Cell phones and photography

To be fair I've seen some pretty good pictures on line taken on smartphones, some people just have a good eye and can shoot good pictures with any camera.

benjiboy said:

To be fair I've seen some pretty good pictures on line taken on smartphones, some people just have a good eye and can shoot good pictures with any camera.

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You should see all the out of focus and blurry grandchildren photographs I get sent to me every day. But now they are finally learning about focus after they tried to have a fuzzy image printed as an 8"x10". We all had to learn at some time.

benjiboy said:

To be fair I've seen some pretty good pictures on line taken on smartphones, some people just have a good eye and can shoot good pictures with any camera.

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i am with you ben

i have seen some stunning photographs made by a smartphone
and ipad ... often times ( like with point and shoots )
the user has no idea you tap once and it focuses ( like depress the shutter button halfway )
and tap again and the photograph is taken.

the problem i have with smartphones isn't the photographs
but the people never print them ... and is someone went through the trouble
of making the exposure ( whether with film or smartphone ) they should probably
make the print if they like the image.

i have also seen box camera, 126 instamati, holga, lomo, diana LOFI photographs that are head and shoulders above
some 35mm photographs ... as you suggested some people have an eye and know what they are doing.

---

i am still laughing about you comment about paying $$ and having your name on the sign. made my night

A wise man said, "It is not a photograph unless you can hold it as a print."

Sirius Glass said:

You should see all the out of focus and blurry grandchildren photographs I get sent to me every day. But now they are finally learning about focus after they tried to have a fuzzy image printed as an 8"x10". We all had to learn at some time.

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I have the same issue as a photo editor for a weekly newspaper. Reporters send phone photos like this all the time. Sources do the same when I ask them for courtesy photos. The other people on the editorial staff expect these images to be printable and don't understand when I explain to them how bad they are. They expect me to be able to polish the turd photos that I get. Again, they are all in their early 20s and are used to bad photos.

Sirius Glass said:

A wise man said, "It is not a photograph unless you can hold it as a print."

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The old saying in photography in this neck of the woods Steve is "the print is the pay off".

As far as I'm concerned, they are simply two different media that, along with many other media, can produce an image. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Reasons to choose it, or not, for a given purpose. Reasons to like it, or not, depending on one's expectations.

Some fundamental differences can be reconciled and perhaps even overlap, like chimping, the modern day functional equivalent of Polaroid test exposures. And some differences cannot be reconciled, like the direct chain of spontaneous natural-cause-and-effect provenance that is present in a physical film negative, but is missing in a virtualized digital simulation of a negative.

These things are all fine with me. Outstanding images can be realized using smartphones, Holgas, Deardorffs, and Voyagers. Just so long as people don't try to tell me that digital and analog photography are exactly the same thing.

They are not.

Ken

Sirius Glass said:

A wise man said, "It is not a photograph unless you can hold it as a print."

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My personal variant is, "If you aren't standing in front of a sink drying your hands with a towel, it's not a photograph..."



Ken

Ken Nadvornick said:

My personal variant is, "If you aren't standing in front of a sink drying your hands with a towel, it's not a photograph..."



Ken

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A kindred spirit.

frank said:

My iPhone is the only digital camera I have, need, or want.

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Frank, that is a wonderful blast from the past, looks to me like the original model, or very close to the original, with the exception of a four into one exhaust on.

I first saw one on an extremely hot December evening in 1969. The sound from the exhaust was mind boggling, as were the instruments with those huge dials, it looked a bit like the HRD Vincent speedometer on the bike next to it.

Mick.