The Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G doesn’t just handle your day-to-day smartphone tasks well, but it’s also capable of so much more. The smartphone is packed with full-fledged features to help you express yourself creatively, with the built-in editing tools of the phone and the power of the S Pen. In this guide, we’ll show you how you can create your own Instagrammable neon night shots.
Step 1 – Finding The Weird Angles
Neon shots are all about being edgy, dark, mysterious, yet enlightening. When it comes to photo angles for a neon shot, it doesn’t have to be straight on, it doesn’t have to follow the rule of thirds. You’re free to explore the different, quirky angles for you to get that inspiring and creative shot for the gram. Try close-ups to add more emotion, give low-angle shots a go to give your subject more strength and power.
Essentially, you want to think out of the norm, and go for angles you’ve never attempted before. You’ll be pretty surprised with the shots you capture.
Step 2 – Let There Be Neons
For a neon shot, you got to have neon, right? Or at least, LED lights that resemble neon. It’s all about that bright glow of vivid colours that fill up your shot. What you’ll need is some LED light strips, or if not, a light source that can produce multiple colours.
In our studio, we have some RGB LED strips, and some RGB lightbulbs that can produce 16.8 million colours (we’re not going to use all of them). A big screen or display is great too for emitting light. So feel free to search for some trippy light videos on YouTube. What we had were perfect for the shots we took, and as for neons, we didn’t have any, so we’ll just add them in later in post. More on that later.
If you have any other accessories that light up, like an LED wristband, or an LED face mask, don’t be afraid to try them out in your shot. Who knows, it might end up giving your shot that extra ‘cool’ factor.
Step 3 – Taking The Right Shots
Capturing a picture is as easy as pressing the shutter button, right? Technically, yes. But before you press that shutter button, consider the different tools and photo modes provided in your smartphone. Most devices now come with different photo modes enhanced with AI, to help you achieve difficult shots with ease.
The Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G has the Single Take mode that lets you take multiple photos and videos in different formats with just the press of a button. Just tap on the shutter button, get your subject to move around and interact with the camera, and once you’re done, the device will automatically process and curate different styles of photos and videos for you. You can then pick and choose, as well as edit them if you see fit.
Want full manual control of your shots? Enter Pro mode. The Pro mode on the Note20 Ultra 5G lets you have full control over the camera, from manual focusing to aperture and exposure settings, to ISO and even shutter speed. You can even adjust the tint, contrast, saturation, highlight, and shadow right before you take your shot. Best of all, you get to see the changes you’ve made in real time.
Step 4 – Time To Edit
Once the shots have been taken, you’re ready to go into post, a.k.a editing. No need to fire up your computer for Photoshop, because you can edit your pictures right from the device itself. Just fire up your gallery, select the photo you want to edit, and tap on the “pencil” icon. Once you’re in the editing suite, you’re given the flexibility of editing almost everything about your picture.
Was your shot slanted or you need it angled slightly differently? You can do that by changing the perspective. You can even apply filters if you’re feeling lazy. But, let’s not be lazy now, neon shots need a little more time and curating skill. Moving on, you can also change the brightness, saturation, contrast, and more in your photo.
For a neon shot, generally you want to lower down the brightness and exposure, and increase the contrast and saturation. If you want, you can also slightly change the hue to give it a unique colour tint.
Step 5 – That Extra Flair
Now that your neon shot has the right amount of colour, it’s time to perfect it with that extra flair. But how? This is where the small, but mighty S Pen comes into play.
From the same editing suite, scroll a little further to the right, you’ll find the paint palette icon. This editing feature allows you to draw/doodle your own elements to your picture. In our case, this is where we add our neons, and the S Pen does just that with the amount of pinpoint accuracy we’ll need.
Pull out the S Pen and start drawing around your subject, get your creative juices flowing. Draw an X here and there, doodle some light strips in the background, drop some small dots here and there to replicate fireflies maybe?
The sky’s the limit, but you don’t want to add too much because remember, less is more. The more neon you add to your picture, the more it distracts the attention away from your subject. You want to highlight and compliment your subject with the neon, not the other way around.
Final Words
And that’s it, a simple 5-step guide on how you can capture, edit, and create your own Instagrammable neon shots with the Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G. With the high-resolution camera system, the built-in editing suite, and the power of the S Pen, you can photograph not just neon shots, but any type of photography you want. Macro shots, street photography, portraits, even close-ups, it’s up to you how you want to put your arsenal to use.
Gallery
Here are some of the neon shots we’ve taken and edited with the Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G. We’ve also added in the before photos, so you can see the comparison of what’s changed, and what’s been edited. We hope this gives you a little inspiration for your next neon photoshoot.
- Before (Left) vs. After (Right)
Should you be interested in purchasing the Samsung Galaxy Note20 series smartphones, the company is rewarding customers with a pair of the Galaxy Buds+ that’s worth RM599 with each purchase. The promotion will run from now till the 30th of November 2020. All you need to do is:
- Step 1 – Purchase the Galaxy Note20, Galaxy Note20 5G or Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
- Step 2 – Go to the Samsung Promo Page and click “Redeem Now”. After registering or signing in to your Samsung Account, fill in the required details and attach the proof of purchase or receipt.
- Step 3 – Once complete, the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ will be delivered to your provided address within 30 working days from the date of redemption submission.
The Galaxy Note20, Note20 5G and Note20 Ultra 5G are priced at RRP RM3,899, RM4,299 and RM5,199 respectively. The offer is available at the Samsung Online Store, Samsung Experience Stores and selected Samsung Authorized Partners.
