Recommendations For Iphone Photography?

[peteski]

1 hour ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

I use two soft whites (which are more blue) and one daylight (more yellow). It's very bright, like I said, and you can put the light exactly where you need it.

Hmm, in my experience "soft" or "warm" white is 2600K color temperature (yellowish incandescent-like), and daylight is 4500K or higher (harsh bluish white).  Some bulbs are rated for 3000K and that is basically the type of light you get from halogen lamps (not yellowish and not bluish).

Also color rendering index (CRI) which is usually specified on brand name bulbs, makes a difference how true the colors are rendered.  I recommend CRI or 85 or higher (the higher the number (up to 100) is how well various colors will be rendered.

 

Here is my quick and dirty photo setup.  I am using the magnifier light with a 3000K kitchens and baths fluorescent bulb.  It actually has pretty good color rendering capability.  I always preset the white balance on my camera for that bulb to maximize the color accuracy.  If I need better quality photos I use two 250W halogen work lights with a diffuser to soften the shadows.  That is how I also take the contest photos I submit to the magazines (but for those I use larger stage area).

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 hours ago, peteski said:

Hmm, in my experience "soft" or "warm" white is 2600K color temperature (yellowish incandescent-like), and daylight is 4500K or higher (harsh bluish white).  

Yup, you're right. 

The "warm" whites render distinctly yellowish when photographed if not offset by at least one "daylight" bulb.

I know this (as is apparent from the neutral color balance of my photos). I typed it backwards.

Thanks for the correction.  

It IS important to post accurate and correct information.

 

Edited December 16, 2024 by Ace-Garageguy

[Pierre Rivard]

My setup is quite similar to your's Bill. I too have switched the incandescent bulb to LED. I recently purchases a set of Ecosmart LED bulbs at Home Depot. 14 W (equivalent approx 100W incandescent) with an interesting feature, an integrated switch allowing setting temperature of 2700, 3000, 3500, 4000 or 5000K. Quite useful so I thought it would be good to share. So far ma settings tend to be 3500 or 4000.

[iBorg]

A great backdrop is foam core poster board. I've got two sets of two boards, one black and one white from the dollar store. Total investment $5 plus tax.

[oldcarfan]

Thanks for the tips, ideas, and help, and maybe it'll help others as well!

[peteski]

On 12/16/2024 at 8:24 AM, Ace-Garageguy said:

The "warm" whites render distinctly yellowish when photographed if not offset by at least one "daylight" bulb.

Most cameras (maybe even smart phones) have adjustable "color balance" or "white balance", so they will compensate for the light source's color temperature.  Many cameras have manual color balance option, where you put a piece of white color material (like blank sheet of paper). The camera will take a sample of that and apply whatever color compensation is needed to produce truest colors possible for that light source. I use that setting for pretty much all the photos I take under artificial lighting. It works better than just selecting one of the preset color balance choices.  Utilizing non-automatic color balance will result in good color even with the warm or bluish light sources.

[Ace-Garageguy]

59 minutes ago, peteski said:

Most cameras (maybe even smart phones) have adjustable "color balance" or "white balance"...

My old 4 MP Nikon doesn't.

I'm an old film photographer, and I made part of my living as one for a while, including developing and printing my own work.

Color films were selected depending on the light source temperature, as in "daylight" and "incandescent".

My little old obsolete Nikon behaves the same way as an old film camera, loaded with "daylight" film.

Soft white renders distinctly yellow. I've posted many photos in the past where the color balance was way too yellow-warm, before I adjusted my light source to compensate.

There are many ways to get good results for web photos.

[peteski]

While I'm not a big smart phone user, I believe that there are camera apps available for both Apple and Android-based smart phones, and they can be used in addition to the default camera app which comes pre-installed.  Those apps should enable more customization than the default app, so things like custom color balance, aperture control (if the camera hardware is so equipped) and other advanced settings.  Basically the settings which are available on dedicated cameras.  That should allow for even better quality smart phone photos.  But the basics like ample lighting and composition are still needed for producing good photos.

[DerekV]

18 hours ago, peteski said:

Most cameras (maybe even smart phones) have adjustable "color balance" or "white balance", so they will compensate for the light source's color temperature.  Many cameras have manual color balance option, where you put a piece of white color material (like blank sheet of paper). The camera will take a sample of that and apply whatever color compensation is needed to produce truest colors possible for that light source. I use that setting for pretty much all the photos I take under artificial lighting. It works better than just selecting one of the preset color balance choices.  Utilizing non-automatic color balance will result in good color even with the warm or bluish light sources.

 I usually use auto mode, but it sometimes doesn't handle non-standard lighting.  I'll give it a try.

[deuces wild]

20 hours ago, peteski said:

While I'm not a big smart phone user, I believe that there are camera apps available for both Apple and Android-based smart phones, and they can be used in addition to the default camera app which comes pre-installed.  Those apps should enable more customization than the default app, so things like custom color balance, aperture control (if the camera hardware is so equipped) and other advanced settings.  Basically the settings which are available on dedicated cameras.  That should allow for even better quality smart phone photos.  But the basics like ample lighting and composition are still needed for producing good photos.

I have an android smart phone and don't know all it's capabilities.....🤪🫥🫤

[bill-e-boy]

I use something similar to Ace's set up for working with and taking construction pix. I only have two "Equipoise" swing arm lights but they have higher LED wattage lamps in them. Also use them with a plain backdrop for glamour pix

I use an Iphone 12+to take pix and use the zoom function to crop the image to what I want to portray. I would much rather uze the zoom function to crop the image than piss about cropping in Photoshop. The file size from the phone is fine to post here. The file size from a DSLR is too big and hase to be downsized using Photoshop or other photo editing app

 

[Don Sikora II]

I have a second-generation iPhone SE which is no where close to top of the line, even when it was new. And even that camera is better than expected for taking pictures of models. I just point and shoot and let the iPhone do its thing. The in-phone editing capability in the Photos app seems to have taken a step back with the latest iOS update though.

[Aaronw]

Iphone is pretty non-specific, Iphone is up to 16 now with multiple subvariants of each generation?

 

Any relatively modern cell phone with camera (2020 or newer) is probably good enough that buying a "real" camera is only going to improve your photos if you learn to use all the features. There are all kind of tricks you can do with aperture size (f/stop) which allows you to play with light and depth of field. Looking at the current Iphone 16 the lens has an fstop range of 1.6-2.2, compare that to my 15 year old, low end DSLR's 18-55mm kit lens which give an f/stop range from 3.5 to 38. This lens can do things that Iphone can't, but the average point and shoot user would likely never see the difference.

I can take technical photos with my 15 year old DSLR that my Galaxy S10 simply can't, but the reality is my DSLR hasn't left the bag much in the past 5 years because the cell phone is in my pocket and it is good enough for my general photography. The DSLR only comes out these days for very specific reasons, basically art photos, low light, super close up, fast moving things etc. 

 

Cell phone cameras are pretty good these days. Unless you want to take a dive into fancy technical photography, you might be better off investing in a good photo editing program and learning to use it. That will probably have a much bigger return than buying another camera.  

 

There are several free photo editing programs available, but I can't suggest one.

Not free but I like Affinity Photo 2, about $70 but a one time cost. I used to use Adobe Photoshop but they went to a subscription service and personally I'm finding Affinity easier to use. They offer a lot of sales throughout the year.