide-angle lens, you'll get clear, sharp images each and every time. And, with a range of options from wide-angle to macro, you'll have more leeway in terms of how you present your subjects in your mobile phone photos if you shoot with the Kenko Real Pro lens. That kind of flexibility will surely help you take your mobile photography to new heights in the new year!

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