My discontentment was easily noticeable by my fidgeting. While waiting in the lobby for a doctor’s appointment, I simply didn’t know what to do with myself. While I was glad to take the task off my to-do list, it was about the last place I wanted to be.
I embraced the usual go-to solution for humans; I reached for my phone.
However, I had left it in my car…I was sentenced to pass the time with the usual table full of outdated magazines. My fidgeting continued.
Passing the time can be hard. However, the sad fact is, it can even be so while doing things we enjoy. As a diehard hunter, I love sitting in a tree stand or blind waiting for action. But there usually comes a time when I get a little bored. To combat this, I’ve read, searched the internet, and even snoozed. I’ve had the same experience during extended digiscoping sessions across Texas landscapes.
Indeed, there can be a lot of time in between digiscope photo opportunities. The good news? There are productive ways to fill in the cracks short of wandering aimlessly or searching the internet.
The key is to combat the lulls with productive and photography-relevant activities.
Here are a few productive ways to bridge the gap with your smartphone.
Keeping it in the Photography Family
First off, our photography field days are all about the outdoors. Otherwise, many photographers would gravitate toward bowls of fruit for their fix once outdoor conditions got tough. The smartphone and smartphone camera offer a multitude of functions ripe for telling a story. In between digiscoping shots, be on the lookout for these opportunities.
Nature Close Up
In the quest for pulling distant objects via digiscoping, don’t forget that there are usually many wonders of nature within yards, even feet. Interesting vegetation, insects, and other closer subjects offer interesting images and videos. Strive to “see the forest despite the trees”.
Impromptu closeups of nature features are great for filling in the gaps of a day of digiscoping.
Portrait Mode Magic
Do you want to exercise more creativity while in the field? Your device’s portrait mode function will do just that. It’s also a great way to break the monotony of a day of digiscoping. Crystal-clear subjects in the foreground with a blurred background. These images just look cool. This “bokeh” effect can now be executed well with this built-in mode in most smartphone cameras. While you’re capturing images of adjacent subjects, utilize this unique setting to garner extra interest. Like any regular photo taken at closer range, they compliment your digiscoped images.
Portrait mode images are a great way to enjoy and extend your time in the field.
Filtering and Editing
Mainly because of social media, it’s become increasingly popular to enhance photos with filters. With that, there are many effective image-editing apps available right on your smartphone. If you need to kill a few minutes in outdoor spaces, improve the images you’ve already captured.
While over-editing can sabotage a good image, tastefully applying filters can add appeal to your hard-earned photos. Aside from improving clarity and lighting, there are editing apps that can convert images to black and white or even turn them into a sketch or animation. The sky’s the limit.
There are many image-editing apps available for improving images. This one allows you to turn a photo into a color pencil sketch.
Journaling and Documenting
Want an enjoyable and productive way to add spice to your digiscoped and close-up images? Pack a pencil or pen and paper. Once you’ve captured a cool moment or feature, document it.
Logging data, descriptions of the moment, and journaling are great for both digiscoped and closeup images.
The point is to enhance your smartphone camera images. Digiscoping and outdoor photography in general, are great activities. Pass a little time by marrying photography with the written word. Written examples include date, time, location, and weather. The beautiful images you see and capture may even springboard you into a journaling session. This is also yet another means of telling a story. Talk about quality time outdoors.
Sharing on the Spot
Snapping off a photo with the simple purpose of treasuring it is good. Doing so intending to share is even better. In a culture driven by an innate need to connect and socialize, what could be better than sharing your outdoor images with friends, family, or the social media community?
I’m not talking about sharing silly memes on Facebook during an outdoor photo session. Instead, it’s about sharing your creative work via messaging, emailing, and, of course, social media. There’s nothing wrong with sharing your outdoor passion visually on the spot. Heck, for intermediate and professional photographers, it’s a timely way to promote your work and brand. For what it’s worth, the leading photo-based app, Instagram even provides image filters.
If you want to pass time in the field in a meaningful way, share while in the moment.
The Bottom Line; Telling a Story
To repeat; Outdoor photography is much about telling a story. For boots-on-the-ground digiscope photographers, fill in the gaps in action with that slim rectangular box in your pocket. The best part is, it can do so with productive, even fun activities – ones that are related to your photo trek. It also extends your time outdoors.