A recent photo of Prince William, Kate Middleton and Prince Harry with his partner Meghan Markle was published in the media all over the world. But they weren’t taken by a professional photographer or with expensive gear. A fan with an iPhone took a photo with her iPhone and posted it on Twitter. All of a sudden, her photo became so popular that she hopes to fund her daughter’s university fees from selling it worldwide.
This free bokeh app makes the best out of your iPhone photos
iPhone’s “Portrait Mode” is a rather useful feature, and gives neat results. You can even see more and more magazine covers shot on iPhone with the “Portrait Mode”. But, if you don’t like the effect or simply want to add some versatility to it – check out a free app named Focos.
This app lets you add more types of bokeh to the photos you take with your iPhone – from creamy to swirly. The developers promise a “real bokeh effect,” and judging from the sample photos, the bokeh really does look good.
Elle Australia issues a cover shot with iPhone 7 Plus
After Sports Illustrated and Billboard, Elle Australia also issued a cover shot with a smartphone. The photographer Georges Antoni opted for iPhone 7 Plus, like Miller Mobley who shot for Billboard Magazine. And once again, with fine golden light and skillful photographer and model – the results ended up to be fantastic.
Billboard Magazine issues a cover shot with an iPhone 7 Plus’ Portrait Mode
You may argue if iPhone 7 Plus’ Portrait mode is any good. Some people love it and some hate it, but apparently – it was good enough for Billboard Magazine. Photographer Miller Mobley shot the February 17 issue of Billboard magazine, featuring a rising pop star Camila Cabello on the cover. And despite the fact that he generally uses professional and expensive gear, this time he was limited to iPhone 7 Plus and its Portrait mode. And he really did a fine job.
Watch: How to build the ultimate selfie stick
Selfie sticks are so 2014. And because of this, Ted Forbes has created the ultimate selfie stick for all the super-narcissistic souls out there. He named it Stork Mach 1, and it’s made for taking photos, video and live-streaming. In light or dark, in any climate, you can point that camera towards you and click. Now that’s a selfie stick!
Of course, this whole concept is a result of a joke. He created this ultimate selfie-stick as a “sister” to his smaller rig Sparrow M1. However, you can still get something useful out of this video and learn how to build a rig for mobile photography and videography.
A wooden stump, a cookie sheet and foamcore – and you can make great food photos with your iPhone
Do you take photos of food for your Instagram profile? If you do, you most likely do it with a smartphone. If you are into food photography (or just food), it’s good to know some tips and tricks how to make these food photos look their best.
In this video, Peter McKinnon shares some tips how to take great photos of food with your iPhone using mainly what you already have at home. He also suggests a couple of editing apps to make the photos even better.
30 years later: Exploring Pripyat in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and shooting only with iPhone
I originally announced my plans to visit the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone on my private Facebook account. My friends know me and thus the reactions were anywhere from “you’re nuts” to “HaHa”. Maybe because I posted it on April, 1st?
Quick tip: repurpose an old LCD screen as a polarizer filter
Polarizing filters are great, they enhance skies, remove reflections and reduce glare from photos. On the other hand they are usually big and not something you’d haul around for a smartphone. Here is a quick little hack courtesy of the Koldunov Brothers that builds a small and portable polarizer filter for your smart phone.
DSLR compared with the iPhone 7 Plus
I think for most people, no matter how many comparisons or examples come out, the whole “actual camera vs smartphone camera” debate will never end. Every other new phone seems to be hailed as a “DSLR Killer” by social media. It’s only lately we’ve seen these sorts of claims from manufacturers themselves, though. It was a key selling point of the Huawei P9 and Apple say the iPhone 7 Plus shoots “DSLR quality pictures”. But does it?
We showed you some samples of the iPhone 7 Plus “portrait mode” recently, and many weren’t convinced. This video from Lee Morris over at FStoppers looks a little more in depth at the iPhone 7 Plus’ camera. He pits it against a DSLR in a bunch of different situations. Of course, it’s difficult to fairly compare a DSLR to any phone, given the vast difference in specs of today’s models. So, Lee chose to compare it with the 7 year old Nikon D300s.
Can the new Portrait Mode on iPhone 7 Plus make you a better photographer?
One of the primary lessons I teach in portraiture is how to control the viewer’s eye, and how depth of field is one of the key methods to do that. This is normally the preserve of expensive fast lenses, but soon anyone will be able achieve this with some new technology I’ve been trailing on the iPhone 7 plus.
This new IOS 10.1 software, currently in beta and available later this year uses the twin cameras built into the iPhone 7 plus. It basically provides you with a new and super simple ‘portrait’ camera mode which takes two image and uses software to artificially create a creamy depth of field….and it’s great!
[use the slider to see the regular/portrait version compared side by side]
