Winter Photography Tips For iPhone, Android Users: Shoot Like a Pro

Wonder how you can take dreamy winter photos from your phone? With some clever tricks!

Our smartphones have made careful use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to refine the camera experience. With advanced developments like computational photography and AI post-processing, your iPhone or high-end Android phones can now compete with full-frame DSLR cameras in some basic setups. However, software advancements have made our phone cameras too smart than what we need.

Since algorithms are trained to take the best photos in most lighting conditions, phone cameras throw creativity out of the window. This is where manual intervention and skills come in to make the most out of these pocket wonders. 

Consider the winter season, where the camera app in auto mode clears up the haze and fog with colour correction and advanced post-processing to give you the sharpest and brightest image. But what if you want the photo to show the fog and haze? What if you want to retain the gloomy lighting of the season? You need to force the phone camera to take an imperfect picture.

Hence, join us as we explore some tricks to force your smartphone camera to underperform and get going with some amazing winter photography from your smartphone. 

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Winter photography tips for phone users

Play with exposure, shutter speed

What’s the most common element to denote winter? Fog. Phone cameras, however, like to eliminate it since the algorithms are coded to give us clear and bright photos, especially when the Sun is up or you are shooting snow-clad scenery.

This is where the exposure control comes in handy. Whether you use an iPhone or a Google Pixel, the stock camera app often gives you the ability to adjust the exposure prior to shooting. When there’s a great deal of fog in your scene, we recommend dialling up the exposure by at least two or three points to let the sense of fog prevail. The whitish glow from the fog will always help to give you a perception of the fog’s presence and what it does to the ambient lighting. 

When the fog isn’t there, try to lower the exposure for a dramatic effect. The winter Sunlight is diffused and when framed accordingly, you can lower the exposure to add to the effect of the subdued colours. 

Similarly, you can play with the shutter speeds to denote moving elements like blizzards, storms, snowfall, lively water bodies and a lot more.

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Play with editing tools

If the exposure controls aren’t giving you the desired effect, you can always fall back on post-processing or editing. You can play with a myriad of parameter adjustments in the Photos app such as brightness, contrast, saturation, exposure, brilliance and so on. 

An easier way, however, is use to shuffle through the numerous filters and try to find the desired effect. For winters, the ‘faded cool’ themed filters often seem to do the trick. Monotone filters help add mood to winter scenery or portraits. 

The season for macro cameras

The winter dew often makes for a great element in pictures and hence, considering it for your framing needs could make your winter photos seem much better. You can either use your main or zoom camera to include a dew-kissed subject in the foreground while focusing on the primary subject in the background. If you seek to include dew/snow as an element, you can also fire up your macro camera to get a close-up view of the texture.

The magic of the golden hour 

Cameras love the golden hour lighting, even in winter. The sunrise/sunset hours offer some great natural lighting for scenery and portrait photography. The vibrant colours of the sky often provide a great contrast to the bleak winter landscape and coupled with some careful editing, you can get marvellous shots. If you are in an area where there’s a lot of snow, the golden hours make for some beautiful photos for your winter collection. 

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Use winter clothing as props

What suggests the onset of winter better than winter clothing? Hence, it makes more sense to include them as props. When shooting portraits of human subjects, try to make the subject highlight or play with their winter clothing, thus adding to the sense of the cold season. Winter clothing can also be utilised as a prop where the sense of the cold season isn’t evident from the existing elements. 

It’s all about timing

The world around you is a subject 24/7 and hence, you need to be present at the right place at the right moment to get that unique photograph. If a foggy scene is what you need, you and your smartphone will need to brave the elements early morning to get going. Similarly, if a portrait photo demands a beautiful shade of golden light, you need to be active in the golden hours. 

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