Photography

IPhonetography Tips

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There are phases I go back and forth with in my photography such as mobile-only for awhile or a professional camera. This article will discuss my continuing fascination with iPhoneography and tips on ho to make it better.Clean the lens on your iPhoneOur iPhones get stuffed inside pockets, purses, backpacks, etc. You’ve seen how dirty your screen can get, now go show your camera lens some love. A clean lens will give you sharper, higher-contrast images. Make it a habit to regularly clean your iPhone camera lenses.CompositionKeep your compositions simple or minimal. Duh.Shoot from various anglesiPhones are compact compared to a heavy DSLR or mirrorless camera. This makes it far more effective when shooting high, low or at various angles. Put your iPhone on a tripod mount and explore all those options too.Get a new camera (app)The stock iPhone camera app is brilliantly intuitive, but you can get more control with other dedicated camera apps such as Halide or Camera+. These allow you to adjust settings manually, shutter speed, ISO etc. This seems like an appropriate time to mention editing apps.Post-Process FunThere are plenty of amazing iPhone editing apps but only a few are really worth your time as a serious photographer.Adobe Lightroom
Hipstamatic
Snapseed
VSCO
Everything else are just fad apps.With the above apps, you can adjust image exposure, crop to improve the composition, correct image white balance, add beautiful color effects, improve sharpness, and so much more. Many of these apps also offer advanced features, such as vignetting, noise reduction, and masking. If you really want to have fun with editing images, there are specialist applications that’ll remove image backgrounds, objects, and apps that’ll stitch layers images together.I enjoy editing images. It’s a fun way to enhance your photos, and once you’re done with the basic enhancements, you can have fun adding creative effects.Shoot It Until You Get ItDigital photography has an advantage over film in that you can afford to shoot a lot. You can also make a lot of mistakes that can be forgiven quickly. Pick out your best images later. Don’t delete any photos while you are out shooting. Wait until you are done to properly review.Zoom with your feetAll cameras have two types of zoom options: optical zoom and digital zoom. An optical zoom is created by the camera’s lens. A digital zoom is made by cropping an image. The iPhone deletes pixels to create a zoom effect. Digital zoom destroys the quality of your images.Don’t sacrifice image quality, just zoom with your feet. Move closer to your subject if possible. If it isn’t possible, then shoot your image and crop later. The difference in quality is improved and you’ll be happier.Hold your phone like a cameraI always shoot in landscape mode (phone is horizontal instead of vertical.) I also almost always shoot with two hands on the iPhone for control and stability.

Photo Curation

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Not photo “editing”, instead, photo culling and photo curation.

The art of choosing the photos you care for, the art of image selection. If I shot a thousand photos, which few photos will I select that I want to hold on to?

Now that I have all my images organized in the Archives on one external hard drive, it is time to cull and curate. Keep the keepers and remove the rest.

Photographic Progress

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The frustration and anxiety caused by obsessing over what makes a “good” photograph is what prevents the majority of we photographers from evolving creatively.I am learning that the quicker I can focus on a subject matter or a theme, the quicker I can progress.

On Photography

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There is no getting away from my love of photography and cameras. My favorite thing in the world is going somewhere, anywhere, and just wondering around pointing my lens at things. The simple act of doing so is like mediation to me, and nothing thing else comes close.

Photo Archive & Curation

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2023 is the year I finally go RAID (redundant array of independent disks).

After that, a dedicated photo file server.

Then organize images with tags, keywords, geotags, faces. Easily searchable.

Convert to the Digital Negative format and use as backup

One Lightroom catalog per yearly archive as backup.

Make yearbook prints out of the top 24 images per year, two per month.

Apple Photos for cloud storage. Maybe even Flickr.

iPhoneography Tips

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There are phases I go back and forth with in my photography such as mobile-only for awhile or a professional camera. This article will discuss my continuing fascination with iPhoneography and tips on how to make it better.

iPhone Camera app interface
  1. Clean the lens on your iPhone

Our iPhones get stuffed inside pockets, purses, backpacks, etc. You’ve seen how dirty your screen can get, now go show your camera lens some love. A clean lens will give you sharper, higher-contrast images. Make it a habit to regularly clean your iPhone camera lenses.

2. Composition

Keep your compositions simple or minimal. Duh.

3. Shoot from various angles

iPhones are compact compared to a heavy DSLR or mirrorless camera. This makes it far more effective when shooting high, low or at various angles. Put your iPhone on a tripod mount and explore all those options too.

4. Get a new camera (app)

The stock iPhone camera app is brilliantly intuitive, but you can get more control with other dedicated camera apps such as Halide or Camera+. These allow you to adjust settings manually, shutter speed, ISO etc. This seems like an appropriate time to mention editing apps.

5. Post-Process Fun

There are plenty of amazing iPhone editing apps but only a few are really worth your time as a serious photographer.

Adobe Lightroom
Hipstamatic
Snapseed
VSCO
Everything else are just fad apps.

With the above apps, you can adjust image exposure, crop to improve the composition, correct image white balance, add beautiful color effects, improve sharpness, and so much more. Many of these apps also offer advanced features, such as vignetting, noise reduction, and masking. If you really want to have fun with editing images, there are specialist applications that’ll remove image backgrounds, objects, and apps that’ll stitch layers images together.

I enjoy editing images. It’s a fun way to enhance your photos, and once you’re done with the basic enhancements, you can have fun adding creative effects.

6. Shoot It Until You Get It

Digital photography has an advantage over film in that you can afford to shoot a lot. You can also make a lot of mistakes that can be forgiven quickly. Pick out your best images later. Don’t delete any photos while you are out shooting. Wait until you are done to properly review.

7. Zoom with your feet

All cameras have two types of zoom options: optical zoom and digital zoom. An optical zoom is created by the camera’s lens. A digital zoom is made by cropping an image. The iPhone deletes pixels to create a zoom effect. Digital zoom destroys the quality of your images.

Don’t sacrifice image quality, just zoom with your feet. Move closer to your subject if possible. If it isn’t possible, then shoot your image and crop later. The difference in quality is improved and you’ll be happier.

8. Hold your phone like a camera

I always shoot in landscape mode (phone is horizontal instead of vertical.) I also almost always shoot with two hands on the iPhone for control and stability.

Now What?

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I am a mixture of both casual and intentional photographer.

Sometimes, the images come to me in a zen-like manner.

I wait, listen and feel for them.

Other times, I shoot deliberation and determination.

I purposefully plan and will them into reality.

I also take images to document as an autobiography of what is going on around me at the moment.

However, as Ansel Adams said:

“You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”

After nearly thirty years of photography I don’t feel like I have progressed to where I should be and want to be. I’ve almost always shot from the hip, never to be bothered with the technical. My images reflect this. I need to slow down, be more intentional. I need to spend
a hell of a lot of time alone before, during, and after the photography experience.

*Update* I need a project to kickstart this initiative, one that can build a body of work I can be proud of. I do not want to limit myself to one genre though. It is consistent, sure, but boring.

Back To Flickr

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I was a charter member of the photo hosting site, Flickr since it’s inception back in 2005. Since then it has been a shit-show roller coaster and grew stagnant. It’s been sold more than a few times and then again to a more stable photo host called SmugMug. That seems to have been the life-saver for Flickr. However, I canceled my account back in 2019 for various reasons. A quote from the article on my website:

I am on a roll when it comes to de-bullshitting my life lately. I have been a Flickr photo account user since 2005 and have been through the ups, downs, acquisitions and no more. I simply do not see the value in another photo host with little to no social engagement with other photographers.

ChrisDenbow.com

Now that Flickr has been stable these past few years, I am back. With unlimited photo and video hosting on a paid Pro plan, I am in the slow process of uploading images. Migrating years and gigabytes worth of data will be worth it. Flickr organizes galleries and albums anyway I see fit and includes camera/image EXIF data. It will be good to see it all in another back-up location to my Archive Vault on the external hard drive.

I am hoping to reconnect with the amazing talent of other photographers there and rebuild the photo community. I use to draw a lot of inspiration from them as well as contribute my two cents as well.