Smartphone Photography Tricks
There may be times when you would like to be in the picture you are taking or be able to fire the shutter of your phone’s camera remotely for some other purpose.
My discussion here has to do with IOS devices (Ipad, Iphone, Ipad), but it may apply to other brands of similar devices as well.
You can mount your Iphone (e.g.) on a tripod or tripod-substitute (see my mention of the HandlePod in last November 12 Tips & Tricks). You can find a tripod adapter on Ebay or most camera stores. Mine was less than $10, including shipping and a little pseudo-gorilla-pod stand which I don’t really find strong enough for its purpose.
Once the phone is mounted, there are 3 ways to fire the shutter remotely. A) attach the earbud cable that came with the Iphone and use the volume controls as shutter buttons. B) Using a third party app like Camera+ you can set a timer to fire the shutter at a predetermined moment. C) Link your Iphone to another IOS device (Ipad, Ipod, or Iphone) by having them on the same wifi network or communicating with each other via Bluetooth (enable this on both devices).
In the latter case you can see the input of the Iphone on your second device (Ipad, e.g.), choose your spot of focus, and fire the shutter of the tripod-mounted Iphone when ready. The app I use and demonstrated at the club is WiFi Camera.
This is the kind of thing many DSLR users long for (especially in a studio) and are gradually getting via smarter wifi camera gear and special wifi-enabled memory cards.
This mobile option is a much less expensive and fun alternative. Plus the adapter can make an excellent Christmas gift.
Enjoy.