Alanood Mubarak is one of the UAE’s best photographers. She goes on weekly hiking trips and captures THE most amazing pictures from different locations in the UAE with her iPhone. So, we asked her to share a couple of her tips and tricks to snap the best photos during your hike and switch up your Insta game. 

Here are some of her tips:

[1] Clean your lens before shooting to wipe away smudges that could ruin your photos.

[2] Start by tapping on your iPhone’s screen to set focus. Then simply swipe up or down to adjust exposure (brightness and darkness).

[3] Apply the rule of thirds which is an essential photography technique to improve the composition and balance of the image. This can be done by enabling the grid on your iPhone camera settings to make it easier for you to place your subject within the frame.

[4] If you need to zoom, only use the optical zoom lens instead of digital zoom as this produces much better-quality images.

[5] Frame your photos from an interesting point of view by either positioning your subject within a structure from nature or getting low onto the ground and trying to find leading lines to the subject. In addition, you can try shooting your subjects while standing in front of the light source and shoot towards the sun to capture magnificent silhouettes.

[6] Don’t forget to use the ultra-wide lens on your iPhone to capture artistic panoramic pictures of the nature surrounding you

[7] Edit your photos with apps such as VSCO or Lightroom, I’m passionate about colors and it is important for me to have vibrant photos. Therefore, I try to shoot mostly during the golden hour as lighting during this time cannot be replicated. The magic hour starts roughly one hour after sunrise and one hour before sunset.

Next time you go out to explore the UAE – which you def should, since we are having the best weather rn – you can use this as your guide to snapping the perfect pics!