From day to nighttime: How to {photograph} landscapes and wildlife in your smartphone in all circumstances

Tamara Hinson is a journey and expertise author with a love of smartphone pictures, off-the-beaten-path locations and time-saving devices

Whether you’re capturing panorama images at sundown or photographing wildlife in motion, the fitting smartphone settings can considerably enhance your out of doors photos and movies.

Someone who has realized all this ‘on the job’ is influencer and nature fanatic Somhairle, whose favorite backdrops are the wilds of Scotland. The social media star is commonly seen biking, operating, mountain climbing and scrambling round rugged and scenic landscapes in all climate circumstances, capturing each journey on his telephone digicam to share together with his followers. “I love capturing Scotland,” he says of his common social feed. “Most people don’t realise how amazing it is.”

The camper, rambler and intrepid explorer lately took his Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra with him on a visit to the awe-inspiring Isle of Skye and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park – placing the digicam by its paces on this stunning however typically harsh atmosphere.

Here, he shares some invaluable recommendation for these making an attempt to seize nature’s greatest bits.

Learn the right way to {photograph} dramatic landscapes in your smartphone

When photographing landscapes there are some fundamental guidelines you may comply with, equivalent to taking pictures from a low angle – which may help spotlight particulars within the foreground whereas including depth and drama – and all the time selecting the very best decision setting in your digicam telephone to maximise element in distant parts. This is a breeze with the Galaxy S26 Ultra and its 200MP foremost digicam, which makes use of AI processing and a large aperture to maintain pictures sharp and detailed – even in low gentle.

“For me, good photos show off exactly what I’m wanting to show off in all their glory, and most of the time it’s going to be those big landscapes, so capturing the feel of those places is important,” says Somhairle.

“On the Isle of Skye, I took some great pictures of Sligachan, looking towards the Cuillin mountains. The photos felt more professional than ones I’ve taken with other camera phones.”

Use Zoom to seize views and wildlife from a distance

While it’s all the time price making an attempt to get as bodily near your subject material as doable, that may be difficult on rugged terrain or in case your level of focus occurs to be a chook or animal that may not welcome your strategy.

For Somhairle, Galaxy S26 Ultra’s 10x optical zoom high quality does an awesome job of tackling that problem. “I was at Brothers Point on the Isle of Skye trying to get some pictures of seals and used the zoom, it felt like I was right there next to them,” he explains. “You can see their expressions so clearly in the photos. There’s one shot where the seal is popping its head up, watching me, and it feels like you’re right there.”

Somhairle additionally used the function to seize some sheep quietly grazing amid the rugged panorama. “I’ve got thousands of photos of sheep. In Scotland they usually appear in quite scenic places – on a cliff or on a beach – so they make great subjects for photos, as they also showcase the landscape. The powerful zoom was really helpful.”

The 10x optical zoom high quality proved useful on quite a few different events, equivalent to when dramatic surroundings was simply too far off. “It’s really hard to get a great picture of Skye’s Old Man of Storr, but there’s a really good viewpoint by the road leading to it,” remembers Somhairle. “There was a moment when the clouds were sitting above it, and I jumped out of the car and got a great shot by zooming in.”

Use AI to wash up background noise for clearer audio

Capturing nature isn’t nearly visible enchantment – with regards to video, sound performs a vital position too, however it isn’t all the time simple to seize clear audio once you’re out within the parts.

The Galaxy S26 sequence’ Audio Eraser* makes use of AI evaluation to determine and differentiate various kinds of sound, and does a superb job of choosing up these sounds which might be notoriously onerous to detect. It does this by mechanically figuring out which sounds to prioritise and which of them ought to be quietened. “When I was out and about on the Isle of Skye it was pretty windy, but in my videos the sound was really crisp, and I was able to capture the sounds of nature – such as birds chirping – really well,” says Somhairle.

The function has been considerably developed for the Galaxy S26 sequence by supporting real-time audio management throughout third celebration apps like YouTube, Instagram, and Netflix – serving as a seamless stay audio enhancement software.

Use night time mode for higher low-light images in your telephone

When you’re taking pictures at dawn, sundown, night or at night time, there are elements to think about with regards to lighting and digicam settings resulting from quickly altering gentle ranges, excessive distinction, and low-light circumstances. The secret is to handle publicity, guarantee stability, and utilise the distinctive colors.

“There was one night in Skye when it was really dark, but I still got some great photos of the moon rising,” says Somhairle, who was utilizing Galaxy S26 Ultra’s image-enhancing Nightography** mode. Via the AI-driven Advanced ProVisual Engine, this allows brighter, much less noisy, and extra detailed night time photos by working with the principle digicam to seize extra gentle.

“The Nightography feature enhanced the photo and really captured the colours that I was seeing, which often I find it hard to capture on a phone in such dark conditions,” he says.

Use your smartphone’s stabilisation options for motion pictures

Staying regular whereas taking pictures is vital when the subject material is wildlife, once you’re on harsh terrain or in changeable climate circumstances. Galaxy S26 Ultra comes with a Super Steady Video† mode with horizontal lock, which is designed to supply gimbal-like stability for high-action pictures, even throughout 360-degree rotations or excessive motion.

Locking your arms by your aspect and preserving a agency, two-handed grip in your digicam telephone may cut back the chance of movement-related picture distortion.

And if the worst occurs? Galaxy S26 Ultra makes modifying a breeze with options like Photo Assist‡ which helps you to take away or resize objects and fill in backgrounds, all on a big display.

“It’s a phone which is great for editing photos, and I really appreciated the bigger screen – it’s so easy to see your images and tweak them,” says Somhairle. “I’m shooting constantly on the go and a large screen is essential when it comes to checking I got the shot – even on professional cameras you can’t see photos as well as you do on the Galaxy S26 Ultra.” The 6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X show and high-resolution display supplies exceptionally sharp, crisp particulars.

Meaning wherever you might be, and no matter time of day you might be taking pictures, you may seize the pure wonders round you.

FAQs: How to make use of your telephone to take higher wildlife and panorama images

Find out extra in regards to the Galaxy S26 Ultra digicam and AI options at Samsung

*Samsung account login required. Six sorts of sound might be detected; voices, music, wind, nature, crowd and noise. Results could range relying on audio supply & situation of the video.

**Results could range relying on gentle situation, topic and/or taking pictures circumstances.

†Super Steady outcomes could range relying on modifying methodology and/or taking pictures circumstances.

‡Requires community connection and Samsung account login. A visual watermark is overlaid on the saved picture to point it was generated by Galaxy AI. Accuracy of output not assured.