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Smartphone Photography 101 + iPhone Macro Tutorial

Jeremy

Renowned Member
16/6/13
667
2
18
o5THr8T.png


I've seen lots of posts where people are apologizing for the image quality of their photos because they were taken with an iPhone or Android device.

The reality is -- smartphones can be excellent cameras -- if you follow just a few simple rules. And, by adding external lens, you can dramatically increase the image quality of your photographs.

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  • Light is your friend.

    • When there is not enough light for the camera’s sensor to capture, the resulting images will appear grainy, and frankly, look like crap. And, since the shutter has to be open for a longer period of time, even slight movements will cause the images to be blurry. It doesn’t matter how many megapixels you have.. if there’s not enough light, your photos are going to suck.

    The flash, however, is not.

    • You’re much better off lighting your subject than by taking a shortcut and turing the flash on. It’ll produce harsh images -- and with many parts of our watches made from stainless steel -- the flash will often reflect back into the lens. I turn my flash off completely. Though use it as a flashlight almost daily.

    Stay still.

    • Even when you have the correct lighting, movement can ruin any shot. Hold your camera steady before pressing the shutter button. On the iPhone, using the touchscreen button often causes movement, so grip the phone with your finger on the volume up button to trigger the shutter.

    Lock your focus and exposure.

    • There’s nothing worse than getting ready to take a shot and having the autofocus decide to change the focus. AE/AF lock preserves the focus and exposure so that as you move while composing the shot, neither are changed.

    Take lots and lots of photos.

    • When taking digital pictures, take lots and lots of them. When you’re done, go back through and delete all but the best ones.

    Don’t use the digital zoom.

    • Seriously, don’t do it. Ever.

    Keep the lens clean.

    • This may sound like common sense, but with the amount of handling your phone gets means that there will often be fingerprints or other schmutz on the lens.

    Beware the EXIF.

    • Digital photos contain metadata about the settings used by the camera to produce the image. Mostly, this is innocuous information like the f-stop, ISO, date/time, and exposure settings. However, on most smartphones the EXIF data also contains the GPS coordinates where a photo was taken. Depending on which photo sharing site you’re using, you might be unwittingly revealing your (very precise) location. As of this post, many photo-sharing sites (including imgur, flickr, and photobucket) strip location information EXIF data, however, emailing photos and hosting that does not strip EXIF will reveal where the photo was taken.

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    Use a more advanced camera app.

    • While the built-in camera app has certainly improved over the years, there are 3rd party apps that give you much more control in fine-tuning your photography. One of my favorites is Camera+ which allows you to pick from different shooting modes (like Stabilizer and Burst), several preset Scene options, and Clarity which automagically makes image adjustments to improve your photos.

    If necessary, edit your photos

    • On the iPhone, the built in camera software has some basic editing functionality (which improves further in iOS 7) but there are thousands of 3rd party apps that provide endless editing options. Get started with Snapseed, free from Google.

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The lenses on many smartphones are effectively wide angle and are not well suited to macro photography. However, by adding a 3rd party lens (I use an olloclip) you can take incredibly detailed and extreme close-up macro shots. The olloclip is a 3-in-1 lens lens that slides over the corner of your iPhone and and allows you to take Wide Angle, Fisheye and Macro shots. And while not “cheap,†the $69 lens gets you a high-quality made in the USA optic.

Here’s what my olloclip looks like:

olloclip_lens.jpg


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Using my Breitling SuperOcean 42mm, this is about as close as the iPhone will focus without the olloclip:

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However, here’s what you can get when using the olloclip macro lens:
(additional macro images displayed at the end of the post)

macro_seconds_hand_small.jpg

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First, download the olloclip app. There are a number of lens-specific features that make this app great, but my favorite is the loupe setting that allows you to zoom in 3x to confirm that your desired subject matter is indeed in focus.
  1. Once installed, lauch the olloclip app:

    1_small.jpg


  2. Next, hop into the settings so we can set the loupe magnification:

    2_small.jpg


  3. Select which setting you’d like to use. I use 3x:

    3_small.jpg


  4. Now let’s change the capture mode:

    4_small.jpg


  5. Tap ‘Macro’ to enable the loupe function:

    5_small.jpg


  6. Like the standard camera app, tapping the screen will cause the camera to focus on that specific area of the subject:

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  7. Because a macro lens has a very shallow depth of field, it is important to verify that you are indeed focused where you want. Tap the ‘Loupe’ button to zoom in even further:

    7_small.jpg


  8. If the image is sharply in focus, press the shutter release to capture the image. If adjustments need to be made, you can again tap the screen to refocus, or, move the lens slightly closer or further away to get the sharpest focus:

    8_small.jpg


  9. Lastly, confirm that the image captured is in focus and displaying the subject as desired. Tap the green button to save the image to your camera roll:

    9_small.jpg


That's it! Now you have incredibly detailed photos you can share with the rest of us.. at which point we'll completely tear them apart and point out all the flaws you never new existed! :p

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(Tap to view images in full resolution)

Seconds hand detail:



Dial logo:



Dial text:



Clasp logo:



Caseback:


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Luthier

Put Some Respect On My Name
30/9/09
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Why not just use a decent camera? Less problems.
 

Jeremy

Renowned Member
16/6/13
667
2
18
Why not just use a decent camera? Less problems.

The best camera is the one you have with you. I also have a $2500 Canon 7D with L series lenses -- that I never end up using because I have a great camera in my pocket all the time. Not only that, I can resize, edit and upload with a few taps.. which isn't possible on a 'decent' camera.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2
 

tommy_boy

Athletic Supporter
23/4/09
9,562
168
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The Evergreen State
Guys, it is my opinion, having seen some of the OPs work, that top quality cell-phone-camera output is doable with a little tinkering and patience.

I don't have an iPhone but I think my Nokia 920 and its Zeiss lens can do better using these tips.

Great post. Thanks, Jeremy!
 

tt88

㊙️ Time does not wait ㊙️
Staff member
Global Moderator
Certified
15/9/12
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Village, of course
Thanks for the tips! :clap:

Sent from my Bezel using 116610
 

justlounging

I'm Pretty Popular
14/10/10
2,725
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+1 on the Olloclip..ordering mine soon..

and rep points given for writing this.
 

Capt. Obvious

Put Some Respect On My Name
5/5/13
4,136
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Thank you VERY much for this post!
Very helpful and will keep this info in mind!
REP points well deserved!
 

soze

Renowned Member
26/3/13
833
0
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Thanks for responding. No, I hadn't ordered one yet. Was hoping someone who had would chime in. But for the price, worth taking a chance.