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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

#121

Post by HidyBush »

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…

>Cell phone cameras are multiple stops slower than "real" cameras (i.e. they take in 1/4 to 1/8th as much light).

this is not true. the iPhone camera's sensor receives the same density of light from its f/1.8 lens than any old traditional camera using an f/1.8 lens. this means the stops are identical. of course the total amount of light that passes through the iPhone's lens is much smaller than a normal camera's, but that has no bearing on the photo's exposure. the real difference rests in the signal to noise ratio, which is determined by pixel density, and that's why smartphone photos are incredibly noisy.

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

#122

Post by infinityio »

gnicholas wrote: post #118
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…

> the phone was probably held in a high quality tripod Why is a high-quality tripod needed? You can just set the camera to be on a timer so that it's not shaking (from you touching the shutter button) when it captures the photo. I think it's also possible to use an Apple Watch to trigger the shutter. > It is also likely that hundreds of dollars worth of software was used to edit each of these images. Do photo contest…

> Do photo contests typically allow entrants to heavily edit photos?

To my knowledge - yes

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

#123

Post by camillomiller »

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…

Dude, have you ever even used an iPhone 13 Pro? Believe me, the macros you take with this phones are stunning. And lighting and stabilization are a determining factor for macro even with cameras, actually even more so for cameras than phones.

These pictures btw were not taken this way. The reason I know is because I talked to the Italian winner and Apple about exactly that.

Check this one out: https://www.icloud.com/iclouddrive/0b1PRNfudllgp0q1LyuHrW1OQ...

Taken at dusk. No other lights.

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

#124

Post by MaXtreeM »

Slight OT: I am thinking about buying a camera. I have never had a good camera system nor I ever had a flagship phone (iPhone/Samsung/Pixel). I though a mirrorless with good lenses would be a good starting choice. I don't want to do professional photography, I just want to shoot holidays in nature and my upcoming baby. I did some internet research and was blown away when people compare photos from best phones to photos from mirrorless/DSLR cameras. My impression now after some research is that you can get better looking images from camera if you are willing to do some post-processing in Lightroom, etc. If you compare raw images then a lot of times people tend to say that the one taken on a phone looks better (I know it might not look more "real", just that people like it more). Would you agree that buying a camera is worth only if you are willing to do a lot of preparation and post processing but if not just buy a phone with all the advantages it brings? Is it even worth buying a camera in 2022 if you are targeting a price of about what top model iPhone costs?

Let's leave pure love of photography aside for the sake of argument.

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

#125

Post by mym1990 »

gnicholas wrote: post #118
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…

> the phone was probably held in a high quality tripod Why is a high-quality tripod needed? You can just set the camera to be on a timer so that it's not shaking (from you touching the shutter button) when it captures the photo. I think it's also possible to use an Apple Watch to trigger the shutter. > It is also likely that hundreds of dollars worth of software was used to edit each of these images. Do photo contest…

"Do photo contests typically allow entrants to heavily edit photos?"

This is going to depend on the genre of the contest, but for most contest types outside of the journalistic realm editing style will very much be a part of the process. You will typically submit the final print and no one will know what the original picture was. There are some contests out there with some pretty outrageous editing though!

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

#126

Post by camillomiller »

HidyBush wrote: post #121
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…

>Cell phone cameras are multiple stops slower than "real" cameras (i.e. they take in 1/4 to 1/8th as much light). this is not true. the iPhone camera's sensor receives the same density of light from its f/1.8 lens than any old traditional camera using an f/1.8 lens. this means the stops are identical. of course the total amount of light that passes through the iPhone's lens is much smaller than a normal camera's, but…

This

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

#127

Post by stu2b50 »

MaXtreeM wrote: post #124

Slight OT: I am thinking about buying a camera. I have never had a good camera system nor I ever had a flagship phone (iPhone/Samsung/Pixel). I though a mirrorless with good lenses would be a good starting choice. I don't want to do professional photography, I just want to shoot holidays in nature and my upcoming baby. I did some internet research and was blown away when people compare photos from best phones to phot…

If it’s for holidays and kids, I’d say stick with a top of the line phone, then think about getting a discrete camera for edge cases (if you have that kind of money)

The best camera is the one you have available. Kids are mobile and wild and often do memorable things at unexpected time. Whipping out your iPhone and taking a video or picture is easy and pretty much always capable.

Phone cameras, with much processing magic, do produce pretty good pictures. And pretty good pictures beat non existent excellent pictures because you didn’t lug your camera around.

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

#128

Post by camillomiller »

ghostly_s wrote: post #47
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…

Most of the photos Apple highlights in this campaign are also shot with very expensive external lenses.

This is false FUD.

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

#129

Post by camillomiller »

galaktus wrote: post #111
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…

> Most of these pictures were probably lit very carefully with high quality lights, or else were taken in bright daylight, and the phone was probably held in a high quality tripod. It is also likely that hundreds of dollars worth of software was used to edit each of these images. Like they do with "professional" cameras as well.

Actually way less than with pro cameras

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

#130

Post by camillomiller »

Arkadin wrote: post #15
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 t…

This is the stupidest, laziest, and less informed article I’ve ever read from the New Yorker. I honestly don’t know how it got published.
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