Responsible Cell Phone Photography
June 30, 2025 Written by Katy Marchello
In a world of instant gratification, cell phone cameras have come a long way. Many cell phone cameras have dozens of pixels and robust editing tools. Sharing pictures is easier than ever with social media, texting, and the like. This ease of clicking and sharing opens the door to a host of dynamics about responsibility, safety, truth and respect. Below are a few points to consider.
Use caution with photos of people. Even though there is no expectation of privacy in public, it is easy to unwittingly photograph children or sensitive moments of others which could insight trouble or anger and make a moment or situation flare and get out of hand. Be responsible with your photography. Even if unintended, someone may not want their photograph taken. It would be easy to get caught up in someone else’s drama. Be mindful and respectful of background of your subject and of your surroundings. As is said, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.
Use caution when photographing animals. While cell phone cameras are great, they do have their limitations. Cell phone cameras do not have the reach for most wildlife photography. That tends to make the cell phone photographer get too close to animals.
People tend to get so caught up in the excitement of seeing an animal that they forget to keep proper distance from their subject. For most animals, 75’ is recommended. For larger animals, a minimum of 150’ or more is recommended. Overly enthusiastic cell phone photographers have been seen 10’, back to, from bison and alligators to get selfies. While it may be ‘only for a second’, that proximity alarms animals and can incite the animal to take a defensive charge toward the photographer. Animals are faster than you may think.
Similarly, with smaller animals, like foxes, marmots, or birds, stay a respectful and responsible distance. Getting too close to their dens or nests could disrupt the animals and make them feel threatened or unsafe. It may sway the animal to abandon nests or babies out of fear. Be respectful of the animal and watch from a proper distance. If you are a cell phone photographer eager for such up-close wildlife images, it may be time to take the next step and invest in a camera and suitable zoom lens to explore your passion for wildlife photography.
Lastly, keep the truth in what you capture. These images of people and events, of nature and wildlife are moments in time. Most modern cell phones have editing features that allow the photographer to tweak and modify images to create falsehoods or mistruths of reality. There are even tools that can clip out or add people and items to or from a photo. Responsible photography, cell phone or otherwise, speaks to the truth of the moment. Clipping, cutting, pasting, and adding to images, especially without disclosure of such modifications, is not being true to the moment. It relays false messages about what is.
While some edits or changes may seem harmless, changing an image to create a false impression of a person or events or of an animal and its behavior is irresponsible and unethical. This is another time where mindfulness, care, and respect should rule. Creating mistruths can do harm, certainly to people in society, but also with research and understanding of wildlife and nature. All too often in our society, getting ‘likes’ on social media outweighs responsibility, respect, and dignity.
So, while cell phone camera technology is state of the art these days, use that gift responsibly. Quell the tendency for instant gratification. Find calm in a moment and think before clicking. It is very easy to be too quick to click, to lose the moment and mindfulness. Whether it is of people, places, or things, animals or nature, be respectful and responsible with cell phone camera use, editing, and sharing. Strive to be a responsible cell phone photographer.
About the Author
Guest contributor Katy Marchello is a cell phone photographer hobbyist, a lover of nature and of all things outdoors. In this blogpost she is sharing her perspectives of what she has seen in the field and everyday with cell phone photography. She hopes her writing will bring insight and instill mindfulness.
