More Vacation Shooting

More Vacation Shooting

 by William Lulow

Photographers seem always to be doing what they love, making pictures. As a matter of fact, if you didn’t like making pictures, why would you do photography?

So, the question is, “When you are on vacation, what’s the best way to make really great images?” That is something that most of us face whenever we travel. On this trip to Hawaii, I was intent on seeing things I had never seen before. I was very much taken with the idea that I was in the United States, but also in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! But, as I have been relating in the last couple of blog posts, I’m not sure how many gorgeous pictures of palm trees, sunsets or beaches one can make while on vacation. I have tried to make beautiful images of the places I visit as well as make definitive shots of those places. Hawaii has some really gorgeous beaches with amazing blue water and swaying palms. I have encountered them everywhere.

Yesterday, I deliberately went out without my regular camera and just kept my iPhone with me. Here are some of the results:

As I have mentioned before, my gear of choice when just walking around touring or looking for lighting, is my Canon 90D and a 20mm f/2.8 lens. I will carry a short telephoto (85mm f/1.8) in case I see any single subjects or want to do a bit more close up shot. But the iPhone can often suffice in a pinch and it is often used by many tourists exlusively. If you are careful with it and work slowly, using the on screen exposure adjustments and focusing parameters, you can come up with some great shots. Your iPhone is always with you anyway, and you can come back to reshoot something if you really come across a truly unique subject, with your regular camera.

IPhones have certainly come a long way and they have improved their overall ability to make outstanding images. You have to be careful when using them because:

1. You have to hold them at arm’s length, making it more difficult to hold them steady
2. All adjustments must be made “on screen” as opposed to setting them manually as on a camera
3. Using the telephoto setting creates other problems when hand-holding an iPhone. They tend to shake much more and it becomes difficult to obtain a clear, telephoto shot.
4. You can only use digital filters for visual enhancements.
5. Most iPhones have only 12 MP sensors. My Canon 90D has 32MP. So images are clearer and generally more detailed.
6. Many camera phone images, unless very carefully done, don’t stand up to making large prints. (I did come across a photographer who worked exclusively with the iPhone and made some extraordinary 30×30″ prints, but she worked with her iPhone on a tripod and she worked very carefully to craft each image.

One caveat about using iPhones exclusively when on vacation is that if you intend to make large prints, you will most likely, be disappointed with the results. Of course, if you just want to show folks your “take” from your travels on screen, it will be more than enough. But I have written before, in this space, that photographs were really made to be printed and shown.

So, iPhones are certainly good for daily touring but, in my mind, they don’t take the place of digital cameras that can be set preci sely, have the ability to change lenses or to add filters. Yes, filtration can be added digitally, but whenever I have tried it, it doesn’t really work as well as doing it with the camera. Maybe I just don’t enough about Photoshop to make it work, but my technique almost demands that I see an image in my mind before I actually try to make it with the camera.

This is the little gizmo that attaches to your tripod and can hold your iPhone steady. If you want to make really clear and sharp images with your iPhone, you should be using this virtually most of the time. 

Also, you should be doing at least some editing before you publish anything. I have been using Adobe Photoshop Express for some manipulation. IPhones, even the newer ones won’t support the full Photoshop program, so this is a good substitute. It is  still no match for the real thing, but some of my results have been fairly spectacular. Here is another one:

So use your iPhone, but use it carefully and deliberately.