One of the biggest advantages of owning an Xperia smartphone is that wherever you go, you have an incredible camera to snap enviable, swoon-worthy imagery on the go.

With its 12MP + 8MP camera and many of Sony’s premium technologies, the newly launched Xperia 10 Plus is one such device, allowing you to take stunning photos in any situation – including in the 21:9 ratio.

We’ve already shown you how to capture perfect food photography on the new smartphone, but for more spontaneous shots, you’ll want to take inspiration from the world around you.

We used the Xperia 10 Plus to capture some of the world’s most interesting plants and flowers, using the 2x optical zoom feature on the 8MP camera to get closer to the action in eye-popping, natural detail.

When it comes to capturing intricate details, many people believe the best option is to zoom in – despite this often resulting in a blurry image. However, with 2x optical zoom, you can get closer to your subject without sacrificing quality.

When using 2x zoom it really helps to bring the subject closer to the camera. This is particularly useful when you want to remove unwanted items from the frame. In the photograph of the tower above, we ‘cropped’ the less attractive ground area from the photo without moving our position.

The image of the blossom tree above looks – at first glance – as though it is at the water’s edge. But look more closely. Here, we used a friend’s smartphone, laying it flat to create a reflective surface. We brought the lens of the camera close to the screen to see a mirrored reflection.

Mirrors, glass, sunglasses and the screen of another phone or tablet are all great surfaces that will work for reflection photography.

When using the 2x optical zoom, look for patterns, symmetry and lines of light or shadow. This gives you a very clean looking image. Luckily, nature provides delights like the cactuses below in abundance – you just have to look out for them!

And if you’re out and about, don’t just look down! We captured this shot by standing underneath a blossom tree, with the airplane trails adding an extra dimension and perspective to the shot.

Ponds and other sources of water can also provide a rich setting for your imagery. In the image at the very top of this post, a small ripple created an interesting effect among the almost golden flora atop the surface. Even when your scene is crowded with plantlife, as seen in the below image, you can capture interesting patterns and shapes.

One advantage of using the Xperia 10 Plus (and indeed the Xperia 10) is that you can shoot in 21:9. Once you’ve tried, you won’t go back, especially as vibrant, hypnotic colours fill the screen so you can truly capture what you see.

In this shot, we got down low to convey a sense of the forest from the ground up – looking through a sea of bluebells to the trees above.

Have you captured stunning nature photography on your Xperia? Make sure you show us by uploading to social media with #Xperia.

The post Optical Bloom: how we captured incredible flowers and plants using the Xperia 10 Plus appeared first on Sony Mobile Blog.

Source: Sony Mobile Blog
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