Given that the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro are two of the greatest smartphones available in 2025, it should come as no surprise that they have incredible cameras that produce breathtaking pictures. Powerful cameras on even older or less expensive phones, such as the 2022 iPhone 14 Pro, Pixel 7 Pro, or the more recent, low-cost Google Pixel 9A, may capture stunning photos that you can share on Instagram or even print and hang on your wall.

And now that winter is over, a lot of us will want to get outside and explore stunning lakefront routes or hike through the hills. It’s the ideal chance to show off your landscape photography skills.

Whether you’re traveling to a far-off place or venturing into the countryside, I’ll provide my best advice as a professional photographer in this article on how to capture great landscape shots with your phone. Many of the advice are applicable whether your gadget is three months or three years old, Apple or Android, however others are exclusive to newer phones with several lens choices.

See also: Top Camera Phones to Purchase Now

Sort the camera options on your phone.

In its usual auto setting, your phone can certainly snap a very good landscape picture, but let’s go a step further.

Go into the “pro” mode on your phone if it allows you to manually adjust the settings. If not, you can adjust ISO, shutter speed, and white balance using an app like Moment, Lightroom, or MuseCam.

When processing this photo, I was able to extract a lot more highlight and shadow information by turning on the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s ProRaw feature.
Importantly, you can also photograph in raw format with these programs. Many of the automated camera adjustments that your phone would typically apply to a JPEG picture, including white balance or sharpness, are not saved in raw photographs. Compared to a basic JPEG, the resulting picture allows you to adjust the white balance, vary the color tones, and recover information from the highlights and shadows with far less image degradation. In the editing part that follows, I’ll go into more detail about this.

The company’s ProRaw format, which employs computational photography methods like HDR mixing while still producing an easily editable DNG file, is compatible with Apple’s most recent Pro iPhone versions. Raw shooting may be activated by tapping the Raw button on the camera interface. Google’s Pixel series include a comparable raw feature.

Altering white balance is often essential in landscape photography because auto white balance may attempt to balance out a scene with a lot of warm tones (like autumn foliage on trees) by using a cool white balance, but in the process, it loses all of the image’s inherent warmth. It’s crucial to be able to bring out the shadows in the foreground or reduce some of the highlights from a bright sky. Additionally, having the ability to change the white balance after the shot is taken allows you much more editing flexibility than if the colors are pre-baked into the picture.

The drawback of shooting raw is that you probably won’t be able to share your photos until you’ve made some adjustments in an editing program like Lightroom or Snapseed. Landscape photography is often a more deliberate, lengthier process, and creating a stunning shot involves spending time in editing.

If your iPhone enables it, it’s worth experimenting with Apple’s Photographic Styles function to add some warmth and cinematic flavor to your photos. However, keep in mind that these styles are not available while shooting in ProRaw, so you will have to choose between using Apple’s color choices or applying your own more conveniently.

When it comes to landscape photography, the time of day is crucial. I was able to get at this stunning spot in time to use my iPhone 14 Pro to photograph this stunning dawn light by setting my alarm at 3 a.m.
Go early and stay late.
In landscape photography, the time of day is crucial since the lighting drastically varies as the sun rises and sets. Sunrise or sunset are the greatest times of day to see spectacular light. Because the sun is low in the sky at both times of day, the area is covered with lengthy shadows and directed light.

Shooting around midday is usually the worst since the overhead light doesn’t provide much shadow definition, which may make scenes seem lifeless and flat.

It’s worthwhile to set your alarm and go early if you have a certain spot in mind so you can see what you can photograph at dawn. Try to film the same scenario again at various times of day to determine when it looks its best, if time permits.

Observe the weather

No aspect of outdoor photography is more influenced by the weather than landscape photography. The tone, lighting, and colors of your environment will all change drastically depending on the weather. However, unfavorable weather does not always translate into poor photography.

This view above Edinburgh has a lovely, ethereal haze added by the dark weather.
For my part, I like the ominous, gloomy ambiance of a landscape with ominous storm clouds sweeping above. The light that follows a storm may often seem very spectacular. Therefore, even if the trek to your destination may be a dreary slog in torrential rain, try to stay positive by picturing the stunning picture you could end up with.

That dull, gloomy gray sky with no complexity to the clouds, no intriguing light on the ground, and little contrast to the picture before you is the worst weather for landscape photography.

Pay attention to your preferred weather app and base your choice on the forecast. You can withstand the worst of the weather if you’ve packed appropriately. If it becomes too terrible, use Google Maps to find the closest bar so you can have a nice drink.

Play around with your zoom and wide lenses.

Now is the perfect moment to check out your phone’s wide-angle mode if it has one. You may utilize extra lenses to get the same effect if your phone doesn’t come with a wide mode by default.

I was able to maintain the little fishing boat on the left and the mooring post on the right in the frame by using the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s ultrawide lens, which resulted in a much more appealing composition overall.
Because they catch so much of a location in a single photograph, superwide vistas may be very stunning. Gorgeous rivers may now be seen in their fullness, weaving their way into a picture, while mountaintops that would normally be out of frame are suddenly caught in all their beauty.

However, when you’ve experienced the thrill of seeing the image in its entirety, try concentrating on some of the details by utilizing your phone’s telephoto zoom lenses. Seek for intriguing rock formations, patterns in the scenery, or odd shapes in the environment; they may all be made to stand out by cropping out or zooming in on other distracting components.

Focus on the composition.

It’s simple to assume that a great landscape photograph would result from just employing the widest perspective available, but that isn’t the case. Actually, you need to consider composition even more if you want to get the most out of your wide photographs.

Interest in the foreground

In your scenes, look for foreground interest. You may utilize moss-covered rocks, tree stumps, and perhaps some lovely wildflowers to entice the observer into a picture. Give yourself a few minutes to look around for anything that will assist tie the scene together when you’re at the top of the hill shooting your photo.

photo-cecdb4a0-2 moment
Here, I’ve placed the lake in the left third of the frame and the subject—actually, me—in the right. The viewer’s eye is naturally drawn through the scene by it.
Taking the lead
Another excellent component of a masterful landscape design are leading lines. It is precisely this winding perspective that enables the viewer’s eye to follow a line and into your picture, so keep an eye out for paths, attractive walls, or other lengthy components that weave their way further into the scene.

Horizons that are straight

Make sure your horizon line is straight by using the leveling tool or grid lines that may be visible on your phone’s screen. Next, make sure you’re not inadvertently cutting off the top of your subject, which may be a structure, a mountain, or some trees. Keep in mind that although editing may greatly enhance a mediocre photograph, poor composition cannot be saved.

Make changes to your pictures

After you press the shutter, your picture is not complete; all it takes to turn a basic snapshot into a stunning work of art is a few adjustments in an editing program.

Adobe Lightroom Mobile is my favorite editing program, but I also find that Darkroom on iOS and Google’s Snapseed, which is available for free on both iOS and Android, provide excellent results. Check what you already have before spending money on applications and memberships. Instagram’s built-in editing capabilities can also be helpful, and your phone may come with some strong picture editing features.

This image of Solomon’s Temple in Buxton, England, taken with the Galaxy S10 Plus, is a nice one, although it lacks inspiration and the corroded drain pipe on the tower’s outside is not appealing.
The picture, taken with a 2019 phone, has much more impact if Lightroom is used to correct the color balance, darken the sky and foreground, and remove the drain pipe.
In order to make the colors seem correct or to add warmth to a stunning sunset, I usually begin by adjusting the white balance. Shooting in raw is quite helpful in this situation. In order to improve foreground shadows or regulate a brilliant sky, I will adjust the exposure settings, especially the highlights and shadows. Additionally, a little more contrast might give the picture more impact.

Make a cup of coffee, relax, and spend as much time as you like experimenting with the sliders in the app of your choice. By saving and reimporting your picture, you may experiment with applying various filters and stacking effects on top of one another. Keep in mind that there is no right or wrong method to alter a picture, so have fun experimenting. If you are unhappy with the results, you can always go back to the original.