8.16.2013

Vacationing with the iphone

The last time I was on vacation in Europe, I was walking around with a film camera and a bagful of lenses. For this latest trip I figured, I already had a bunch of keepers taken in most of the places we were visiting, and this time around,  I wanted to just "be there" with Dada and the kids, not wandering about taking pictures. As the saying goes, the best camera is the one you have with you when the opportunity arises.  Since my iphone5's always in my pocket... why not?

In good light, it actually performs very well. 

 Parthenon



Or even in mixed lighting, as long as you know how meters work.

Bridge of Sighs



Forget the useless flash in backlit situations, but the AE lock feature helps:

Back of the Bus, Dubrovnik



And I don't think you can beat it for stealth:

Sketching the Colosseum


Or getting off a shot quickly


Kotor, Montenegro




I really liked the easy-to-use panorama for sweeping scenics

Venice, Italy
Santorini, Greece
Dubrovnik, Croatia


Or to play around with.

St. Peter's Square



And even to convey space in crowded street scenes.

Piazza Navona




 Just be careful with subject movement, like when Miguel decided to skip a stone while I was panning.

Kotor, Montenegro




There are, of course, other limitations.  A big one is that "zooming" is basically cropping, and will quickly deteriorate your photo.  Just try to be judicious and use only as little of it as necessary. 




This view of St. Mark's from the cruise ship shows a lot of noise particularly in the sky, but I otherwise would not have been able to capture it.




All in all, as long as you stick to the same sound basic techniques that you would use with any camera, I would think that the iphone is capable of decent results.  And along with the numerous advantages, especially the portability and unobtrusiveness, I can see why many tourists are happily snapping away with their smartphones.  Sometimes, it may even surprise you, as with this dreamy photo from a cliffside cafe in Santorini



What I don't get are the folks taking pictures with ipads.....

No comments: