Learning how to use all the functions of your camera will help you get better photos, too. For example, if you learn how to manually turn your flash on and off you’ll find that this knowledge comes in handy. The fill flash mode is good when photographing people on winter days. The flash makes skin tones look realistic and not dark when placed against the dim daylight of January and February. Many smartphones come with a built-in way to give special effects to photos such as sepia-tone or black-and-white. There are also free and inexpensive apps to help put spot color and captions on your photos.
One of the latest trends in photography is to turn the camera 30 degrees or zoom in close (but at an angle) to the subject. Another fun approach is to take “parts of a whole”. This means zooming in and shooting close to or parts or a larger picture. An example of this would be to shoot one leaf in a frozen stream and the take a photo of the stream as it meanders into the forest. Imagine being proud of your photos instead of disappointed because they are too dark or too boring. It can be a relaxing and fun way to spend a winter day when you use your smartphone as your camera. On occasion, you might get really lucky and see a 13” pileated woodpecker.