CLOS is an app that lets you shoot remotely through someone else’s phone

The coronavirus pandemic has turned our world upside down. But other than all the bad things it has brought upon us, there are some good ones too. One of them is new photography genres, and we’ll surely remember 2020 and 2021 for remote photoshoots and gaming photography. So, it’s no wonder that someone came up with an idea to create an app that lets you shoot from the comfort of your home. CLOS is the first app of its kind, and it lets you control the photoshoot from your phone through the camera of your model’s.

The first thing that popped to mind is Windows Remote Assistance which lets you control someone else’s computer from your own. Well, CLOS is something like that, only for photography. It lets you shoot both photos and videos remotely by accessing your model’s phone camera. First, you should create a virtual room and share the link with your model. Once the room is set up, you can manage the process remotely. You can change camera settings, focus, switch between photo and video… Just like you would on your own phone.

All video calls between you and the model are end-to-end encrypted. Of course, CLOS advises that the models switch to their rear camera since it produces higher quality images, and to use a tripod to stabilize the phone. Of course, any stable surface will do. After all, are we a DIY blog or not? :) Here’s a little demo so you can see what the process looks like:

The minor downside of the app is that only the photographer is able to create the room for now. So, if you’re participating as a model, you can’t start the chat room. But you two are communicating anyway, so that’s not a major drawback. What is a major drawback is the fact that the photographer doesn’t get to keep the images on his phone. The photos are left in the model’s phone that was used for the shoot, so the model needs to send them back to the photographer. The alternative is to create a CLOS Cloud so you can store the photos there, but that’s a part of the PRO subscription plan.

I can’t help but remember some of the remote shoots we’ve featured so far. Waleed Shah and I did it via Skype before it was “cool” as a part of his project Rock Your Ugly. In the pandemic era, we’ve seen some awesome remote photoshoots done through FaceTime, Zoom, and other video call apps. It’s amazing how creative people can get even in the toughest of times. So, it’s no wonder that we got a dedicated app for remote photoshoots. Sadly, it looks like it will be our reality for quite some time, so if you’d like to try it yourself, you can check out CLOS on your Android, iPhone, or through a web app.