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Apple Shares Tips for Taking 'Pro' Photos Using iPhone 7 Plus Portrait Mode

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Apple today shared some tips to "Shoot like a Pro" with depth-of-field "Portrait" effect in the iPhone 7 Plus, highlighting a range of suggestions collected from professional photographers on its news site.

Tips include getting up close to a subject to bring out details, minimizing the background, putting the sun behind a subject, slightly underexposing, and using soft, diffused lighting.

The suggestions are sourced from fashion photographer JerSean Golatt, celebrity photographer Jeremy Cowart, travel photographer Pei Ketron, and wedding photographer Benj Haisch, and are accompanied by photos shot on the iPhone 7 Plus.

For many years running, the iPhone has been the most popular camera on Flickr, which has encouraged Apple to make continual improvements to the camera equipment in its smartphones.

Along with dual cameras and the Portrait mode in the iPhone 7 Plus, both the iPhone 7 and the iPhone 7 Plus feature lens, sensor, stabilization, and image signal processor improvements that offer much improved performance compared to previous-generation devices, especially in low-light conditions.

Article Link: Apple Shares Tips for Taking 'Pro' Photos Using iPhone 7 Plus Portrait Mode
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/12/06/apple-iphone-7-plus-portrait-mode/
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The fact that the iPhone is the #1 camera on Flickr has not been the reason Apple has continued to improve the camera. The camera is one of the hardware features that brings many options for continuous upgrades and one of the most used features on a phone. That's why they've invested so heavily in improving it.
 
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busyscott said:
Step 1: buy a camera
Click to expand...
konqerror said:
You win the "good photography obviously requires expensive equipment" prize.
Click to expand...

He didn't say buy a Nikon D5, just to buy a dedicated camera - that doesn't have to be expensive - and he's not wrong. Sure, the best camera is the one you have on you - and iPhone is great for day to day point and shoot - but anything more than daily point and shoot, there are better options.

The iPhone's camera is great but if you're serious about photography, you will want something better to be able to learn and grow on.
 
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Portrait mode is great - it has flaws but that will only improve over time as the software/hardware advances.

What I don't like about these articles or features by Apple (and others) is that they still insist on getting 'pro' photographers (the ones who use high end DSLR cameras etc) to give instructions about using an iPhone for photography. These are people who generally take one shot for the demonstration and then get back on their DSLRs to keep shooting.
Sure a photo is a photo no matter what you take it on but Apple did great withe the 'Shot on iPhone' campaign so why not actually get examples/tutorials from photographers that pretty much shoot with their iPhone all the time. After all that is the target market - not some celebrity fashion photographer with 560k Instagram followers.
 
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jerry16 said:
I realize this is still in beta, and sometimes it works beautifully, but in my experience (yes, anecdotal) most of the time when looking closely, there are some wonky effects. Hopefully it all gets resolved. Great start.
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He didn't say buy a Nikon D5, just to buy a dedicated camera - that doesn't have to be expensive - and he's not wrong. Sure, the best camera is the one you have on you - and iPhone is great for day to day point and shoot - but anything more than daily point and shoot, there are better options.

The iPhone's camera is great but if you're serious about photography, you will want something better to be able to learn and grow on.
Click to expand...
For real. Some of the new, relatively inexpensive Sony Alphas are dope for anyone looking to dip their feet. Very forward-thinking cameras.
 
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jerry16 said:
The iPhone's camera is great but if you're serious about photography, you will want something better to be able to learn and grow on.
Click to expand...

Nope, that's exactly the "need expensive equipment" thought. Composition is the number one skill in photography, and it requires no camera at all. Go walk around with your hand in a square. It's the same. Lighting. Directing a model/dog. These are the skills that those pro photographers talk about.

In fact, a lot of the film skills like metering and exposure, which you did need equipment, are gone now, thanks to bracketing, instant preview and editing.

Sure, there's specialized fields like sports photography and photography for print, but that's not something you do until you are skilled at the basics.
 
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Amacfa said:
My telephoto lense would beg to differ.
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Yes, you found the one feature the Pixel doesn't have. Congrats.

I'm referring to photo quality. The Pixel software is actually aware of photons that don't "land" on the sensor during low-light photography and compensates for it, resulting in jaw dropping low light quality. This feature cannot be debated. If Apple had it, we'd be so smug the internet would break.

The zoom is neat. I use it sometimes. The low-light isn't. The Pixel produces better still photos, it's true. Facts.

It's okay to acknowledge this outside of the vacuum that is MR. I love the 7+ for the record, but the camera is dethroned.
 
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djcerla said:
That's a fantastic camera, with well balanced performance between stills and video.

Video on Android devices is years behind.
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4K UHD video on my 2 year old LG G3. Oh yeah, just years behind :rolleyes:
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konqerror said:
You win the "good photography obviously requires expensive equipment" prize.
Click to expand...

Good photography in a wide variety of situations requires more than just an iPhone.
[doublepost=1481072121][/doublepost]Apple loves using the word "Pro".

19789999.jpg


Sorry Apple, your phone camera isn't a match for my 60D. Good for decent looking casual shots, nowhere near what a professional camera can do.
 
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busyscott said:
Step 1: buy a camera
Click to expand...

While I do think the iPhone 7's camera is great for nearly every use - it has "moderately decent" depth of field as it is, and faked depth-of-field/bokeh just sucks. During the keynote, when they showed the picture "taken with a high end camera", I immediately knew it was faked depth-of-field from the iPhone. The fact that the background was "out of focus" but the reflection of the clouds in the man's sunglasses wasn't was a dead giveaway.

I use my iPhone for about 90-95% of my "mobile" photography. But it will never replace my good fast lens for true narrow-depth-of-field photography.
 
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I can't believe they used that photo from @erinrbrooks as the lead photo. It's just an awkward looking photo. Not awful, but pretty bad. If they are trying to teach good photography they should avoid a shot like that. There's a reason the other photos in the article look good - the photographers have developed their skills and practice reasonably good composition.

Looking at her other photos, I think Erin has a good eye. It would really benefit her to get some more formal training. There are reasons to compose a photo like that - with the child leaving the frame, and an unflattering background and tree placement - but I doubt that's what Erin had in mind. As it is, it just makes it look like the child or the photographer (possibly both) are lost. Even if that's what she had in mind, it's a poor example to give to new photographers.
 
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