So you’re out for a stroll, and photography is the furthest thing from your mind. But all of a sudden you notice something small that would make a great macro shot and wonder if this small slice of beauty can be captured effectively with the iPhone in your pocket.

The answer is an unequivocal “yes” if you understand the appropriate settings to use, a few compositional tricks, and how shooting closeups with a mobile device can be different than when there’s a mirrorless camera or DSLR in your hand. You’ll also learn how to enhance your results with a simple post-processing workflow in Lightroom Mobile.

This lesson comes from the iPhone Photography School, a popular YouTube channel with a simple motto: “You don’t need an expensive camera or heavy gear to capture jaw-dropping photos.” And this holds true whether you’re shooting portraits, sunsets, landscape photos, everyday moments—and even attention-grabbing macro imagery.

The tips and tricks are presented in the context of photographing flowers, which are obviously difficult to find outdoors this time of year. But everything you’ll learn is equally applicable for more timely tiny subjects like snowflakes, jewelry, and any number of tiny subjects on the frozen ground. You’ll also see why the best place to start is the comfort of your backyard.

The first step is configuring the iPhone properly for this unique style of photography, and it should come as no surprise that the appropriate settings are significantly different from those you choose for capturing more conventional scenes. You’ll then want to change how you observe the world around you so that you don’t ignore all the tiny details that you may have overlooked in the past.

Skillful composition is another crucial element, as is understanding how to employ an iPhone’s focusing features—especially in light of a phone’s admittedly awkward form factor. Remember that every lens has a minimum focus distance, and this fact holds true for the lenses on your phone.

The instructor also describes how to use affordable macro lens attachments, designed specifically for iPhones, that will enable you to get as up-close-and-personal as possible. And the shooting tips described are equally important for getting the job done to perfection.

So take a quick look, head out into your yard, and see how much macro magic you’re able to create. Then visit the iPhone Photography School YouTube channel for more mobile photography tips and techniques.

We also suggest watching the recent tutorial we featured in which an experienced Swedish pro explains why winter is the right time for capturing minimalist outdoor photographs. He offers a  bunch of helpful tips and techniques, and he just happens to be a macro specialist.

The first thing most landscape photographers do upon arriving on location is to pull a wide-angle lens out of their bag. This approach may work great for shooting expansive scenes, but it will also give images a familiar look, and can even stifle one’s creativity.

This tutorial from the popular Light Meets Lens YouTube channel demonstrate how to switch things up and capture unique landscapes photos by experimenting with lenses of varying focal lengths whether you’re shooting with a versatile zoom or a favorite prime lens.

Instructor Nick puts it like this: “Using every focal length for landscapes isn’t difficult, but you need to use each of them differently,” and this is what you’ll learn how to do in the next 12 minutes. Nick is a Toronto-based pro whose instructional videos discuss gear, shooting skills, and behind-the scenes adventures like you’ll watch in today’s eye-opening episode.

You’ll follow Nick on a frigid day in Canada’s beautiful Banff National Park near iconic Castle Mountain. As the excursion unfolds Nick uses all of the lenses at his disposal with the intention of “showing you what each of them are good for.” Then he discusses different techniques and camera settings for taking advantage all the great glass in your arsenal.

In many ways this is all about effective composition and Nick begins with an ultra-wide 14mm prime while shooting along the shore of a small lake with interesting rocks, ice crystals, and hoarfrost in the foreground of the scene. For this challenge employs a powerful vantage point by “getting crazy-low to the ground.”

Doing so enables Nick to capture dramatic imagery that includes the aforementioned up-close elements and imposing Castle Mountain looming in the distance. This makes for interesting juxtaposition, depth and dimension, and a powerful sense of scale. In other words, he creates an uncommon look that’s far mor compelling than shooting straight ahead at eye level.

Nick moves on to lenses of other focal lens and  explains, for example, why telephoto photography requires different camera settings, composition, and shooting techniques. The good news is that by following his advice the impact of your images will grow by leaps and bounds.

The downside, of course, is that your pack is going to be heavier from now on, because we guarantee that you’ll want to carry a wider selection of lenses. Trust us: the variety of the images you capture will be well worth the extra weight. There’s much more to learn about shooting and editing landscape images on the popular Light Meets Lens YouTube channel.

And on a related note, don’t miss the tutorial we posted earlier in which another experienced pro demonstrates the techniques he uses to capture spectacular landscape photos with a wide-angle lens.

“Noise” is a dirty word in photography because these ugly artifacts will quickly spoil an otherwise great image. Today’s Lightroom tutorial demonstrates a quick-and-effective method for eliminating image-killing noise, and it takes less than three minutes to explain.

In basic terms, noise appears as specks, blotches and weird pixels that can be can rear their ugly head for a number of reasons, including shooting at high ISO settings in low-light conditions, long exposure times, and mistakes during post processing. The sensor in your camera is also an important consideration.

Instructor Will Simpson is an accomplished landscape shooter and image-editing expert who specializes in simp tutorials that deliver big results. He also offers free presets and checklists via a link in the description beneath this video, so be sure to take advantage of the opportunity.

In this episode Simpson takes a look at two methods for denoising images in Lightroom and you’ll see the method he prefers depending upon the task at hand. He explains everything so quickly and effectively that we won’t repeat his advice here, other than to provide this summary.

The first sample image suffers from two problems— i.e. both color and luminance noise—which is clearly evident when you zoom in on the shot. Simpson explains that “color noise is the colorly little dots you see, while luminance noise is the white and black noisy gray you see.” Understanding the difference is very important before you rehabilitate a shot.

Simpson walks you through evening you need to know, and after seeing how it’s done you’ll want to update your everyday Lightroom workflow accordingly. Then you’ll be able to consistently create super-clean imagery under a wide variety of situations.

This lesson is just the latest installment of Simpson’s Two-Minute series, so check out his YouTube channel for earlier episodes and other straightforward post-processing tips and techniques.

We also recommend watching our earlier tutorial with another experienced pro who demonstrates why winter is the perfect time to capture minimalist outdoor photographs with 10 pro tips for getting the job done to perfection.