Smartphone as Camera: Embracing Photography's New Visual Vocabulary

Smartphone photography is popular, ubiquitous, and here for the long term. It's estimated that about two-thirds of the world's population use mobile phones, and of those, almost half use smartphones. It's impossible to know how many of those smartphones are used for taking photographs, but it's a good guess that it's a lot. We put about 350 million photos on social media each day and the top three most popular cameras on Flickr are all iPhones. I'd say that means smartphone photography is pulling ahead as the most popular way to take a photograph.

As smartphone photography grows, questions about the nature of photography and its future are being asked. Are smartphones destroying photography as an art form? Is smartphone photography diluting image making? Are smartphones real cameras? 

The Grammar of Photography

The question I've been thinking about is this: do you need to know the basics of photography to take good pictures with a smartphone? Some photographers argue that making photography more accessible does not make it better, particularly when the camera does not offer a way to learn the mechanics of photography.  

Henri Cartier-Bresson, the noted photojournalist, was a master of candid photography. He maintained that good photography couldn't happen until the photographer learned the grammar of photography. According to Cartier-Bresson, just as we learn, imbed, and unconsciously use the grammar of language to engage in conversation, so must a photographer learn and imbed the grammar of photography to take pictures. Instead of word order and punctuation, a photographer learns f-stops and focal lengths, frame rates and aspect-ratios.  The nature of our tools creates creative restraints: design and communication problems that we endure to find novel ways to solve. Our solutions are the basis of photography's visual vocabulary.

Cartier-Bresson's Leica rangefinder allowed changes in aperture and shutter speed. Changing films changed the processing speed or ISO. With today's smartphones, focal lengths are fixed and f-stops are automatic. The world is mediated by a tiny television screen instead of a lens. So how important is it that a smartphone user learn the grammar of photography?

I've been using an SLR and then DSLR camera for a very long time. My cameras are almost always set to Manual, meaning I need to think about the grammar of photography with each shot. But when I want to take a photograph while out walking with my dog or take a photo of friends at a party, I reach for my smartphone. I could use one of the manual apps for my smartphone and choose the camera settings myself, but I don't. Instead, I allow my mind to go on autopilot and concentrate on getting a great composition, a perfect smile, or that split second action.

Experimenting

Knowing that I could abandon the grammar of photography, I set out with my smartphone over a period of a few weeks to see what I could capture. While it took me a few days to get into the mindset of using my smartphone creatively, it took me no time at all to abandon any concerns about aperture, shutter speed, ISO, or focal length. I think my results are worthy.

My first photographs with my smartphone were pictures of pretty scenes.

After a few days of experimenting, I began to construct photographs.

After my two week experiment, I reached three conclusions.

1. Ultimately, success with photography is not as dependant on the tool being used as much as it is dependant on knowing how to use the tool you have

Ansel Adams needed to understand and work the relationship between lens axis and tilt and shift of the film holder in order to take his photographs with a view camera. Cartier-Bresson may have been aware of those principles, but he did not need to use them to take photographs with his rangefinder camera. Similarly, I need to understand how to use focal length, aperture, and shutter speed settings in order to use my DSLR effectively. But smartphones do not require that I know or use that information. 

Knowing how to use the tool you have does not necessarily mean knowing less but it usually does mean knowing something different. Moreover, understanding the particular characteristics of your tool and using those characteristics to your advantage transforms your picture-taking from simple snapshots to visually engaging photographs.

Ansel Adams did not need to consider the parallax effect that Cartier-Bresson had to learn with his rangefinder. And because Cartier-Bresson not only learned but mastered parallax, he was able to successfully use it to his advantage. By taking advantage of the distance between viewfinder and lens, Cartier-Bresson improved his ability to anticipate action, increasing his success at capturing the decisive moments.

In the same way, I need to come to terms with the characteristics of a smartphone if I want to use it to take good photographs. I may not need to master aperture and shutter speed, but I do need to understand the enhanced depth of field that smartphones contribute to photographs. By understanding it, I can use that characteristic to my advantage as I did in the following photograph to add depth to what would have otherwise been a flat image. 

2. Knowing and understanding the basic principles of image construction influences the quality of photographs taken with a smartphone

Whether sketching with a pencil, painting with a brush, designing with a computer, or taking photographs with a smartphone, the same set of visual principles will shape your end result.

Composition

All pictures are limited by the edges of the image. With a camera, the image could be square or rectangular, and if rectangular, could be tall or wide. Composition requires that you think about how you will organize your picture: what shape the picture will be, what will be included in the picture, and where those elements will be placed.

Graphic Elements

We build images by using lines, shapes, direction, size, texture, colour, and value (or tone). Understanding how these elements make a picture - good or bad - helps us to compose and take better photographs.

Design Basics

Through years of study, we've come to understand that there are objective principles of design that create the impressions we see in pictures. We can change the impact of a picture by manipulating graphic elements to change balance, perspective, repetition, contrast, harmony, dominance, and unity.

Light and Colour

Perhaps more than in any other visual art, understanding light and how it works is critical to producing good photographs. Light also affects the colours in pictures and the relationship between colours. 

Intent 

Thinking about the purpose of your picture will influence how you use the other visual principles to construct your image. Deliberately using and adjusting the principles makes an identifiable difference to the style of a picture.

I worked with texture, repetition, and light to create this photograph.

3. The nature and quality of light in a scene remain the most important considerations when composing a photograph

I've already mentioned the importance of light and colour as a principle of design, but in photography, light is a constant that affects every photograph you take. Photography is ultimately and distinctly the craft of recording light. It's light passing through a small hole (the lens) that creates the image to be recorded. Knowing, understanding, and applying the theories of light to your photography will impact your outcome more than any choice of camera.  

Quantity

Photographers refer to this quality as brightness. As light gets brighter, a camera can capture more information with improving quality.

Direction 

We see the effect of light direction when we look at shadows, but in photography, even the most subtle changes in light direction will affect what and how we see the subject of photographs. Light direction changes shape, size, texture, and contrast.

Colour 

Our eyes see light as colourless, but cameras see and record the way light varies in colour depending upon its source. Photographers learn to see and use colour variations in light, capitalizing, for example, on the violet tones of morning light or the warm golden glow of indoor lamps.

I took advantage of low light with a warm glow to create this photograph with my smartphone.

Conclusion

Some photographers and critics argue that good photography requires that photographers learn, understand, and apply the mechanics of photography. To learn those mechanics, they argue, photographers should learn to use traditional cameras and understand their techniques.

Kodak introduced the Brownie camera in 1900 as an inexpensive, simple camera that anyone could use. Many people did use them, producing outstanding photographs without any knowledge of the mechanics of photography. Today's Brownie is the smartphone. As with the Brownie, I maintain that while knowing the mechanics of photography can be a good thing, it's not necessary to produce quality photographs with a smartphone.

What will result in better photographs is learning the characteristics of the camera you are using, understanding and using the basic visual principles to compose photographs, and learning and applying the principles of light. In fact, smartphones are ideal for exploring visual principles and the nature of light because the other aspects of photography are automatic or fixed, or at best, only marginally adjustable. Also, because smartphones provide immediate feedback by composing photographs on the screen, the effects of manipulating visual principles and light are quickly apparent.

And here's an added bonus: using a smartphone to explore visual principles and the nature of light will result in better photographs using any camera. So, onward with your smartphone and play!

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5 Best Apps for Windows Phone Video Makers

Smartphones have changed the way videographers and photographers work, and not only because of the use of the smartphone to take photographs or create videos. Suddenly, multiple tools that where only available on larger computers could be taken anywhere, in your pocket. A videographer in the field can do complex timecode calculations, verify depth of field, know exactly at what time the sun sets for a specific shot and even use a digital slate to write information and sync sound and image. In this article, we’ve collected the best tools for the Windows Phone 8 video maker.

1. Mobile Slate

Videographers need a slate to sync sound with the moving image, and nothing can be better than to have a Mobile Slate, a real digital clapper in your hand! Developed by Clinton Rocksmith and sold with a meagre price of $0.99, the Mobile Slate is the ideal tool for DSLR film makers who needs a clapper.
When you open the app you'll find an image of a regular slate. Arm the clapper and then touch anywhere on the screen to get an audible beep or clap sound to sync your film with your audio. It’s as simple as that.
The Mobile Slate does more than just clapping, though. By simply tapping on the take or scene number you can change them quickly. You can write the name of  the film director and the camera used. The app gets the date from the phone, lets users select the number of frames per second, and also change the colour of EXT/INT and DAY/NITE. Also offered are timecode options, which include Time Of Day and User Definable Free Run. Tap Settings to access the complete menu for this app.
The Mobile Slate, which is now in version 3.0, is available as a free trial. The author suggests future improvements are planned for version 5.0, which will cost more.

Free Alternative: ClapBoard

While the Mobile Slate app will cost you $0.99, ClapBoard is completely free. And it also claps for sync! In appearance the two apps are very similar: they both try to look like a  movie clapboard or slate.
The clapping sound is present and you can change the number of roll, scene and take. Here, for simplicity sake, you change the roll number simply tapping on the correspondent space on the screen. For the date the app counts on the smartphone, and you can also adjust fps number, DAY/NIGHT, INT/EXT and MOS/SYNC, to indicate if an associated film segment has no synchronous audio track (motor only sync or motor only shot) or is in sync. It will not, however, let you set the name of the director.
Created by Future Warp, the ClapBoard App for Windows Phone 8 is a decent slate to have close by for your own productions. It not only allows to easily get some information about shots in your camera, it also offers a simple way to sync everything in your videos.

2. Depth of Field 7

This is another interesting photographers-helper app. The Depth of Field 7 app does exactly what the name suggests: calculates depth of field.
Although there are multiple depth of field calculator apps available, even for Windows Phone 8, none, at least for WP8, offers information for the use of cine cameras, from 16mm to 75mm, including Super 16 and 35mm. Furthermore, the app has information for cameras from different brands: Canon, Fuji, Leica, Nikon, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, Samsung, Sigma and Sony.
The interface, based on smart visual sliders for f/stop, distance and focal length, makes the app very easy to use. Being able to sync hyperfocal or infinity focus with one touch, adjust the f/stop scales to show full, half and thirds of f/stop and show information about circle of confusion (how much out-of-focus something will appear) makes the tool a valuable asset both for photography and video.
The Depth of Field 7 can be downloaded from the Windows Phone 8 store online. Unfortunately the creator, Leonardo Sobrado, is not contactable and there is no way to know if the camera’s list will be updated with new models. But, even as it is, the app is a valuable tool that is completely free at the moment.

3. TimeFrame

TimeFrame is a professional film and video timecode calculator, and another tool video enthusiasts may want to have in their Windows Phone 8. Created by Chris Sparrows, it costs $2.99 and has a trial mode which is nearly fully functional.
TimeFrame can be used to calculate positions for aligning audio with video (dialog, slate markers, etc.), calculate the duration of a slow-motion (high-framerate) clip when converted to normal speed, easily convert timecode from one frame rate to another (keeping duration or frame count) and quickly see how many frames a clip contains.
TimeFrame delivers and is the best option available if you need a timecode calculator.

4. Golden Hour

Although there are multiple apps for GoldenHour/Blue Hour and a lot of others with daylight and night exposure data, Golden Hour is an interesting program because it offers a simple interface showing both golden and blue hours, and time left before they happen.
Created by IIXn and completely free now, although initially it was sold, the app shows start time and duration of golden and blue hours. The user can modify sun altitudes that determine start times and duration for different places, and also set alarms before these events, so to be prepared in time and not miss the desired light. If you opt for using the app in a LiveTile, both hours are displayed. Furthermore, for blue hour shooters the current phase of the moon is provided, what is a good indicator for those wanting to photograph or create a video of the moon.

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How to Use Your iPhone Like A Pro: Manual Photo & Video

The iPhone has always been a great tool for photographers to carry everywhere. As well as being able to predict the weather, control your DSLR and calculate exposures, the iPhone has a great camera. Unfortunately, that camera had some major shortfalls: you couldn't manually control the camera’s shutter speed, ISO or exposure. iOS 8, however, has changed all that. Third-party apps can now manually control the camera settings. This opens up some exciting creative possibilities.
In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to take control of your iPhone’s camera and use it like a pro to capture photos and video.

The iPhone as a Camera

It’s a tired cliché that the best camera is the one you have with you. What is true is that an astounding amount of photos are being taken with iPhones. Apple is now the most popular camera manufacturer on Flickr with more pictures being taken with the iPhone 5s, iPhone 5 and iPhone 4s than any other devices.
Apple has shown they are dedicated to the iPhone as a camera. Each successive generation of iPhone brings improvements that push the limits of what is possible with smartphone cameras.

It’s a tired cliché that the best camera is the one you have with you.

At the moment there are four iPhone models for sale: the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 5S and 5C. On paper they all have similar technical specifications, but the newer models have better image. All four iPhones have an 8 megapixel camera, but the newer models have better image quality because they have larger sensors. The cameras all have a fixed aperture 4mm lens; f/2.4 in the 5C and f/2.2 in the 5S, 6 and 6 Plus. Given the crop factor, the lens is equivalent to a 30 to 35 mm lens on a full-frame camera.
The iPhone has a shutter-speed range of 1/2000 of a second to 1/2 a second. The ISO range is 34 to 2000 in the 5S and 5C and a slightly wider range of 32 to 2000 in the 6 and 6 Plus.
For video recording, the 6 and 6 Plus can record 1080p at up to 60 frames per second and slo-mo 720p at 240 frames per second. The 5S can record 1080p at 30 frames per second and slo-mo 720p at 120. The 5C can record 1080p at 30 frames per second and can’t record slo-mo.

Better Photos With Manual

To really take advantage of the new iOS features you need manual control. Many third-party camera apps have been updated to include new manual features, and new ones have been released, too. My personal favourite is Manual which I’ll show you how to use in this tutorial. It’s $1.99 and requires iOS 8.
Manual is designed for one purpose: to enable you to take full control of your iPhone’s camera. Many of the other camera apps are focused on adding filters after the picture is taken; Manual keeps it simple and is all about getting the best picture in camera.
With Manual you control the camera’s shutter speed, ISO, white balance, focus and exposure compensation. There are also some tools to help you get better photos such as a rule-of-thirds grid and a live histogram. I use Manual instead of the iOS Camera any time I want creative control over my shots.

The main screen of Manual.

Everything is accessible on the one screen. At the top you can tap on an icon to bring up the controls for flash, focus and white balance. Flash can be turned off, on or set to fill. Focus can be controlled manually with a slider or set to auto. White balance can be set to auto, sunny, shade, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent, flash or any Kelvin value between 1000 and 8000.
ISO, shutter speed and exposure compensation are controlled at the bottom of the screen, just above the shutter button. The controls are tricky at the start but once you get the hang of them, you can quickly change shutter speed and ISO.
To adjust them, hold down on the shutter speed or ISO value. Sliding your thumb up raises the shutter speed or ISO, sliding it down does the opposite. The controls are highly sensitive, you only need to move your thumb a few millimetres to change from one value to the next. The exact range of settings is determined by what model of iPhone you have.
Just above the shutter button is the live updating histogram. Use it to ensure you don’t clip your highlights or shadows.
If you set your ISO and shutter speed to auto, you can use the exposure compensation. Located just below the shutter speed, it is controlled in the same way. You can compensate by 4 or 8 stops either way. You can also direct the autofocus by tapping on the screen.
Taking photos with Manual is more work than just using the Camera app, but you have far more control over the pictures you do take. If you want to take great pictures with your iPhone, it’s the way to go.

Better Video With FiLMiC Pro

The features that make a great video recording app are different to those that make a great photo app. FiLMiC Pro is one of the best available. It costs $4.99 and requires iOS 6.1 or later.
FiLMiC Pro gives you almost total control over how your iPhone captures video. While Manual makes it easier to take great photos, you can’t take great video without an app like FiLMiC Pro. You don’t get quite the depth of control over the exposure settings as you do with Manual, but you get huge control over how the footage is processed and encoded.
With FiLMiC Pro you can set focus and exposure independently using the two reticules. The one resembling an aperture ring is exposure, the square one is focus. Tapping the corresponding button in the bottom left corner locks focus or exposure. The third button—with the square and two triangles—locks white balance. The lightbulb turns the fill light on and off. The filmstrip and gear cog access captured footage and settings respectively.

FiLMiC Pro main shooting screen.

You can zoom using the Plus and Minus symbols on the right of the screen. Tapping on a numbered button creates a shortcut for your current zoom level. You smoothly switch between different zoom’s by tapping the numbered buttons again. To clear a saved zoom hold down on the relevant button.
The real power of FiLMiC Pro comes in the settings screen. You can select from more than 20 preset combinations of capture frame rate and output frame rate; if that’s not enough, you can create entirely custom set ups with the settings yourself. There are presets for regular, slo-mo and accelerated motion footage.

FiLMiC Pro settings screen.

In the settings you can also select the bitrate. The higher the bitrate, the more information that gets saved. There are four options offering between 12 mbit/s with Economy and a television-broadcast standard 50 mbit/s with FiLMiC Extreme. To get the most form your iPhone, you should be using the highest bitrate you can. Be careful though, if you are using a 16GB iPhone, you will fill up the hard drive in ten minutes of shooting at 30 frames per second with FiLMiC Extreme.
FiLMiC Pro also records audio. If you use an external microphone, it can even handle stereo. Otherwise, it just uses your iPhone’s microphone.
There is a steep learning curve with FiLMiC Pro. At first, all the options available are overwhelming. Once you get the hang of it though, you will be able to record amazing footage. People are making some great films just with iPhones.

Conclusion

The first step to using your iPhone like a pro is to get as much work done before you even start shooting. Using apps like Manual and FilmicPro you have far more control over the shots you take. If you get it right from the start you’ll never have to worry about fixing overexposed or poorly focused material in post. If you don’t, no amount of filters will make your photos or videos look professional.
These are the two apps I swear by, but there are others out there that are just as good. If I’ve missed your favourite, let me know in the comments.

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