Phone Photos

[Bill Pierce]

I’m back to civilization and internet access…

Most of us are pretty knowledgable about regular cameras. But I suspect many of us are relatively ignorant (and somewhat contemptuous) about the cameras in IPhones, IPads and their competition. And yet I see good work being done with these devices. They don’t produce files suitable for murals, but neither did the first Leica. Some good work is being done with them, in part because they can be constant pocket companions, in part because their presence is readily accepted. Dave Kennerly’s Facebook page is filled with good personal pictures. Photographers in war zones are using phone cameras because they don’t attract attention.

There’s a lot of good instructional material written about these modern devices, but, since after all, they are not “cameras.” only a little is written about how to photograph with them. Does anyone know of books, websites, whatever that teach cellphone photography?

 

[charjohncarter]

As a lonely old man, I appreciate them (iCameras). I have a constant flow of 'snapshots' from my children. The good photos I print, which they never do, and send a copy to them. My son-in-law is especially good, he has my refrig filled with photos. So, maybe not the best quality or color but for me it is great.

As I don't have an iCamera, I haven't tried to learn about them. I can't help there.

 

[willie_901]

Bill,

There are Apps that give you more control over the camera than the native iOS 7 iPhone App. But the control is still minimal compare to inexpensive P&S cameras that support manual aperture and shutter settings. Still, the third-party Apps can be worthwhile.

I use 645 Pro with my iPhone 5 because it will output uncompressed TIFFs, display a histogram and display the shutter speed and aperture in use. There is a detailed manual available on the 645Pro web site (no affiliation).

There are many camera Apps but few of them are for photographers as they seem to be oriented towards special effects and psuedo-film and other post processing looks.

I think instructional manuals and tutorials will be App specific, so the first step is to look for reviews, etc for the different camera Apps. Then you can learn how to operate the camera using the features of the App you choose.

The iPhone 5 can make decent photographs. Of course low-light performance (signal to noise ratio/dynamic range) is quite limited.

No doubt many will post that Android devices have superior cameras. This may be the case. But the App is what operates the camera, so App dependency on operating technique still applies.

 

[Timmyjoe]

I'm expected to take iPhone pics and immediately upload the images to Twitter for work. This would be great if I didn't have an iPhone 4s that has had a crappy camera lens from the get go, (must have spilled glue inside when assembling it or something). Anyway, no matter what I try, the pictures are soft mush. I did learn one thing though from a photographer who uses his iPhone extensively. You have to hold the iPhone very steady, long after you think the picture has been taken, and you hear the fake shutter sound. That improves image quality immensely on iPhones I have used (not mine).

I've also discovered a couple of apps that work pretty well if you need to adjust an image and resize it before posting it. Snapseed does a decent job of editing, and Photogene does a pretty good job of resizing.

What I found works much better and gives me much higher quality pictures than a camera phone is to use a Nikon 1 V2 camera and a WU-1b wireless adapter to shoot the pic on the V2 and then immediately transfer it to my iPhone with the WU-1b. I then edit the pic on the iPhone and post it to Twitter. Been able to get much higher quality pics this way.