Photos and words by Stephen Scharf
Cute Gray House. Exterior "1-point" perspective "real-estate"-style photo of a home in St. Helena, in the heart of the Napa Valley, California. Shot as a JPEG, handheld, available light, without a tripod, no sky replacement.
The Gala. An event styling, staging, and rental business in Martinez, California, Shot as a JPEG, handheld, available light, without a tripod, no sky replacement.
Audi R8 LMS (Le Mans Sedan). Shot using a Profoto C1 "smartphone" flash with a softbox light modifier. Shot in RAW using the ProfotoControl iPhone app which provides control of lighting power, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and exposure, etc. Converted/edited in Adobe Photoshop 2022.
John Muir House. Exterior shot of John Muir’s house in Martinez, California, now a US National Historic site. Built in the Italianate late-Victorian style in 1882 by Dr. John Strentzel, Muir's father-in-law. Shot as a JPEG, handheld, available light without a tripod, no sky replacement.
John Muir's Study. One of my favorite iPhone shots is this one of John Muir’s study at his home in Martinez, California. I love the perspective, the quality of light, and the fact the iPhone even held detail in the curtains at the window at the far end of the room. Shot handheld, down low, through the cordon that blocked the room off from access by visitors. All I did with this photo was to straighten the verticals a touch.
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GADA camera
After years of carrying a camera with me everywhere I go (generally my wonderful Fujifilm X100F), I’ve come to the conclusion you don't need to do that anymore: the iPhone 13 Pro or Pro Max is the perfect GADA (go anywere, do anything) camera. I've been using mine for the last month or so, and am fairly blown away by the quality of the camera, and it’s flexibility for handling a range of use-cases. In addition to the Night Mode, there’s a Long Exposure post-processing feature for photos taken using the Live Auto mode that will take a number of frames to produce effects like adding motion blur to moving water. As mentioned in one of the photo captions, the iPhone supports shooting in RAW. For those needing more control over lighting Profoto makes two lights, the C1 and C1 Plus, that provide professionals with an effective lighting solution for use with the iPhone. The Profoto Control app provides complete control over lighting power, shutter speed, ISO, white balance, and exposure, as well as RAW capture.
The bottom-line is my iPhone 13 Pro Max provides the use-case flexibility, versatility control, and image quality to be my "GADA camera" of choice.
Stephen
Stephen Scharf is a retired molecular biologist presently living in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. He’s been an accredited professional motosports photojournalist for the better part of two decades, and does some occasional professional real estate and product photography just to keep his hand in. You can find some of his work at his website.
Book o' the Week
The Mindful Photographer by Sophie Howarth. I only know of Sophie Howarth from her time as a curator at the Tate Modern in London, but my impression then was positive. Her brand new book (it only came out a few days ago) is about slowing down as a means of enjoying photographing more. It's said to contain a curated collection of photographs along with anecdotes and explanation.
The book link is your portal to Amazon from TOP, should you wish to support this site.
Original contents copyright 2020 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.)
Featured Comments from:
MikeR: "George Eastman's dream realized: I think that this set firmly cements the point that, for all practical purposes, our smartphones are now the equivalent of all prior point-and-shoot cameras, from Kodak box cameras and Instamatics, to those like the Canon Powershot or Fuji Finepix. The current crop of mirrorless and DSLR cameras are fine for the pros and for hobbyists like me/us, but 'impractical' for most folks, who have a perfectly good camera in their pocket. And even that line is blurring and moving up."
Peter Komar: "Well there you have it, the death of digital cameras. Those are amazing images; what’s the point of even debating what the iPhone can do in the hands of an artist? I was convinced after my side-by-side shot comparison with my iPhone 12 Pro vs. my Panasonic LX100 which has a Micro 4/3 sensor. I could not believe the results. The iPhone is my carry with me camera."
Kirk: "Nice work! This has me looking forward to the iPhone 14 Pro. Can't wait. Maybe I can finally get rid of all those other cameras...."
Gaspar Heurtly: "Someone mentioned the 'you press the button, we do the rest' slogan on a recent post. I think that comment is spot on. The only difference, I think, is what 'the rest' is. Back then, when Kodak pocket cameras became popular, 'the rest' usually meant slightly blurry pictures with blown highlights and very underexposed images for anything that wasn't shot in daylight. The good pictures were only shot by people with good cameras that knew how to use them. Now, 'the rest' is an astonishing amount of technology that makes it possible to take perfectly exposed pictures in near darkness."