Tips and Tricks February 12, 2018
Smartphone Photography
Here are some current thoughts on smartphones and photography.
- Camera manufacturers have seen a decline in the sale of compact cameras as smartphones become increasingly adept at taking quality images.
- As smartphones increase their pixel count and introduce features such as shooting in Raw format and manual overrides to their automatic camera functions, they become serious tools in the hands of photographers as well as the general public.
- Shooting in Raw is currently available on most Android-based phones and via third-party apps on the Iphone. Examples of the latter apps are ProCamera, Halide, Obscura, and Manual.
- The ability to edit images directly on the phone has been increasing quickly, with features such as non-destructive enhancements and modifications to images as soon as they are taken.
- Convenience, speed, low-light capability and great depth-of-field are features that stand out in smartphone cameras. Software is now permitting more options for controlling depth-of-field as well as other key parameters of images captured by smartphone.
- Computer operating systems are increasingly accommodating the import and export of images of all kinds, including those captured by smartphone. Frequently all that is required is a usb connection from camera to computer to start software processes that collect and organize images stored on the mobile device. This is in addition to software solutions from many sources, including Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, and Google to name just the largest companies.
- It is said that the best camera is the one that you have with you, and increasingly that is a smartphone. No longer should one feel unarmed in a photography sense if a smartphone is the only device handy for the job.
While there still remain, and may always remain, serious advantages to higher end dedicated cameras, increasingly smartphone cameras are earning justifiable respect.