Simple Photography Tips - Abstract Arty Pictures On Your Phone Camera

Ten Simple Photography Tips for taking abstract photographs on A phone camera

• Look for quirky things

• Get in low and wide angle

• Take from a variety of angles

• Be aware of light

• Focus on one part but keep the rest visible if relevant.

• Be aware of depth of field

• Be adventurous and have fun

• Don't allow background distraction

• Crop it right the first time

• Sometimes enhance it in Photoshop or Lightroom

Paris late Summer. On the banks of the River Seine. These simple photography tips are about taking something slightly strange, and seeing what comes out; and this one does involve some post production, it is more about what I'd call Photographic art.

Abstract Arty Photographs - low angle photograph

What we have here is a photograph of a bottle of balsamic vinegar, not your ordinary bottle with a smart label, and the potential to enhance flavour, but one that has had a fatal accident.

Smashed to shards mostly, but the top, often one of the first to break is held together by the metal screwtop, and part of the body by the label.

There is in the first image, a low-angle approach with my iPhone 14 set on wide angle. I wanted to include the 'blood on the ground' effect produced by the spilt contents, especially in the foreground. By tilting the camera slightly, the steps are not so obvious as steps, and your eye focuses more on the bottle and the 'blood'.

Abstract Arty Photographs - low angle photograph

In the second photograph I've used the ultra-wide lens facility. A trick to bear in mind, and one that can be very useful when you're averse to getting your clothes dirty by kneeling or lying down, is to hold the phone upside down, it brings the lens much closer to the ground, and you can see better what you're doing.

Being that close in, means the effect of depth-of-field in a photograph comes so much into effect. The background is thrown out of focus, the Olympics 2024 ticket is just visible for what it is, and the head of the bottle is cracking sharp.

Abstract Arty Photographs - High Angle Photograph

The third photograph is so completely different, taken from above, it shows the entire spread of the Balsamic Vinegar, the Masserie di Sant'Eramo Aged Balsamic Vinegar of Modena label is intact, and adds identity to the image.

To me the positioning of the image, and the inclusion of the whole scene of the accident, makes the image look like an explosion.

In the fourth photograph I've done some quite dramatic image adjustment. Reducing the colour of the steps and adjusting several settings, changes the whole thing, the steps are less obvious for what they are, the leaf, the labels and the ticket are more obvious. I quite like it.

Printed as a huge canvas it might be very whacky on the right wall, but not in the National Portrait Gallery!

Abstract Arty Photographs - high angle photograph, - the 'arty alternative'.