Use your phone to capture an amazing landscape photo

Scouting & Capturing

Locate around you a state park, river, lake, or forest.
Search in Google for state or national parks in your area for example arizona has the grand canyon or Seattle has Discovery Park. You can also search or nature spots like rivers or lake views. I like to take a road trip and turn off on random roads to explore what is just around the bend. Also search on instagram hashtags for those locations and see where other instagrammers around you are going and plan a trip!
Map out key locations within that area to explore.
Once you got your location in mind, map out key locations to stop off and see if you can create a photo at that location. What I like to do is play around with Google maps and you can do stallite views of the location. One major thing to keep in mind is weather and if the location will look the best. For example going to a lake during a foggy day rather than on a sunny summer day.
Remember to explore around every angle on location for the best view.
Once you are at your key location explore around each different vantage point. For example I was shooting a water fall on a river. I was farther down stream closer to the river and shooting up towards the water fall. But the shot that I really liked after shooting that location was when I went up closer to the water fall and shot down from a near by over hang. It is all about shooting from different vantage points.
Frame up your shot with your mobile phone.

When you are exploring around the location pull out your phone and frame up if the angle looks the best. Take into account the "rule of thirds". Using the grid feature on your iPhone will also help. You want to frame up your key subject either directly in the center of the image and balnce each side. Or you can put your subject right on the side cursor line. What I like to do is put the horizon either on the bottom line.

Lighting & Editing

Take a over exposed photo and under exposed photo.
When you are using your mobile phone you are going to want to get the photo properly exposed. The difference between harsh light photo and an under exposed photo is huge. Below is a over exposed photo. Notice the whites are blown out and visual information is missing from the sky.

Then their is under exposed photo. This is when the camera isnt picking up any whites and the brightness is low so the photo gets more grain in it. Grain is the specks in the photo that leave the photo less sharp. Sharpness is huge for quality of a photo.
Use what you learned from the tutorial to edit a photo by download the apps suggested.
For editing I like to recommend using VSCO cam, Filterstorm, Snapseed, Afterlight, and Anticrop. You can play around with what parts of the app you like to use. But mostly I will use one for adjusting the lighting and then the others to apply filters.

Go to Additonal resources for this Lesson to download the apps.

Community & Growth

Search for instagrammers in your area that inspire you.
One of the best ways to build community and grow as a photographer is to surround yourself with people who push you to create.
Connect with some photographers in your area and get together to explore.
Find someone you are inspired by and connect with them in a personal way. Plan an instameet or adventure around your city.
Create your nature photo & share by using #withheartsskillshare
Now that you have went through the class share your landscape photo you've created on skillshare and also on instagram using the hashtag #withheartsskillshare.

The photo I like the most I will be doing a feautre on my instagram feed.

Additional Resources

Rule of thirds http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds
Download here: VSCO Cam
Download here: Filterstorm
Download here: Snapseed
Download here: Afterlight
Download here: Anticrop

Marissa Aikin

Ready to explore!

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