Florida by iPhone
Many photographer’s have praised the usefulness of iPhone camera’s (the latest is David duChemin in recent posts) to the extent that other’s feel it’s a tired and overused tool; a gimmicky toy with apps that produce cliched and hackneyed pictures.  There is some truth to that opinion, but I love my iPhone4 camera. I’m enjoying the simplicity, availability, quality, challenge, and fun of it. While in Marco Island, Florida, this week, the iPhone has been my go-to camera trumping my Nikon D700 and Canon S95. At first, it was a matter of convenience, the iPhone is usually in my pocket so it’s easy to grab for quick shots; then it was fun; and, at last, it developed into the mini-project shown in the gallery below.
I wasn’t looking to test out a slew of new photography apps and simply used 2 that I already had on the phone. The images below were taken and processed using the Hipstamatic or Camera+ apps. Between those 2 apps my photo needs were pretty well covered. Camera+ is a fantastic app that is only missing a few features in my opinion (straightening and adjustment layering would be nice additions).
The Hipstamatic app is more a game of sorts. Mixing and matching films, lens, and flashes gives you varied results. Often, results vary even when using the same combinations and shooting the same subjects. I really like Hipstamatic’s Black-and-white films and, once I had tested and saved a few combinations of various color films and lens, I was even able to better predict the look that some color images. However, using different Hipstamatic films and their respective borders and looks, along with various filters within Camera+ to obtain the feel I wanted in the pictures, has, in my opinion, lent a visual randomness and discontinuity to the images. Something I can accept this time, but I plan to try for more uniformity on the next iPhone project.
A few other gripes with the apps: I wish both apps could be set to automatically open in camera mode for quick image taking rather than having to remember to switch back to the camera when closing them; while Camera+ just got a speed boost in a recent update, it could still use some more.
Our trip here has been filled with sun, warmth, swimming, sand, and food. My family and I still have 3 more days in the Florida sun, but I’m feeling like this iPhone project has nearly run its course so I’ve shared these now. Today we are headed out for a boat excursion which I think I’ll switch camera formats for.
Click images for a larger view
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