Mobile Mondays: Use your smartphone for macro photography

Yes, you read that correctly — you can use your mobile phone to shoot macro photography (even if you don’t have a fancy new iPhone). While it’s not super duper magnified, you can still get fairly close to your subject. I used my Samsung S21 and the Lightroom mobile app. Here’s what I did.

Open the Lightroom app

If you have purchased either the Adobe Photography Plan or the Lightroom Plan, you’ll have access to the full version of the Lightroom mobile app as well. Download it from your phone’s app store and use your Adobe login to get started.

Once open, I switched to Professional Mode on the camera. This allows you to set ISO, shutter speed and more. You can’t actually set the aperture, but there is a focal length (which looks like a little square) to choose between macro or landscape. Chose your subject, focus and then press the big blue button.

Edit direct

As you take your photos in Lightroom you can edit directly from the app. There’s no need to import or anything. Cool, huh? I used the built-in Lightroom preset Style: Cinematic. But you can adjust exposure, brightness, clarity and more, just like the desktop version. You can crop and rotate your images, too.

I’m sure you can probably get in a little closer than I did, especially if your hands are steadier than mine. Or, perhaps try a small tripod. Once edited, save it to your phone and then share them on social media or with friends.