Bob Weil - The Art of iPhone Photography: Creating Great Photos and Art on Your iPhone

The Art of iPhone Photography

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 978-1-937538-18-7

1st Edition 2013

Bob Weil and Nicki Fitz-Gerald

Rocky Nook, Inc.

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 978-1-937538-18-7 (softcover : alk. paper)
1. iPhone (Smartphone) 2. Photography, Artistic. 3. Photography--Digital techniques. I. Fitz-Gerald, Nicki. II. Title.
TR263.I64W45 2013
778.8028553--dc23
2013010939

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Sebastopol, CA 95472

All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice 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

by Daria Polichetti

Cofounder of iPhoneArt.com,
LA Mobile Arts Festival, and The iPrints Store

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 two-dimensional 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 Depressionthey all showed the world what was really going on. This history was paralleled around the world and transformed the way people understood their surroundingsin much the same way mobile digital devices are doing today. And yet, through it all, photography was disparaged as an art form.

Its not real art. The cameras doing all the work. Youre just clicking a button. Anyone can do it. Such critiques were commonplace until the mid-20th 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 Cunninghamkey members of Group f/64 who spent their lives exploring and advocating this new medium.

The debate didnt 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? Its an entirely new kind of device that gives everyone the ability to carry around a handheld digital camera and post-production systemwith camera, darkroom, software applications, and delivery system all included.

Todays 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, its about the artists 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 youquite 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.