Posted on July 31, 2018
Tuesday Tip: 5 Tips to Help Ensure Your Eco-travel is Actually Green and Ethical
Tuesday Tip: 5 Tips to Help Ensure Your Eco-travel is Actually Green and Ethical
It’s midsummer and you may be dreaming of a vacation. Are you interested in eco-travel? A lot of people are these days: 87% of global travelers now say they want to travel sustainably and 68% plan to choose an eco-friendly accommodation. This is good because tourism accounts for a whopping 8% of global carbon emissions.
If you are looking for a sustainable destination, make sure you do some research before you choose. Inspired by the trend in ecotourism, a lot of hotels and tour operators are “greenwashing”— they’re marketing themselves as sustainable and ethical, when in fact, they do little or nothing positive for local communities or the environment.
The nonprofit International Ecotourism Society describes ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people and involves interpretation and education.”
If that’s what you’re after, take these steps to ensure that your next trip is truly eco-friendly.
Ask questions
There is real green and there is astroturf—and, unfortunately, there is a whole lot of that plastic stuff. So don’t choose your destination based solely on an advertisement that touts a commitment to the environment and responsible engagement with local communities. Look more closely.
The International Ecotourism Society says any organization involved in ecotourism should do the following:
- Minimize physical, social, behavioral and psychological impacts.
- Build environmental and cultural awareness and respect.
- Generate financial benefits for both local people and private industry.
- Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts.
- Provide direct financial benefits for conservation.
- Deliver memorable interpretative experiences to visitors that help raise sensitivity to host countries’ political, environmental and social climates.
- Design, construct and operate low-impact facilities.
- Recognize the rights and spiritual beliefs of the indigenous people and work in partnership with them to create empowerment.
If you’re serious about going sustainable and ethical when you travel, you should ensure that the companies you deal with adhere to the above principles. So ask them specific questions, like these:
- Do you invest a percentage of your profit in environmental conservation? How much?
- How do you minimize your environmental impact? Can you give a few examples?
- Do you follow the Leave No Trace policy?
- Do you hire local people and buy local products?
- Are you involved in any community-empowerment initiatives?
- Do you have programs that promote understanding and appreciation of the local environment and culture?
- Does the trip respect the dignity of the local people and community?
Go to the website of your accommodation or tour operator and look for information on building materials used, efforts to save energy and conserve water, and initiatives to engage with local people. If you can’t find info like that, maybe the hotel or operator’s ethical claims are empty.
Look for affiliations
Affiliations are not a guarantee of sustainable bona fides but they are a good start. There are a lot of standards organizations that certify hotels, lodges and tour operators as green and ethical.
For example, LEED, TripAdvisor GreenLeaders, and the aforementioned International Ecotourism Society. Look for certification by groups like these. Also look for affiliation with organizations like National Geographic and the World Wildlife Fund. Nat Geo certifies a selection of Unique Lodges of the World and the WWF has its own tour operation called Natural Habitat Adventures.
Visit these websites
Book Different: A travel booking site for sustainable travel where you can search over 1 million accommodations.
Eco Trip Match: A free service that matches travelers with ecotourism providers.
Global Sustainable Tourism Council: The GSTC certifies certification bodies. That’s as wonky as it sounds but the GSTC website does have a good page of advice for travelers and even an online training course on sustainable travel.
Green Destinations: A nonprofit dedicated to the promotion of sustainable tourism and certification of destinations. Check out its top 10 sustainable destinations.
Green Global Travel: A colorful and detailed blog full of information on ecotourism practices and destinations.
International Ecotourism Society: The oldest and largest international ecotourism association. A great site to learn about sustainable travel.
National Geographic Traveler World Legacy Awards: Honors companies and destinations—from airlines to hotels to countries—that are driving positive change in the tourism industry.
TripAdvisor GreenLeaders: The popular travel site’s program rates eco-friendly hotels and B&Bs based on basic green practices like recycling, serving local and organic food, and supplying electric car charging stations.
Don’t take a cruise
Neither planes nor ships are good for the environment. But at least when you take a flight you can offset your emissions when you buy your ticket. There are few options to do that when you take a cruise, even though cruise ships—which burn sludgy, tar-like heavy fuel oil—emit far more carbon per passenger than planes do, as well as tons of air-polluting, climate-damaging sulfur dioxide. In fact, the average cruise ship releases as much particulate matter into the air in one day as 1 million cars.
And then there is the sewage problem. A cruise ship is, in essence, is a small floating city. The world’s largest cruise ship holds 9,000 passengers and crew. The average cruise ship, with 3,000 passengers and crew, produces 21,000 gallons of raw sewage daily, along with over 450,000 gallons of gray water, 4,000 gallons of oily bilge water, and up 19 tons of solid waste. Where does it all go? Straight into the ocean.
Avoid poverty tourism
We strongly recommend that you avoid any travel companies that peddle in “poverty tourism,” the unethical practice of traveling to, fetishizing and exploiting impoverished areas for the purpose of tourism and entertainment. Learn how to spot poverty tourism and how to avoid it.
Travel is like any other consumer industry: it follows demand. So if we choose more sustainable and ethical options when we take our trips, the travel industry will respond and, through our choices, we’ll make a positive impact—wherever we land.
Posted on July 24, 2018
Tuesday Tip: 4 Steps to Reduce Your Waste
4 Steps to Reduce Your Waste
The world has a gargantuan garbage problem.
People now produce more than 2 billion tons of waste every year, most of which is burned, buried or shoved into the sea. At the current rate of ocean dumping—one garbage truck per minute—there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish by the year 2050.
We truly live in a throwaway society. Ninety-nine percent of what we buy gets trashed within six months. The average American tosses out three and a half pounds of stuff each day.
But there is a solution. The three R’s: reduce, reuse, recycle. You’ve heard it before. You may be tired of hearing it. But it does work. Sweden is so good at recycling that it now has virtually no waste. In fact, it has to import garbage from other countries to keep its recycling plants running.
Here are 4 simple steps you can take to cut your household waste.
Bring your own bag
As noted above, plastic pollution is now a global crisis, with plastic bags cluttering landscapes and clogging oceans. If your city is not one of the enlightened few that has banned plastic bags, you can help by putting your purchases in your own cloth tote. There are many reusable grocery bags on the market. Check out these 16 different options at Recycling.com.
You can also easily reduce the number of plastic bottles you buy if you carry your own reusable beverage bottle. Have a look at a few recommendations in our recent post.
Stop wasting food
Americans toss a lot of food. In fact, around 40 percent of the food we produce ends up wasted. That works out to an average of 400 pounds per person each year. You can limit food waste at home with a few easy steps.
Shop smart: plan your meals, make a detailed list of what you need before you go to the store and stick to it. Eat your leftovers: get good containers and label them with a date to avoid spoilage. Date labels, which many times refer to peak quality rather than safety, are notoriously confusing and might lead you to throw out perfectly good food, so read carefully. Read more ideas in our food waste post.
Buy less packaging
It’s hard to avoid packaging when you shop. But you can choose items wrapped in less packaging when available. For example, you can buy in bulk. You can also select options packaged in aluminum or paper rather than plastic. And try to avoid items packaged in a mix of materials, such as paper with a plastic lining, because these are harder to recycle.
Bring your own cup
A lot of people think that disposable coffee cups because they’re made of paper, are as recyclable as any other forms of paper packaging waste. Many are not. To avoid leaking, some cups are coated with a layer of polyethylene. As a result, the cups are almost never recycled creating a huge problem.
For example, let’s look at Starbucks, the world’s largest coffee chain and a longtime target of CREDO activism against waste. Four billion Starbucks paper cups go into landfills every year because the cups are not recyclable. This is despite the company’s past promises (all broken) to develop a recyclable cup. Recently, in March, Starbucks again promised to develop a 100 percent recyclable and compostable paper cup within three years.
This is good news but until this better cup arrives (if ever) all of Starbucks’ billions of non-recyclable cups will continue to flood landfills and oceans, along with all the company’s non-recyclable plastic cup lids, straws, cutlery, and packaging.
We live in an age of convenience and the price, to be perfectly frank, is the health of our planet. Let’s all spend a little time and effort and seek out less convenient, more Earth-friendly options and do our world a favor.
Posted on July 23, 2018
What 34 Women Think of Brett Kavanaugh’s SCOTUS nomination including CREDO Action Co-Director Heidi Hess
Donald Trump’s pick of extreme, right-wing Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the retirement of Anthony Kennedy is another clear attack on women’s rights by the Trump administration. Kavanaugh was handpicked by extremists bent on rolling back abortion rights and access to health care for women.
In what has become a standard Trump practice of excluding women from the table and pursuing an aggressive anti-woman agenda, the White House sent reporters 34 testimonials of Kavanaugh’s credentials – all written by white men – urging a swift confirmation process.
In response, women’s media organization Refinery29 featured 34 prominent women‘s reactions to Kavanaugh, including Nancy Pelosi and Elizabeth Warren, the leaders of NARAL, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights, feminist scholars and activists, and CREDO’s own Heidi Hess.
As Refinery29’s Natalie Gontcharova put it, “By choosing all white men to speak on behalf of the entire country, the Trump administration is once again reaffirming its commitment to white, male supremacy.”
We agree, and that’s why we will be fighting this nomination with everything we’ve got. We’re already mobilizing our 5 million members to take action, and through our donations program, we’ve given nearly $10 million to groups fighting for women’s rights, and we’re one of Planned Parenthood’s largest corporate donors.
If you’d like to learn more about how you can take action, visit CREDO Action’s website here.
Posted on July 18, 2018
AT&T is one of the NSA’s “most trusted partners”
We’ve known for a while that AT&T was working hand-in-hand with the NSA to spy on Americans’ internet traffic. But a new investigative report by the Intercept revealed the eight cities where AT&T hosts “wiretap rooms” for the NSA to skim data as it passes through their networking equipment.
In each of these eight locations, AT&T provides the NSA with access to a special facility designed to transport vast quantities of our internet traffic. Even if you are not an AT&T customer, these facilities may sometimes transport your emails, phone calls, and online chats.
The Intercept report confirms what we already knew: the NSA “considers AT&T to be one of its most trusted partners and has lauded the company’s ‘extreme willingness to help.'”
AT&T’s active partnership with the NSA is outrageous and unconstitutional, and we’re not going to stand for it. That’s why we’ve launched an urgent petition demanding that AT&T stop giving the data it collects to the NSA. (You can sign the petition here.)
Unlike AT&T and other phone companies who profit by selling your information to the federal government, privacy is a core value for CREDO, and we will fight to defend it. CREDO will never collaborate with the NSA or give our customers’ data to the government unless legally required to do so.
In fact, we’re proud to protect our customers’ privacy from government intrusion. We’re the first mobile company to issue a transparency report. We filed a lawsuit against the FBI challenging the constitutionality of National Security Letters that we received in 2013.
And we’re proud to be the only mobile company to earn a five-star rating last year from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for our policies protecting your data from government requests.
You can read more about how we stand up for our customers’ privacy here.
Posted on July 17, 2018
Tuesday Tip: 4 Apps to Help Parents Set Limits on Children’s Cell Phones
Four parental control apps to help protect children on their phones
Kids and phones. It’s a quandary for parents. You want your kids to have a phone so you can stay in touch, but you don’t want your kids using their phone to access sites you find unacceptable or spend every waking hour playing Fortnite.
Here’s a solution: parental controls.
These are apps you install on your child’s phone and your phone (or computer) so you can monitor and manage their activity. They enable you to supervise web behavior, limit screen time and view your child’s activity.
Most of these apps work better on an Android phone than an iOS phone due to Apple’s restrictions on third-party apps. But Apple just announced that iOS 12 (due for release this fall) will include a free feature called Screen Time that will allow you to manage all of a child’s iOS devices. This is in addition to the app-blocking and web-filtering options already in the Restrictions section of the main settings of iOS phones. To learn more about the variety of parental controls for iOS devices – current and future – check out the Apple Families page.
With the right parental control app, you can filter web access and prevent kids from going to certain websites while overseeing the sites they do visit. You can block kids from using particular apps, such as social media or messaging apps. Some parental controls automatically block new apps a child tries to install unless you first approve.
Most parental controls enable you to restrict the time of day and/or the number of hours a child can spend on a device and limit hours of web usage. Most also include location-tracking features that let you see where kids are and where they’ve been. Parental control apps allow you to see who children communicate with and what they say by relaying call and text logs to you. A lot of parental controls let you manage social media activity as well.
Most parental control tools now also enable “geofencing,” which means you can define a safe geographic area for your child and get an alert if your child leaves that area.
Here are 4 of the best parental control tools out now.
Please note: App creators’ views and values are their own and are not endorsed by CREDO Mobile. Before downloading any app, please confirm that it meets your personal standards for corporate ethics and protection of privacy.
Boomerang is mobile-only, which means you can’t manage a child’s activity from a PC or Mac, but this is a solid, easy-to-use app for Android and iOS phones and tablets. It lets you set flexible weekday and weekend schedules to limit screen time. You can choose to shut down certain apps at a specific time of day – or pause a device entirely for all but emergency uses. You can filter web content, review browsing activity and search history, and approve or block new apps before they’re installed. Boomerang’s built-in safe browser automatically filters inappropriate sites. You get regular reports of who is texting your child and who is being texted, with alerts when inappropriate words are used. You can also capture and read all text messages. With call blocking, you can limit incoming and outgoing calls to saved contacts only and review call logs. Location tracking and location alerts are included as well.
$30.99 per device per year for up to 10 devices, $15.99 per year for individual devices. No free version.
Net Nanny has been around since 1996 and is among the most popular and comprehensive parental control tools. It enables you to filter online content in 18 different categories. You can also control the number of hours kids spend on the internet each day. You can monitor social media activity and even censor profanity on sites while still allowing kids to visit them. You’ll receive alerts when children visit inappropriate websites as well as weekly usage reports. Net Nanny offers preset user profiles or you can customize settings for individuals. It works with Windows, Mac, Android and iOS devices.
$39.99 per year for one device, $12 per year per device for up to 5 devices, $9 per year per device for up to 10 devices. No free version.
Norton is the web security expert, and its Norton Family app has a wide range of features. You can monitor the sites kids visit and block the sites you choose. You can set screen-time limits by time of day or days of the week. You can see the search terms kids are using and what YouTube videos they’re watching. You’ll receive a detailed report of online activity via email or your Norton web dashboard as well as instant email alerts when kids visit blocked websites. Norton also includes social media monitoring, mobile app supervision and blocking, instant device locking, text supervision, and location tracking in real time with 30-day reports. The app works on Windows and Android, with limited iOS and no Mac support.
$49.99 for a 1-year subscription with no limit on the number of devices. No free version.
PC Magazine’s top-rated tool, Qustodio, lets you keep track of a child’s phone activity from your own phone or PC in real time. It works on iOS, Android and Kindle devices. It includes web-filtering, screen-time limits and reporting features, as well as location tracking, call tracking and blocking, social media monitoring, game and app time limits and blocking, and text monitoring in which you can see who is being texted and read the messages. There is also a panic button for emergencies.
$49.45 per year for up to 5 devices, $87.25 per year for up to 10 devices or $124.15 per year for up to 15 devices. There is also a free edition that includes web filtering only.
A new phone is an exciting time for a kid. If you’re shopping for a new smartphone for a child now, we have a wide range of choices at the CREDO Mobile. And all phones and plans purchased through CREDO Mobile help support CREDO Action and CREDO Donations.
So when should children have their first phone? The average young American gets a smartphone at the age of 10 and spends over 4.5 hours a day on it, not including texting and talking. But there is a lot of evidence to indicate that all this screen time is not good for young brains.
But saying no to a young person who’s adamant for a smartphone is not easy. If you find yourself in that situation, look into the Wait Until 8th campaign, which advocates keeping kids off smartphones until they reach the eighth grade. It has a lot of helpful advice for parents on how to talk to children about smartphones.
And if you find that your child really does need a cell phone before eighth grade, we hope this parental control information is helpful to you.
Posted on July 11, 2018
Defund the Agencies that Are Incarcerating Immigrants and Terrorizing Communities of Color
We all felt our hearts drop and fill with horror as we listened to the audio of children detained at the border crying out for their parents.
For many immigrant families living in the United States, the sounds and sights of these horrors aren’t new.
For decades, many of us have been affected by our country’s inhumane and racist deportation agencies and immigration policies.
Immigrant youth have had their loved ones, mothers and fathers, detained and deported. After a recent workplace raid in Tennessee, 550 children missed school the next day because their parents or guardians had been detained.
Other undocumented children like Rosa Maria, who has cerebral palsy, are being taken from hospital rooms and locked in detention camps.
And now, thousands of children are being kept in cages in detention camps across our country or in tent cities in the desert.
Many are wondering: How did we become a nation that is unabashedly hunting, locking up and deporting millions of people?
It is important to remember that this is not new: our nation has been committing these atrocities before the current administration took over. Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, has continuously pumped billions of dollars into the Department of Homeland Security’s deportation force and has given it and the Department of Justice unchecked powers to target and criminalize immigrants for years.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (and Customs and Border Protection are politicized, armed police forces charged with removing people because of the xenophobic impulses of a handful of politicians and allowed to get away with it because of the complacency of too many others.
The separation of children from their parents isn’t the sole effect of one policy, but rather a product of the systemic problems in our country’s immigration system. Those problems started long before Trump was elected president and he handed Jeff Sessions his sick dream job of hurting as many immigrants and people of color as possible. Under the Trump administration, however, the cruel and abusive treatment of immigrants and communities of color has been amplified.
Posted on July 11, 2018
Victory: Scott Pruitt Resigns
Thanks to the activism and unrelenting pressure by CREDO members and our allies, scandal-plagued, anti-environment EPA chief Scott Pruitt resigned.
A corrupt, fossil fuel industry hack like Scott Pruitt never should have run the EPA in the first place. The fact that Pruitt wasn’t fired over his blatant corruption and outright incompetence long ago shows that Trump’s only priority is loyalty – to himself and to the fossil fuel industry.
But the overwhelming grassroots pressure by nearly 150,000 CREDO members and other activists across the country was finally too much even for this administration.
This is a victory for everyone who cares about the environment, public health and stopping public corruption.
Unfortunately, we have no doubt that Trump will appoint another fossil fuel industry stooge as Pruitt’s replacement.In the meantime, acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist, will undoubtedly continue Pruitt’s legacy of subverting the agency’s mission by putting corporate profits ahead of public health and the environment.
But CREDO members and millions of others will continue to fight back against whoever is next in line to rip up our environmental protections. And we will continue to push for a rapid and just transition to renewable energy for everyone.
Posted on July 10, 2018
Tuesday Tip: Raising and supporting activists in the age of Trump (with 5 book recommendations)
Here at CREDO, we know how important it is to raise an activist child, especially in the age of Trump. We also know how difficult it can be to figure out how to talk to children about the cruelty that is happening as Trump targets our families, friends, and communities – from family separation to the criminalization of people of color, the Muslim ban, attacks on the LGBTQ community, and more.
We found some articles we thought were helpful in thinking about how to approach these conversations in ways that are developmentally appropriate but don’t shy away from the real issues of racism, bigotry, and misogyny that are at the core of Trump’s agenda.
- “How To Talk To Your Kids About Immigration & Family Separation That’s Happening At The Border” via Romper
- “How to Talk with Your Kids about Donald Trump” via the Greater Good Magazine at UC Berkeley
- “How to talk to your kids about family separation: An expert weighs in.” via Upworthy
We also asked around the office for recommendations from a few CREDO staff members who have kids for books to help raise an activist. Here are five of their top picks.
A Is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara
Firefighter, doctor, pilot. This ABC board book teaches children that to be an activist is also a good goal in life – that causes like environmental justice, civil rights and LGBTQ rights are worth fighting for. The alliteration, rhyming, and brightly colored illustrations make the pages engaging for kids while they come to understand progressive themes like community, equality, and justice. Nagara was born and raised in Jakarta, Indonesia and moved to the United States in 1988 to study zoology at University of California, Davis. He’s a founding member of Design Action Collective, a worker-owned design studio in Oakland, California dedicated to serving the movement for social change.
And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson
This is the touching true story (yup, really) of Roy and Silo, two male chinstrap penguins at the Central Park Zoo who raised a daughter. Roy and Silo do everything together. They sing, swim and, in 1999, built a nest and patiently began trying to hatch a rock. The zookeeper, Mr. Gramsay, noticed and brought them an extra egg from another penguin couple who would not be able to care for it. Roy and Silo hatched the egg and went on to raise the chick, named Tango. This is a marvelous tale that teaches children a happy, healthy family – whatever it looks like – is a natural family.
Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña
Last Stop on Market Street is a winner of multiple awards, a #1 New York Times bestseller and a celebration of cross-generational relationships that’s perfect for grandparents and grandkids. Every Sunday after church, CJ, a Black boy, and his grandmother take the crosstown bus back home. Along the way, CJ gazes out the window at the bustling, radiantly illustrated cityscape and wonders why his family doesn’t have a car and why he has to get off the bus in the dirty part of town. Grandma patiently answers all CJ’s questions with positive explanations and encourages him to see the beauty and enjoyment in his life and the world around him.
The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge by Joanna Cole
Children, even very young ones, understand existential threats and feel anxious about them, like climate change. Kids learn about it in class, hear about it in adult conversations and see the frightening fallout – floods, hurricanes, and wildfires – on TV. The Magic School Bus, the best-selling science series of all time, presents the topic with Cole’s trademark humor and wit. In terms that are not too scary, 4th-grade science teacher Ms. Frizzle explains why our planet is heating up and suggests ways kids can help reduce the effects of climate change and feel empowered at the same time. The lively and animated color illustrations by Bruce Degen easily move the story forward.
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch
A girl-power classic. Written back in 1980, it’s one of the first – and still one of the best – feminist princess books. It arrived long before studies began describing the “Disney princess effect,” which makes young children more susceptible to gender stereotypes. Brave and smart Princess Elizabeth is all set to marry Prince Ronald when a dragon wings in, destroys her castle, kidnaps Ronald and burns all her clothes, forcing her to put on a paper bag. Clad thusly, she tracks down the dragon and Ronald and rescues her fiancé, who, to her surprise, tells her to go away and come back when she looks more like a princess. Elizabeth rejects him and dances into the sunset to live her own life. The illustrations by Michael Martchenko are vivid and artfully drawn with an old-school familiarity.
The long days of summer are a great time for reading. If you’re looking for a book to read after your kids go to bed, check out our summer reading list.
Posted on July 3, 2018
Our June grantees thank you for your support
Each month, CREDO members vote on how we distribute funding to three incredible organizations. Those small actions add up – with one click, you can help fund groups fighting for reproductive freedom, battling climate change and defending transgender rights. In June, 70,000 CREDO members voted to distribute our monthly donation to NARAL Pro-Choice America, Rainforest Action Network and Transgender Law Center.
These donations are made possible by CREDO customers and the revenue they generate by using our services. The distribution depends entirely on the votes of CREDO members like you. And for that, our June grant recipients thank you.
NARAL Pro-Choice America
$62,623
“Thanks to CREDO members, NARAL is mobilizing our 1.5 million member-activists who fight to protect and expand reproductive freedom – including access to abortion and birth control, paid parental leave, and protections from pregnancy discrimination.” To learn more, visit prochoiceamerica.org.
Rainforest Action Network
$52,913
“Thank you for your support of Rainforest Action Network! CREDO members like you support RAN’s mission to protect people and the planet by addressing the root causes of climate change, deforestation and exploitation within these industries.” To learn more, visit ran.org.
Transgender Law Center
$34,464
“TLC extends our sincere gratitude to CREDO’s members. Your support means the world to us and is a powerful stance for the dignity and leadership of trans and gender nonconforming communities. Now more than ever, we cherish fierce supporters like you.” To learn more, visit transgenderlawcenter.org.
Now check out the three causes we are funding in July and cast your vote to help distribute our donations.
CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.
Posted on July 3, 2018
Tuesday Tip: 7 Tips to Improve Your Landscape Phone Photography
7 Tips to Improve Your Landscape Phone Photography
Ansel Adams once remarked that “landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer—and often the supreme disappointment.” And he wasn’t even using a smartphone camera with a lens – he just cleaned on his shirttail.
For us weekend “phonetographers,” the challenge is incrementally harder. But fear not. Follow these tips and your landscape photos will be scenic – perhaps stunning – souvenirs of the time you spend outdoors this summer.
Straighten out the horizon
Your eyes always see a level horizon, even when you tilt your head. So when people see an off-balance horizon in a photo, the image just doesn’t compute. Make sure the horizon in your landscape shots is level as can be, and they won’t clang in the consciousness of their viewer.
Focus on the foreground
Ah, those majestic peaks, radiant in the distance. What a great shot they’ll make! But don’t forget the foreground. It’s the details in the foreground, humble as they may be – a tree, a rock or an old fence on its last legs – that add depth and interest to your landscape photos. Better still, aim for the trifecta. Include elements that catch the eye in the foreground, middle distance and background, and you’ll capture truly engaging photographs.
Look for diagonal lines
Diagonal lines pull the eye into and through a photograph. They add depth, perspective and energy. Studies have shown that people naturally view images left to right, so a diagonal feature that begins at the bottom left and travels to the top right can be powerful. Consider a river running diagonally across your frame. Or, if your primary object of interest is at upper right – say, a lighthouse – try to position another object of interest at lower left, like a seagull perched on a piling. This will balance the composition and draw the eye to multiple dimensions.
Use HDR mode
Most quality smartphones these days come with high dynamic range mode, or HDR. HDR makes for better pictures – automatically. When enabled – in some phones it’s on by default – it shoots multiple images at different exposure values, then combines them into one. One photo might be set for shadow, one for midtones and one for bright light. They’re snapped in quick succession, then the HDR software blends them into the best possible result. Details lost in the shadows of the more exposed image are added from the less exposed image, while details blown out in the more exposed image are supplied from the less exposed image. The result is a photograph with enhanced color and detail across a wide range of the spectrum.
Try a tripod
HDR works better when your phone is held absolutely still as it shoots the multiple photos that will combine into one. Tripods also help immeasurably when you’re shooting in low light. There are all sorts of smartphone tripods on the market these days. Many will fit in your backpack, and some in your pocket.
Add scale
A camera – any camera – tends to take the wind out of breathtaking vistas. Cliffs don’t look as epic, trees don’t look as tall and pounding ocean waves calmly lap the shore. To offset this shortcoming, find ways to emphasize the true scale of what you’re shooting. Include people and make them small in the frame (not standing right in front of you). Passing birds also work well. If you’re shooting a dramatic mountain valley, for example, place a flower in the foreground to indicate the majesty of the view.
Don’t zoom
When you use your fingers to spread the screen and zoom in on a distant object, you’ll degrade the detail in your photo. Instead, walk closer to your subject, if you can. Or, crop the photograph later.
Looking for a summer destination where you can snap awesome landscape photographs? Try a national park. We have six suggestions here. See you out there!
