Lying belly down on the grass, I saw my quarry cruising along the bank of Perth’s Swan River.
It’s a pelican paddling towards my position.
I’m a few metres back from the river’s edge where I’ve set up a tripod low on a small sandy shore.
With the click of button on a remote trigger, I take a snap with my smartphone.
If you want to start getting into nature photography, there’s a lot you can do with your phone before you consider getting a dedicated camera.
I’ve teamed up with photographers to see how to get the best out of a smartphone to take wildlife images, use macro functions to snap tiny creatures, and catch birds in action with minimal impact on them or their habitat.
What species is that?
One of the easiest ways to get into nature photography, and that doesn’t require the most spectacular image quality, is to shoot for citizen science projects.
Sites such as iNaturalist allow users to upload their snaps online, where a community of experts and other amateurs can help identify what you’ve captured on camera.
This way, you can take photos and learn about different species at the same time.
Uploading location data can also help scientists better understand the range limits of a species or even changes in its population over time.
But you do need to be careful about what you share on open sites and not swamping single locations where a species has been recently sighted (more on this below).
Light, zoom and angles
To get started, you can use the stock camera app that comes with your phone.
From a technical perspective, phone cameras tend to have small sensors, which means they need a lot of light to take sharper images.
That means while shooting during the day is generally fine, you’ll need additional light to shoot at night, according to James Dorey, a evolutionary biologist and photographer at the University of Wollongong.
“You’ll probably need to have a torch or have a friend with another phone that can light your subject from the side.”
Check whether your phone has an optical or digital zoom function too.
Optical zoom is when your camera lens actually adjusts to magnify your subject whereas digital zoom often crops an image, making the quality no sharper than if you didn’t zoom in.
An unidentified spider photographed in Fiji with a smartphone. (iNaturalist: James Dorey, Sprangspannen, CC BY-NC 4.0)
Taking photos of the same species from multiple angles can help with identification. (iNaturalist: James Dorey, Sprangspannen, CC BY-NC 4.0)
Losing picture quality when zooming in on a subject may not matter for identification purposes. (iNaturalist: James Dorey, Sprangspannen, CC BY-NC 4.0)
Dr Dorey also recommends taking multiple shots from different angles if you are shooting something for identification purposes.
This means scientists can get a good look at colours, patterns and other key features of an animal.
“Bees, for example, it’s often really important to get a good photo of the wings and the veins on the wings,” Dr Dorey says.
How to use the macro setting to snap tiny details
If you’re looking to get a little fancier with your nature phone photography, the next step might be macro.
Macro photography is where tiny subjects look life-sized.
Dr Dorey, who is also an award-winning macro photographer, usually uses a digital camera but says phones are improving in capability.
“A lot of phones have multiple lenses now and are actually pretty good at getting macro,” he says.
Invertebrates, such as a spider in your house or a bee in the garden, make great macro targets that you don’t have to chase around too much.
To get a good close-up, you simply need to switch to the macro mode and get your lens nice and close to the subject, about 2 to 5 centimetres away.
If your subject is on the ground or close to a surface, you can spin your phone around so the top is balanced on the ground (so the lens is at the same level) for a steadier shot.
How to frame your subject
Keep the subject in the centre of your frame for the best performance out of your lens.
Whether it’s bugs or larger species like lizards and frogs, try to get the lens at your subject’s eye level for the most engaging portrait.
Using macro mode often requires a lot of light. In dim conditions, it may be too difficult to take a photo just holding a phone in your hands.
One way to get around this is to use a cheap tripod and a LED ring light. Ring lights stop you covering your subject in your shadow.
Let the animals come to you
A lot of nature photography is done with cameras using large telescopic lenses.
While you can buy external magnifying lenses to attach to your smartphone, award-winning West Australian bird photographer Georgina Steytler says phone photography requires you work smarter.
“The best tip to get bird photos is to sit down and let the birds come to you,” she says.
Your choice of location is, unsurprisingly, important. If you lie on a bank next to a lake or wetland, at some point a bird is probably going to swim or wade past.
White swan. (Supplied: Georgina Steytler)
White-faced heron. (Supplied: Georgina Steytler)
Pied stilt. (Supplied: Georgina Steytler)
Pacific gull. (Supplied: Georgina Steytler)
You can get closer to your subject by using a selfie stick (the extra cost is the self-awareness that people will think you’re self-obsessed among the ducks).
There are also selfie sticks that double as a tripod and come with a remote control for triggering photos via a Bluetooth connection to your phone.
That means you can be even further away from the birds and hopefully get a closer shot.
How to use the pro mode
For the best shots, use the pro mode on your phone.
In this mode you can pick a shutter speed that is at least 1/250 of a second, or 4 milliseconds, fast.
This should get you a freeze frame of a subject that’s not moving too much, but if the subject is a little blurry, you may need to go faster with your shutter speed.
One good thing about phones is you can see on the screen whether the shot is too dark or light to take, and adjust your setting accordingly.
Think about your background
The background of your photo is another element to consider, Mrs Steytler says.
“Try to pick birds like a seagull on a bench or standing on a pole because you have a clear background.”
Mrs Steytler says standard photography tips such as shooting around sunrise and sunset also apply to phone shoots.
Free editing apps can not only sharpen up images, but they can also combine shots to create dynamic images.
To do this, Mrs Steyler recommends taking a photo with a black background first by underexposing it (this is where not enough light is captured so the image is dark).
That image can then be combined with another shot taken at the same angle where you focus on getting a good exposure of the bird.
How to take photos ethically
Taking photos can be a nice way to immerse yourself in nature or learn something new, but how you go about it is just as important (so you’re not derided like an influencer grabbing a wombat).
Birdlife Australia has got a set of guidelines for birdwatching and photography.
Edith Cowan University conservation biologist Rob Davis, who co-authored a study on biodiversity damage from social media, also has several tips for ethical photography, including:
- don’t play recorded animal calls to attract photo subjects
- don’t photograph or go near bird nests
- don’t entice animals with food
- don’t touch or pose creatures
- rethink publicly sharing locations of rare species
- don’t go off established tracks as you may trample flora and fauna.
Dr Davis says it is generally illegal in Australia to handle native wildlife and flora without a permit.
Besides that, you can inadvertently spread killer diseases.
“If you handle frogs you can spread chytrid [an infectious amphibian disease] from animal to animal,” Dr Davis says.
Besides, many species react badly to human interference. Some bats will abandon roosting caves for good if disturbed by people.
Dr Davis notes another example where photographers damaged the ground burrows of rainbow bee eaters at a suburban lake after people became aware of their seasonal arrival.
“Think before you share,” he says.
“There’s really rare stuff my wife and I have seen which we don’t put on any platform.
“That can be a good choice sometimes as sites do get trashed.”