iPhoneography
My history with photography started in the Elementary School, when we had a class of Black & White Photography, including films and photo processing. Back then I got hocked with the whole process – starting with the shootings, then the lab processing, mixing and knowing the chemicals, the dark room, and so on.
The problem with the extensive sizes of my SLR 35mm cameras was always existential and many times reason for missing the moments. Since today my job and free time shifted a lot towards mobile technology, and having descent camera on my phone in my pocket I got into iPhoneography.
“iPhoneography is the art of creating photos with an Apple iPhone.[1][2][3] This is a style of mobile photography that differs from all other forms of digital photography in that images are both shot and processed on the iOS device. Whether a photo is edited using different graphics applications is an argument among iPhone photographers.
iPhoneography has grown quickly since 2007, when the original iPhone 2G‘s 2-megapixel camera was released. As the iPhone cameras improved in both resolution and image quality, more professional photographers ventured into this art form and started recognizing the value of an iPhone image.”
Currently, I’m working on the design and the production of an iOS app called Blockstr, where the user will be recording video and shooting photos with an iPhone to post them as a video trailer. I had to explore the iPhone camera and its hardware, and it turns out, it has advanced DSLR-like capabilities. These include:
- Exposure compensation
- Manual exposure
- Manual focus
- Manual white balance
- Bracketed capture
More about this can be found here. My research on what iOS developers have accomplished in the field of photographing brought to my attention a very powerful Manual – Custom exposure camera app.
It is a great software to enhance your iPhone photos, by using more manual techniques and approaches to add to your artistic style. Another powerful and yet free iOS app is VSCO CAM.
As you can see, there’s most of the technology of a DSLR camera available to you on your iPhone.
There are plenty of great apps available, and the list begins with Camnera+, Hipstamatic, FX Photo Studio, which have different strengths and weaknesses. Besides the software, an iphoneographer should consider getting the ultimate iphoneography accessories kit, which includes:
- Tripod – Glif Plus for iPhone
- Remote Shutter Release – use your earbuds volume buttons
- External Battery/Charger
- External Lenses – Yes! There are external lenses available for your iPhone Olloclip
- External Light Source – to add light to your scene
- Mobile Wireless Storage Drives
- Camera Bag – I’m all against that though, because it ruins the idea of not having a bag.
My favorite feature in a digital camera is long exposure. This affinity towards long exposures might be coming form my childhood hobby – astronomy, when I was trying to capture difficult objects, such as planets, nebulas, galaxies, and others. Slow Shutter Cam is the ultimate application for this:
As you can see, nowadays everyone with an iPhone in their pocket has an access to a very advanced technology for shooting. And everyone is an app and willingness away from getting into photography.