The Art of iPhone Photography

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Creating Great Photos and Art on Your

iPhone

Bob Weil • Nicki Fitz-Gerald

Editor: Joan Dixon Copyeditor: Jeanne Hansen Layout: Petra Strauch

Cover Design: Helmut Kraus, www.exclam.de

Front cover image: Nicki Fitz-Gerald Printer: Friesens Corp.

Printed in Canada

ISBN 978-1-93753818-7

1st Edition 2013

802 E. Cota Street, 3rd Floor Santa Barbara, CA 93103

www.rockynook.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Weil, Bob.

The art of iPhone photography : creating great photos and art on your

iPhone / by Bob Weil and Nicki Fitz-Gerald. -- 1st edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-93753818-7 (softcover : alk. paper)

1. iPhone (Smartphone) 2. Photography, Artistic. 3. Photography--Digital

techniques. I. Fitz-Gerald, Nicki. II. Title.

TR263.I64W45 2013

778.80285’53--dc23

2013010939

Distributed by O‘Reilly Media

1005 Gravenstein Highway North

Sebastopol, CA 95472

may be reproduced or utilized in any form, electronic or mechanical, including

photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without written permission of the publisher.

Many of the designations in this book used by manufacturers and sellers to

distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks of their respective

companies. Where those designations appear in this book, and Rocky Nook was

aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial

caps. All product names and services identified throughout this book are used in

editorial fashion only and for the benefit of such companies with no intention of

infringement of the trademark. They are not intended to convey endorsement or

other affiliation with this book.

While reasonable care has been exercised in the preparation of this book, the

publisher and author(s) assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for

damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein or from the

use of the discs or programs that may accompany it.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

I dedicate this book to my beautiful wife, friend, and life and faith companion,

Marya, and my talented and charming son, Jon, for their boundless patience

and loving support of my iPhoneography habit and the seemingly never-ending

process of writing this book.

Bob Weil This book is dedicated to my wonderfully supportive partner, Bob, my

beautiful son, Lewis, and my fabulous mum and dad for their endless love,

support, and patience throughout the creation of this book and my

iPhoneography obsession.

Nicki Fitz-Gerald

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword

Introduction

Tutorials • Part 1: Photography

People & Portraits Paula Gardener

Study A: Mr. G

Study B: Laughter and Smiles

Jack Hollingsworth

Beautiful Young Woman, Nagaland Festival, India Christine Sirois

Juxtaposition of Tide Doug McNamee

Kitava

Street

Sheldon Serkin

Zoe

David Ingraham

Rat Race

Marian Rubin

Farmers Market, Cuba Landscape

Cecily Caceu

Long Beach in the Rain Daniel Berman

I Offered Up My Innocence and Got Repaid with Corn Panoramic & HDR

Rad Drew

Stone Quarry Sawmill Illustration/Fine Art Lindsey Thompson

Bokeh Web

Nettie Edwards

A Faery Song

Gallery

Tutorials • Part 2: Illustration and Fine Art

Landscape, Nature, & Still Life Kimberly Post Rowe

The Clearest Way into the Universe J.Q. Gaines

Still Life (12-03)

Liz Grilli

Avian

Dan Marcolina

Burned Tree

Adria Ellis

A Winter Landscape

Susan Blase

Flowers in December Spent Surreal

Souichi Furusho

Rest

Mutablend

Secret Eye in the Sky George Politis

The Essence of Time Benamon Tame

The Clockwork Sister Dax Curnew

Hung Out to Dry

Edina Herold

Free

Markus Rivera

Run!

Robert Herold

Cipolla in Florence Abstract & Graphic Bharat Darji

Passenger

Daniele Martire

Pray for Japan

Helene Goldberg

Deco Moon

MissPixels

New Car Smell

Lynette Jackson

Abstract No. 2023

Portraits José António Fundo

The Red Pencil Portrait Nicki Fitz-Gerald

Flamin’ Amy

Bob Weil

Letter from the Beloved Slow shutter – light trail Alan Kastner

Mutual Appreciation (Blending of the Ages) Cindy Patrick

Water Was My Strange Flower Misc/Ambient/FX

Kerryn Benbow

My Wish

Elaine Nimmo

The Tear

Collage

Ade Santora

Human Tree

Lola Mitchell

Regarde

Carlein van der Beek

The Fabulous Reappearing into an Unknown Destiny Johnny Eckó

Dissipatas Lineas

Karen Divine

Watchful

Melissa Vincent

Waiting

Marie Matthews

Heathen II

Appendix 1: Apps Used in this Book

Appendix 2: Quick Guide to Techniques, Filters, and Effects Used in the Book

Acknowledgments

FOREWORD

by Daria Polichetti

Cofounder of iPhoneArt.com,

LA Mobile Arts Festival, and The iPrints Store

iPhone Art: The Collision of Art and Technology

In the brief span of a decade, mobile digital photography has collided with the

birth of social networks. It has transformed the way we view and understand art

on a global scale. But many still struggle with the question, is it ok for me to

like it?

Classical definitions of fine arts refer to painting, sculpture, architecture,

music, and poetry. Today fine arts finally includes “newer” art forms such as

installation art and photography, which, although they have been around for a

long time, are good examples of how innovations often struggle to gain

acceptance in the world of fine art.

During the Renaissance early photographic devices gained popularity and

allowed many noted artists to study light, lines, and images on a twodimensional surface in ways that had never before been possible. Yet

photography did not gain real acceptance as its own art form for hundreds of

years.

The daguerreotype, invented in France in the mid-1800s, was the first process

to capture a true likeness, and it led to a love affair with landscape and portrait

photography. In America, photographers carted innovative portable darkrooms

across Civil War battlefields, and Farm Security Administration photographers,

such as Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange, documented the Great Depression—

they all showed the world what was really going on. This history was paralleled

around the world and transformed the way people understood their surroundings

—in much the same way mobile digital devices are doing today. And yet,

through it all, photography was disparaged as an art form.

“It’s not real art.” “The camera’s doing all the work.” “You’re just clicking a

button.” “Anyone can do it.” Such critiques were commonplace until the mid20th century, when photography finally came into its own, due, in large part, to a

small group of pioneers such as Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, and Imogen

Cunningham—key members of Group f/64 who spent their lives exploring and

advocating this new medium.

The debate didn’t stop there. Indeed, every time there is a technological

advance, the same arguments arise. When editing programs such as Adobe

Photoshop came on the scene, for example, those who were used to shooting on

chromes and having to get it right in-camera thought the art of the photograph

was being lost. The same thing happened when digital cameras started replacing

film. It seems that each time advances in technology make the ability to create

art more accessible, it stirs the technology argument all over again. And what

technological advance in photography has been more widespread and visible

than the iPhone? It’s an entirely new kind of device that gives everyone the

ability to carry around a handheld digital camera and post-production system—

with camera, darkroom, software applications, and delivery system all included.

Today’s explosion of social networks, such as Facebook, Flickr, and

Instagram, are a key factor in the popularity of mobile art. At the same time, they

are the reason many people are turned off to it. It is so easy to look at the

millions of online snaps of your friends’ feet or breakfast and just tune out.

But that is not the real story. A dynamic underground art community is

inventing new methods and exploring the possibilities of this new medium in

much the same way the founding fathers of photography once did. This

movement congregates in global communities such as iPhoneArt.com and

iPhoneographyCentral.com. These and other online art colonies should not be

confused with the explosion of social networking. But they live and thrive side

by side.

Ultimately, mobile art is not about process or equipment. As is true of any art

form, it’s about the artist’s vision. But mobile devices do bring many new

possibilities to the table.

The iPhone is discrete. It allows you to capture candid moments that may

otherwise have been disrupted by the presence of a bulky, intrusive camera

setup, and it allows you to capture shots you could not have otherwise obtained.

The iPhone is powerful. It triggers enormous creative energy for the artist, with

its easily accessible, extensive, yet inexpensive library of apps for

postprocessing. But a simple click of a button does not do all the work for you

—quite the opposite. Many dedicated mobile artists use 2 or 5 or 10 apps to

process a single image. They study the different capabilities of each app and

then design their own combinations, tricks, and innovations to create a unique

vision and voice.

The iPhone is ever-present. The cover photo for the November 12, 2012 issue

of Time magazine, which featured Hurricane Sandy, was shot with an iPhone. A

New York Times photographer shot an award-winning war photo with an iPhone

app. National Geographic, which produces some of the best photos in the world,

offers online tips on capturing worthy moments on your phone and has

produced a coffee table book in Germany featuring only mobile photographers.

In the past these moments might otherwise have been lost. But today our mobile

devices are always with us, so we are always ready to capture the fleeting

moments of life.

The iPhone is immediate. As many artists have observed, one of the most

revolutionary aspects of mobile devices is that they give you the ability not just

to shoot an image on location, but to process, tweak, refine, and finish it there,

too. As Nicki Fitz-Gerald recently noted, the iPhone gives her the ability to

postprocess “on the spot where I took the shot—still surrounded by the smells,

the sounds, the cold, the warmth—the whole environment,” not unlike the

experience of creating a plein air painting. Until now, if you shot a picture out in

the world you had to wait until you were back at home with your computer

before you could finish the image. But the iPhone allows you to bring your

darkroom with you, and for many that immediacy allows the full inspiration of

the moment to be present from the beginning through the end of the creative

process.

The iPhone is collaborative. Not only are our camera and darkroom now in the

palm of our hand, but our social networks are as well—the web of interaction

that allows us to share and get feedback from thousands, even millions, of likeminded artists around the globe—in an instant. In fact, this communal aspect of

image sharing has become so pervasive that it’s now a common and popular

practice among mobile artists not just to share but also to collaborate on images,

passing one piece back and forth and remixing each other’s work. Furthermore,

the iPhone itself allows for a collaboration between artists and software

developers, with both sides of the spectrum informing the other, teaching the

other, and ultimately working together to break new ground. This interaction

between the artistic and the technical sides of mobile art often produces results