Apple Reveals Winning 'Shot on iPhone' Macro Challenge Photos

[Tagbert]

It is enough. If you feel youre missing out, get a basic dslr and dedicated macro lens. Your pics will exceed the quality of these by leaps and bounds.

The iphone 13 pro macro has (imo) pretty severe distortion along the edges and must be positioned so close to the subject that it casting a shadow with the phone and light problems are inevitable. A dedicated macro will be more uniform with no distortion, will likely allow for better magnification with some tweaks, will focus from farther away therefor avoiding light problems, and will overall be sharper and resolve better.

The iPhone 13 pro’s macro lens is very nifty, but it is just not a pro camera tool.

But it *is* very nifty!

It's a phone camera in your pocket. Of course it is not a pro camera tool. We recognize that but very few of us are pro photographers and still enjoy taking some amazing photos with a non-pro tool.

 

[RadioHedgeFund]

*Takes brilliant macro photographs

*Doesn't have manual focus

 

[coolfactor]

Yah, the camera tech is amazing, but wow — NATURE! Nothing beats Nature's design!

 

[Da_Hood]

Is it just me, or is the strawberry photo soft/out of focus... honestly, if I took that I probably would have deleted it and tried again to improve the focus. ?‍♂️

Curved glass.

 

[gammamonk]

Macro mode is horrifically implemented on the 13 Pro, even after the update. Where's the macro mode lock? Which lens can I switch to in order to stop that awful bouncing thing it does as it recognizes and then stops recognizing a close-up object? Where's the in-camera focus stacking that a feature like this desperately needs? Wouldn't that be a great use of your amazing neural engine?

It passes as a macro mode but it utterly fails to delight.

12 Pro here, I use Halide for macro shots. It locks the focus at the minimum distance and uses focus peaking to help you get the distance right. Even without the insane Macro the 13 Pro gives you, I can get plenty close to small flowers, insects etc. I'd give it a try if you'd like more control.

 

[maktaba]

The strawberry one is the best.

 

[citysnaps]

I've found the strength of a photo and its ability to communicate with viewers has very little to do with camera gear.

 

[Tagbert]

*Takes brilliant macro photographs

*Doesn't have manual focus

Yes, it is true the the default Camera app doesn’t do manual focus. If you want that, you should look at third party camera apps like Halide.

 

[erikkfi]

12 Pro here, I use Halide for macro shots. It locks the focus at the minimum distance and uses focus peaking to help you get the distance right. Even without the insane Macro the 13 Pro gives you, I can get plenty close to small flowers, insects etc. I'd give it a try if you'd like more control.

Thanks for the suggestion - I’m going to try it now!

 

[gmarm]

It is incredible that these images were shot on a phone.

 

[TwoBytes]

Do any photography experts how they got those shots?
I certainly can't get shots like that no matter what I do with macro mode

 

[_Spinn_]

Wow those pictures look amazing. Hard to believe that phone cameras have gotten so good.

 

[dwaltwhit]

Is it just me, or is the strawberry photo soft/out of focus... honestly, if I took that I probably would have deleted it and tried again to improve the focus. ?‍♂️

Probably because it is in soda as the title of the photo suggests.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Here come all the photography experts ????

 

[TVreporter]

Curved glass.

I guess it just didn't appeal to me on first glance.

 

[44267547]

It is incredible that these images were shot on a phone.

Correction. You mean iPhone.

 

[Baritone_Guy]

How do they get the black/dark backgrounds on this pictures?

It is likely an actual black background of some sort. Could be a cloth or a black card.

 

[ikir]

Stunning photos, really nice!

 

[Mug_narwhal.0m]

I should have dunked strawberries in water at night!

 

[svish]

Some very good photos!!

 

[redtape]

Here was my submissions:

 

[maxfromdenmark]

That strawberry picture is cool.

cool and wet! Congrats to all winners

 

[NoelWalker]

I hope they host more campaigns like this when the 14 Pros are announced. So I could give myself a reason to upgrade from 13 mini. I love taking photos with iPhones since the introduction of the ultra wide lens on 11s. It changed my mind on photography from carrying giant heavy cannon-like lens around to my mighty tiny device which could fit inside my pocket. Even though I’m not a professional nor very knowledgeable in photography, I would definitely enjoy participating in such contests and share my work with the world.

 

[NBAasDOGG]

Can anyone confirm if the iPhone 13 pro camera can take macro pictures of the sub-pixel structures of monitors or TVs?

 

[RadioHedgeFund]

Yes, it is true the the default Camera app doesn’t do manual focus. If you want that, you should look at third party camera apps like Halide.

The point is I shouldn't have to. Camera+2 is a better option than Halide because its a one time $5 outlay instead of a bloody subscription.

As it currently stands Apple's 'Pro' iPhone is really just a way of making customers who only need a fraction of its capabilities feel like they need to spend more money out of inadequacy rather than usefulness. Discount the camera lenses and the useless-for-most Lidar and in reality the 13 Pro Max doesn't do anything the SE does.

The Samsung S22 Ultra is probably the closest we have to a 'professional' phone: it does all the camera jazz, the stylus might be useful for note taking during lectures/meetings and is capable of full manual overrides with 3x and 10x optical zoom. It also isn't crippled by slooooow USB speeds for transferring large video files.