iPhone Photography: Fall Colours

Never mind the fun apps that allow you to create vintage film looks, superpose photos or add textures to your iPhone images. The ingredients that make for good photographs are independent of what camera you use. Just like the ingredients that go into making a superb dish do not depend on the oven you have.

Fall provides many photographic opportunities you can capture with your iPhone. And last fall, we were blessed with many days of nice weather. This late in the year in Scotland, the sun is low on the horizon essentially all day, providing ideal lighting conditions for many hours.

St Peter's church, Edinburgh, fall colours, tree, and blue sky. Shot on iPhone. — St Peter’s church, Edinburgh. Shot on my iPhone in the late afternoon last autumn.

Sometimes it pays off to stop and look up. Pointing your camera up or down gives a different perspective and can make for interesting photographs. When I saw the colour on the tree in the above photo, I knew the blue sky would provide great colour contrast. And then I realised I could also include St Peter’s church in the frame. I had my shot.

Lutton Place, Edinburgh with tree and fall colours. Backlit and shot on iPhone. — Lutton Place, Edinburgh. I love to place the sun between 10 and 2 o’clock. I learned this from world class photographer Joe Baraban.

I was on my way out to run an errand when I noticed the wonderful light on Lutton Place. I love backlighting or more precisely having the sun between 10 and 2 o’clock. You can see the reflection of the sun in the window.

Blackford Hill, Edinburgh. Forest with fall colours shot with iPhone. — The forest area in Blackford Hill is one of my favourite places to photograph, especially when the fall colours are on.

Shooting into the sun can cause some problems, and that is why many people avoid it. The internal light reflections inside your lens become strong enough to degrade the image quality. And if you carry your iPhone in your pocket a lot, there is likely some dust on your camera lens, which can further degrade the image quality when the sun is shining right into your camera. A simple solution is to frame the image in such a way that there is something in between the sun and your camera, as in the picture of the fall forest above where the tree is masking the sun. This way you can get the wonderful backlit look without the technical problems commonly associated with it.

Edinburgh castle from Princes Street gardens with iPhone last autumn. — Edinburgh castle shot from Princes Street gardens.

I love shooting the same subject at different times of year and in different lighting conditions. Edinburgh castle is one of the main tourist attractions the city has to offer. And since I started selling iPhone photos on Stokimo, I plan to take many more Edinburgh castle photographs.