Then along came smart phones. It took me a little while to join the crowd, but when I was having battery problems with my old phone, and needed a new point and shoot camera after my Nikon Coolpix disappeared, I decided to upgrade. I bought an iPhone 4S because its camera got such a good review, and well, the rest is history....
I predict that point and shoot cameras will soon be obsolete. With a smart phone you can take great photos, use apps to edit them, and then share them online within minutes. Oh yeah, and you can make calls and text on it too!
My iPhone takes fantastic quality shots. Last year on my ski trip to NZ I left the SLR behind and just took the iPhone. It felt snug in an inside pocket of my ski jacket, I could listen to music whilst skiing, and could pull it out for those memorable shots.
Then add apps. Until I got my smart phone I didn't understand what all this excitement about apps was about. It didn't take me long to find out, and soon I was downloading all sorts of stuff from the iTunes store! And so cheap compared with add on software for computers!
But it can be a bit overwhelming. A great resource I found was an eBook on iPhone photography that informed me regarding what apps are available. Did you know you don't have to use the photo taking software that comes with your phone? That you can use apps that allow you to control the focus and exposure, and that allow you to take photos just by tapping the screen? And then there's editing options. You've heard of Instagram, but there's a myriad of other free and not so free apps out there to edit your photos. And some awesome photo-stitching apps as well. The photo heading up this blog? It's a panorama taken from eight photos at Mt Hutt ski field in New Zealand with my iPhone and then stitched together and cropped. Not bad hey?
Your smart phone has other uses too. Like when you are using your SLR instead and would like to have a few tools at your fingertips. The Photographer's Ephemeris is something I'm only just starting to use, but it's a great tool for planning the best time to take a photo at a particular location. It uses GPS coordinates and times of sun and moon rise and set, so you can plan to be at the right place at the right time for your perfect photo. I'm not quite in that league yet, but the tool's there, just saying. And it's on your phone in your pocket any time you need it.
Another app I like to have, and am using quite a lot with macro photography, is Depth of Field Calc. I upgraded from the free app, which allows me to plug in what camera I'm using, and then customise focal length, distance to subject and f-stop to determine the depth of field of the shot I'm about to take. It can take the trial and error out of setting up a shot. In the old days people had paper charts, now you have an app in your pocket with customisable options. Awesome!
But say you only have an iPhone and want to take macro shots? All credit where it's due, many of the point & shoot cameras were strong here, but all is not lost, because you can get a gadget for that! I've got an Olloclip, but there's a few other gadgets out there that do the same job. The Olloclip allows you to do macro, wide-angle and fisheye, adding alot of creative fun to your iPhone photos.
Here's a few shots to show you what a wee iPhone, an Olloclip, and some apps can achieve.
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| Fisheye |
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| Macro |
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| Sun and moon |
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| perfect reflections |
And one last thing. How often do you use your SLR to take self portraits?
