Focus on Mobile Photography: Education & Inspiration

Decorating Like Our Flag: Celebrating Indian Festivals with What We Have

Celebrating Indian festivals brings vibrant traditions, rich culture, and joyous gatherings to life.

A few days ago, I shared a photo of an autorickshaw driver napping in his vehicle, explaining how mobile photography motivated me to take morning and evening walks to find photo opportunities. I took this photo during one of those morning walks on Republic Day, which is on the 26th of January in India.

Someone decorated the staircase with orange, white, and green to look like the national flag.

I’ve used this bridge all my life. In my childhood, my father would drive us to his sister’s house in his Ambassador car, just a few metres away on the Ghatkopar side. We used to visit her often, especially during Kerala’s biggest festivals, Onam and Vishu, to enjoy her homemade food and deep-fried papadams.

The decoration on the bridge serves as a metaphor for the way we in India enthusiastically celebrate festivals and occasions, often making the most of limited resources. Celebrating Indian festivals offers a unique opportunity to experience the rich heritage and joyful spirit of India. This vibrant display reflects our ability to find joy and create beauty, symbolising the spirit of celebration and resilience inherent in our culture.

Every day, you see simple moments like this that are very common in your neighbourhood. However, these moments might seem exotic to people in other parts of the world.

Try to find such scenes around you that represent your community, and take photos of them with your mobile phone. Share these photos with us. This will help you develop your creative vision and storytelling skills. For more help, please read about my online mobile photography workshops.

Taking Vibrant Indoor Photos with Your iPhone

Taking pictures indoors with an iPhone or any mobile phone under artificial lights often produces poor images. How often do you like the pictures you take at home, in restaurants, or on the streets at night?

This is because these lights aren’t designed for photography. The images will have lots of digital noise and won’t print well. However, if some natural light comes in, especially from one side, you will see better results.

Last Saturday, we talked about architectural photography with an iPhone. I explained how important it is to keep lines in pictures straight to represent a place correctly. The same goes for taking pictures of indoor spaces. The lines of the rooms should ideally be perpendicular and parallel to the edges of the frame, just as we see them in real life.

Bharatpur City Palace clicked with an iPhone 14

I took these pictures at the City Palace in Bharatpur, Rajasthan, using the Halide Pro Mark II app. This app has a digital spirit level that helps me keep my lines straight. Please read about my virtual mobile photography workshops to learn more about making the best use of your iPhone camera.

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Visual Meditations with your iPhone

Visual meditations involve focusing on a visual object or scene to achieve a state of calm and mindfulness. By concentrating on the details and allowing your mind to settle, visual meditations help reduce stress and enhance inner peace. This technique is simple and effective, making it accessible to anyone seeking a moment of tranquility.

There’s a place called Bhigwan where I go to photograph birds. As a professional photographer, I carry my professional cameras for wildlife, travel, and portraits. Yet, I enjoy using my mobile phone for snapping those in-between moments—like this one. This is the door to the toilet in a hotel room where I spend time between wildlife safaris. I appreciate the geometry and the mismatched colour combination of the door and walls.

In art and commercial photography, they teach you about the colour wheel and selecting harmonious colour combinations. But there’s a world where practicality matters more than style or colour coordination. I admire and respect this mindset—honest and unpretentious.

Developing a daily practice in mobile photography has made me more aware of my surroundings and allows me to take images like this that provoke thoughts about life in ways I wouldn’t otherwise contemplate.

This image is from my “iPhone photography sketches” series, where I show everyday objects using simple lighting and composition, without getting into technical camera settings. Explore my virtual workshops on mobile photography and see how I can guide you in using your mobile phone for visual meditation!

A Snapshot of Mumbai’s Auto Rickshaw Driver Taking a Break

Mumbai's auto rickshaw driver taking a break clicked with an iPhone 7

In Mumbai, auto rickshaw drivers often nap in their vehicles at different times of the day. This photo represents one of my first attempts at photographing people sleeping in public places.

I took this picture during the partial lockdown after the coronavirus pandemic. Initially, I felt lazy about going for walks, but using mobile photography as motivation, I started going out for morning and evening strolls to find photo opportunities.

Mobile photography is an excellent way to stay alert, enhance your creative vision, and uncover hidden talents. Explore my virtual mobile photography workshops to learn more!

Architecture Photography with an iPhone

Architecture photography of the lawns at Bharatpur City Palace

In architecture photography, straight vertical and horizontal lines are key. This gives us a realistic perspective of what the structure looks like. A skewed view of a structure, like it’s launching into space or crashing down, doesn’t make good images (now you know!)

If you want to establish yourself as an architectural photographer, you must know how to accurately depict a structure in a photo and understand the fundamentals of good architecture photography.

The compact size of an iPhone and its large display, where you can preview your images as you take them, make it very easy to keep your lines straight, even when using the 0.5 super wide-angle camera.

Hold your camera parallel to the ground and vertical lines. When doing this, you may discover that the upper portions of a structure don’t fit within your frame. You can solve this by clicking the picture from a higher vantage point.

I hold my iPhone with both hands above the level of my head when I want to cut out empty foregrounds and meticulously compose and align my vertical and horizontal spirit levels.

Apps such as Halide Pro Mark II or Varlens have a spirit level to help you ensure that your camera is level and all your lines are straight. You can even “fix” your levels later in a photo editing app such as Adobe Lightroom, but it is best to get it right when you are taking the picture.

Architecture photography at Bharatpur City Palace

Architectural professionals often opt for “tilt-shift” or “perspective control” lenses on their DSLR or mirrorless cameras to straighten lines when they point their lenses upwards. The wider the focal length of the lens, the more difficult it is to achieve straight lines but with just a little bit of practice this will become second nature. You can use tilt-shift apps on your iPhone to create miniature effects.

I teach virtual mobile photography courses. The courses are designed specifically for individuals with limited time availability. The sessions are short, about 20 minutes each, scheduled at your convenience. Contact me to learn how I can help you be creative, even with a busy schedule!

Comfort in Mismatched Spaces

Some people like everything in a space to match—designs, shapes, colours. But I can find comfort in spaces where things are mismatched. It shows a happy-go-lucky attitude and makes the best use of one’s resources. One such space is a hotel in Rajasthan, where I’ve spent lots of time and had many wonderful moments.

This image is part of my “iPhone photography sketches” series, where I bring everyday objects to life using simple lighting and composition, without focusing on technical camera settings.

How do you prefer your living space? Neatly coordinated or joyfully cluttered with items that bring you happiness scattered around?

A Man Napping at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in India

iPhone photography at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary

In a previous post, I showed you a photo of a lemonade seller catching a snooze at a street corner in Mumbai City. Staying with the topic of snoozing, here’s a man dozing off in the canteen area at Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary in Rajasthan. He has spread out a cardboard sheet underneath him while basking in the winter sun.

Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary is a place where you typically visit with large telephoto lenses to click close-ups of birds. When you’re lugging around so much photography gear, it becomes difficult to carry additional cameras for moments like this. That’s where an iPhone comes in handy for snapping these in-between moments that add so much joy to the day.

But even if you are using your mobile phone to take photographs like this, it is important to set your focus point on your subject. Your mobile camera has a large depth of field; however, if your primary subject is even slightly out of focus, the image will not look sharp when you print it. To set the focus, simply tap on your subject after you have composed your photograph, and then take the picture.

I conduct online mobile photography workshops that help you develop your creative eye and enjoy photography.

Transforming Perspectives with Tilt-Shift Photography Apps

Tilt-shift photography apps for unique perspectives

Are you familiar with tilt-shift photography apps? A tilt-shift lens is a special camera lens that allows photographers to control the plane of focus and perspective in an image. This unique capability helps in creating selective focus effects and correcting distortions, making it particularly useful for architectural photography and creative compositions.

Notice the selective focus in this picture and how beautifully the out-of-focus areas have blurred. This is the magic of tilt-shift photography.

Many mobile camera apps offer tilt-shift effects for you to experiment with. If you try them, ensure the app can take high-resolution images. The app I used for this picture didn’t produce print-quality images, but I found that out too late.

The RAW format is ideal for photography. You can read more about it in the section, “Apps for Clicking RAW Images with iPhones.”

I offer virtual mobile photography workshops to help you ignite your creative spark.

Leafy Luxury: Hotel’s Innovative Towel Drying Solution

Some hotels stay busy all year, but others, relying on tourists, get busier at certain times. To adapt, some establishments, like this one, adopt sustainable practices. Rather than buying dryers they rarely use, they use the sun to dry towels outside.

Mobile photography is enjoyable because it’s convenient and requires no technical fuss. However, developing a creative eye is essential for taking great photos that reflect your everyday life. Join my online workshops to enhance your creativity, understand light and shadow, and turn ordinary scenes into stunning art pieces.

Here are 3 good reasons to start expressing your creative vision today:

The sessions will be through video calls, so you can join from anywhere. We will schedule them at a time that suits you.
You always have your mobile phone with you, which means you always have your camera ready!
This is a simple workshop with no technical terms. Discover your artistic side with easy lighting and composition techniques.

Contact me today to find out more!

Simple lighting and composition

Lighting and composition are the main elements of a good photograph. The easiest visual meditation is to observe light and shadows. Look at the shapes, forms, and textures of everyday things in your home. Watch the light coming through the windows and the shadows it creates. Even the most ordinary objects can look amazing if the light hits them just right.

This image is part of a series I call “iPhone photography sketches.” My goal is to bring everyday objects to life using simple lighting and composition, without worrying about technical camera settings.

Set the aspect ratio of your photos to 1:1 in your camera app. This will create square photos that give your images a fine art look.

I teach virtual mobile photography workshops to help you explore your artistic potential. Please read more about how I can help you with your creative projects.