When Nokia started to ship their Nseries devices with high Megapixel Cameras, a new era of photography was started, and a whole new crowd of photographers carrying mobile phones instead of professional cameras, stated to appear. I was among this new generation of photographers and my specific interest was pointed at nature. Here’s a quick guide on Nature photography which might help other Mobile Nature photographers.

I always loved to snap the beauty of my surroundings, scenery, little creatures, and even the plants they have lot to show off in detail. So I started this with my Nokia N80 and then went on to the Nokia N95 8GB, and now with the Nokia N82. When I started doing Nature photography, especially animals, my readers kept asking me again and again, how to shoot them without scaring them. Read on for my tips.

Limitations. First of all we have to understand that what we use here is a Mobile phone but not a professional SLR. We have to have some measure on our limits. Since we cannot facilitate the shooting with an optical zoom, when doing mobile photography there are certain types of shots that we cannot afford. We cannot snap any subjects which are relatively small in size and far away from our position, like birds on top of trees. But with the Macro mode available in Nseries cameras there is lot to explore, plenty of set ups can be discovered even in a small background. So these are the simple tips I follow in photographing the Nature.

Yield the best of natural light

Natural light is the best lighting you can have, no matter what type of camera you use, so same applies for the mobile phones. With the Natural light you can always have different shades thus you get different effects for the same subject when shoot in different angles.

Early morning is the best time to shoot, as you get perfect amount of light from the rising sun and you always get the lush freshness in the environment giving life to your photographs. Also you can try doing some shooting in the evening too, but in the middle of the day there is certain amount of warn-off effect in every aspect of nature due to the heat and also the light from the sun is too bright, may result the images to show a white washed effect. This depends on what country you live.

Using Macro Mode

For close-ups macro mode can really change the look of an image. It results in great amount of tiny details that sometimes even we don’t notice with our naked eyes. On N80 there is a mechanical macro switch with fixed focus which gives easy triggering but lacks the autofocus feature. But on latest Nseries devices you can use the Macro mode with autofocus, so you have a range of distance to get close to your subjects.

Shooting in the Macro mode require some practice. If you are new you won’t get the best at the first shot, but after trying several times you will learn how far you should be away from your subject to collect most of its details.

Turn off the Camera Sound

The camera sound is the most annoying thing to deal with, when it comes to photograph animals. There is no use at the end, how silent you approach the target, if the camera sound chase off your subject in the first click. So we have to mute it. In some phones activating the silent profile or turning off the warning tones would do the job, but for the others you gotta hack it to mute the camera sound.

Be Patient

In nature photography you must maintain certain level of discipline and you gotta be patient. You have to train yourself to stay still and maintain silence if you want to get close to animals. You also need to be quick because you will need to move swiftly along with the subject without making much noise. If the subject notices your presence, you can still carry on, but the most important thing is you shouldn’t pose any threat. Wild animals are very cautious and vigilant. They will get scared if you try to interfere with their surroundings.

Try to show them that you are not there to chase them away, and also never try to touch them or make them move with force. Always keep in mind that if you are dealing with untamed wild animals, you you have to keep your distance. Especially if you are fascinated with snakes.

Final Thoughts

So as you read this little guide, you will see there isn’t much specifically written related to mobiles. The Nseries cameraphones are getting closer and closer to professional cameras, though it still has a long way to go. Take a look at more of my Nature photos above with the flash slideshow. Head to the blog if it’s not visible in your RSS reader.

I’ve also started a Mobile Photography section over at Symbian Stories dedicated to mobile photographers. Submit your photos and I will post all the photos I receive (If they are good enough). Every Friday there will be a blog post with the best 3 photos.