"Serious" Nature Photography With Your Cell Phone Camera

Most people use their camera phones for quick snapshots of themselves and friends usually for keepsakes or uploading to Facebook or other social media sites. What most people don't realize is that your cell phone camera can also produce beautiful, "serious" nature and landscape photographs.

Up front I must say that not all cell phone cameras are created equal. If your old flip-phone has a 2 megapixel (mp) camera, you will be seriously limited in what you can do. However, many of the smart phones on the market today have quite capable 5, 6 or even 8 mp cameras built in. Many have a variety of features including automatic, night time, sunset, landscape, portrait and sports modes that can help taking quality pictures much easier.

I've found the key to taking great nature photos is to keep your eye out for the things most people miss. Don't always focus, so to speak, on the big picture but look for the many and varied colors and textures found in nature. Also, take advantage of unique camera angles and lighting conditions to help make your photos distinct. Thinking outside of the box can often produce amazing results!

All of the photos in this gallery were taken using my Motorola Droid X 8 mp camera. A couple were cropped using Photoshop but were not otherwise manipulated. Please click on each photo to see a larger image.

This photo was taken using the sunset mode on my Droid X. Instead of shooting the daises straight on, I silhouetted them against the sunset allowing the sun's light to pass through the daisies as opposed to reflect off them.

Believe it or not, this is one of my favorite shots and an example of using a unique camera angle. By getting beneath the fountain grass as shooting up the various colors of the grasses are highlighted and dramatically contrasted against the blue sky and white clouds.

Here is another example of shooting up to use the sky as the background. At the same time, the ambient light illuminates the blossom as the light passes through the petals as opposed to reflecting off them. Not centering the subject of the photo mid-frame helps make the photo more interesting and dramatic.

Paying attention to the little things can often result in an amazing shot. This is a close up of new growth on an old growth tree. The new growth is not more than 7 or 8 inches in length but using the macro feature on the phone camera allowed me to fill the field of view with the wonderful textures, shadows and colors that were almost missed.

Another example of things that often go unnoticed. These river rocks were used as decoration around the building in which I work. Everyday people come and go from the building without paying any attention. Yet, this close up reveals a amazing contrast of colors and textures that make for a wonderful photo.

Shooting these flowers straight on works so well because the light blue sky makes an interesting background for the dark blue blossoms. Thus, the title, "Blue on Blue". In addition, the background foliage used to frame the shot provide some much needed contrast.

I've walked past these beautiful grasses many times before noticing their wonderful colors and textures. The greens, reds and blacks of the grasses are lovely when silhouetted against the clear blue sky.

The panoramic view of the lake near my home was taken in early morning. The residual fog over the valley floor lends a surreal sense to the photo. The panoramic view was created by merging two separate photos taken with my Droid X in Photoshop software. This is the only photo in the gallery manipulated in any way other than cropping. The results are stunning, I must say.

I hope this hub will encourage you to venture out and take some amazing cell phone photos of your own. These shots clearly show you don't have to own a $1000 digital SLR camera in order to take beautiful nature photographs. Look around, keep your eyes open and you will see great photos waiting to be taken. Good luck!