If you saw me at an event for the church I’m a part of, you would’ve seen me carrying a Canon 50D around my neck with one or two lenses in my pockets. I was an event photographing fiend. I still am, but my workflow has changed dramatically. As the iPhone and iPad have moved from consumption devices to work tools, my camera bag has started to gather dust. This isn’t to say that I don’t prefer the raw images taken from my dSLR, but the convenience of the iPhone is incredible. So what happened? What sparked the change?
The Convenience
The camera phone has always been pretty slick, even if the image quality has usually stunk. I remember getting my first one and marveling at the ability I had to capture events at VGA resolution. But I still had to take the photos from my phone and put them on my computer and then post them anywhere for people to see. And good luck with printing. But as they say,
“The best camera you have is the one you have on you.”
Then came the iPhone 4. Image quality on this phone crushed that on the 3GS (and each subsequent model has done the same), and developers were making apps that do amazing things. With new and creative applications that allows for editing and sharing in a matter of minutes, I am hard pressed to find a better quick solution for my photography. While many use special camera apps on their iPhone, I prefer the simplicity of a pic being a swipe away.
Mobile Image Editing
If you are posting photos you took without your phone without doing some touchups, you’re missing out. At the base, give apps like Snapseed (free), Afterlight ($0.99), and VSCOcam (free). I also have found great joy in using the tools specific to Handy Photo ($1.99). I use these, along with a few other tools (can’t give away all my secrets right away), to create images like this:
Mobile Graphic Design
This has been something I’ve really gotten into in the last few months. I do a fair amount of design for our church, and I’ve found doing it on the fly saves me desk time and lets me do it in the gaps in my day. To do this, I have leaned heavily on powerful tools like Over ($1.99), Studio (free), and when I’m feeling more creative, Fragment ($1.99). While these costs the cup of a coffee, they have given me such flexibility to create things like this on the fly:
Lightning Fast Sharing
Little needs to be said, but with services like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, I am able to quickly share these creations for my personal use, and for my church.
In the future, I’d like to walk through why and how I use some of these different applications and what I come up with.
What has your experience been?
[Image via Billy Wilson Photography via Compfight cc]
Chris Ridgeway says
Nice work. It’s true: I’m finding my iPhone can do things my basic SLR from 8 years ago struggled to. Just yesterday I was taking indoor pictures with a view out a bright daylight window- a tricky shot for any photographer. The 5S now does this auto HDR thing where it shoots both contrasts and then combines the photos: it’s not a crappy filter effect or anything: it’s just that suddenly you can see out the window. Makes the shot feel easy.
Eric Dye says
I’m no dSLR pro, but this perspective is pretty awesome. Something to think about before EVERY purchasing another point-and-click.
Alan Hable says
Great point Eric. I haven’t had a point and shoot really since my dSLR, but I can’t imagine the market for them is doing well with phones with amazing cameras.