Glad to be alive
I find that I photograph reflexively sometimes. I'm increasingly struck by the beauty of the world and the weather and feel more and more grateful to be a crawly-creature scuttering about on a tiny area of the surface of this suspended pearl; and so on some occasions when my surroundings seem magical, I'll grab my colors-camera*, AKA the iPhone, and compose a quick memento. I suppose the impulse is to hold on; reach out, grab it, possess it, preserve the wonderfulness of it. Of course you can't. I'm often reacting to many things that can't be shown in the picture anyway—the temperature, the smell of the earth in the air, the warm gentle breeze pushing its way around me—the experience of a summer evening. And neither can the little sensor capture much of the magic of the colors and the light of moment. For that you need a large-sensor camera—like a Micro 4/3!
Ahem. Anyway, I call these impulsive air-grabs at the beauty of the world "Glad to Be Alive Pictures." I do it too much, and rarely does one of them please me as a picture. But doing it reflects my attitude of gratitude, so I do it.
Careful of those highlights!
This one illustrates a basic shooting problem. On any camera, not just this one.
I was trying to get the iPhone to hold the corrected exposure. To change the exposure on an iPhone, touch an area and a little yellow square metering area will appear around it, with a slider next to it that features a sun symbol in the middle. Slide the sun up and down on the slider using your finger anywhere on the touchscreen in order to lighten or darken exposure. The trouble is that the iPhone reverts quickly to what it judges to be the proper exposure, and I don't know how to get it to not do that [Ed. note: See yischon's comment below]. The exposure doesn't stay where you put it for very long. So you have to be quick. Here, I put the metering area on the setting sun and lowered the exposure until the highlights looked like they wouldn't be too blown out.
Anyway, of course I noticed my dog Butters wandering into the shot—I thought, oh, good, that will help the foreground—but I was paying attention to the exposure when I took the picture.
In fairness to me, it was pretty dark when I took this! And the lens was on the widest setting—Butters wasn't actually right in front of me. It wasn't until I reviewed it later that I realized that what I had photographed was actually a violation of doggy potty privacy. Oops. The lesson, of course: always pay attention to the details in the finder! It's not always easy.
By the way, here's an illustration of why you might want to change the exposure on an iPhone picture:
This is my apple tree in the twilight. This is about how it looked to me, on a night with a deep blue sky with bright stars.
...And this is the picture the way the iPhone wanted it to look. Yuck. I mean, thanks for trying to be helpful, iPhone, and it's technically remarkable that little ol' you can do that, but it looks like about 4 p.m. on a blah day.
By the way, contrary to received opinion, the iPhone is actually very easy to hold. You can wrap your hand firmly around it. All you have to do is not block the lenses. The trouble with the iPhone as a camera is that there's no sensible position for the "shutter release" or go-button or whatever you want to call it on a phone. I don't suppose I'll ever stop getting a picture all ready to take and then...turning the phone off. D'oh!
Mike
*"My little boy startled me at age five when he offered his first critique of Daddy's artwork. He had asked me to take a picture of how small his watermelon hard candy had gotten in his mouth, opening his mouth wide and presenting the remarkably diminished candy on his tongue. Never one to refuse a proffered photo opportunity, I took the picture. Later, though, when I showed the print to him, he launched into a tirade that I still think is wonderful: "Daddy, you need a new camera. Your camera is a grays camera. You need a colors camera. When you buy another camera next time you should make sure it has colors in it." And so forth. It was a pure critique, succinct and pointed—art criticism direct from a five-year-old heart." From "The Grays Camera," originally published in Black & White Photography magazine in 2006.
Original contents copyright 2023 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)
Featured Comments from:
yischon: "The built-in Camera app on the iPhone does have AE/AF lock, but even though it's not obvious, once you've learned how to do it, it's easy to recall: Hold your finger on the screen for around two seconds to set AE/AF lock. You can still swipe up and down to adjust exposure."
Mike replies: Many thanks! I didn't know that. I suppose if the iPhone is really one of my two cameras now, I ought to learn how to use it....
Keith: "Well...I thought...does my Motorola Android phone camera have a focus lock?? And it does! And it works exactly the same way—including showing the exposure slider! After all these years of not knowing that! Thanks Mike for passing that on. PS. Still much prefer a 'proper' camera. Cheers, Keith."
Luke: "My android phone lets me position a shutter 'button' wherever I need it on the screen. This makes it much easier to hold and shoot. Also, a two-second timer allows a steady hold, and more precise framing, after punching the button. Silly work-arounds for a telephone posing as a camera, but they help."
Sebastian: "Your first paragraph on this post is awesome. Thank you.
"You really need a Ricoh GR IIIx anchored to your jeans pocket (or coat pocket mind you)—large sensor, 40mm equivalent, etc."
Mike replies: Must be a good seller; all versions are out of stock at B&H Photo.
Antonis R: "While on the subject of phone hacks...er...I mean instructions, I have permanently set –0.7 exposure compensation. Unlike other settings like AF/AE, once set, it stays through subsequent launches of the camera app (assuming Preserve Settings > Exposure Adjustment = ON). I figured I can deal with noise in the shadows better than highlight data lost forever. I consider it a 'safe' starting point. If time allows I can always counter any underexposure with a temporary adjustment move (the slider you mention). And big thanks to yischon for the AF lock tip. I was just as clueless :-( as you Mike."
Here's how to lock exposure:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/iphone/iph3dc593597/ios#:~:text=To%20lock%20your%20manual%20focus,the%20screen%20to%20unlock%20settings.
Posted by: SteveW | Tuesday, 05 September 2023 at 05:24 PM
I take a lot of 3d photos and videos. The difference between them, and 2d photos and videos is profound.
On viewing, with a suitable tablet, tv or yes, lenticular print, you are immediately transported back to that moment when you captured it.
Surprised you've never covered the topic here.
I'm crap at a lot of things. But I'd rate myself in the top ten globally for expertise in all things 3d. Hard won experience all gained to bring joy to my wife. She adores 3d. So that's why I perfected the tech for us.
Posted by: Kye Wood | Tuesday, 05 September 2023 at 06:36 PM
"Grandpa! Don't make my photos all gray!" Sorry, Alice, Grandpa can't help himself. She's only 6 years old. She'll come around.
Posted by: Bill Bresler | Tuesday, 05 September 2023 at 08:05 PM
There is an excellent iPhone app called Halide that opens up all the available photographic controls of the camera as well as the ability record RAW files.
Posted by: Steve Rosenblum | Tuesday, 05 September 2023 at 10:11 PM
In case this is another helpful hint, you can actually trigger the shutter using the volume buttons instead of the on screen ‘dot’. Helpful to maintain that good grip!
Posted by: Craig H. | Wednesday, 06 September 2023 at 06:07 AM
I have found a middle-ground with my phone that I am much happier with. It won’t be for everyone, as I am firmly in the “good enough” camp, not seeking high-megapixel technical perfection. Other indicators that you may not be interested are that I typically carry Micro Four-Thirds instead of my full-frame DSLR for intentional photography.
Since my iPhone 7 Plus and now on my iPhone XS Max (both acquired used many years after introduction), I use ProCamera to capture DNG raw images. This offers me more manual controls, jpeg files for immediate sharing, and the ability to use DXO PhotoLab later on. The manual controls do honor my intent pretty well.
In PhotoLab, I can run the same workflows as I do with my dedicated cameras, including exposure, tone mapping, white balance, etc. with the AI noise reduction (Deep Prime), I get quality somewhere between where the Nikon D90 and D70 were back in the day. There is still some exposure latitude in those raw files.
Note that PhotoLab does not support my iPhone XS Max directly, or indeed any modern iPhone. I need to use exiftool to change the DNG to say it is an older phone. Overall, it is automation-friendly and worth the hassle. I am aware that newer iPhones emphasize ProRaw, which will not work with this approach.
Posted by: Andrew Barkley | Wednesday, 06 September 2023 at 09:26 AM
I don't use camera phones much, but in low light isn't it difficult to not cause shake when tapping the shutter "button"? That could be a good use fo voice command. You could whisper "shoot" to the thing. Can they be trained in that way?
I found out an hour ago that there are apps to control video on smart phones that are pretty comprehensive.
Posted by: Robert Roaldi | Wednesday, 06 September 2023 at 11:00 AM
Using the volume keys to shoot the camera is standard on Android phones, and is vastly better than trying to get a finger to the screen.
Posted by: David Dyer-Bennet | Wednesday, 06 September 2023 at 04:35 PM
My dogs never told me about the potty privacy rule. I have a few shots of them doing their business just for the comedy of how they balance with #2. My wife is not a fan of those photos for some reason. I should make a calendar.
The volume buttons will both trigger the shutter so you can squeeze the phone much like a proper camera's shutter button.
Posted by: Larry Gebhardt | Wednesday, 06 September 2023 at 05:17 PM
My problem with controlling highlights is that if the Sun is already too bright, I can't really see the screen well enough to find the little Sun image when the AF/AE lock is on. Fortunately, it is not necessary as once locked, any adjacent spot on the display acts as the slider. Because of reflected brightness, I still wind up with a "best guess", but sometimes that is all you get.
Posted by: Jimmy Reina | Thursday, 07 September 2023 at 01:09 PM
one reason to think about buying a sony phone of recent vintage is they all come with a dedicated shutter button at the right hand side. sony Alpha camera users have some cool integrations with that ecosystem. a bonus feature is if you're doing anything else that shutter button immediately launches the camera app too.
Posted by: almostinfamous | Saturday, 09 September 2023 at 11:13 PM