Avoid direct sunlight. Your subjects will be cooler, happier, and more attractively lit if they don’t have a sunbeam hitting them in the face. If it’s an overcast day, you’re in luck. This is one of the best outdoor lighting situations for photographing people. If it’s a sunny day, have your subjects stand in the brightest patch of shade you can find.
Choose the highest quality setting available so you lose less detail and don’t get a muddy photo. If you have to choose between resolution and a quality setting to save space—and it’s unlikely you’ll make prints—reduce the resolution.
Wait for the “magic hour.” During the times of sunrise and sunset, the sky is colorful enough for even a camera phone to capture land and sky with fairly good exposure.
Stabilize your camera phone. In low light, camera phones slow the shutter speed to let in more light and have a longer opportunity to capture movement. Hold the camera phone with both hands and brace your upper arms against your body when you shoot.
Use the rule of thirds. When composing a picture, imagine two horizontal lines and two vertical lines crossing like a tic-tac-toe grid on top of it. Place strong lines and divisions like the horizon on the gridlines and let elements of interest fall on the intersections.
When the background of your picture is cluttered and the lighting is questionable, fill the frame of your camera phone by moving in closer to your subject.
By mastering the technique of panning, you can create some very cool images. To do this, hold the camera phone with both hands—for steadiness—and frame the approaching subject on the LCD. Move the camera at the same speed as the subject, thus freezing the subject while the background is blurred through motion.
Shoot a panorama. If your camera phone doesn’t include a dedicated panorama mode, you can use third-party stitching software on your computer to create panoramas from several frames. A cell phone tripod will help you line up the shots.
Anticipate shutter lag. Get used to your camera phone’s timing so when something interesting happens, you’ll have a good feel for the point when you need to press the shutter release to capture the most interesting moment.
Get the right color tone. Shooting in black-and-white in any light can help develop your photographer’s eye by letting you concentrate on the relationship between light and shadow without the distraction of color.
Put horizons in the right place. Sometimes, putting the horizon down low to emphasize a dramatic sky is preferable.
When photographing adults, experiment with both the angle of your composition and the angle of light to see what’s most flattering.
Try using a black background to make a subject stand out. Black velvet material works great because it absorbs any light hitting it. As a result, no shadows or reflections appear in the picture.
When shooting in cold weather, or extreme conditions such as snow and sleet, it's important not to change your lenses outdoors. You never want to get moisture or condensation inside the camera body.
After you’ve made the image you have in mind, walk or drive closer to the subject and try again. Proximity will make the subject strike you in a different way.
If you are staying in one place for several days, check out the long-range weather forecast and plan your shoots around the weather that is best for specific subjects.
When your subject is of indeterminate size—a mountain, a body of water, a snowscape—add a sense of scale by including something of known size, such as a person, a car, a tree, or an animal. This helps viewers understand what they’re looking at.
rain can damage or ruin your camera, but it can also make for great pictures. Carry a good umbrella, a box of plastic bags, perhaps a small tarp (some are specially made for photography), and a towel with which to dab your equipment.
The best building shots balance light from three different sources: skylight, streetlights, and lights from within the building.
Photograph animals where they live.
Nighttime photographs almost always require long exposures. This means using a tripod to hold your camera perfectly still while the shutter is open, though you can sometimes find a solid surface to rest your camera on and trip the shutter with the camera’s self-timer.
Look at the scene through different lenses, from wide-angle to telephoto, and think about how each lens affects it.
Add layers to your composition—that is, multiple elements beyond the main subject, such as foreground and background elements.
Take time to explore. Part of the joy of landscape photography is being out in nature. Wander around and get a sense of the place. It will take time and patience to discover the best way to show what makes it unique.
Get out (to shoot) before sunrise and stay out after sunset—the times when the light is best. Use the harsher light of midday to scout.
In unusual or mixed lighting conditions, or with subjects of one predominant color, try to manually set your color balance.
Find leading lines. Landscapes are full of linear elements— roadways, train tracks, fencerows, ridgelines, tree branches. Use these lines to lead the eye into your picture. Leading lines are most effective as diagonals.
If shafts of sunlight penetrate the clouds, be careful not to take your reading from them because they will fool the meter.
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