How to take beautiful wildlife photos with your smartphone: a beginner's guide
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).
Lights, 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.
Capturing an angle with identifying features like skin patterns helps identify this lizard as a western heath dragon. ( Supplied: Laura Skates )
"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.
A spider photographed phone front-on in Fiji. ( iNaturalist: James Dorey, Sprangspannen, CC BY-NC 4.0 )
An unidentified spider photographed in Fiji with a smartphone. (iNaturalist: James Dorey, Sprangspannen, CC BY-NC 4.0) Fiji spider from upside down. ( 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) Fiji spider from behind. ( 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.
Jumping spiders are fairly easy subjects to engage for macro photography as they will turn their body towards movement. ( ABC Science: Jacinta Bowler )
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.
Larger insects like dragonflies, with their compound eyes and intricate wing vein patterns, make good macro subjects for phones. ( ABC Science: Peter de Kruijff )
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.
By targeting flowering plants you will likely come across pollinators such as bees. ( ABC Science: Peter de Kruijff )
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.
A white swan captured on a smartphone. ( Supplied: Georgina Steytler )
White swan. (Supplied: Georgina Steytler) A white-faced heron caught on a smartphone camera. ( Supplied: Georgina Steytler )
White-faced heron. (Supplied: Georgina Steytler) Pied stilt caught on camera in Mandurah, WA. ( Supplied: Georgina Steytler )
Pied stilt. (Supplied: Georgina Steytler) A Pacific gull captured on a smartphone. ( 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.
Australasian swamphen taken on a phone on a small tripod with a remote trigger. ( Supplied: Georgina Steytler )
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.
Portraits like this photo of a nankeen night-heron are difficult to capture with a smartphone, but not impossible. ( Supplied: Georgina Steytler )
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 play recorded animal calls to attract photo subjects don't photograph or go near bird nests
don't photograph or go near bird nests don't entice animals with food
don't entice animals with food don't touch or pose creatures
don't touch or pose creatures rethink publicly sharing locations of rare species
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.
Little red flying-foxes fly over the Ord River in Kununurra. ( ABC Science: Peter de Kruijff )
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."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Australian
an hour ago
- The Australian
Nuclear power: Expert reveals hidden cost of Australia's energy path
A leading British nuclear scientist has issued a warning to Australia that 'there are consequences' in rejecting nuclear energy as an energy source. Former chief scientific adviser to the UK Ministry of Defence Sir Robin Grimes said such a stance would likely put Australia in a weaker position to take advantage of the AI boom and invest in data centres. Sir Robin said the issue of nuclear energy was something Australia needed to 'debate', with the Coalition vowing to pursue it as part of its energy policy. 'Yes, you don't have to go nuclear, but there are consequences of deciding to use it and not use it,' he told NewsWire. 'It means that Australia will not be in as strong a position to do certain types of industrial processes. As a consequence, data centres, (AI and robotics) are much more difficult to have if you don't have that base-load capacity available to you.' A leading British nuclear scientist said there would be consequences if Australia chose to reject the use of nuclear energy in its grid. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Sir Robin said while Australia was 'blessed with fantastic sunshine', nuclear should be considered as an alternative to costly batteries. In comparison, the UK generates about 15 per cent of its electricity from nuclear sources, with wind and gas also key players in its grid, accounting for 30 per cent of energy input. 'If you want energy security, and if you want a really robust system, then you're going to have to invest in phenomenal amounts of storage if you don't go nuclear,' Sir Robin said. 'Batteries don't generate energy. They're a tax on the energy that you're produced because you've having to store it … and the more energy you produce from intermittent renewables, the more storage you need and the greater the cost.' Australia's abundant supplies of uranium, which make up about 8 per cent of global production and are estimated to be about one-third of the world's uranium supply, could also be refined onshore, leading to new job markets, Sir Robin added. This could involve processing the uranium ore, refining it into yellowcake and converting it to uranium hexafluoride, steps that come before the compounds are enriched to create nuclear fuel. 'The question is, do you just dig the ore out the ground and shove it on a train and export it to somewhere that's going to do something with it, or do you go through some of the processes and retain more of the jobs associated with that in Australia,' Sir Robin said. Earlier this year, the Dutton-led Coalition took a nuclear policy to build seven reactors by 2050 to the federal election. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman Sir Robin's comments follow an Australia-first conference on nuclear energy hosted by the University of NSW in Sydney this week. The event featured talks from world-leading nuclear scientists, including Nuclear Energy Agency director-general William Magwood, US Department of Energy deputy assistant secretary Aleshia Duncan and Sir Robin. It follows the launch of Australia's first undergraduate honours degree in nuclear engineering, slated to start in 2026. UNSW's Nuclear Innovation Centre director Ed Obbard said he believed the nuclear debate would likely grow as Australia developed a domestic nuclear engineering workforce and through existing initiatives like the AUKUS submarine program and Sydney's OPAL reactor, which produces radioisotopes for medical imaging, cancer treatment and research. 'As the nuclear sector grows, both in Australia and worldwide, discussions on civilian nuclear energy will become increasingly realistic,' Dr Obbard said. 'Assuming that we still care about decarbonisation, nuclear is never going to go away.' However, Dr Obbard said Australia having a nuclear workforce was welcomed by both sides of politics. 'It doesn't matter whether you're Liberal and you think we need a workforce for a future nuclear workforce, or if you're Labor and you're desperate to find a workforce to show the Americans that we're doing OK with AUKUS,' he said. 'Or if you're a university where you have international students coming from around the world to study engineering at UNSW. 'You've got this tripling of capacity happening everywhere, and there's a huge nuclear skills shortage wherever you go, and everyone agrees on that.' The Coalition's energy spokesman Dan Tehan welcomed the conference and said 'having a conversation about zero emissions nuclear energy continues to be incredibly important for Australia and the world'. 'More and more countries are adopting nuclear energy as they seek energy abundance and to reduce their emissions, and this is something that should be on the agenda for discussion here in Australia,' he said. 'We've committed to the removal of the moratorium (on nuclear energy) and further policy is under review.' Jessica Wang NewsWire Federal Politics Reporter Jessica Wang is a federal politics reporter for NewsWire based in the Canberra Press Gallery. She previously covered NSW state politics for the Wire and has also worked at and Mamamia covering breaking news, entertainment, and lifestyle. @imjesswang_ Jessica Wang
News.com.au
6 hours ago
- News.com.au
Leading British nuclear scientist Sir Robin Grimes says Australia will face consequences if it rejects nuclear energy
A leading British nuclear scientist has issued a warning to Australia that 'there are consequences' in rejecting nuclear energy as an energy source. Former chief scientific adviser to the UK Ministry of Defence Sir Robin Grimes said such a stance would likely put Australia in a weaker position to take advantage of the AI boom and invest in data centres. Sir Robin said the issue of nuclear energy was something Australia needed to 'debate', with the Coalition vowing to pursue it as part of its energy policy. 'Yes, you don't have to go nuclear, but there are consequences of deciding to use it and not use it,' he told NewsWire. 'It means that Australia will not be in as strong a position to do certain types of industrial processes. As a consequence, data centres, (AI and robotics) are much more difficult to have if you don't have that base-load capacity available to you.' Sir Robin said while Australia was 'blessed with fantastic sunshine', nuclear should be considered as an alternative to costly batteries. In comparison, the UK generates about 15 per cent of its electricity from nuclear sources, with wind and gas also key players in its grid, accounting for 30 per cent of energy input. 'If you want energy security, and if you want a really robust system, then you're going to have to invest in phenomenal amounts of storage if you don't go nuclear,' Sir Robin said. 'Batteries don't generate energy. They're a tax on the energy that you're produced because you've having to store it … and the more energy you produce from intermittent renewables, the more storage you need and the greater the cost.' Australia's abundant supplies of uranium, which make up about 8 per cent of global production and are estimated to be about one-third of the world's uranium supply, could also be refined onshore, leading to new job markets, Sir Robin added. This could involve processing the uranium ore, refining it into yellowcake and converting it to uranium hexafluoride, steps that come before the compounds are enriched to create nuclear fuel. 'The question is, do you just dig the ore out the ground and shove it on a train and export it to somewhere that's going to do something with it, or do you go through some of the processes and retain more of the jobs associated with that in Australia,' Sir Robin said. Sir Robin's comments follow an Australia-first conference on nuclear energy hosted by the University of NSW in Sydney this week. The event featured talks from world-leading nuclear scientists, including Nuclear Energy Agency director-general William Magwood, US Department of Energy deputy assistant secretary Aleshia Duncan and Sir Robin. It follows the launch of Australia's first undergraduate honours degree in nuclear engineering, slated to start in 2026. UNSW's Nuclear Innovation Centre director Ed Obbard said he believed the nuclear debate would likely grow as Australia developed a domestic nuclear engineering workforce and through existing initiatives like the AUKUS submarine program and Sydney's OPAL reactor, which produces radioisotopes for medical imaging, cancer treatment and research. 'As the nuclear sector grows, both in Australia and worldwide, discussions on civilian nuclear energy will become increasingly realistic,' Dr Obbard said. 'Assuming that we still care about decarbonisation, nuclear is never going to go away.' However, Dr Obbard said Australia having a nuclear workforce was welcomed by both sides of politics. 'It doesn't matter whether you're Liberal and you think we need a workforce for a future nuclear workforce, or if you're Labor and you're desperate to find a workforce to show the Americans that we're doing OK with AUKUS,' he said. 'Or if you're a university where you have international students coming from around the world to study engineering at UNSW. 'You've got this tripling of capacity happening everywhere, and there's a huge nuclear skills shortage wherever you go, and everyone agrees on that.' The Coalition's energy spokesman Dan Tehan welcomed the conference and said 'having a conversation about zero emissions nuclear energy continues to be incredibly important for Australia and the world'. 'More and more countries are adopting nuclear energy as they seek energy abundance and to reduce their emissions, and this is something that should be on the agenda for discussion here in Australia,' he said. 'We've committed to the removal of the moratorium (on nuclear energy) and further policy is under review.'
News.com.au
9 hours ago
- News.com.au
How common infection carried through cat faeces can affect daily human behaviour
A very common parasite found in billions of people around the world – including 20 per cent of Australians – can affect mental health and reaction times, even leading to more car crashes. Toxoplasmosis is often carried in faeces of cats after eating a mouse, as well as in contaminated raw meat, and can be easily passed onto humans. Once in the body, the parasite can then affect a person's daily behaviour. It does not cause serious health risks to the average healthy person, but previous research has shown the infection is creating 'havoc' on people's dopamine levels, leading to a reduction in self-control, making more impulsive and high-risk decisions, and being impatient. Dr Michele Garagnani from the University of Melbourne told those infected are two per cent more likely to be involved in a car crash. 'Our study suggests... people take more risks, are less patient, have less self-control and are more likely to start entrepreneurial decisions, like companies and start ups that turn out to be risky or not founded so they fail (or) are actually not successful,' the senior lecturer said. 'All the studies have shown that people with toxoplasmosis are more likely to feel anxious, to be depressed and have more mental health issues.' There is no cure for toxoplasmosis and was once only detectable by blood or saliva swabs. However, Dr Garagnani and his team – consisting of Carlos Alós-Ferrer from Lancaster University in the UK and Anja Achtziger from Zeppelin University in Germany – have created a new online test for people around the world to check if they are infected. The 'simple' test involves assessing a person's reaction time. A subject is placed in front of a computer or similar device where they are asked to focus on the screen for two minutes. In that time the person must respond, for example, to the changing of colours, by pushing a button as quickly as possible. 'What we measure is both how quickly they react and how much they can sustain attention to a task,' Dr Garagnani told To confirm the validity of the new testing tool, the research team carried out head-to-head clinical trials and compared it to blood tests. The study found just under 80 participants had their reaction times analysed with RhD-negative blood types, which can slow a person's response by less than one second. The online test has a 97 per cent accuracy rate, according to research published in April. A larger study was then completed with 1,010 subjects who were then asked questions about their life, as well as employment and income. The results showed 10 per cent of people 'deemed' with toxoplasmosis are more likely to be unemployed and on average earned less than those who were not infected. 'We also found that those who were deemed infected were more likely to smoke, drink alcohol and experience mental health problems,' Dr Garagnani said. The test is not aimed to replace medical testing of toxoplasmosis but is hoped to allow more people to check whether they have the infection on a larger and cheaper scale. The senior lecturer at the University of Melbourne stressed people infected with toxoplasmosis cannot feel it in their daily lives and the effects are 'very small'. Dr Garagnani added the infection is a concern for individuals with weak immune systems, those with HIV and pregnant women as it can lead to serious health problems for the baby. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had previously labelled it as 'one of the most neglected parasitic infections'. But WHO recently provided an update to be 'less cautious' of it due to the rise in tuberculosis, 'the world's top infectious killer', which claims 4,500 lives and sees 30,000 people fall ill each day. 'They are still considering it as a neglected parasitic infection. It's insidious and growing instead of going down in the world population, which is alarming,' Dr Garagnani said. 'But it's an infection which has no medical symptoms during the lifelong part of the patient so it's less prevalent and less concerning than other sicknesses.'
