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Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

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Re: Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

#11

Post by jclardy »

On the leaf image: “The reason I like this so much is the obvious layering. The depth of field created with the iPhone here very clearly shows you what the focal point is, and represents a fantastic example of how good the software is at completely isolating the foreground, leaving the background blurry. A perfect example of computational depth of field.” — Peter McKinnon

Is this correct? From what I've shot in macro on my DSLR, the blur is natural because the focus plane is so thin. I realize the phone has a much smaller sensor, but is the blur in macro mode computational? I thought that effect was only applied in portrait mode shots.

Re: Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

#12

Post by LegitShady »

thr0wawayf00 wrote: post #4
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #2

The trick to getting the best out of camera phones is to shore up their weaknesses with external devices. Cell phone cameras are multiple stops slower than "real" cameras (i.e. they take in 1/4 to 1/8th as much light). So you add light to the scene to shore up that weakness. Most of these pictures were probably lit very carefully with high quality lights, or else were taken in bright daylight, and the phone was proba…

> But you'd probably have an easier time of it on a five year old aps-c camera with a macro lens, to say nothing of modern cameras. That's probably true but as a casual hobbyist, it's so much easier to justify spending $1k on a phone and a few hundred on apps than getting buying a legit macro camera setup, especially used camera equipment. I was frustrated by the macro limitations of the iPhone 13 pro and started per…

>few hundred on apps

I don't even understand what you think you're going to buy that will make you a good macro photographer for hundreds of dollars. Hundreds on apps instead of dedicated macro hardware? I can't imagine that will do anything but waste hundreds of dollars.

Re: Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

#13

Post by dylan604 »

asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #2

The trick to getting the best out of camera phones is to shore up their weaknesses with external devices. Cell phone cameras are multiple stops slower than "real" cameras (i.e. they take in 1/4 to 1/8th as much light). So you add light to the scene to shore up that weakness. Most of these pictures were probably lit very carefully with high quality lights, or else were taken in bright daylight, and the phone was proba…

All Macro photography requires extra light, it's not just anything to do specific to cell phones. That's why there are so many flash rigs designed for this.

Also, the iPhone 13 camera has ridiculously fast lenses[0]:

  Pro 12MP camera system: Telephoto, Wide, and Ultra Wide cameras

  Telephoto: ƒ/2.8 aperture

  Wide: ƒ/1.5 aperture

  Ultra Wide: ƒ/1.8 aperture and 120° field of view
If you search for lenses for "real" cameras with those apertures and focal lengths, you'll find 4 digit price tags for each one.

Sounds like you need some more research into macrophotography

[0]https://www.apple.com/iphone-13-pro/specs/

Re: Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

#14

Post by dylan604 »

jclardy wrote: post #11

On the leaf image: “The reason I like this so much is the obvious layering. The depth of field created with the iPhone here very clearly shows you what the focal point is, and represents a fantastic example of how good the software is at completely isolating the foreground, leaving the background blurry. A perfect example of computational depth of field.” — Peter McKinnon Is this correct? From what I've shot in macro…

At this point, I don't know how to apply any natural photography rules to camera phone results. There is so much processing going on that it is hard to even try to do things the "old" way. From the skin softening, to the pushing of the contrast/color balance/saturation, to the correcting of content replacing a person's face with a leaf type examples, etc, I really don't want to use the damn camera at all from a purist point of view.

Re: Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

#15

Post by Arkadin »

jclardy wrote: post #11

On the leaf image: “The reason I like this so much is the obvious layering. The depth of field created with the iPhone here very clearly shows you what the focal point is, and represents a fantastic example of how good the software is at completely isolating the foreground, leaving the background blurry. A perfect example of computational depth of field.” — Peter McKinnon Is this correct? From what I've shot in macro…

I believe every photo on iPhone 13 pro is enhanced.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/have-iphon...

You're right though that this isn't a "perfect example of computational depth of field" as the background leaf looks far enough away where you could have achieved the effect optically on iPhone sensor with right aperature. That being said the blurring does look unnatural to me as it is not even across the background leaf despite similar distance from lens. It's not clear cut though.

Re: Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

#17

Post by kuschku »

dylan604 wrote: post #13
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #2

The trick to getting the best out of camera phones is to shore up their weaknesses with external devices. Cell phone cameras are multiple stops slower than "real" cameras (i.e. they take in 1/4 to 1/8th as much light). So you add light to the scene to shore up that weakness. Most of these pictures were probably lit very carefully with high quality lights, or else were taken in bright daylight, and the phone was proba…

All Macro photography requires extra light, it's not just anything to do specific to cell phones. That's why there are so many flash rigs designed for this. Also, the iPhone 13 camera has ridiculously fast lenses[0]: Pro 12MP camera system: Telephoto, Wide, and Ultra Wide cameras Telephoto: ƒ/2.8 aperture Wide: ƒ/1.5 aperture Ultra Wide: ƒ/1.8 aperture and 120° field of view If you search for lenses for "real" camera…

> If you search for lenses for "real" cameras with those apertures and focal lengths, you'll find 4 digit price tags for each one.

The aperture is relative to the diameter of the first lens element. So you can’t just compare these values directly.

Re: Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

#18

Post by dylan604 »

tomduncalf wrote: post #5

The macro capability is a really fun addition to the iPhone. It can be hard to get a good shot though, quite often focus is off – the best way I've found is to use the Halide app, then you can enable macro mode and "focus peaking", which will highlight the in-focus area with a colour. This means that a) you are definitely in macro mode all the time, and b) the focus is fixed and you adjust what is in focus by moving…

Focusing for macro is definitely a painstaking process. That's why they invented equipment to help like focus rails[0]. At macro sizes, the focus ring on the lens is just not going to help get that final focus. Instead, the camera is physically moved closer/further from the subject to get final focus. With the super shallow depth of field, millimeters matter so these rails allow you to make very tiny adjustments.

[0]https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1532833-REG/dot_line_...

Re: Apple unveils the best photos from the Shot on iPhone Macro Challenge

#20

Post by Auracle »

shagie wrote: post #8
drexlspivey wrote: post #3

Pretty crazy that you can get this kind of shots with a mobile tbh. Until very recently you would require a DSLR with a bulky specialized lens. For reference this is what a typical macro lens looks like https://images.app.goo.gl/nf5keSiugxyb2pmA6

The issue is the working distance. You'll note that the photographer there is shooing with a lens that has a fairly long barrel. For the Nikkor 105mm macro lens - https://coinimaging.com/nikon_105vr.html At 1:1, there's 15.3 cm between the front of the lens and the subject. But if you're shooting with a rather short lens (e.g. those in the camera of a phone) then the working distance is very close. This becomes impor…

I would say most really good insect macro images are done with dead insects anyways, as they need to be stacked to get a decent depth of field.

The “how to light it” is probably a bigger point. Even with a ~100mm lens, dealing with the lens’ shadow can be annoying.

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