Monday, April 27, 2015

The Smart Phone has come of age!

Over the first quarter of this year I've come to recognise that the Smartphone as a photographer's tool has come of age. I always like to think positively about technological developments and look to ways of using it to better my arts practice. Rather than trying to compare like for like with what has gone before, I question what is possible now that wasn't possible before, or at least wasn't realistically possible within various constraints.
Back in 2013 'Best of the Year post' I raved about the AutoStitch app which I had used with my iPhone 4S to photograph the many independent cafes in Bideford to exhibit 'Cafe Culture' at Dare County Arts Centre in Manteo NC. Up until this year I had used my iPhone 4S, then 5, shooting through the 645 Pro app then using Autostitch combined with Adobe's PS Touch for my finished images. The images made were mainly for research, sketchbook work, location scouting etc except for the successfully realised Cafe Culture pictures.
I've been using Photoshop for over 20 years, starting with Photoshop 3 in 1994, the first version to have 'layers'. Every few years there are improvements and every so often I've updated my version. I didn't jump right and embrace 'cloud computing' and stayed well clear when I read about photographers loosing their work when Photoshop became cloud based. But the cost of the software kept coming down and my CS5 version was feeling a little dated.
Since the iOS upgrade to my phone, I've added Smartphone Photography Teaching to my portfolio. So now I consider it part of my job to keep up-to-date with camera and image processing apps. I'm a purist at heart and so I'm not drawn to the apps like Instagram which tend to manipulate reality by adding a vast variety of filters, borders and effects to images, I am interested in any app which enables me to see something more clearly, more accurately, which simplifies a scene, rids an image of distractions or enhances reality.
One of the apps tried and tested was Adobe's Lightroom, which I trialed on my phone and laptop. So this year I subscribed to Photoshop CC, and suddenly the Smartphone had a greater roll to play in photographer's kitbag. All of these photograph examples were shot and processed on my iPhone using 645 Pro camera app, Lightroom to process the image, AutoStitch if required, and PS Touch to resize, crop, add signature etc. These images, from the last couple of weeks, are representative of the many uses and situations I find myself using my iPhone rather than DSLR to make a photograph; whether that is because the image is only meant as a snapshot, or a record of a hike, a discreet street photograph or an image destined for social media.
I shall be revisiting and expanding on the subject in the future!

My next 2 SmartPhone workshops are as follows, current workshops are always listed on my website

SmartPhone Photography
- £25
A practical workshop to learn how to use your Smartphone's camera to take professional looking photographs and enhance those images on the go. Suitable for anyone with a SmartPhone. You will need to install a few cheap photo apps in advance which I'll advise on when booking!
Sunday 3rd May in Barnstaple, (11am-2pm) Click to Book

iPhoneography Workshop - £25
A practical workshop to learn how to use your iPhone's camera to take professional looking photographs and enhance those images on the go. Suitable for anyone with an iPhone. You will need to install a few cheap photo apps in advance which I'll advise on when booking!
Monday 25th May in Bideford, (10am-1pm) Click to Book