There is no doubt that vintage film cameras are cool and there is something special about shooting film in the digital age. This workshop is for those who want to connect with a mechanical camera to express photography the way it was in its heyday of the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s. David Brommer has never abandoned film photography and has a massive collection of “vintage users” he maintains.
Dates: June 2nd, 2024 9 AM-5 PM
Genre: Analog Street & Urban Photography
Group Size: Max 5 participants
Skill Levels: All
Includes: 3 rolls of film, camera rental, film processing and scanning, breakfast and post workshop group zoom.
Cost: $350.00
In this special one day workshop he will open up his cabinet of cameras and let you choose which one to shoot with during the day. Fancy a Hasselblad medium format? We have a red one with three lenses. A Nikon? Take your pick of SLR or Rangefinder. Want to experiment with a half frame 35mm? The Olympus Pen F is your camera. For those who want precision, grab the Contax with Zeiss lenses, or go instant with Fujifilm Instax. You may also bring a manual camera you inherited or were gifted and want to learn to use. You’ll have three rolls of film to work with during the workshop.
The focus of your day will be street and urban photography. This includes people and architecture with an emphasis on compositional elements. Film photography can be fun and surprising and each film emulsion has a look all their own. This workshop will give you a firm grasp of the basics of mechanical film cameras, exposure and composition.
Nikon FE 50mm Nikkor 1.4 Ais Fujifilm Superia 400 Converted to B&W (note the grain)
The day begins with coffee and bagels while we get a lesson on how to load film into your camera. After a quick rooftop photo op and exposure discussion, we take to the streets and head to little Island on the Hudson. Crossing the West Village we stop at the “secret garden” and continue east to the photo paradise of Washington Square Park and grab lunch. We then visit the Photo Lab 5R for a tour and workflow discussion. From there our walk continues to the Alamo and the East Village ending in Tompkins Square park. Cameras will be collected and film dropped off at our lab. Just like in the hinter years, you will get to look at your work about a week later after they have been developed, scanned and emailed to you. A few weeks later we will meet on zoom for an image review.
Nikon FE 50 mm 1.4 Fujifilm Superia 400Nikon FE 50 mm 1.4 Fujifilm Superia 400Nikon SP 35mm 1.8 Kodak Tri-X with Shitty Iphone Scan
Each student receives 3 rolls of film (B&W & Color Options) that includes processing and negative scanning. (Prints available at additional cost). Breakfast included, lunch on your own. Workshop is rain or shine. 2 weeks after the workshop a group zoom will be conducted with student submitted work to discuss and review. Class is limited to 5 students.
Cost: $350 Includes three rolls of film, camera rental, film processing and scanning, breakfast and post workshop group zoom.
March 25th we lost a lion of the photographic world, beloved by all who worked with him during his illustrious career, and a great sharer of vast knowledge, Photographer Mel DiGiacomo has shot his last photo.
If you are unfamiliar with Mel, A great place to start is watch the 3 minute highlight reel that the talented Kelly Mena directed and edited for B&H Photo 8 years ago.
I met Mel while I was producing educational content for B&H Photo Event Space and Depth of Field conferences, platforming him many times. His wisdom was infectious, his sense of humor legendary, but it was his seemingly effortless ability to capture photographs that really amazed me. Mel was an inspiration to work with, and I reflect fondly when he came to teach on the many stages we invited him to. I am deeply grateful that we recorded his wisdom so that all may learn and enjoy the many lessons of the great Melchior DiGiacomo.
Mel’s B&H Video LibraryClick on the Image to link to the video on YouTube
The Feral Photographer
This one hour video drips with wisdom about living the life of a photographer. Mel discusses visual literacy, career advice and how to be invisible when shooting.
Wedding Photography Tips: Mel DiGiacomo on Photojournalistic Approach
An absolute must watch short video for any and all wedding/event photographers.
So You Want to be a Sports Photographer?
Priceless advice and techniques for being a sports photographer.
Wedding Event of the Season: Mel DiGiacomo Session
Before there was B&H Depth of Field, there was the Wedding Event of the Season and we invited Mel to speak to 1000 lucky wedding photographers.
Everyone has Mel stories and I’ll share one that stands out for me. When he’d drive in from NJ to NYC to conduct presentations or review sessions, he’d drive his big Cadillac across the river. I’d have to meet him on the street and get him parked which could be a few blocks away. As we walked to the B&H Super Store he kept his Canon EOS 5D MK III and 24mm in his hands casually snapping away at what ever drew his eye. Arms extended, shooting from hip and shoulder Mel just banged out gorgeous B&W street shots effortlessly, sometimes stopping to talk to a stranger or engage with a coffee counter person. The only thing that excedded Mel’s lust for life and image making that was his wit and sense of humor. Mel was loved by all those who came in his circle.
Tom Tedesco, Mel, Neil Clipper and David Brommer at the Wedding Event of the Season 2017 Photo by Brandon Remler
Mel was important member of the pro tennis world. He covered the US Open for decades and was the only non tennis player admitted into the hall of fame! I asked fellow a photographer who I knew worked with Mel, Chris Nicholson (one of the four founders of National Parks at Nigh) about some Mel stories to share.
“My very first experience with Mel was from a distance. Part of my first job with Tennis magazine was managing the photo library. Part of that responsibility was sorting and filing a gigantic batch of Mel’s photos that he let us keep on hand. I learned a lot about how to shoot sports in a different way by seeing thousands of his images as a young adult. That definitely influenced my growth as a sports photographer.
The first time I ever met Mel in person was at a tennis tournament in New Jersey. I was in awe shooting next to him and a few other photographers I respected, what we might call the old guard of tennis photographers, the people who were there when tennis started getting big in the late 60s, and who documented the sport as it grew through the boom in the 70s and into the 80s and 90s. Most sports photographers, including tennis photographers, sit at the sideline with a long lens and shoot repeatedly, looking for the best few photos they can manage to capture out of a few hundred frames by the end of the match. Mel, on the other hand, sat at the side of the court with a rangefinder, picking it up only every few minutes or so to snap one artistic wide-angle black-and-white. It was a good lesson, that there is more than one way to work, particularly if you want to make art out of a common commercial genre. He was shooting with a rangefinder one-handed, mind you.” -Chris Nicolson
When news spread about Mel’s passing there was a great outpouring of love from the local NY Metro area photographers on social media. Mel lives on in his images, memories and those golden Youtube videos above.
God Speed Mel and thank you for being the unabashed and talented you.
Lastly, I’d like to share my favorite Mel joke,
“What’s the difference between a Pizza Pie and a Professional Photographer?”
The Pizza Pie can feed a family of four”
Mel DiGiacomo 1938-2024
Additional Reading:
This is taken from the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame when Mel was inducted in 2015.
MEL DIGIACOMO
Mel DiGiacomo has been a staple at the US Open for the last 44 years.
Whether it is down on the court, in the stands or directly alongside the players, DiGiacomo is there with his camera in hand. In addition to the US Open, DiGiacomo has traveled the world to photograph a variety of sports and events.
The North Bergen, N.J. native currently lives in Harrington Park, N.J.. where he has proudly resided for the last 40 years. “It’s remarkable that Harrington Park, a 4,800 person town, has two residents in the Eastern Tennis Hall of Fame,” DiGiacomo said. “Neil Amdur, the former Sports Editor for The New York Times and me.”
DiGiacomo began his career at CBS as an usher and worked his way up to Production Supervisor for “60 Minutes.” After working for CBS for ten years, he decided to become a photographer when he was 27 years old. “My friend photographed my semi-pro football practices on the weekends and I always made fun of his photos,” DiGiacomo said. One day, he joked if you’re so good, get a camera,’ so I bought one, put it together and told him that’s what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.”
A year later, DiGiacomo moved to England to photograph rugby, then moved back to the United States and photographed hockey at Madison Square Garden. “A publisher hired me to make a hockey book,” DiGiacomo said. *Gene Scott, Founder of Tennis Week magazine, saw it and wanted the same thing, only for tennis.” DiGiacomo didn’t play tennis and, at the time, had never seen a tennis match. As someone who was familiar photographing football, DiGiacomo began shooting tennis matches with a football lens. The different lens gave him a now perspective on the game, which made him take photos in a way no one else did.
“In those days, you could get close to the players,” DiGiacomo said. “I used to shoot everything in black and white and in a very photo-journalist style, which was another thing people hadn’t been doing.”
DiGiacomo’s photos have been featured in several publications including Sports Illustrated, Tennis Magazine, Newsweek and Lite Magazine. His new style of shooting and vivacious personality greatly influenced his fellow photographers. “He’s a wonderful person to be around because he is so friendly.” Bob Litwin, a close friend of DiGiacomo’s said. “Even with really famous people he becomes a friend, not just a photographer.”
Throughout DiGiacomo’s time at the Virginia Slims Circuit and US Open, he interacted with several professional players, writers and fans including Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Jimmy Connors, Arthur Ashe, Martina Navratilova and Mary Carillo. Outside of sports, DiGiacomo photographed a number of weddings, specifically tennis weddings. The first wedding he shot was Jeanie Brinkman’s, the Director of the Virginia Slims Circuit.
“I didn’t think too much of it,” DiGiacomo said. “Then, 20 years later, I was asked to shoot Jimmy Connors’ Manager Karen Scott’$ wedding, and more stemmed from there.” Pam Shriver, a former professional player, Richard Evans, a longtime tennis writer and Gone Scott each requested DiGiacomo for their big day.
DiGiacomo values all of his work, but is most proud of the impact he has made in Antigua photographing the tennis tournament at Curtain Bluff. In his first year shooting there, he noticed the ball boys and girls had bare feet, so he followed them home to their village, Old Road. “I ended up doing a book that had nothing to do with tennis, but also had everything to do with tennis,” DiGiacomo said. *I was down there for tennis, but I went into the village to document their stories.”
The proceeds from DiGiacomo’s photographs go into the “Old Road Fund” to benefit the children in the village. When the fund earns enough money. it goes toward helping the children attend college. DiGincomo has always supported tennis and the people he has met through tennis. He raised both of his children to become tennis players because he values being part of the tennis community and enjoys that tennis is a sport his kids, who are now adults, can play for years to come.
“I owe a lot to tennis because it changed my life,” DiGiacomo said. “It has given me so much, my family too.”
On this next assignment (or shall we say ‘visual challenge’) we are going to explore how very different subjects can dynamically interact with each other, whether they are thrown in a situation or they just happen to exist in two diametrically opposite circumstances.
The goal of the exercise is to push our vision to the brim of conflict, break free from pre conceived notions and find the harmony in opposition.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MAY 5 TH AT MIDNIGHT. LIVE REVIEW MONDAY MAY 6TH AT 6:00 PM
Now point your cameras at it. Here are the rules:
You can submit one image in the theme “OPPOSITES ATTRACT”. This image is an assignment, you are highly encouraged to prioritize creating this photograph in the coming weeks. Since there is so much lead time, only newly created work will be reviewed. You may NOT draw from your archive, by embracing this home work you will gain the full benefit of this assignment,seek out or make the image.
Upload ONE 2-5 mb jpeg. Images must follow this naming convention: firstname_lastname.jpg ie: david_brommer.jpg and not have a water mark. Images will only be used for a one time recorded critique. By following the naming convention you will receive credit for your work in the form of a shout out during the review.
Take this assignment seriously. Street Photographers can hit the pavement and find the opposites attracting or you can set up the photograph with family, friends and other willing accomplices. Start taking notes, write down ideas that come to your mind while thinking about what Opposites Attract means to you. Plan where you will make these photographs or how you will construct the photograph.
One image will be chosen as the best in class and a $50 donation to IPC will be made in the photographers name. Your hard work will do good by supporting an excellent organization.
The International Photographic Council (IPC) is dedicated to increasing worldwide recognition of photography as a universal means of communication. Through a variety of efforts such as the awarding of scholarships to students and the recognition of professional photographers annually at the UN, IPC continues to promote photography in the spirit of its motto: “Peace Through Photography, the Universal Language.”
Take your photography to the next level with this Intensive & Transformational Shooting Experience in The Street Photography Capital of The World, NYC. Plus secure your seat at the International Photography Conference’s 50th Anniversary Celebration at the Delegates Dining Room at The United Nations where Francoise Kirkland will receiver a Lifetime Achievement Dedication in honor of the great Douglas Kirkland and IPC’s Environmental Photography Award to Benjamin Von Wong will be presented. Our class will have it’s own table-a great opportunity to rub elbows with great photographers and industry insiders (and a one hour guided tour of the UN too!)
Dates: May 13-17, 2024
Genre: Street & Urban Photography
Group Size: Max 8 participants
Skill Levels: All
Includes: Critiques & Lectures, 2 Group Dinners, United Nations Luncheon, MTA Pass for transport to the five boroughs, Museum Entrances, teaching materials, snacks and plenty of camera whispering along with a pre and post workshop zoom.
$2,500 Workshop Fee ($100 Deposit and final balance due May 5th)
Locations may include: Little Island, the West Village, East Village, SoHo, Chelsea Galleries, MOMA, Central Park, Governors Island, Coney Island, Times Square, High Line Park, Harlem, Fifth Avenue & 57 Street, Brooklyn Bridge, Chinatown, Little Italy, Ground Zero and the Lower East Side, Union Square, Washington Square Park, Queens and Brooklyn.
This is a mentorship workshop where Steve or David meets with each participant prior to the start for a one-on-one Zoom meeting assessment of your portfolio and a tech check to discuss gear and best ways to use it regardless of your system brand. We make tweaks to enhance your speed of response which might include back button autofocus, Auto ISO, Easy Exposure Compensation, frame rate and playback options along with other best practices all designed to simplify your process and build your muscle memory so the technical fades to the background and you increase you success rate.
photo by David Brommer
AN INTENSIVE & TRANSFORMATIONAL SHOOTING EXPERIENCE
This intensive workshop will help you find your own unique vision and street style through assignments created to get you past photographic fears and cliches to capturing lyrical, poetic and decisive moments that communicate the energy of the streets. But mostly you will be shooting the theatre that is the street; sometimes together, often on our own.
You’ll learn about the “rhythm of place” and you will discuss the laws and ethics of street photography as well as dealing with difficult situations that might pop up. You will define a strategy for capturing the rich daily life of people on the street; overcoming fears and shyness, approaching strangers, framing, juxtaposition, layering your compositions, letting the image come to you and whether color or black and white best suits your vision. And you will have fun!
Though the schedule may seem packed, woven into the program is down time to relax, edit your work and percolate on the experience and what is being taught.
We encourage flexibility and independence among participants and will attempt to personalize your experience whenever possible. If you fall in love with an area and want to continue working there–you are encouraged to do so.
Limiting the participants to 10 allows us to tailor this workshop to meet the needs of each participant. Lectures and assignments will be personalized to get you out of your comfort zone and push you forward in your work.
We have curated this tour to alter between the spectacular indoor and outdoor iconic New York photo opportunities like The Whitney (currently the Biennial is on exhibit), Grand Central Station and The Oculus with the usual vibrant, visually rich places and neighborhoods New York is famous for. New Yorkers David Brommer & Steve Simon will take you to these and other hidden gems.
The Dinners: Gemma @ The Bowery Hotel and David’s Rooftop in Chelsea
Gemma is the iconic Italian restaurant on the ground floor of The Bowery Hotel. It’s a very special dinner location, a true New York City culinary experience. The stunning atmosphere; the delicious food and the quiet ambiance makes for a great epicurean evening of conversation.
“Gemma has an unlabored panache that makes an evening go down very easy”.
-THE NEW YORK TIMES
David’s wife Barbara Brommer is an accomplished chef and will delight you with special morsels to be appreciated while photographing a magnificent sunset 23 floors above the Chelsea neighborhood with stunning views of lower Manhattan, Empire State Building and the new skyscrapers of Hudson Yards.
Street Philosophies
Steve & David will help and encourage you to find your own unique vision through assignments created to get you past photographic fears and cliches to capturing lyrical, poetic and decisive moments that communicate the energy of the city. David will bring his years of experience and share his lessons to help you find and develop your photographic style. In classroom David will lead talks that dissect the anatomy of photographic style that will help students achieve a definable style they can call their own.
All levels of photographic experience can benefit from this workshop. You’ll learn about the “rhythm of place” and you will discuss the laws and ethics of street photography as well as dealing with difficult situations that might pop up.
You will define a strategy for capturing the rich daily life of people, overcoming fears and shyness, approaching strangers, framing, juxtaposition, layering your compositions, letting the image come to you and whether color or black and white best suits your vision. And you will have fun!
photo by Steve Simon
Post Workshop Mentorship
After our workshop we have a post-workshop Zoom Class where we have our final lecture and critique of images not yet seen and Steve & David put together a narrative of your best work from the workshop. You also can schedule a final hour-long one-on-one Zoom session to talk about the final outcome of the workshop and areas to work on moving forward.
photo by David Brommer
Street Tech
We will talk urban-tech with Steve giving you his minimalist view on gear along with simplified shooting processes to maximizing your response time to capture decisive moments. This will be in our one on one session where we tailor the technical for the gear you use.
Steve’s street tools include Nikon mirrorless and DLSR cameras along with a carefully curated selection of lenses. He is also familiar with a wide range of equipment to help you maximize your mirrorless, compact, rangefinder, DSLR or even your camera phone for compelling urban images. David shoots Nikon and Fujifilm, but is also known for shooting analog and will have a few film cameras on hand for the curious. David is a famous “Camera Whisperer” and calls himself “PolyCamerous” from his years working for B&H Photo and the camera industry.
Though our focus is on vision more than gear, we will talk lenses, auto focus, zone focusing, shooting form the hip, using live view, flash, camera support and tripods and a host of other tips, tricks, distractions and ideas that will improve your work dramatically. Steve will go over his post-process workflow in Lightroom.
It’s a street and urban photography masterclass but the lessons learned will benefit you in all genres of image-making and help you to create a compelling New York City portfolio.
In keeping with a theme of Positivity through Photography we present our First Assignment: Photograph Virtue.
The idea of this assignment is to foster an appreciation for what is positive in our photo life. The Cambridge Dictionary states, Virtue (Noun) “A good moral quality in a person, or the general quality of being morally good”. Another suggestion by Douglas Holleley in his book, “Your Assignment: Photography” is to consider the “Seven Deadly Sins” polar opposites being; chastity, restraint, generosity, diligence, patience (of course we have all heard, “Patience is a virtue), kindness, and humility. Please only use the above examples of Virtue as a starting point (Holleley stated the opposites are debatable). You are as always free to interpret virtue as you see virtue.
Submission Deadline: March 13th at midnight. Live Review Thursday March 14th at 6:00 pm
Now point your cameras at it. Here are the rules:
You can submit one image in the theme “virtue”. This image is an assignment, you are highly encouraged to prioritize creating this photograph over this week. You may draw from your archive, because even that is an exercise, however to gain the full benefit of this assignment, you should seek out the image. Upload ONE 2-5 mb jpeg. Images must follow this naming convention: firstname_lastname.jpg ie: david_brommer.jpg and not have a water mark. Images will only be used for a one time recorded critique. By following the naming convention you will receive credit for your work in the form of a shout out during the review.
We will review as many images as we can in one hour from David’s selection on submitted work. Class Zoom is limited to 100 participants at one time. The review will be recorded and presented on Youtube at a later date. Any questions, feel free to email david.
A natural inclination of photographers, when seeing an interesting subject or scene, is to take one shot and move on. In most cases there was a good photograph in there, but by casually investing in only one shot, the full potential is missed. When you find something interesting you stand a better chance of “scoring a banger”, (meaning making a great image), simply by taking a few more shots and zeroing in on what you saw in the first place. Even if the first shot ends up being the best, at least you got a few to choose from.
A country classic: a pie straight out of the oven cooling off on a pastoral window sill.
What at first sight would seem an easy-peasy composition, needs constant compositional adjustment. Below are the shots in sequence, shown raw out of an iPhone 13 Summer 2023.
I love the shot, but the red car just kills it for me. Way too intrusive, we need to crop it out.
I try to compose the car out, but then a garbage can enters the scene. No one ever said photography was easy. Keep working.
Car is out, but that garbage can is just annoyingly a tad bit in the view middle left.
How about we just fix it in post? Quickly cloned out now but… I feel dirty solving the problem in post rather than in view finder in the moment. Do you feel dirty using cloning tools and generative fill? Tell the truth now.
This the final image. I was bouncing around the kitchen to make sure the background was not distracting and retained a sense of place. I miss the fields, but at least have a slice of them. Now how about a slice of that pie?
“You are responsible for every centimeter of your view finder”
There are a few lessons here, but two stand out. First: watch out for the background. Second, and really equally important as the previous: keep working the scene & subject. Put more effort into making the image and you will be rewarded with better photographs.
This is my final edit on the image. I decided to stay in my style of dominant black and white and ran the file through the raw convertor in photoshop.
This shot was taken while I was at a stop light sitting on my Vespa. I looked up and the drama of the clouds struck me. I slipped the phone out of my pocket pointed it straight up and make this shot. It looked good in color, but the B&W was more dramatic.
When you leave home and hit the road, be it for work, play, or pretty much anything you set out t do, you should always carry a camera. There is a photographic axiom that says, “What is the best camera? The camera you have with you!” and that is undeniably true. The camera you will sling over your shoulder is going to change over the years and a new camera can stimulate you and put you into a photo-taking mood by simply being new. The technology changes, and even the great masters used a range of cameras across thier careers.
Taken at dusk on a bridge over the Arno River in Florence. I pushed the saturation to give it extra punch. I also shot this with my trusty Fuji XPro1, but made the same shot with the IPhone so I could tag and share it by the time I steppe off the bridge.
But sometimes you leave your camera at home because it’s just too heavy and cumbersome. Compositions and photo movements abound, just because you don’t have your camera with you doesn’t mean you aren’t seeing and the photo opportunities are not present. Three things you don’t leave at home that are non-negotiable are; keys, wallet and mobile phone. The camera & phone combo may be the greatest technological achievement of the 21st century because it allows us to always have a camera with us, and the ability to share our images.
Keep your eyes open when walking and when you see something interesting, bam! You can capture faster than you can call your mom. Construction site for Hudson Yards project in NYC.
My only ‘photo-phone’ experience so far has been using the Apple iPhone, so if you are going to call me an Apple fan boy, go ahead, I accept that moniker because I believe in the iPhone and started off with an iPhone 3 in 2007. The first photo I took was a homeless person in a atm bank lobby. Later I would shoot what might have been the first IPhone wedding of NY fashion designer Michele Korn using only the IPhone 3. I fell in love with the device, simply because it was always in my pocket! Dutifully I went from iPhone 3, to 4, to 4s, skipped a 5 and got the 6 early in 2015. The progression has been upward, but the 6 was a big leap in quality from its predecessors. All images shown in this blog post were taken this year with the IPhone 6.
Still Life with the IPhone, you bet! This was a homage to Edward Weston’s pepper. I added the cherry tomatoes to give the image a set of balls 😉
So here are my 6 recommendations:
One- Wipe you lens off each time you go to make a photograph. That lens is tiny, and you need it as clean as can be to maintain sharpness. A finger print will substantially soften the image and lower contrast. An actual smudge or what we call “schmutz” in New York will diffuse your image to the point of total failure. Use your t-shirt, a tissue, or whatever you have handy. Of course a micro fiber is the best choice. My wife Barbara keeps her iPhone in a micro fiber pouch to protect it in her pocket book from scratches and that makes a great way to keep the lens smudge and scratch free.
Nikki Sixx on tour with Six AM. I was about 15 feet back and cropped in post. The colors were awful as most concert photography is, so I just converted to black and white.
Two- Be touchy. Your phone does have auto-focus and auto-exposure, but it can get fooled. Compose your image first, and then tap on the subject of your photo. Once you have a focus and exposure lock, you can then drag your finger up or down to adjust exposure. Very useful for backlit subjects and in that case, touch up for + exposure. This will come handy when you are shooting at the beach or in a snow scene.
View from Little Round Top over the Valley of Death at Gettysburg, PA. This is a great example of working the exposure. I tapped the cannon and then had to further adjust the exposure due to the setting sun in the photo.
Three- Capture with the standard camera setting. Don’t bother with the HDR mode, it’s better to adjust your image later in a post-processing app which we will talk about later. The standard photo is a 4:3 ratio which will give you a standard image. You might want to consider shooting in square mode if you plan on using instagram, since instagram forces you to use square compositions. This will save you having to crop later and perhaps missing a part of the image that you wanted in or is needed for the composition. Getting it as close to perfect in the capture, then fine tuning later in post is a great rule of thumb.
I saw this composition across the street and waited about 3 minutes for the traffic to clear. Look close, All but one (who is eating) are on their phones! I corrected the perspective in Snapseed to make the lines all straight.
Four- Turn the flash off. Yup, unless it is really dark, like the inside of club or outside at night and you are shooting a subject less than 7 feet away, the flash (which is really a led light and not a flash at all) will make a crappy photo. There are three settings, off, on, and auto. By default it’s on auto out of the box, you will want to set that to off. I never ever use the flash function, I hate the way it looks. A trick to use if you must shoot in the dark, is have a friend hold up their iPhone and use it as a flash light. This way, the angle of light gives shape as opposed to your flash right next to the lens making a flat over exposed image.
Go ahead, be that person who posts their food, but make sure it looks good! If you can’t shoot your dish in good light then just don’t. Use the table cloth to add to the ambiance, feel free to arrange the salt shaker and utensils so it looks good. Never use the flash!
Five- Use minimal if any zoom. Any zooming you do by pinching the image will digitally zoom it, and it’s better to just do that in a post app. I advocate if you are good with composition to use a little bit of zoom if you can’t physically get closer, like a shooting a building across a busy street, but really cropping should be done in post to maintain quality. When you have to 8 to 12 megapixels like the iPhone has, you have plenty of pixels to crop in post. Also, your focus can be tricked if you zoom heavily.
Street shooting with the IPhone you never miss a shot. Just keep an eye on the street signs so you don’t get a ticket 😉
Six- Use the best app ever invented, and that is Snapseed. Invented by Nik and then acquired by Google, Snapseed does it all. I love Snapseed because it’s free, and it’s spectacular. I used to advocate Adobe PS Express and Camera bag but Google has super charged Snapseed into a beast of an app. And did I mention it’s free? Every image you see on this page was captured with the iPhone, then opened up with Snapseed and edited. I suggest you subscribe to this blog, I’ll be posting a Snapseed tutorial soon.
NY Harbor from a tall building in Battery Park. the Drama filter in Snapseed just really brings out the rays of light and clouds.
Well there you have it. Six tips to make you iPhone experience rock. Keep shooting!
~David
The house I summered in when I was a kid in the 70’s. Bradley Beach.
And lastly, my two favorite things to shoot, Barbara my wife and the Raven Wing my Harley Davidson.
