Shot with iPhone

[mezzoduomo]

I don't disagree, but to me photography (considering photography is my profession and a major part of my life) , to me photography is more than showing what I had for breakfast.

Once again I don't disagree with anyone on this except I think we're not talking the same language.

Comparing most of the instigram and the facebook snaps and saying it's photography is like sending out a tweet and calling it a book.

Yes personal photos are how we communicate, I guess always did, but looking at most facebook pages I get the same feeling when someone use to pull out their photo album of their wedding, or my grandad made us look at his slide collection.  

I'll politely look, but I'd rather be doing something else.

Now in regards to having a camera in my pocket is better than no camera at all, sometimes that's true but in my case that would rarely rarely make any sense.

Today I called a friend.  He said he can't talk but sent me a succession of twenty text messages.  I finally just texted him and said I'm bored with typing on a phone.

Call me. it's more fun.

IMO

BC

Well, given your life, livelihood (and prodigious talent) I completely understand your perspective. I'll just add that now that my youngest is 20 (not 16) he's no longer snapping his breakfast, but has graduated to more significant content, and has a Sony NEX 5. The phone remains his primary tool, and he's learning rapidly.

[John Camp]

We cover all things photographic here at Luminous-Landscape.  Just about everyone shooting with a camera has an iPhone and shoots with it.  I run workshops all over the world and I see everyday photographers with big technical cameras and a Phase One taking the iPhone out and shooting with it.  Quite frankly some of the work being done with the iphone is quite amazing.  So, if you don't like iPhone photography then don't frequent this topic.  If we publsih an article on iPhone Photography and you don't like it then don't read it.  We are working hard to expand the coverage we give the craft of photography and we may venture where some may not think we should.  Photography is our passion and we will explore and share what we feel is revelant and of interest.

I shared my story of what I was able to do with my iPhone and I was quite pleased.  Another camera in my arsenal and the cool part is it is always with me.  I am all about trying new things, challenging myself, getting out of the comfort zone and more than anything else having fun taking pictures.

Kevin Raber

I'm in favor of the iPhone forum. You wanna do it, it's fine with me. I personally only use my iPhone for taking notes, but, to each his/her own.
 
However:
You really haven't covered everything photographic in the past. If you had, you might have called it Luminous Everythingscape. Landscapes (and related forms) tend to emphasize certain photographic characteristics not found in iPhones, such as the highest possible resolution and detail, the ability to print large for close-up examination, etc. (Don't tell me about iPhone billboards. Ever looked at one from two feet?)

Some of the work done with iPhones certainly is amazing, and most often, it would be even more amazing if it were shot with a really good camera. The most amazing iPhone shots you see are usually news or event shots, where the iPhone was the the only camera, and therefore the best camera, there. It's like the Rodney King video, or the video of the Boston Marathon bombing. The video in both cases was crappy, but was essential as the best available film witnesses to important events.

I think one of the earlier posters here (MarkL?) was trying to make the point that when a website's mission becomes too diffuse, then the coverage (by a limited number of people) tends to become thinner, and the most dedicated (serious, technical) readers might tend to drift away. I'm more than happy to read Kevin Raber on MF photography, because he seems to know the subject inside out, but does he really know iPhone photography inside out? Or is this just a fad he picked up? If he has to write on iPhones, will he dedicate as much time and effort to the MF stuff that he does really well, and that many people here are interested in?

[Manoli]

Comparing most of the instigram and the facebook snaps and saying it's photography is like sending out a tweet and calling it a book.

Equating smartphone photography to instagram and facebook snaps is akin to relating a fine pasta with the Heinz canned variety. One does not beget the other. If you want or need to live in the present - tweet , if you want to leave something for posterity - write a book.

Remember the Polaroid SX-70 ?

[Paulo Bizarro]

Not surprisingly, there is polarization of opinions here about this subject. I am not particularly interested in photography made with mobile phones, but I can understand that a lot of people use their phone to take photos, and actually get interesting results.

I have been following this website for many years, and never saw a forum dedicated to the equivalent of the mobile phone photography then: the compact camera. Millions of people 10 years ago used compact cameras, and Lula never had a forum about those, why? Millions of people use their mobile phones (which are indeed compact cameras) to take photos, it is a growing trend, and now there will be a forum about that.

The difference is the Apps?

[Manoli]

The difference is the Apps?

Not necessarily.

Today, you can adjust WB, ISO (gain), shutter speed, focus. The only control item missing is aperture – which is hardly surprising as its a fixed aperture cam. You can't save files in RAW (thank the manufacturers for that - it's part of their planned obsolescence program) but you can save uncompressed TIFF's which can then be post_p'd in Lightroom , Photoshop etc …

It is just another cam, not as good as a DSLR but then, often, a DSLR isn't a match for a PhaseOne IQxxx.

[bernie west]

I just researched this, and there's a couple offering raw (Nexus), and hopefully more in the future (now that the latest Android OS can access them if the manufacturers make them available via firmware).

[Paulo Bizarro]

Not necessarily.

Today, you can adjust WB, ISO (gain), shutter speed, focus. The only control item missing is aperture – which is hardly surprising as its a fixed aperture cam. You can't save files in RAW (thank the manufacturers for that - it's part of their planned obsolescence program) but you can save uncompressed TIFF's which can then be post_p'd in Lightroom , Photoshop etc …

It is just another cam, not as good as a DSLR but then, often, a DSLR isn't a match for a PhaseOne IQxxx.

My Lumia 930 saves RAW, I am sure others too.

What I was trying to say is, compact cameras even today, make for much better always with you, portable image devices, compared to phones. What happened is that new people (and now older ones too) adopted easily the mobile phones as their cameras, due to the presence of two things: connectivity and apps.

If, in the past, camera makers had introduced these things in their compact cameras, maybe today things would be different? Now it's too late.

[Alan Smallbone]

I am all for the new forum, I don't do a lot of phone photography but like some people here I think it is a creative outlet and a supplemental one. I have seen some very creative works done on a smart phone. Luckily we have a diverse talent and interest here and we can pick and choose what we read and where we decide to participate. Looking forward to seeing what people here can do with the phones, and I am experimenting more and more with the phone but it will not be my main camera. It will be what I have with me, when I don't carry my camera.

Alan

[mezzoduomo]

We had some incredible weather here this winter. One day after completing a shoot we stopped by a local coffee shop. Everybody in there was sharing their day on their phones. There was no conversation - no sharing about which roads were still unplowed - not even sharing their photos with table mates. We tried to strike up a conversation but people would smile politely and go back to typing. Every head was bent towards their screen. I guess we could have texted them.

I hate that.

I don't mind a phone forum but I do mind the phones.

Is it similar to a time when many people could be seen in public spaces with a newspaper in front of their faces? Maybe, but it seems worse now with nearly everyone staring at the phone. 

[Isaac]

I do think that it all goes together - the thread about photoshop ruining landscape photography and the idea of using phones as cameras. It's all about getting immediate gratification.

Polaroid.

It's no longer about how your work might really move others and all about getting "likes" which makes you feel good for about 3 seconds.

I'd guess that the kind-of people who would have been concerned about how their work might really move others still will be; and the others never would have been.

[Isaac]

Too clever for me.

[Colorado David]

I don't have a Facebook page, I don't do Twitter, or Instagram, or any other social media like those.  However, my business depends on my phone.  I am dependent on my email, texts and calendar.  A few years ago I was at a big national trade show, having dinner with the man who owns the stock agency that represents some of my work.  There were several other of the agency's photographers at dinner as well.  Everyone was sharing galleries on their iPhones.  I am a member of a handful of professional associations and get email press releases from corporate partners who have access to our association's email list.  I probably throw away a hundred emails a day.  But I also get requests for proposals and critical updates on current projects.

I was on a shoot for a client last September and was flying into Orlando just as the sun was setting.  It was a very beautiful sunset from our approach altitude with a chain of lakes in the foreground.  My cameras were in a backpack in the overhead bin across the isle.  I was in the window seat.  There was no practical way of getting the big camera.  I shot several carefully framed images of the sunset and foreground that I would have missed completely without my iPhone.  When I opened them in Photoshop, I was really amazed at the quality of the images.

[Dave (Isle of Skye)]

We had some incredible weather here this winter. One day after completing a shoot we stopped by a local coffee shop. Everybody in there was sharing their day on their phones. There was no conversation - no sharing about which roads were still unplowed - not even sharing their photos with table mates. We tried to strike up a conversation but people would smile politely and go back to typing. Every head was bent towards their screen. I guess we could have texted them.

I hate that.

I don't mind a phone forum but I do mind the phones.

I realize that was a totally off-topic rant. :-)

I do think that it all goes together - the thread about photoshop ruining landscape photography and the idea of using phones as cameras. It's all about getting immediate gratification. It's no longer about how your work might really move others and all about getting "likes" which makes you feel good for about 3 seconds.

You know what Sharon, that may not be off topic at all, because it might just be a dislike of what mobiles have done to undermine our once verbally interactive society (we used to talk to each other in other words), into a texting society, which is something that is a lot more insular, annoying and even down right rude at times. So it could be the baggage they bring with them that is the problem, if indeed there is a problem.

I was in New York a few years ago, crossing the street and this tall power dressed lady was striding purposefully towards me in the opposite direction, and as she drew close to me, she said in a loud American drawl, "Hi, How ya dooin?" I stopped and said in my best surprised squeaky English voice, uh oh, well I suppose I am doing fine thank you.. She looked at me as though I was some kind of a rapist or something, because little did I know, she was using one of those ear phones and talking/shouting to a client..!

Dave

[Colorado David]

Funny. Several years ago, well before hands-free devices, I saw a guy walking along having a conversation with an imaginary person. He would stop and struggle with the imaginary person and then he (they?) would continue along. He was obviously hallucinating. You can't make that assumption now.

[Alan Smallbone]

To me the downside of the phones is the texting, I have a long commute to work and I constantly see dozens of younger drivers texting while driving, and this is every day. You can always tell in stop and go traffic, they are the ones that just sit there for short time before moving forward, and then constantly bob their head up and down while trying to look at the screen.

So with anything good, like the instant camera, the bad can also follow. Like anything it is how the tool is used that determines whether or not it is a bane or benefit.

Alan

[Colorado David]

I'm sitting a waiting room, I'm the only one here, waiting for an appointment. I'm sure glad I've got my iPhone.

Sharon, I think you must have looked at Soutwest Kansas Dawn on my website. I just happened to check activity and saw a view from Nantucket.

[bernie west]

Is it similar to a time when many people could be seen in public spaces with a newspaper in front of their faces? Maybe, but it seems worse now with nearly everyone staring at the phone. 

Yep, how the times have changed. Oh wait...  


By Stanley Kubrick, New York.  1950's or thereabouts.

[bernie west]

I was in New York a few years ago, crossing the street and this tall power dressed lady was striding purposefully towards me in the opposite direction, and as she drew close to me, she said in a loud American drawl, "Hi, How ya dooin?" I stopped and said in my best surprised squeaky English voice, uh oh, well I suppose I am doing fine thank you.. She looked at me as though I was some kind of a rapist or something, because little did I know, she was using one of those ear phones and talking/shouting to a client..!

Dave

Haha!  I was just in India and the local touts (and just some friendly locals as well) like to shout out "Hello!" as you walk past their vicinity.  And you get used to just responding kind of automatically to them (either positively or negatively, depending on your mood that day).  But there's a new feature of Indian society that wasn't there last time I visited 20 years ago - the mobile phone.  And Indian's ALL answer their mobile phone now with a shouted "Hello!".  The shouting is kind of funny, as I don't think a lot of them have quite grasped how phones work.  Some of them literally think they need to send their voice over the kilometres... .  But you feel like a right fool when you turn and shout back "How are you, my friend!?" to a shouted "Hello!" into a phone from across the street...  

[Colorado David]

Thank you for the compliment, Sharon.  I have started a Photoshelter site; http://davidjdrewphotog.photoshelter.com/#!/index
I have more commercial images there.  I still am not able to show a lot of my aviation images since they are mostly covered by non-disclosure agreements.  My iPhone aerial sunset shot is on this site.  It is in the Water gallery.  The domain name is the one photo shelter assigned to me.  I will eventually use another domain name I have to point it.

[mezzoduomo]

Yep, how the times have changed. Oh wait...  


By Stanley Kubrick, New York.  1950's or thereabouts.