Capturing tree silhouettes with a phone
Inspiration and tips for phone nature photography in February
Hello, welcome to my new series for paying subscribers. Each month, I’ll be sharing ideas and tips for phone nature photography, based on my own experiences. The emphasis is on visual awareness: observation, fieldcraft, light and composition. I hope this might inspire you to get out and enjoy every season, notice nature and be absorbed in creativity, without the need for extra expense, heavy kit, or great technical expertise.
Winter tree silhouettes
There is no doubt that February can be bleak – festivities long gone, daylight still limited, the outdoor world beset with unwelcoming weather – but I find that having a creative project to lure me outside is a great tonic to the winter blues.
To kick off this series, I’ve chosen to focus on tree silhouettes.
The frustratingly short daylight hours that add to the gloom of February are actually an advantage when you’re looking for silhouette images: the winter sun stays low – its soft light can be positioned behind bare branches – and dawn and dusk deliver their special light at relatively convenient times.
In winter, the bare bones of deciduous trees are exposed, some strong and graphic, some fine and intricate. Different species have characteristic shapes, but every individual tree is unique, its form moulded by its surroundings and life experience. So how best to capture this with a phone?
