My iPhone Takes Professional Quality Photos
There has been soΒ much feedback on my last blog post I knew I needed to do a followup right away. Most people found my last postΒ helpful and pretty neat and you all shared it like crazy (thank you so much for the love!). A few of you wanted a closer comparison. You wanted more. So here I am, giving you what you’ve asked!
My iPhone take professional quality photos….or does it? You decide!
You will see twoΒ photos per pose and location. The first is a photo taken with my iPhone 6 Plus. This is intended to show what a photo would look like if the average Joe pulled out his phone and snapped a photo.Β The second photo is taken with my Canon 5D Mark III less than 60 seconds afterΒ when I took theΒ cell phone photo. Yes, the second photo is edited, but that is part of why a professional photographer is so important!
The whole point of this is not to say “cell phones are bad you shouldn’t take photos with them” (my phone is always full of cell phone photos!), this is all just to help educate everyone onΒ the difference hiring a professional photographer can make.Β There is a time and a place to hire a professional who has an artistic eye and who is actively learning and growing in this field.
Knowing howΒ lighting works, knowing poses that work, knowing how to coach your clients, knowing how to edit to enhance your work, these things all take a photo to the next level and just further show how important it is to hire a professional.
I amΒ more than “that girl with a nice camera,” I amΒ a creative, a artist, a professional and sometimes, a magician!
Also note that my editing style is not Β going to appealΒ to everyone, and that is ok. My clients love it and that is why they book with me!
I hope you all enjoyed this fun comparison, I have so enjoyed all the discussion around this topic over the past 24 hours! Feel free to share with anyone you think might find it interesting.
that’s not fair comparision and I can not agree with you that with phone you can’t take proffesional photos – you just dind’t use iPhone right .. and I’m sure you did it on purpose. those photos from dslr aren’t better, they jost got shallow dof so background doesn’t bother … try to take them with 28mm on f8 and you will see dslr isn’t any better ’cause you didn’t care about background. simple as that γ
Hi Piotr, I opened up the camera on my iPhone and snapped a photo. I did not try to make it look good or bad. This is how the “average Joe” would take a photo. If you KNOW how to use light to your advantage when shooting with a phone, and if you have the technical knowledge on how to use your iPhone, then you do not fall into the “average Joe” category π I am not saying a cell phone cannot take a great photo, I’m simply showing the difference between the two. Thanks for your feedback!
What you’re saying is completely ridiculous and I’m shaking my head just reading this response lol. You can’t exactly use a cell phone “wrong” in a way that someone could use a dslr wrong. Sure, you can find the right light and angles but that’s besides the point. There are no features on it that compares to a professional camera. A dslr DOES take better photos. Even with no dof, using a 28mm lens on f8, the image is going to be cleaner and sharper. This is not to say using a camera phone is bad, as the author suggests, but rather, it just can’t perform like a dslr can. Because of the nature of dslrs, we can choose to shoot more wide open to get the mostly desired compression and bokeh that iPhones can’t replicate so that is why for special occasions it would be best to use a dslr and/or a professional. Try blowing up your “amazing” cell phone photo into a huge canvas and tell me it’s superior to a photo taken with a dslr . You picked a strange comparison to make a point. The blog is about the average person taking their cell phone to take photos, had the same shots been done my a professional with professional gear, the outcome is going to be better. Even on f8 lol..
Yaaaass Angela π
Did you not notice the feature distortion from the iPhone lens? That’s something you won’t have control over. And most iPhone users won’t switch metering modes, and don’t know how to properly expose a scene. Same goes for white balance (and you can’t do much about that in post unless you shoot in RAW). Bokeh – yeah, you can fake that in post. People who know what they’re doing, regarding composition, focus, exposure, avoiding motion blur and noise, and depth of field, can take a “good” photo with a phone – but chances are the phone won’t allow the type of control that a SLR will, and it’s that type of control that can make a photo the best it can be. Add some mad post-processing skills, and you can make a work of art.
Piotre you’re wrong in basically every word you wrote.
And now, show me sooc please π
I thought about it π
So show us π
Maybe that can be a future post!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing this post. I love the comparison between the iphone photo and your professional camera with your mad skills behind it.
Thanks Linda! Glad you enjoyed this post!
These articles has been interesting!
I am not a photographer, but in high school I took a photography elective and I learned how HARD taking professional grade photographs can be! We may be able to take good photos, maybe even great photos, but you are not able to take professional photos without the tools and the skill set.
People don’t always respect that photography is a lot of time, effort, and skill. It isn’t just settings on a camera, it is a creative and thoughtful mind, which you appear to have with your stunning photos!
Thanks so much for your sweet comments Sarah π
I want to see the difference between dslr and iPhone. Unedited!
I am sure someone has done that already π
If you know how to use DSLR you would know that the difference is huge
Me too! You can edit a I phone picture in Photoshop and make it look very beautiful too!!!
Could you please tell me what program you use to edit the photos? They are gorgeous and you are very talented
Also, can you give me tips on what a good quality and affordable camera would be for a beginner? Thank you!
Yes Cristan! I started on a Canon Rebel! I just used the lens that came with it. Then as knew what my style was and that I wanted to pursue this as a career I upgraded. The Canon Rebel with a lens is only $499 on the Canon website which is actually less than buying an iPhone out right! Here is a link for you to check out, it might be cheaper on other sites or if you buy a refurbished one (my first camera was refurbished and I never had one issue!) Let me know if you have more questions, I’d love to help in any way I can!
http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/eos-rebel-t6-ef-s-18-55mm-f-3-5-5-6-is-ii-kit
Is photoshop how you edited it? I like your style and am wondering if you can recommend a book or post a blog post of how to get the effect that you get. I’m a beginner and have a rebel camera. The lighting? Background blur? It’s beautiful.
Thank you Jamie! I use Lightroom to edit 90% or so of my photos. I use the presents from Mastin Labs which are so helpful! However, I try my best to take the photo as I want it, in my camera that way the editing in minimal. I believe their are tutorials on the Mastin Labs website, but honestly, I am self taught, so I don’t really have much to recommend. I started on a Canon rebel too! It’s a good camera π
Perhaps next week I could post a blog post on my editing/style, if you think that would be helpful?
I use Lightroom for 95% of my edits. Sometimes I bring an image into photoshop if I need to do some detail work. These were all edited in Lightroom though. And thank you for your sweet words!
For those asking for the unedited images…you’re missing the entire point of her article. And probably the people who think they can do just as good as a professional photographer and convince their friends and family to let them document momentous occasions like weddings and births with subpar equipment. Excellent article, Valerie.
Thanks Sarah π
This is not a fair comparison at all, you edit the pictures of the DSLR, yeah “the average joe” will take a pic like the one of the iPhone but YOU ARE NOT a “Joe” you are a professional photographer you have an eye to take amazing pictures. This really looks like an diet / exercise ad.
Put your professional photographer mind when you taking a iPhone picture and lets talk…
I was replicating a scenario π
Do you use any Lightroom presets on your photos? And if so, would you be willing to share what those are? Love your style!
Hi Lindsey, I use Mastin Labs for about 80% of my work, the rest is hand edits or presets I’ve created on my own! Here is a link to the Mastin site. I highly recommend them! https://mastinlabs.com
Apples to oranges here for sure. But I can see why you made the comparison. And I can almost see some underlying reasons to post this. One might be to encourage future clients to ensure Uncle Carl doesn’t take out his iPhone thinking that, just because it does take great photos in its own right, he’s going to get a great shot of the bride. You’re the hired gun and, speaking from experience, there’s nothing worse than trying to do your thing with a dozen family members tying to replicate your images.
I sold off my DSLR gear and am now a full fledged iPhoneographer and I love it. I’m not a professional, just a guy who likes the challenge of producing great photos with an iPhone. And admittedly, some of the images I post get people asking if they were from my iPhone or a DSLR. I’m proud of that. And I’m glad you were honest about this test.
Cheers
Thanks for reading Greg!
I personally don’t think too many folks hire an average Joe to shoot a wedding our other event unless they really can’t afford a pro. I have shot weddings on my cell phone, emailed “proofs” to the couple, and have had them request my photos over the “pro” they hired. They tell me, “You captured what we were feeling at that moment, not a posed expression of how you felt we should look.”
I think in the end, it’s about the customer/client and what makes them happy. As I said in your first post, it is the person pressing the shutter and not the equipment. The argument about DSLR vs. smartphone cameras is outdated. Valerie, you are correct. Especially with a million and one photographers in the field today, it’s about how our individualized talent shines through, not about how we expressed it outs what we used to produce it.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment π
Hey there Valerie! Great post and reminder! I love your editing style~do you have created actions that you sell? Very beautiful! π
Thanks so Much. I actually use Mastin Labs for about 90% and then apply hand edits. They are wonderful!
Interesting couple of articles and clearly you’ve drawn a fair bit of ire from the audience. I however, completely agree with your points.
I am an ameture photographer and the difference between using my Galaxy S6 (which does have a “better” camera than iPhone in many respects) doesn’t hold to my D5300 (entry level, but a valid DSLR).
I constantly hear people attempt to validate using their 600 dollar phone in lieu of a 600 camera. Aside that they’re basically arguing they have a $600 camera they can talk into and update mundane activities socially, it’s absurd to lean on the idea that the phone camera is as good as a specific dvoce for photos.
The camera does one thing exceedingly well – take a picture. While the camera itself isn’t responsible for composition, lighting, and the myriad of things required to understand and execute to produce desired effect – neither is saying that apps with filters are the deterministic factor toward pro images with a glorified, subscription based, walkie talkie.
As a Lightroom user, I see there are lenses correction features for an iPhone…something very recent, but yeah… Saying you don’t need a photographer to help a client realize the maximum potential for what are usually one time important life events is like saying your trust a SCAD or another art institute to acknowledge your entire training regime for drawing was a handful of connect the dots and tracing paper…because thats what prefab filters for camera phones are and what’s worse is in no way do they help anyone understand why an image is blown out or what the histogram shows and why it important for becoming better in knowing the actual tools over a sale gimmick from, yep, telephony.
Then again, I play gran Turismo on the play station with a driving wheel so I don’t need to qualify at a track with a real car. Thanks anyway.
Thanks for reading Shawn! I appreciate your feedback!
I think this is such a great post. Plus, those Wichita sunsets!
Thank you!