The theme of this last week’s Mobiography Photo Challenge was ‘Beautiful World’. The aim for this challenge was to capture images that conveyed the idea of a beautiful world, be that by way of a stunning landscape, a portrait of a loved one, of nature, flowers or wildlife. The photos featured in this showcase illustrate how different photographers have approached this subject.

Featured photographers this week include; Nicolas Xanthos, Joseph Cyr, Bev Crane, Edward Mendez, Barbara Frish, Rob Schnepp, Jill Lian, @nnkrenz, Tommy Wallace, Scott A Woodward, Liz Anderson, Elaine Taylor, Zoya Zen, Dina Alfasi and @Rawdeb.

Take part in the next Mobiography photo challenge

I’m going to be taking a break for a few weeks as I head off on a family summer holiday, hopefully to get some much needed rest and relaxation, and recharge my batteries. For this reason, the results of the next Mobiography Photo Challenge will be a few weeks off.

The theme for that challenge will be ‘Summer Holidays’. For the challenge think about sharing your best mobile photos that sum up the idea of your perfect ‘Summer Holiday’. Think blue skies, beach scenes, seascapes, landscapes and summertime portraits.

To enter the challenge simple start sharing your best images on the theme of ‘Summertime Holiday’ that were taken and edited with a smartphone by using the hashtag #mobiography_challenge_36 on Instagram.

The best ones will be featured in the next photo challenge showcase, so get sharing now.

Join the Mobiography Facebook Group

Mobiography has just setup a Facebook Group as a place where the Mobiography community can chat and interact, share your photos, ideas, tips and news. Head over to Facebook and join the group, introduce yourself, share some of your images, and leave some comments on other people’s photos.

Join The Mobiography Facebook Group

Untitled

Mobiography Photo Challenge: 15 Stunning Beautiful World Inspired Smartphone Photos 1

Untitled‘ by Nicolas Xanthos – “Last week, we went with friends to Tadoussac. This small town in Quebec is where the Saguenay River flows into the St. Lawrence River. It was the end of the day, we were a little over the beach and everything was beautiful and very quiet. This is where I took this picture.

The editing work was quite simple, but important. In the mobile version of Lightroom, I first cropped the photo: on the original, there were, in the bottom of the image, trees, sand, some people. To create a dreamlike mood, I only kept the coastline and the water. I placed the small island in the center, with the land on one side and the water on the other. Up and down, the lines of blue sky and water. Everything is both ethereal and very structured. Then I darkened the light of the sky and that of the coastal forest. I finished in Lighroom with a little bit of saturation and sharpness in the trees. Finally, in Snapseed, I desaturated the rocks, so that they are not too pink.”

Fifteen minutes before the rain began, skies filling up over Sedona

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Fifteen minutes before the rain began, skies filling up over Sedona‘ by Joseph Cyr – “I took this with my iPhoneX the other day. I used snapseed to balance the exposure a bit, between the sky and the red rocks.

Summer brings sudden storms to the Desert Southwest. Sedona is well known for its dramatic red rock formations, and in the summer, the changing light and building clouds add even more drama to the landscape. My wife and I were having lunch in a restaurant with big windows and a deck; as we ordered our food, I noticed the sky filling rapidly with clouds, so I went outside to snap a few photos. Fifteen minutes after I took this shot, a terrific thunderstorm broke out. Water is always welcome in arid regions.”

Icelandic Church

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Icelandic Church‘ by Bev Crane – “I took this photo on an Icelandic photo tour with 10 professional photographers who were all carrying backpacks full of expensive equipment and large tripods.

All my equipment was in a 7” by 4” cross-body bag, including lenses, a Gorillapod, and battery charger. Although many of the other photographers were at first either skeptical or openly dismissive of me and my iPhone 6s (my only camera), they quickly became intrigued and even envious of the quality of my photos, my ease of movement, and my ability to have my photos already edited before they finished packing up their gear. Some even started using their phones occasionally.

I loved this rural church with it’s lovely red roof and small churchyard. I edited it with Snapped while on the bus and then fined-tuned it at home. Then I decided I didn’t like the empty space in the lower right corner, so added the Icelandic Lupine with Superimpose.”

My Muse

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My Muse‘ by Edward Mendez – “I was with my family taking a weekend vacation in the beautiful beach of Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. We had placed ourselves in a deckchair with a hood or bunk and I noticed the play of lights and shadows that was projected inside it, so I asked my beautiful daughter to lie down and all this was drawn on her skin, at that moment I made the photograph. I made it with an IPhone 7 Plus and edited it in Snapseed App.”

On this dreary day, memories of Provence sunflowers make me smile

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On this dreary day, memories of Provence sunflowers make me smile‘ by Barbara Frish @iphonecameragirl – “The sunflower picture was taken with an IPhone 6s and edited with the iPhone. It was so incredibly beautiful that not much editing was needed.”

Talan

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Talan‘ by Rob Schnepp – “The picture came about because we wanted to try and get some portrait shots of our son Talan for his christening a few months after he was born.

We (as in my wife and I) put a fluffy white blanket on his beanbag, laid him on it, and tried (very hard) to get him to look at the camera while I took pictures – luckily he did look up for a few…

It was taken on my then phone – a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact – and edited only in Snapseed. I changed it to black and white, used vignette to just keep Talan and the beanbag lit up, and then played with the contrast and shadows so the rest of the dark sofa behind became a fully blacked out background – I think this gives it a studio like quality, even though it was simply shot on the floor in our lounge…”

Gathering flowers

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Gathering flowers‘ by Jill Lian – “I happened upon this shot after watering the plants in my yard. I was drawn to the drops on the Rose of Sharon bush that had just bloomed. The refraction of the flower in the water drop was amazing. I cropped and flipped the photo in Snapseed so that the flower inside the water drop was upright.”

A negative mind will never give you a positive life!

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A negative mind will never give you a positive life!‘ by @nnkrenz – “My flower was a capture from my many visits to the farm down the the road from my house. I love visiting to see and photo there beautiful flowers! Taken with the iPhone 6 Plus and edited with Snapseed.”

Jelly

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Jelly‘ by Tommy Wallace – “I found this jelly fish at the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, Nebraska. I’ve tried capturing jellies at other locations with minimal success. The lighting in this aquarium was favorable for this type of shot.

This was taken with the Samsung Galaxy S9 plus as a RAW file. I always begin the edit process for these in Mobile Lightroom CC and then finish with Snapseed.”

Lake Fever

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Lake Fever‘ by Scott A Woodward – “My wife and I are both Canadian, but we’ve lived in Singapore for more than 20 years. Every summer we return to Canada for a month to see our families — and during this time we have a tradition where we sneak away to a cabin on a lake for a week just the two of us. This year we chose a small cottage on Devil Lake, not far from where we both went to univeristy. I made this photograph of my wife in the front of our canoe one morning as we quietly explored the lake together. It’s one of my favourite pictures from our summer holiday together because it reminds me of the simpler things in life — nature and water and peacefulness and solitude — and the importance of prioritising these aspects of our life as we move, often harried, through the world around us.

Captured using iPhone 8 and edited using Snapseed.”

Foggy morning

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Foggy morning‘ by Liz Anderson – “One of my favorite times of year is when the our hills here in Northern California are a rich green from the rains and the yellow mustard blooms add another layer of color and movement. On this particular morning the fog was particularly low and gave the light a mystical feel that I loved. The photo was taken on an iPhone 6s, cropped and edited in Snapseed. I brightened the image, and increased the contrast and saturation slightly. ”

‘Bob the Rock’

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Bob the Rock’ by Elaine Taylor – “This is my husband and our two boys messing around on what Billy named ‘Bob the Rock’. I took this photo on our 18th wedding anniversary on Ilkley Moor in Yorkshire – the town where Stephen and I married. We couldn’t have wished for a more perfect afternoon in one of our favourite spots in the world. A beautiful day in a beautiful place with my beautiful family. It’s a beautiful world indeed!

Shot with my iPhoneX through the Hipstamatic app (lens: Jack London; film: Irom 2000).”

…and sparkling days

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…and sparkling days‘ by Zoya Zen – “It was a dull and rainy January morning on the shore of the cold Black Sea but I like winter sea as well as in summertime. There was my beloved people nearby and it was a moment of absolute harmony and happiness. The world is really beautiful at such moments.”

New born

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New born‘ by Dina Alfasi

Out of the mist they come

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Out of the mist they come‘ by @Rawdeb

Don’t forget…

I’m going to be taking a break for a few weeks as I head off on a family summer holiday, hopefully to get some much needed rest and relaxation, and recharge my batteries. For this reason, the results of the next Mobiography Photo Challenge will be a few weeks off.

The theme for that challenge will be ‘Summer Holidays’. For the challenge think about sharing your best mobile photos that sum up the idea of your perfect ‘Summer Holiday’. Think blue skies, beach scenes, seascapes, landscapes and summertime portraits.

To enter the challenge simple start sharing your best images on the theme of ‘Summertime Holiday’ that were taken and edited with a smartphone by using the hashtag #mobiography_challenge_36 on Instagram.

The best ones will be featured in the next photo challenge showcase, so get sharing now.

If you haven’t already done so, follow Mobiography on Instagram and hashtag your photos with #mobiography. Don’t forget to sign up to the Mobiography email list to get the latest news and updates direct to your inbox.

Join the Mobiography Facebook Group

Mobiography has just setup a Facebook Group as a place where the Mobiography community can chat and interact, share your photos, ideas, tips and news. Head over to Facebook and join the group, introduce yourself, share some of your images, and leave some comments on other people’s photos.

Join The Mobiography Facebook Group