I often find myself on a spontaneous exploration with nothing to document but my phone. Does anyone have any tips or tricks to get the best shots out of an Iphone?

You dont. ;)

But seriously, its a camera phone. 99% of the photos you take on it are gonna look like cellphone pictures. No way around it.

Google can provide some tips on how to make them less shitty though.

Posted by Skye_Ann You dont. ;) But seriously, its a camera phone. 99% of the photos you take on it are gonna look like cellphone pictures. No way around it. Google can provide some tips on how to make them less shitty though.

Wrong. I've taken many shots with my phone that people actually thought were from a camera. It's all how you center it and apply light.

You couldn't be more wrong, sky. Phone cameras have actually become quite advanced. The iPhone in particular has a pretty bitchin' camera. My first dslr wasn't able to take videos so I'd always use my phone for that and they generally turned out pretty awesome. There are definitely quality limitations but you can still take some pretty nice pictures with a decent smartphone. I don't have any tips or tricks, I'm not really sure there are all that many. I do like using the panorama feature though!

Huh. Well I've never owned an Iphone, I've always had a blackberry or a samsung so I guess I don't know shit.

Posted by Skye_Ann Huh. Well I've never owned an Iphone, I've always had a blackberry or a samsung so I guess I don't know shit.

Good thing you weighed in, then.

iPhone can take some good shots. It all depends on lighting1.


2.


.

All I use is an iPhone so you can see any of my threads but here are 2 pics I thought turned out pretty good and were taken with an iPhone. You be the judge.

The Best Camera is the one you have with you.

You can have a 5000$ rig, but if it's at home sitting on a shelf it does you no good. But an iPhone in the pocket you're golden.

Fall Vacation 2013 - Day Six by .:Axle:., on Flickr

I took one of my favorite shots with my iPhone 5 before I had a nice camera. It would have looked better with my dslr but I still think it turned out alright

Always having the phone on you is the greatest bonus. There is just no way I could have snuck (a.k.a. sneaked) a tripod + DSLR in to some of the places I have been.

I don't take photos with my phone but the camera I DO use always fits in my pocket anyway.

Posted by Skye_Ann Huh. Well I've never owned an Iphone, I've always had a blackberry or a samsung so I guess I don't know shit.

Hah.

Given the time and expense of making photos with my 4x5, the majority of my shots are made with my iPhone.

There isn't anything special to know about how to make good photos with your phone... the same rules of composition and lighting all still apply.

Posted by ahhntzville Good thing you weighed in, then.

Lol.

The only thing I take photos with is my iPhone. I don't care enough about pretending to be a photographer to buy a real camera. iPhones actually take pretty good photos. Like other people have stated, if you have the right lighting, etc. then you can take a photo that no one would ever guess came from a phone.

Seriously people, My camera fits in any pocket on my person. It's a Canon Powershot SX 160 IS. It's got pre-set and 100% manual controls as well. It's 16 megapixels, has a 16X optical zoom, takes rechargeable AA batteries (2), has video capabilities and cost $99 at Walmart.
I'm not saying my photos even come close to DSLR quality, but they don't suck as much as iPhone photos.

I used to be a bit of a purist. but then again, it's just like when the kodak brownie first came out and photography became a thing that anyone could do. was it as great quality wise as a large format camera? of course not. but you can't argue with how many great photographs were made with a brownie. i always find myself taking a few shots with my iphone 5 at a location. and i gotta say, i usually have shots with my phone im just as happy with if not more, with my phone. the convenience of being able to take a photo, edit it, and share it instantly with one device is amazing. not to mention all the great editing and panoramic apps, that save me hours of time on a computer.





and i probably wouldnt have time or patience to 360 panoramas.



http://360.io/hHLDKW



http://360.io/QW6bJr

Low light: Take a flashlight, place tissue paper (the kind for wrapping presents) over the end to diffuse the light. Even to this day I use a giant spotlight with the same technique when shooting with my camera, anybody who's explored with me knows how awesome this works in small rooms or for localized highlighting of objects.


I shot over 10k images on an iPhone before getting my camera. In addition to understanding how to take a good photo, apps are your friends! Avgcam pro, VSCocam, are great for shooting and editing. Photoshop express, snapseed, are the two easiest and powerful editing apps you can have. I edit every single shot I take on my camera with my phone, my laptop crapped out on me and i found that editing on the iphone was really easy.

You just need a better lens attachment right? =)

Posted by wackypanda Does anyone have any tips or tricks to get the best shots out of an Iphone?

Like amishdelight said, try shooting with an app other than the default camera app.

ProCamera is a damn good camera replacement app. It lets you set focus and exposure independently, will tell you if your phone is level, will let you change the aspect ratio, and best of all (I use this all the time in low light situations), it has an anti-shake setting, where the camera won't fire unless it's being held still. Really cuts down on motion blur.

AvgCamPro will let you take incredibly sharp shots in low light but requires the use of a tripod (or just setting your phone on something) to get decent shots. ClearCam will let you do something similar--it takes multiple shots and then merges them to create one big, huge, super sharp image. If you have decent light, you can also use it handheld and still get sharp pictures. Cortex Cam is similar, but I like ClearCam a lot better.

If you don't have a wide angle adapter (like an Olloclip) and need to shoot something wider than what your phone will cover, AutoStitch does a great job of putting multiple shots together.

Snapseed is my go-to app for retouching on my phone. PS Touch is good, too, but Snapseed is free and does pretty much everything I need it to do.

Apps that aren't free are sometimes given away for promotional purposes. The Life in Lofi blog used to do a pretty good job of alerting you when apps were free or at reduced prices for a limited time, but it seems to have gone dormant a few months ago. Still, you might find something useful there.

http://lifeinlofi.com/

Thanks everyone for the good feedback
Good advice all around