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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

#61
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 that magnification I would expect some amount of blur, and the bokeh in the shot is very nervous, so I'd say it's mostly optical. Phone camera lenses generally have very poor bokeh, though you can rarely see much of it.

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

#62
If I counted correctly, 8/10 of the selected submissions specifically mention the iPhone and the macro feature by name. Same with the comments on different submissions.

Okay, okay, I know, it's Apple, this is a marketing campaign.

I guess next time, I'm going to take a photo of the contents of my fridge, with the caption:

"Every morning, when I check my new iPhone 14 Pro Max Plus, I'm filled with a sense of inspiration. The new Wake Up feature really gives me a boost of energy, even on cloudy days like when I took this photo of an avocado. The deep, dark green of the rind reminds me of the striking new Alpine Green color of my new iPhone 14 Pro Max Plus, and the texture couldn't be more vivid than shot by the new Macro+ Holographic Lens."

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

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Just a meta-comment, but your reply was really good until the last sentence. > Sounds like you need some more research into macrophotography That undermined your otherwise very factual rebuttal/clarification because it seems like at best an impossible standard (everybody could always use more research into anything), and at worst a "you don't know as much as me" veiled in professionalism/passive aggressiveness. The i…

I interpreted the phrase as meaning something more like “when you make claims about the fundamentals of macrophotography with such a confident, authoritative tone, those claims should be backed by more research than you seem to have done.”

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

#64
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 that magnification I would expect some amount of blur, and the bokeh in the shot is very nervous, so I'd say it's mostly optical. Phone camera lenses generally have very poor bokeh, though you can rarely see much of it.

Yep. The iPhone 13 Pro bokeh is miserably bad. On point sources, you're lucky if you can get any out of it and if you do it's got a hole in the middle.

Example here: https://imgur.com/a/cPG3YSP

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

#65
post #40
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not really about being justified, it’s about being gentler with people. We don’t have to jump all over each other, there is another way.

I think OP will live.

When given the choice, choose compassion.

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

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

What I was personally referring to when I mentioned "software" is a photo editing application like Photoshop, Lightroom, DxO Photolab, etc. The subscriptions/purchase prices of these type of software is $200+. There are free software versions of these apps but most photographers do not use them.

and you can do most of the photo edits with software like Affinity Photo or Pixelmator Pro without the “hundreds” price tag.

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

#67

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…

I disagree that bigger cameras are better for macrophotography. I say this because of the physics of how light works in macrophotography, which matches my experience doing macrophotography with larger cameras (6x7cm and 4x5").

The long story short is that reducing the aperture has two effects on image sharpness. Smaller apertures increase the depth of field, bringing more of your scene into focus. Smaller apertures also introduce diffusion, which makes the whole image softer. This tradeoff means that there is a medium aperture which makes your image as sharp as possible.

Photographing people with a 35mm camera, the aperture which maximizes sharpness is often achieved with apertures somewhere around ƒ/5.6 or ƒ/8. It is advantageous to use a 35mm camera because the larger sensor size can reveal more detail and capture more light. 35mm also gives you access to larger apertures and those nice, blurry backgrounds.

In macrophotography, large cameras just aren’t as advantageous. The small apertures that you typically use will produce soft images, and the soft images can be captured well enough on a small sensor. Small cameras give you very blurry backgrounds to begin with, so you wouldn’t choose a large camera to blur the background. Additionally, small cameras require less lens movement, proportional to their size, to focus at the short distances required for macrophotography.

I do some macrophotography with my RZ67. Mostly pictures of flowers. It’s fun, but I know that it would be much more convenient to use a smaller camera, and I wouldn’t be sacrificing image quality. One of the big reasons I use the RZ67 is because it uses a bellows to focus, and the bellows is long enough that you can focus very close. However, there’s a lower limit to the size of the subjects I can comfortably photograph, and if I were serious about macrophotography, I would use a smaller camera.

Summary: Large cameras are better at taking pictures of large things, small cameras are better at taking pictures of small things.

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

#68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Just a meta-comment, but your reply was really good until the last sentence. > Sounds like you need some more research into macrophotography That undermined your otherwise very factual rebuttal/clarification because it seems like at best an impossible standard (everybody could always use more research into anything), and at worst a "you don't know as much as me" veiled in professionalism/passive aggressiveness. The i…

[deleted]

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

#70
post #62

If I counted correctly, 8/10 of the selected submissions specifically mention the iPhone and the macro feature by name. Same with the comments on different submissions. Okay, okay, I know, it's Apple, this is a marketing campaign. I guess next time, I'm going to take a photo of the contents of my fridge, with the caption: "Every morning, when I check my new iPhone 14 Pro Max Plus, I'm filled with a sense of inspirati…

> If I counted correctly, 8/10 of the selected submissions specifically mention the iPhone and the macro feature by name. Same with the comments on different submissions

The contest was only open to photos taken from an iPhone. This is mentioned in the heading, sub-heading and opening paragraph.

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