Above Ladybower, Peak District
At Shadows and Light we encourage you to remain open to the unexpected and embrace it whenever you have the opportunity. Last month Matt posted a piece about using the iPhone with apps such as Hipstamatic and Instagram as a practical tool for visualisation of future shots – particularly useful for landscape work.
Over the Easter vacation I made a trip to the Peak District however the weather had turned cold with an icy wind. I walked a lot, the snow had drifted over 1 ft deep, so the iPhone was by far the best tool to use in this instance.
Sun Breaks Through, Peak District
My process is actually quite simple and is more or less unchanged to the way I go about all of my shots;
1. Look for the image first.
2. Choose the ‘lens’ and ‘film’ as offered by the app.
3. Carefully compose the shot on the screen.
4. Shoot!
Arbor Low, stone circle, ver 1, Peak District
Admittedly this is not the Phase One or Large Format but then on a day with uncertain weather and at new locations the iPhone actually allows me to generate markedly different images and just now I find it more satisfying than my Canon G9. What’s more, it fits in my pocket and weighs practically nothing – which is more than I can say for those other cameras!
Arbor Low, stone circle, ver 2, Peak District
You may think to yourself, ‘Well, they look fine on screen but they’ll never print…’ nevertheless I’ve found that if I export the iPhone files as TIFFs then process them through Lightroom or Capture One I’m able to print full frame onto A3 paper and I still have to try them on A2 paper.
Instagram has an added advantage in that it allows you to shoot using the phone’s built-in camera then import the files into the app afterwards.
Wooden Signpost near Ladybower, Peak District
So a decidedly cold and threatening weekend has rewarded me with a bunch of unusual pictures and, at the very least, 8 – 10 new locations, some of which will come up in future Shadows and Light workshops. Keep an eye on the web site, the blog or join the mailing list to see what tours will happening in the coming months.
I love these pix – the “oily” colour tones are great. And the border treatment is super. Is this achieved in post production or is it an i-phone app?
Hi Paul. The overall effect that you see is created in the App. However I enhanced these ones at the post stage by running them through Lightroom prior to producing JPEGs for the blog. Are you back from France yet?
These photos are terrific. Atrue vision.
Now I just have to get back there & do some further shots with a bigger camera.
It never occurred to me that I could do so much with my phone. I’ll definitely go back to it & give it deeper consideration
Vanessa. Try out Instagram first from the App Store. It’s fairly straightforward to use, is immense fun & it’s free.
Love those hipstamatic photos, its really good fun to use and you can get some nice results. What I find fun with my iPhone is using the standard camera app and then editing them using apps like Pixlomatic, finger focus and qbro. I find the range of effects to be greater doing it this way, plus, you dont have to wait for hipstamatic to process the photo whilst you’re waiting in the snow!
Keep them coming!
Chris
Thanks for that CHris. I’ll go off & try out the apps you’ve mentioned & see what results I can get. Julian.
Hi Jules, great post and photos. So are these frames that you are using here instagram? Also good point reg exporting tiffs from your iPhone, how do you do it though? 🙂
Hi Pam. These frames were created by Hipstamatic, an app similar to Instagram though not free. To export iPhone files as TIFFS first import them from phone into your Mac using iPhoto then select the file & to export: File > Export, in following dialogue choose TIFF in the drop down menu next to ‘Kind’ & the size as ‘Full Size’ followed by a location to save to & that is it.
Once I have a TIFF I import it using Lightroom & clean up & improve the file & ensuring that it is at 300dpi. So far I’ve printed out to A3 with great results & still have to try A2.
Try it & let me know how it works.
Hipstamatic is a great app for the outdoors. The first shot is fantastic.
I have an #iPhoneography poll on my blog today. Would you mind participating? Curious to hear your feedback.
Hi Paul. Thanks for comments. I’m off to look at your stuff right away.
Great place the Peak District. Camped at Edale many times. Love the weird gritstone shapes – especially the extensive forest of them on the southern edge of Kinder known to rock-climbers as Whipsnade (after the zoo).