Landscape Photography Challenges

I like to challenge my landscape photography skills. This could be by doing something new, trying a different bit of kit, or even trying an old bit of kit (see my video Shoot, Print, Surprise). So when my friend and fellow photographer Chris Sale contacted me and suggested a new challenge for us both I immediately asked him to tell me more!

Our previous photography challenge had been a great success. Last time Chris challenged me to ditch my wide angle lens and head out with my 70-200 mm. You can see how I got on here. For this challenge though, Chris asked me to leave my DSLR at home and head out with a mobile phone! This perhaps sounded like a step too far, but I was up for the challenge. Obviously, I sent the challenge back and told Chris he had to do the same.

OnePlus 6

The challenge came at an interesting time as I was actually in the market for a new phone. My heavily used and loved Google Nexus 6p was on its last legs and it couldn't seem to survive much longer than a couple of hours without needing a charge.

I'm not going to bore you with all the reasons why I bought the OnePlus 6, but it was the phone that suited my needs to best. Funnily enough though, camera specs weren't top of my list of things I was looking for in a new phone. I have my Sony RX100M4 as my portable camera so I only ever expected to use the OnePlus 6 to capture the odd photo here and there.

So without knowing too much about the camera capabilities of the OnePlus 6, I head out to Dartmoor National Park to start my challenge. You can see how I got on in the video below:

As I mentioned earlier in the blog, Chris also undertook the same challenge. To see how he got on, check out his video:

Mobile Phone Photography

So can you capture good landscape images with a mobile phone? Sure you can! You can capture landscape images with just about any camera. I'm not saying the camera is irrelevant, but without good light and composition it doesn’t matter what camera you have with you, you might still end up with a dull photo.

So would will I be giving up my Nikon D850 anytime soon? Of course not. While it is perfectly possible to capture good landscape images with a mobile phone, the controls, versatility and image quality of a larger camera will (likely) always be better. As you'll have seen in the video, the dynamic range of the OnePlus 6, is not match for my Nikon D850. But given the price difference, that is hardly surprising is it!

So do you ever take landscape images with your mobile phone? What mobile phone do you have? Did you buy it for its capabilities as a camera? Let me know in the comments below.

The Photograph

Mr Bowerman please meet OnePlus 6 - Bowerman's Nose, Dartmoor, Devon:  OnePlus 6, ISO 100, 1/125th sec, f/1.7, DNG processed in Lightroom CC Classic. — **Mr Bowerman please meet OnePlus 6** - Bowerman's Nose, Dartmoor, Devon: OnePlus 6, ISO 100, 1/125th sec, f/1.7, DNG processed in Lightroom CC Classic.

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