Here’s a fun, fast and clever way to capture eye-catching photos with your smartphone or other mobile device in 2022. Kyle Nutt, who is a master of simple smartphone photography tips, shared the below tutorial with his “top five mobile photography tricks in 2022.”
As usual with Nutt’s smartphone photography how-tos, the short video at the bottom of this story is mainly a visual affair but it’s loaded with his fun demonstrations of great do-it-yourself photo ideas you can try right away. Here’s a rundown of his top five smartphone camera tricks shown in the video. (You can also do many of these photo hacks with a traditional digital camera.)
Trick #1: Simulated Sound Waves
Put your smartphone on a tripod and turn on the long exposure mode. Flip a light strip up and down near both speakers on a boombox. Make it appear that the light strip is coming out of the speaker to produce a better simulated sound wave effect (see image at the top of this story).
Trick #2: Reflective Couples Portrait
Place a rectangular mirror on the ground in front of the couple you are photographing. Use the panorama mode on your smartphone and slowly move the phone from the ground up to the top of the couple to capture the full reflection including the sky.
Trick #3: Spooky Door Portrait
Have your subject hold a flashlight at a door in a semi-darkened room. Use a smoke bomb or smoke stick to add haze to the scene. Shoot the image using the long exposure mode on your camera. Add flashlight eyes to the shadow on the door for an eerie effect.
Trick #4: Walking on Water
Place a stool just below the water level in an ocean, lake, or pool. (Make sure the water is relatively calm.) Have your subject stand on the stool so it appears that they are walking on the water and then shoot the photo.
Trick #5: Seated Reflective Portrait
Have a couple sit on a park bench and lay a mirror below them on a small table. Use the panorama mode on your smartphone and the same ground up panning technique from Tip #2 to capture a unique portrait.
Watch Nutt’s 1:30-minute video below to see all these tricks demonstrated and if you’re looking for more smartphone photography tips and techniques, check out this tutorial from another photographer with six ways to shoot striking photos with your smartphone (it was one of our most popular stories from last year.)
