Is an iPhone a camera?

Its not a crazy question…promise. I know that we all know that our iPhones or smartphones have cameras built in, but are they any use? Hence the question, is an iPhone a camera? Or maybe phrased differently, is an iPhone a serious camera? Can you use an iPhone as an everyday camera? Many people walking around with them in their pockets use them all the time. Photographers however, tend to be a little more circumspect about the ubiquitous device. I hear comments about the image quality or the limited functionality or even how badly it performs in low light. All of these are legitimate comments and are true (Although, with the most recent launch of iPhones, the camera and the images are improving remarkably). My question though, is deeper than that. A pinhole camera is a camera…something that is able to make an image out of light, is a camera. So, yes, by that definition, an iPhone is a camera. Is it a good camera, aaah well thats a whole different story. I am going to be writing a series on how I use my iPhone (an “old” 4s) to capture quick images when I am out and about. I want to show you how this has changed my perception about what photography is and how it can be used to communicate your vision. I will also be doing some high level reviews and personal comments on the apps that you can use to make better shots and edit them afterwards. First, let me tell you a bit about how I use my iPhone and more importantly, when I don’t use my iPhone.

Always on:

I carry my iPhone with me everywhere, my wife even complains that she has to compete for attention when I am head down, looking at the glass screen in my palm. That means, my “camera” is always with me. It is always on and ready to go. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t walk around with my iPhone at my eye, ready for the next big thing to happen, but I have it nearby most of the time, so when something pops up that I think may make a good image, I take a photo. I use my iPhone to scout areas that I would like to take photos in. It helps me get into my “photographic” mind, it helps me “see” if a scene could work as an image. If it does, I can come back with my DSLR and set up a better shot with better light.

Easy to use:

I use a number of different apps to take photos and another set of apps to edit them (nope, I don’t only reply on the Instagram presets to edit my images…more on this later) I use Camera + MOSTLY for shooting. It has a simple interface and a very cool function that allows me to choose an area on the image to expose my image and another tool to determine focus. This means, my images are pretty much well exposed each time. It is SUPER easy to use and make my iPhone shooting very simple and easy.

Fun!:

For me, photography needs to be fun. I love to see what my results look like immediately after I take a shot. Sometimes I am amazed and the look and feel I can get with just a few tweaks in the editing software make it a lot of fun. This is probably the best thing about the iPhone, it is fun to use and play with. Its not a serious photography tool, but you can get some really good results with it.

When don’t I use my iPhone?

I don’t use my iPhone if I want to have a high resolution image or I want a high quality print. That being said, I know of some photographer friends who have printed their iPhone images and have been really happy with the results. Depending how big you print them, you can have some pretty nice wall art captured by your iPhone. If I am shooting for a client…who is paying me…generally I will be using the DSLR. Other than that I will use both and if I am simply walking around I will be using the iPhone.

Image editing?

So, as with analogue or film photography, the first step was to capture the image, next step was to develop the film. You can take the shots on you iPhone and leave them as is, that is your choice. I like to use a few different apps to edit my images. The first one is the editing portion of Camera +. It does a really good job of dealing with contrast, colour and clarity. There are also a bunch of presets (which are different to the Instagram presets) so your photos don’t all look like they have been processed in Instagram. I use two other tools to edit my images too. It depends on the image, but I will either use Photoshop Express (Free) and Snapseed (also free) These two pieces of software have AMAZING power and can really transform your images from a snapshot to a reply dramatic shot. They are worth downloading and playing around with. They take some practice, but really worth it. Then, once you have edited the photos, you can upload them to Facebook or Instagram and they will look unique and dramatic.

My next article will look at more details around the various camera apps and editing apps, but for now, here are some images from my iPhone…all captured in the iPhone and edited there too…