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I know this sounds crazy and common but does your camera have any smudges on it? I have found when the iPhone camera has smudges on it, the pictures come out blurry.
 
Yes they are supposed to be blurry, but not Monet-paintings-kinda-blurry.

It's probably the noise reduction

Op(you?) said it was taken with flash. The background exposure might have been dark and the phone brought up the exposure in post which causes noise
 
Apple has changed the processing of the images to make it less noisy but more more smudgy. I think I preferred it the other way around.
 
If we are talking shallow depth of field, that's correct. I was curious about the smudge issue, because we've seen something a bit different - the subject in the foreground looking hazy and faded.

I think my reply disappeared but you said you used flash right? When that happens the background might be a really dark exposure and the phone brings the exposure back up in post and that causes noise so the smudging is likely noise reduction
 
No such issues here:

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Anybody have Lightroom? I wonder if there is a profile I could select to automatically apply a certain set of parameters to an iphone 6 photo. Certain amount of sharpening, contrast, lens profile correction, etc. That would be great.
 
Notice the main object is clear everything else is blurry. looks like something out of Photoshop filter. lol
 
Apple has changed the processing of the images to make it less noisy but more more smudgy. I think I preferred it the other way around.

Its too bad they just don't let them shoot RAW and let us decide how to process them. Even on the supposedly good shots, I still still more noise reduction than I'd like to see. I'll take a bit of noise if it means more detail.
 
I've noticed this too, some of my photos almost appear to have been processed with a paint brush filter. :-/
 
Why is it so impossible for me to take consistently good photos with my 6?

that's funny. I took a few pics of a praying mantis today also. My background is just as bad.View attachment 497096


The background be blurred in background is referred to as blowing out the background. Focal point is mantis. Closer you are to focal point in low aperture lense you will blow out the background.

I want to bet the majority of you are locking your focal point and moving in on the picture. It's also referred to as bokeh... I love blowing out the background of photos. It can be done via software but prefer to do it by lense.
I changed my focal points here can you see how it changes.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1411709283.622998.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1411709242.985352.jpg
 
That first photo looks almost like there's a film of plastic over the lens. The background is supposed to blur, but that isn't really like any bokeh I've ever seen. Looks kind of like a photoshop filter
 
Unless it is in very bright light, everything always looks smudgy. I took about 5 photos of this praying mantis and none of them came out very well. I can never get them to look that sharp.

The background looks like a bad Monet painting.

Image

This is with Auto HDR and Auto flash (which it didn't flash but it did apply HDR). I've tried HDR vs. non-HDR and haven't seen much difference.

Dude the needles look great.

My thought is, you are taking the wrong picture with an auto focus phone. You have to hold your finger over the mantis until it locks. Then adjust the distance of the phone until the mantis is sharp, then take your shot. Otherwise the pine tree is stealing the show.
 
I too notice the inconsistency. The first time Ive noticed this was during a group photo at my house party. We had planty of lighting. The photo came out great, however when I zoomed in everybody looks like they were painted. Very weird.

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That is a beautiful image imho. What's wrong with it?

I don't know. Somehow these image just don't look sharp enough? Maybe?
 
I too notice the inconsistency. The first time Ive noticed this was during a group photo at my house party. We had planty of lighting. The photo came out great, however when I zoomed in everybody looks like they were painted. Very weird.

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I don't know. Somehow these image just don't look sharp enough? Maybe?

I guess what you meant was the background? It's a great image. The blur is actually more of an artistic device than a flaw.
 
That is a beautiful image imho. What's wrong with it?


I don't know. The mantis is in focus like it should be, but the background does have a weird "painted" look when it's out of focus. I don't mind it. It just looks different than other cameras is all.
 
Use Camera Plus app. It has three settings, Macro, Normal and Far. This sets the depth of field for you and locks it in. You can have a focused background or a blurry (called bokeh). Makes it easy to pick and choose. Macro mode is great for small objects.
 

Yup. Nothing to do with depth of field/bokeh. It's over aggressive noise reduction that can be fixed with a software update. It will happen with the HDR shots as the light parts are exposed correctly and the shadow detail brought out at the expense of sharpness. Grain is then removed through noise reduction which in this case is hideous.
Should be a pretty straightforward fix that should hopefully come before 8.1. Some of the photos in this thread look pretty awesome though.
 
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