Table Of Contents: Advanced iPhone Camera Controls

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1. Depth Of Field: How To Blur The Background In Your Photos
1.1 Use Portrait Mode To Blur The Background In Your Photos
1.2 Get Close To Your Subject To Create A Shallow Depth Of Field

2. Focus: How To Set Focus For Pin-Sharp Images
2.1 Tap To Set The Focus Point
2.2 Lock The Focus With AE/AF Lock
2.3 Use Manual Focus For More Precise Focusing

3. Exposure: How To Get Perfect Brightness Levels In Your Pictures
3.1 Adjust Exposure Manually
3.2 Use Exposure To Change The Mood Of A Photo
3.3 Switch On HDR For Better Exposure In High Contrast Scenes

4. Shutter Speed: How To Change Shutter Speed On iPhone
4.1 What Is Shutter Speed?
4.2 How To Change Shutter Speed On iPhone
4.3 Use A Slow Shutter Speed For Stunning Long Exposure Photos

5. ISO: How To Use ISO To Capture Grain-Free Shots In Low Light
5.1 What Is ISO?
5.2 How To Change The ISO iPhone Camera Setting
5.3 Balance Shutter Speed & ISO

6. White Balance: How To Capture Perfect Colors In Your Photos
6.1 What Is White Balance?
6.2 How To Change White Balance On iPhone
6.3 Use White Balance For Creative Effect

1. Depth Of Field: How To Blur The Background In Your Photos

Do you want to shoot professional-looking iPhone photos with beautiful out-of-focus backgrounds?

Creating a shallow depth of field (where only part of the scene is in focus) is a great way to make your subject stand out. And it’s perfect for blurring out a distracting background.

Shallow depth of field photos are typically associated with DSLR cameras. But did you know it’s easy to blur the background in your iPhone photos?

On a DSLR camera, you control the depth of field by adjusting the aperture (the size of the opening in the lens). However, the iPhone aperture can’t be changed.

So how do you blur the background in your iPhone photos?

Read on, and discover two easy ways to shoot stunning images with beautifully blurred backgrounds.

1.1 Use Portrait Mode To Blur The Background In Your Photos

Does your iPhone camera have Portrait mode? If so, you can use it to shoot stunning photos with dreamy, blurred backgrounds.

You’ll find Portrait mode in the built-in Camera app on the following iPhones: iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Mini, iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone XR, iPhone X, iPhone 8 Plus, and iPhone 7 Plus.

Portrait mode uses clever depth-effect software to blur the background. All you have to do is point the camera at your subject, and the iPhone will do the rest!

Portrait mode is perfect for shooting professional-looking portrait photos.

But you can also use it to blur the background behind other subjects.

Here’s how to capture beautifully blurred backgrounds with Portrait mode:

Open the built-in iPhone Camera app, then select Portrait mode at the bottom of the screen.

Ensure the subject is between two and eight feet from the camera. If you’re too close or too far away, you’ll see a message telling you to change your distance.

When the camera has focused on the subject and blurred the background, you’ll see the words Natural Light in yellow. (On iPhone 7 Plus, you’ll see Depth Effect instead.)

Now, tap the shutter button to take a beautiful photo with a soft, blurred background. It really is that easy!

If you have one of the newer iPhones (all iPhone 12 models, all iPhone 11 models, iPhone XS, XS Max, or XR), you can do even more with Portrait mode.

These iPhones allow you to adjust the strength of the background blur after taking your photo.

This offers a huge amount of creative control.

To adjust the blur strength, open your portrait photo in the Photos app, then tap Edit.

Tap the f/number icon at the top left of the screen.

You’ll now see the Depth slider beneath your photo. Drag the slider left or right to adjust the strength of the background blur.

Tap Done to save the changes.

As you can see, Portrait mode offers an easy way to create a shallow depth of field in your photos.

But what if you don’t have Portrait mode on your iPhone?

Well, there’s another simple way to blur the background in your photos. And this technique works on any iPhone model!

Here’s what you need to do:

1.2 Get Close To Your Subject To Create A Shallow Depth Of Field

Do you want to know a great trick for blurring the background in your iPhone photos?

Get closer to your subject.

The closer the lens is to the subject, the blurrier the background will appear.

It’s that simple!

This technique works on any iPhone (or indeed any camera)… even if you don’t have Portrait mode.

When shooting close-ups, it’s important that the subject (not the background) is in sharp focus. You’ll learn how to set focus in section 2 below.

Just be careful not to get too close to the subject. If you’re too close, the camera won’t be able to focus at all.

If you want to shoot extreme close-up photos with a very shallow depth of field, you’ll need an add-on macro lens. One of the best macro lenses is the Moment Macro Lens.

With a macro lens, you can capture fascinating close-up photos of nature, flowers, and insects.

2. Focus: How To Set Focus For Pin-Sharp Images

Getting your subject in sharp focus is essential for creating high-quality photos with superb detail.

This is especially important when shooting close-up photos.

Why?

Because the depth of field will be very shallow, with only a small portion of the image in focus. If the focus isn’t set correctly, your subject may end up blurred.

Luckily, the iPhone makes it easy to set the focus accurately on your subject. Here’s how to do it:

2.1 Tap To Set The Focus Point

In the built-in Camera app, simply tap the screen where you want to set focus. A yellow square indicates your focus point.

When you take the photo, the area you tapped on will be in sharp focus.

In the photo below, focus was set on the flower on the left. Notice how this flower is perfectly sharp, but the others are out of focus.

2.2 Lock The Focus With AE/AF Lock

Another useful feature is AE/AF Lock. This iPhone camera setting lets you lock the focus point on a certain area.

To activate AE/AF Lock, tap and hold the screen for a couple of seconds until you see AE/AF LOCK in yellow.

The focus point will now remain locked, even after taking a photo.

This is perfect for situations where you want to take several pictures of the same scene. You can take as many photos as you want without having to set the focus point for each new shot.

It’s also great for scenes where there’s movement, such as people walking past. If you don’t lock the focus, the camera’s autofocus might readjust the focus point onto the moving subject.

In the example above, I locked focus on the stone arch. If I hadn’t done this, the camera might have focused on the people in the background when they walked into the scene.

2.3 Use Manual Focus For More Precise Focusing

In certain situations, the tap-to-focus method might not give you enough control over your focus point.

Imagine you’re taking a close-up photo of a flower with water droplets. The depth of field will be very shallow, so only a small area of the scene will be in sharp focus.

Tapping on a single tiny water droplet to ensure it’s in focus may prove tricky.

So, how can you set the focus point more accurately?

You’ll need to use a third-party camera app that has a manual focus control.

Camera+ 2 ($7.99) is a DSLR camera app for iPhone. It has advanced iPhone camera controls, including manual focus.

When you open Camera+ 2, make sure you’re in Camera mode. If you’re not in Camera mode, just tap the Camera icon at the bottom of the screen and the viewfinder will appear.

Next, ensure you’re shooting in Manual mode. The current shooting mode is shown in yellow at the top of the screen. Tap the yellow icon and select Manual.

In Manual mode, you’ll see a row of icons above the shutter button. These are the advanced iPhone camera controls.

Tap the Focus icon (second icon from the left). The Manual Focus slider will appear above the shutter button.

Drag the Manual Focus slider left or right to adjust the focus. As you drag the slider, the focus point will gradually change from foreground to background.

When you’re happy with the focus, tap the shutter button to take your photo.

Remember, in most cases, tapping to set the focus point results in great photos.

But sometimes it’s more difficult to set the focus accurately, especially when shooting close-up macro photos. That’s when you should use the Manual Focus slider in Camera+ 2 to fine-tune the focus more precisely.

3. Exposure: How To Get Perfect Brightness Levels In Your Pictures

After you set focus, it’s important to get the exposure right.

Exposure refers to the brightness of an image.

A photo that’s too bright is over-exposed. And a photo that’s too dark is under-exposed.

Getting the correct exposure will result in beautiful photos that are neither too bright nor too dark.

So, how do you adjust exposure on the iPhone?

It’s actually very easy. Here’s how to do it:

3.1 Adjust Exposure Manually

In the built-in Camera app, start by tapping to set focus. Then simply swipe up or down to adjust exposure (brightness).

Swipe up to make the image brighter, or down to make it darker.

When the brightness levels look good, tap the shutter button to take a photo.

Now, if you have an iPhone 11 or later (running iOS 14 or later), there’s a second way to adjust exposure in the Camera app. This involves using the Exposure Compensation slider in the hidden camera menu.

To access the hidden menu, tap the arrow at the top of the screen (or swipe up on your viewfinder). Next, tap the Exposure icon (circle with a plus and minus symbol).

Then drag the exposure slider left or right to adjust the brightness.

Your chosen exposure setting will be used for any photos that you take from now on. This is very useful when you want to set a precise exposure for a series of upcoming shots.

However, when you’ve finished shooting, it’s a good idea to adjust the exposure back to zero. If you don’t, the exposure might not look right when you start shooting a different subject in different light.

If you’re using the Camera+ 2 app, it has a very similar Exposure Compensation slider. Just ensure Auto mode is selected at the top of the screen, then drag the EV slider left or right to adjust exposure.

Keep in mind that there’s no exact science to setting exposure. You just have to decide what looks best for the particular photo you’re taking.

In most cases, you should aim for an exposure where there’s sufficient detail in all parts of the scene.

If that isn’t possible (because of awkward lighting), ensure the most important part of the scene is correctly exposed.

In the photo below, I chose to expose for the landscape, rather than for the dark interior of the church. Even though there’s no detail in the shadows, the result is quite dramatic!

When shooting at night, the camera often brightens the exposure. It does this in an attempt to capture more detail. But the results aren’t always good. The brighter areas can end up over-exposed, while the darker areas can look grainy.

To capture stunning photos at night, reduce the exposure to make the image darker. The blacks will appear black, and the highlights will have more detail.

3.2 Use Exposure To Change The Mood Of A Photo

Getting creative with exposure allows you to enhance or change the mood of a photo.

For example, if you want a dark and moody image, try deliberately under-exposing. The dark tones will add a wonderful sense of drama or mystery.

You’ll also need to under-expose to create a silhouette photo. The silhouetted subject should be completely black, with no color or detail.

Likewise, you’ll need to under-expose to capture dark shadows. The lack of detail in the shadows will create a sense of mystery and intrigue.

On the other hand, slightly over-exposing will create a bright and airy image with a happy or carefree mood.

Over-exposing works especially well when a large portion of the scene is white. This helps to create a bright, fresh image that really catches the eye.

3.3 Switch On HDR For Better Exposure In High Contrast Scenes

Photographing high contrast scenes (with both bright and dark areas) can be a big problem when it comes to exposure.

This is because the camera isn’t capable of capturing detail in both the dark and bright areas at the same time.

In the photo above, the dark foreground has been exposed correctly. But the bright areas of sky are over-exposed with no color or detail at all.

The examples below show how difficult it is to capture detail in both the bright and dark areas at the same time.

If you expose to capture detail in the highlights (bright areas), the shadows (dark areas) will be under-exposed. And if you expose to capture detail in the shadows, the highlights will be over-exposed.

However, the built-in iPhone Camera app offers a great solution!

It’s called HDR.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. When you use HDR, the camera captures several images at different exposures (from dark to bright).

These images are automatically combined into a single well-exposed photo. It will have detail in both the shadows and the highlights.

HDR is perfect for landscape photography where you have a bright sky and darker foreground.

Using HDR will ensure you get good exposure in both the foreground and the sky.

So how do you use HDR in the iPhone Camera app?

First, you need to check your HDR settings. Open the Settings app from the Home screen, then select Camera. Scroll down, and ensure the Smart HDR option is switched on (green).

If you switch on Smart HDR, you’ll never need to think about whether to use HDR or not. The camera will always decide for you.

Smart HDR does an amazing job of capturing detail in both the shadows and the highlights. And I’d recommend that you keep it switched on in most situations.

However, if you’d prefer to manually control HDR in the Camera app, you’ll need to switch the Smart HDR setting off.

With Smart HDR switched off, you’ll see an HDR icon at the top of the Camera app. You can tap the icon to turn HDR on or off. (HDR is off when a line appears through the icon).

If you’re controlling HDR manually, you’ll need to remember to switch it on when shooting high-contrast scenes, such as landscapes. Otherwise, you may end up with over-exposed highlights as shown above.

One reason you might want to switch off HDR is if you want to capture dark shadows. HDR tries to capture detail in the shadows, but switching it off allows you to capture darker, more dramatic shadows.

4. Shutter Speed: How To Change Shutter Speed On iPhone

The ability to control shutter speed is typically associated with DSLR cameras.

But did you know you can change the iPhone shutter speed?

Once you master shutter speed, you’ll be able to control how movement appears in your photos. And this will take your creativity to a whole new level!

4.1 What Is Shutter Speed?

Shutter speed refers to the amount of time the camera’s shutter is open for when taking a photo.

Shutter speed is measured in seconds (or fractions of seconds), e.g. 8s, 2s, 1/30s, 1/250s, 1/500s, etc.

A fast shutter speed means the shutter is open for a very short amount of time (a fraction of a second).

Fast shutter speeds freeze any movement in the scene. A fast shutter speed allows you to capture sharp photos of moving subjects. It also ensures you won’t get blurry photos from camera shake.

A slow shutter speed means the shutter is open for a longer amount of time (several seconds).

If anything in the scene moves during this long exposure time, that movement will be captured as a blur or streak. This kind of blur is called motion blur.

Slow shutter speeds are a great way to convey a sense of movement in a photo. The motion blur clearly shows that the subject was moving through the frame.

A slow shutter speed allows you to create beautiful long exposure photos of waterfalls and rivers. The long exposure time results in the moving water appearing silky smooth.

4.2 How To Change Shutter Speed On iPhone

The built-in iPhone Camera app doesn’t have a shutter speed option. So you’ll need a third-party app with iPhone manual camera controls.

There are several excellent iPhone camera apps that let you control shutter speed.

Camera+ 2 ($7.99) is a great option as it has a wide range of shutter speeds – from very fast to very slow. It even has a dedicated Slow Shutter shooting mode for capturing long exposure photos.

Here’s how you change shutter speed on iPhone using Camera+ 2:

Open the Camera+ 2 app. Set the shooting mode (yellow icon) at the top of the screen to Manual.

Next, tap the Shutter Speed icon just above the shutter button (circled in red below).

The Shutter Speed slider will appear at the bottom of the viewfinder. Drag the slider left or right to adjust the shutter speed.

The further left you go, the faster the shutter speed will be. Fast shutter speeds freeze the motion of moving subjects and help eliminate camera shake.

The further right you go, the slower the shutter speed becomes. Slow shutter speeds blur the motion of moving subjects.

Note that the slowest shutter speed in Manual shooting mode is 1 second. If you want to shoot long exposure photos with Camera+ 2, you’ll probably need slower shutter speeds than this.

Read on to learn how to shoot beautiful long exposure photos with your iPhone.

4.3 Use A Slow Shutter Speed For Stunning Long Exposure Photos

In this section, you’ll learn how to capture incredible long exposure photos using two different apps: Camera+ 2 ($7.99) and Slow Shutter Cam ($1.99).

Both apps produce great results, but they offer slightly different functionality.

Before you begin, make sure you have an iPhone tripod. A tripod keeps your camera perfectly still during the long exposure time.

If you hand-hold your iPhone, you won’t be able to keep it still enough. And the result will be a shaky photo that’s entirely blurred.

4.3.1 How To Shoot Long Exposure Photos Using Camera+ 2

The Camera+ 2 app has a dedicated Slow Shutter mode for shooting long exposure photos.

Set the shooting mode (yellow icon) at the top of the screen to Slow Shutter.

At the bottom of the viewfinder, you’ll see two sliders. The left slider controls shutter speed.

Drag the Shutter Speed slider to set the shutter speed value, e.g. 2 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, etc. The longer the shutter speed, the more blurred any motion will appear.

If you want to adjust exposure (brightness), use the right-hand slider with the Sun icon.

When you tap the shutter button to take your shot, ensure the camera remains perfectly still while the photo is being taken.

4.3.2 How To Shoot Long Exposure Photos Using Slow Shutter Cam

The Slow Shutter Cam app is designed specifically for shooting long exposure photos.

It makes it easy to capture long exposures of water, light trails, and low light scenes.

Open the Slow Shutter Cam app. Tap the Settings icon at the bottom left to open the capture mode options.

The app has three slow shutter capture modes: Motion Blur, Light Trail, and Low Light.

Motion Blur mode is perfect for creating long exposure water photos. But you can also use it to blur the motion of other moving subjects.

Light Trail mode lets you capture beautiful long exposure photos of moving lights. It’s great for photographing fireworks and car light trails.

Low Light mode is useful for capturing brighter exposures when shooting at night.

Each capture mode has a Shutter Speed slider. Drag the slider left for a faster shutter speed or right for a slower speed.

Dragging the Shutter Speed slider all the way to the right activates Bulb mode. This allows you to shoot with any shutter speed you want. Simply tap the shutter button to start the exposure, and tap again to finish taking the photo.

You can also experiment with the other sliders to fine-tune the image. For example, the Blur Strength slider lets you control how blurred the movement appears.

After taking a photo, you can edit it by tapping Edit at the bottom of the screen. Use the icons at the bottom of the screen to edit your image, then tap Done.

Tap Save to save your image. Or tap Clear to discard it.

Using a slow iPhone shutter speed allows you to push the limits of your mobile photography.

With a little imagination, you can take your creativity to a whole new level!

5. ISO: How To Use ISO To Capture Grain-Free Shots In Low Light

Another useful iPhone manual camera setting is ISO.

In this section, you’ll discover how to use ISO to capture sharp, grain-free iPhone photos in low light.

Note that if you have iPhone 11 or newer, you can use the new Night mode feature to capture stunning night photos.

5.1 What Is ISO?

ISO controls how sensitive the camera’s sensor is to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor is to light.

This means that ISO affects exposure (brightness). Essentially, the camera can record more light at high ISO settings.

This can come in handy when shooting in low light. However, there’s a big downside to using a high ISO.

Unfortunately, high ISO settings introduce unwanted grain into your photos (as shown below). The grain is especially visible in the darker areas of the image.

Grain reduces the quality of your photo. So you’ll want to avoid high ISO settings if possible. The photo below was shot with a much lower ISO, and the resulting image is free of grain.

5.2 How To Change The ISO iPhone Camera Setting

The built-in Camera app doesn’t let you change ISO. Instead, it automatically selects an appropriate ISO setting, depending on how much light is in the scene.

In low light, the camera will likely use a high ISO in order to capture more light. That’s why you often end up with grainy photos when shooting in dark conditions.

But there is a way to take control of the ISO iPhone settings yourself. And if you do this, you can choose a lower ISO to avoid getting grainy shots.

So how do you change ISO on iPhone? You use the Camera+ 2 app!

Open Camera+ 2, and select Manual shooting mode at the top of the screen. Then tap the Shutter Speed icon above the shutter button.

You can see the current shutter speed and ISO values on the left beneath the slider. In the example below, the shutter speed is 1/15s and the ISO is 6400.

ISO 6400 is the highest ISO value in Camera+ 2. The camera has chosen this high ISO because there was very little light in the scene.

But the high ISO results in an image with a lot of digital noise (grain)… which doesn’t look good.

To change the ISO, tap the + (plus) icon to the right of the shutter speed slider.

You’ll now see two sliders: Shutter Speed on the left, and ISO on the right. Drag the ISO slider to adjust the setting.

The higher the ISO value, the more light the camera will capture – but the grainier the photo will be. The lower the ISO, the darker the image will appear – but it will have less grain.

So your aim is to choose the lowest ISO setting that still gives you a decent exposure.

But there’s a bit more to it than this…

5.3 Balance Shutter Speed & ISO

If you reduce the ISO to a low value, your image might appear too dark.

However, you can get the camera to capture more light by telling it to use a slower shutter speed. Simply use the Shutter Speed slider on the left.

A slower shutter speed (which captures more light) balances the low ISO (which captures less light).

This allows you to use a low ISO (which results in less grain) while still getting a good exposure with enough light.

Of course, if you’re using a slow shutter speed, you might end up with blurred photos caused by camera shake. And if there’s any movement in the scene, it will appear as motion blur.

However, if you can mount your iPhone on a tripod, and your subjects are stationary, it’s fine to use a slow shutter speed. And then you can use a low ISO to avoid grain.

If your only option is to hand-hold the camera, or you have moving subjects that you want to appear sharp, you’ll need a faster shutter speed. And as a result, you’ll have to use a higher ISO setting to get a decent exposure.

Just remember, the higher the ISO, the grainier the image will be.

As with all iPhone manual camera controls, you often have to take a few shots using slightly different settings before you get a good result.

But this all adds to the fun! And you’ll learn a lot in the process.

6. White Balance: How To Capture Perfect Colors In Your Photos

In general, the iPhone does a great job of capturing colors accurately. But in certain situations, the colors might not look quite right.

And that’s when you need to adjust the white balance.

6.1 What Is White Balance?

White balance allows you to capture colors more accurately in your photos.

It ensures the white parts of the photo appear white. And in turn, the other colors in your picture will be captured correctly.

So, when are you likely to end up with strange colors in your pictures?

One situation is when you shoot indoors with the lights on. You might notice a yellow or orange color cast in your photo. This is caused by the warm-colored light emitted from light bulbs.

Color casts are especially noticeable in the white areas of a scene, such as the white jug, wall, and flowers in the photo above.

You can also get unnatural colors when you shoot outdoors in the shade or under cloud cover. In these situations, your photos can end up with a cool blue color cast. This is especially apparent when photographing snow.

So, how can you eliminate these color casts at the time of shooting?

You simply adjust the camera’s white balance!

White balance works by cooling down or warming up the colors in your photo. This neutralizes the color casts from certain types of light, resulting in more accurate colors.

Selecting the appropriate white balance setting will ensure your whites appear white!

6.2 How To Change White Balance On iPhone

The built-in Camera app doesn’t let you change the white balance. Instead, it automatically adjusts white balance in an attempt to remove any warm or cool color casts.

Most of the time, the iPhone camera’s auto white balance does a great job, especially outdoors in natural light.

But if you’re taking pictures in very warm or cool light, you might need to take manual control of the white balance.

So, how do you change the white balance on iPhone?

You guessed it! You use the Camera+ 2 app.

In Camera+ 2, set the shooting mode (yellow icon) at the top of the screen to Manual. Then tap the WB (White Balance) icon near the bottom of the screen.

When you tap the WB icon, a row of white balance presets appears at the bottom of the viewfinder. The presets are called Shade, Cloudy, Daylight, etc. Swipe across to see more white balance presets.

To eliminate a color cast, select the white balance preset that matches the type of light you’re shooting in.

So, if you’re shooting under warm-colored light bulbs, choose Incandescent. This setting cools down the colors, neutralizing the warm color cast from the light bulbs.

The resulting photo should have more natural colors where the whites look white.

In the example below, the Shade white balance preset was selected. This setting warms up the colors, eliminating the blue color cast and making the snow appear more white.

If you prefer to let the camera decide which white balance setting to use, select the Auto white balance option.

6.3 Use White Balance For Creative Effect

In most cases, you’ll want the colors in your photos to appear as accurate as possible. You’ll want the whites to appear white.

But sometimes a photo can be enhanced by deliberately warming up or cooling down the colors.

For instance, you can emphasize the coldness and bleakness of a winter landscape by cooling down the colors.

Or you can intensify the colors of a sunset by adding warm orange tones to your image.

Using white balance creatively can help you capture very different moods in your photos. So don’t be afraid to experiment with the white balance settings.

And if you don’t get the white balance quite right at the time of shooting, you can always tweak the colors when editing your photo!

The post 6 Advanced iPhone Camera Controls For Jaw-Dropping Photography appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

1. Olloclip Lens Kit

Add-on lens kits allow you to take your iPhone photography to a whole new creative level. Whether you want to capture extreme close ups of flowers and insects, or ultra wide angle landscape photos, there’s a lens for every situation.

The olloclip lens kits are popular with many mobile photographers, offering a diverse range of options at affordable prices. They simply clip onto the top of your iPhone, allowing you to choose which lens you want to shoot with.

The olloclip 4-in-1 lens kit is a great starting point. It contains four different lenses: a wide angle lens, a fisheye lens, and two different macro lenses which can be used to shoot amazing close-up photos.

The olloclip 4-in-1 lens costs $79.99 (cheaper for older iPhone models). Just make sure you order the correct lens kit for the model of iPhone you’re using.

There are plenty of other olloclip lens kits that include different combinations of wide angle lenses, macro lenses, telephoto lenses, and even a circular polarizing filter for eliminating glare/reflections and darkening skies.

With so many lens combinations, there’s likely to be an olloclip (or two) that fits your specific needs.

You can purchase olloclip lenses online at Amazon, and you can see the entire olloclip lens collection at olloclip.com

2. Moment Lenses

If you’re looking for a higher-quality lens kit for your iPhone, there are a small, but growing number of options available.

Moment Lenses were one of the first premium lens kits available for the iPhone, and they’re still one of the best.

They attach to the iPhone via a special stick-on mounting plate, or you can purchase a Moment iPhone case that the lens will attach to.

By utilizing a premium add-on lens such as those from Moment, you can really take the quality of your iPhone photos to a whole new level.

Moment offers a telephoto lens for getting a closer view of your subject, a wide angle lens for getting more of the scene into the frame, and a macro lens for capturing beautiful close up photos.

Lenses currently start at $79.99 and can be purchased from the Moment website: momentlens.co

They also have a beautiful collection of accessories, including a leather neck strap and leather lens case, in case you want some extra stocking filler gifts!

3. GorillaPod

A good tripod is essential for taking long exposure photos, self-portraits, and for ensuring shake free photos in low light conditions.

There are several great options to consider when it comes to tripods for iPhones. But one of the most popular is the Joby GorillaPod.

The GorillaPod is compact, lightweight, and extremely flexible (literally!). As you can see in the photo above, you can wrap the bendable legs around objects such as poles, trees and fences to brace your iPhone for taking photos.

The legs can also be positioned in a free-standing manner like a more traditional tripod. And there’s even a version available that has magnetic feet.

If you’re looking for a simple, yet effective “mobile” tripod, you really can’t go wrong with the GorillaPods.

The standard Joby GripTight Gorillapod costs $19.95 and the Magnetic GorillaPod costs $22.99.

4. Lollipod Tripod

A personal favorite of mine is the Lollipod tripod. In some ways, the Lollipod is a bit of a crossover between a monopod and a tripod.

It consists of one multi-section telescoping pole that can stand freely on a small tripod at its base.

The biggest advantage of the Lollipod is that it’s exceptionally lightweight and easy to carry. It packs up small, yet can extend up to nearly four feet.

If you keep the tripod legs collapsed, you can even use the Lollipod as a selfie stick or to shoot from high above you.

I’ve been using a Lollipod both on location and in my studio for almost two years now, and it continues to work as well as it did the day I bought it.

The Lollipod comes in a great range of colors, and costs around $55. It’s a really great investment if you’re in need of a lightweight, flexible-use tripod for your iPhone.

5. Watershot Splash Case

If you shoot in or around water, a waterproof case is essential for keeping your iPhone dry. There are several waterproof cases available for the iPhone, including the Watershot Splash.

The Watershot Splash is a great way to take your iPhone photography underwater and start capturing amazing aquatic images.

It’s an exceptionally durable case that can also be used underwater up to a depth of 10 meters.

The Watershot Splash case retails for $99.99.

If you are not in a hurry, Watershot will soon be launching a “Pro” version of the Watershot case, which is submersible up to 60 meters. You can pre-order the Watershot Pro via the developer’s website: watershot.com

6. Muku Shuttr Release

If you’re planing to use a tripod for your iPhone photography, you’ll likely need a means of triggering the shutter release remotely (without touching your iPhone).

This allows you to appear in the shot yourself, and it also ensures that you don’t have to touch the iPhone which can cause movement and camera shake.

One of the best options for a wireless remote is the Muku Shuttr. This is a great iPhone accessory that connects to your iPhone via Bluetooth.

It works with any camera app that supports the use of the volume buttons to trigger the shutter release, including the native camera app.

Simply pair the Muku with your iPhone via Bluetooth just once, and it will be ready to go whenever you are.

The Muku Shuttr can be purchased for just $39.

7. Anker External Battery

If I had to pick just one accessory to buy, I’d go with an external battery/charger. After all, you can’t take great photos if your iPhone’s battery runs out.

For the past few years I’ve used an Anker E5 external battery/charger to keep my iPhone powered up on all-day photo walks.

With enough power storage to charge your iPhone five to six times, as well as a second USB port, the Anker E5 can even be used to recharge a friend’s iPhone several times over the course of a photo shoot.

If you want to stay truly mobile, consider purchasing a 6 foot USB-to-lightning cord so that you can keep the Anker in a bag or backpack while continuing to use your iPhone while it charges.

Anker offers several models and sizes to choose from. The Anker E5 is available for $34.99, or you might prefer a smaller version (offering less battery power) such as the Anker PowerCore+ which is only $17.99.

8. Nova Flash

If you’re looking for a great external light source that’s also extremely portable, look no further than the Nova Flash system.

This is a credit card-sized LED flash that you can take with you anywhere and use it to enhance your lighting options. You can even control up to ten Nova flash units at once.

A single Nova flash retails for $59, and you can get even better deals on multiple units and/or “mint” (reconditioned) units from the manufacturer.

9. iPhone Photography Books

Books always make a great gift, and there are some excellent books available for the aspiring iPhone photographer.

I summarized a number of my favorite books in a recent article, but if I had to pick only one, I’d suggest The Art of iPhone Photography.

Written by Bob Weil and Nicki Fitz-Gerald from the popular iPhone photography website iPhoneographyCentral.com, this book offers a very detailed, step-by-step presentation of each artist’s vision, creative decisions and techniques.

Typically available for around $38, the Art of iPhone Photography is a great investment for any iPhone photographer.

10. iTunes Gift Card

If all else fails, you can always purchase an iTunes gift card. This is guaranteed to make any iPhone photographer happy.

With this gift card, they’ll be able to buy a wide range of photography-related apps from the App Store (in addition to music, games, movies, etc.).

iTunes gift cards are available in various denominations, so you can choose how much money you want to spend.

You can purchase them in stores, or order a personalized gift card from Apple with a custom message for the recipient.

Conclusion

I hope this list has given you some great iPhone photography gift ideas. While they only represent a sample of what’s available, this is a great starting point.

With a little bit of online research, you’re certain to identify any number of great gift ideas for your family and friends… and even for yourself. Happy Holidays!

The post Top 10 Christmas Gifts For iPhone Photographers appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

Valery Hache – Living Moments Of The Year Award

A Brief History Of Hipstography

The Hipstography website was founded by Eric Rozen, and was first launched in December 2012.

In Eric’s own words, “The first aim of Hipstography is to showcase the endless possibilities that the Hipstamatic app offers us, but also to easily find and revisit images that were published months, or even years, ago.

We live in a world where everything flashes by at incredible speed – whether on Instagram, Flickr or Facebook. We’re inundated with thousands of pictures, maybe spending a few seconds admiring one or another.”

Florian Bilges – Still Life Photography Of The Year Award

He goes on to comment that, “We see thousands of pictures each week but they’re all too quickly forgotten. I think this is rather sad because many of these pictures deserve more than that.

Surfing through Instagram is akin to running through a museum or watching a movie at accelerated speed. Or even reading only one or two pages of a novel.”

Marina Sersale – Monochrome Photography Of The Year Award

So Eric’s aim was to create an entire site dedicated to Hipstamatic photography, where you can take your time to browse through inspirational images that have been taken by Hipstamatic iPhone photographers from all over the world.

When shooting with the Hipstamatic app, you have to choose from a wide range of different lenses, films and flashes.

Each combination, or “combo” as they’re known, produces a different look and feel, such as black and white, grainy, textured, high contrast, vivid colors, vintage, etc.

Connie Gardner Rosenthal – Documentary Combo Of The Year Award
(Part of the Combo #362)

While this provides you with endless creative options for you photos, finding the right combo can take time and practice.

That’s why the Hipstography website is so useful. It features hundreds of different combos with example photos for each one, making it easy for you to choose just the right combo to create the exact look that you want.

Lee Atwell – Landscape Combo Of The Year Award
(Part of the Combo #314)

About The Hipstography Awards

The Hipstography Awards was set up by Eric Rozen three years ago to showcase the amazing variety and creativity in the world of Hipstamatic iPhone photography.

The competition is open to all users of Hipstamatic and Oggl (another similar app by Hipstamatic), as long as the images are 100% captured and processed using only these two apps.

Ankit Girotra – Street Photography Combo Of The Year Award
(Part of the Combo #364 )

The jury is made up of 18 mobile photography experts such as famous photographers, industry experts, and members of the Hipstamatic team including co-founders Lucas Buick and Ryan Dorshorst.

Jury members include internationally recognized photographers who’ve associated their names with Hipstamatic lenses, such as Ben Watts, Chris Hornbecker and David Loftus.

There’s also a great selection of journalists, photojournalists, and pioneers in the world of mobile photography.

These include Dan Berman – founder of the Mobile Photography Awards, Richard Koci Hernandez – an extremely talented iPhone street photographer, as well as Kate Wesson – our Editor here at iPhone Photography School.

The public can also vote for their favorite images via the Hipstography website, and this year 13,000 public votes were added to the jury’s votes.

Atish Patel – Color Portfolio Of The Year
(Part of the portfolio ‘Truth Alone Triumphs’)

The Hipstography Awards are divided into three main categories: The Major Prizes Awards, The Special Awards, and The Grand Prizes Awards.

The Major Prizes Awards are given out to about twenty photos each year that were originally featured as “Photos of the Day” on the Hipstography website at some point during the previous year.

Henk Goossens – Floral & Foliage Photography Of The Year Award

These are handed out according to categories such as Landscape, Abstracts, Floral & Foliage, Animal, Architecture, etc.

The Special Awards are presented to photographers that the Hipstography jury members select in order to honor a larger body of work by particular photographers.

Alon Goldsmith – The Ben Watts Award
(Part of the portfolio ‘Loose in LA’)

Finally, The Grand Prizes Awards are given to what are deemed the “eleven best series of the year.”

About half of those awards are given to the artists themselves for their creative use of a particular Hipstamatic combo. The other half are given to artists for specific portfolios of work.

Atish Patel – Color Portfolio Of The Year
(Part of the portfolio ‘Truth Alone Triumphs’)

Eric says that, “The idea behind the Hipstography Awards is that I wanted to tell people: Hey, look at all the beauty that was published on Hipstography last year!

Certain pictures, or series of pictures, really are worth a little more scrutiny.”

Berlewen Jolixor – Special Award by David Loftus & Creative Portfolio Of The Year Award (Part of the portfolio ‘Flip The Page!’)

He goes on to talk about one particular photographer… “As an example, let’s take a picture by Matthew Wylie, which stole the Monochrome Photography Of The Year Award (Major Prize Award).

The more I look at it, the more details I discover, and the more I appreciate Matthew’s work.”

Matthew Wylie – Monochrome Street Photography Of The Year Award

According to jury member Chris Hornbecker, who also presented Matthew Wylie with a separate Special Award:

“Once again I continue to be impressed by Matthew Wylie’s work. He sees interesting backgrounds and compositions, then life seems to fall into place.

I’ve always believed that great photography happens when you listen to your gut feeling, go to a place and then let the right elements come together.”

Matthew Wylie – Monochrome Portfolio Of The Year
(Part of the portfolio ‘Havana by Car’)

Matthew is only one of the amazing artists featured by the Hipstography awards, and all of the other winners are equally deserving of the recognition and honor that they and their work have received through these awards.

You can see the entire collection of winning Hipstamatic images on the Hipstography Awards 2015 page of the Hipstography website.

Frédéric Scheiber – Documentary Portfolio Of The Year
(Part of the portfolio ‘The Zadists’)

I’d highly recommend taking some time to browse through the many pages of winners so that you can savor the wonderful variety of styles and subject matter.

While you’ll surely find that some images resonate with you more than others, they’re all certain to open your eyes to the seemingly limitless possibilities that the Hipstamatic app has to offer you.

And with the specific film/lens/flash combos listed for all images and portfolios, you’ll have a wealth of information available so that you can try out these combos for yourself.

Adria Ellis – The Human Condition Of The Year Award

Hipstamatic App Tutorial

Would you like to learn how to use the Hipstamatic app to shoot incredible iPhone photos like these? Check out our in-depth tutorial with step-by-step instructions on shooting and editing with Hipstamatic.

The post Stunning iPhone Photos Win The Hipstamatic Hipstography Awards appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

What Is A “Curves” Tool?

If you’re not already familiar with how a curves adjustment tool works, here’s a quick primer…

The curves tool is a grid featuring a diagonal line extending from the lower-left corner (representing the darkest tones of an image) to the upper-right corner (representing the brightest tones).

Since you start with a straight line, you might be wondering why it’s called a “curves” tool. Well, that name is derived from what the tool looks like when you’re done with it – not what you start with.

Essentially, by tapping on the diagonal line at a given point and then sliding up or down, you’re simply adjusting the brightness level of the image for the tones around that point.

For example, if you tap right on the center of the line and slide upward, you’ll increase the exposure/brightness of the mid-tones of the image.

Do the same closer to the lower left corner and you’ll only be brightening the darker (shadow) tones. Get the idea?

A good curves tool will allow you to make adjustments at many different points along the line for a truly custom editing experience.

We’ve been speaking of curves with regard to the exposure/brightness of an image, but they’re also often used to make individual adjustments to the brightness (luminance) levels of individual color channels (red, green, blue).

With MaxCurve, the same curves approach is used for adjusting many other image aspects as well. This yields a truly innovative and custom editing experience.

So Many Curves, So Simple to Use

MaxCurve relies predominantly on curves for most image edits. Overall, there are actually 20 different curve adjustments available.

While this may seem overwhelming, they’re grouped into so-called “kits” for easier navigation. Additionally, you don’t necessarily need to use all of them when editing a photo.

There’s an RGB kit for separate editing of red, green and blue color channels, as well as an overall RGB level adjustment:

The Lightness kit allows for adjusting overall contrast, exposure, gamma, temperature, and even a curves tool for converting to black and white:

The HSL kit is meant for adjusting hue (color) levels and color saturation via a few different options:

Finally, the Lab kit offers a rather unique approach to color editing, splitting the color ranges into the warm and cool color tones for editing:

With so many options, you may be tempted to try all of them out on a single image. If you do, but you don’t like the results, each curve tool has a reset/undo button.

MaxCurve supports JPG, TIFF and PNG images for editing, and supports high resolution files up to 4096×4096 pixels.

In addition, the app displays a full histogram (map of image color/exposure levels) behind each relevant adjustment tool. The histogram adjusts in real time as you make your edits, so that you can easily use it as a guide for setting exposure, etc.

You can add as many adjustment points as you want to each curve tool, which allows for an incredible range of editing options. This provides a level of control not found in most other editing apps.

Also impressive is that not only can you open and edit TIFF images in MaxCurve, but it will preserve the image quality of such larger files and re-save them as TIFFs when you’re done.

Create Your Own Custom Presets

While MaxCurve doesn’t come with any standard presets or other filters like so many other apps, you can create your own presets using your favorite curve settings.

This can be handy for editing multiple photos that were taken under similar lighting/atmospheric conditions. Simply edit the first image to your liking, create a preset from those settings, and add it to your other images with just a few taps.

You can even share your presets (and images) with other MaxCurve users via the MaxCurve online platform accessible right from within the app.

This feature also shows you the exact settings used by other users for each of their photos, along with a sliding before and after effect to see how the edits affected the original image.

This is a great way to learn how to use the app. Simply browse the gallery for user images that you like, study their edits, and even save their edits as a preset within your app.

Additional Basic Editing Tools

In addition to the curve adjustments, the app offers a solid set of more typical editing tools, such as crop, rotation, image flip, sharpness, grain and vignetting.

All of these can be added to any custom presets that you create (as mentioned above).

MaxCurve also lets you pinch zoom to see the effects of your edits up close. This is a feature that’s still curiously absent from many editing apps, yet is so critical to making precise edits.

Synchronized Editing With Photoshop

Another interesting feature of MaxCurve is its ability to connect, via a standard Wi-Fi connection, to a desktop version of Photoshop.

You can then import an image that’s currently open in Photoshop into MaxCurve, edit it on your iPhone, and then export/save the final version back to your desktop with the edits you just made in MaxCurve.

This is a fairly novel idea, but one that’s sure to please the growing number of folks that are starting to blend iPhone photography and editing with more traditional DSLR (and other) camera work.

There are some limitations to this approach in that MaxCurve can only handle files up to a certain size/resolution, and downsizes all imported images to 8 bit (as opposed to the more typical 16 bit used in Photoshop).

Nonetheless, as the lines between mobile and non-mobile photography continue to blur, this type of feature is bound to become more commonplace.

Final Thoughts

MaxCurve offers a powerful new approach to editing photos. Even more powerful desktop applications like Photoshop don’t offer the same level of control over some of their adjustments as MaxCurve does through its diverse range of curves tools.

I found the app to be quite responsive when using the curves tools, but some of the sliders in the basic tools category were a bit sluggish (I tested the app on a brand new iPhone 6s). However, as you’re most likely to focus on the curves adjustments, this isn’t that big of a deal.

If you’re interested in stepping up your game when it comes to photo editing, you may want to grab a copy of MaxCurve and see how it works for you. MaxCurve is available for $2.99 from the App Store.

The post MaxCurve App Takes Your iPhone Photo Editing To New Levels appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

Portraits 1st Place: Smoking Old Man by Aung Pyae Soe

What Are The Mobile Photography Awards?

According to Dan Berman, MPA Founder, “The Mobile Photography Awards were founded in 2011 to bring attention to and celebrate the talent and imagery of the mobile phone photo and art communities.”

Additionally, with regard to the early days of mobile photography, Berman states that:

“Being involved in the mobile community as early as 2009, I saw the Wild West side of mobile photography’s first years.

Prior to Instagram, even before Hipstamatic, there was considerable excitement around the possibilities of shooting, editing, sharing and consuming images from one, pocketable device.

I saw and still see boundless potential for artistry with this unique new mode of creativity.”

Silhouettes 1st Place: Untitled by Jian Wang

Every year, the MPA award prizes to the winners of each photo category as well as one overall grand prize winner. The categories for 2015 include:

Architecture & Design, Black & White, Digital Fine Art, General Photography, Landscapes, Macro & Details by OlloClip, Nature & Wildlife, People Photos, Photojournalism, Portraits, Silhouettes, Self-Portraits, Street Photography, Still Life, The Darkness, Transportation, Travel/Adventure, Visual FX, Water/Snow/Ice, and the MPA Photo Essay.

All of the winning images are excellent representations of the power of mobile photography. It’s clearly evident that the technical image quality of mobile photography continues to improve each year by leaps and bounds.

Likewise, the skill of today’s mobile photographers continues to evolve in ways that would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago.

2015 Grand Prize Winner: Jian Wang

This year’s Grand Prize Winners is Jian Wang.

Grand Prize Winner: China Red by Jian Wang

According to Dan Berman, MPA Founder, “Jian Wang has an eye for pattern, and a talent for placing humanity in context with the designs he finds everywhere, all around us.

From architecture to landscapes to street photography, the vision is consistent – the same photographer with the same internal aesthetic.

Working with his iPhone 6 Plus, Jian raises the mobile photography bar for technical excellence, compositional skills, and storytelling. Really exciting work.”

Grand Prize Winner: The Bridge by Jian Wang

Category Winners

While the various MPA categories represent a wide range of photographic styles, they all share at least one thing in common…

They collectively demonstrate the high quality of today’s mobile imagery that will stand up against that from any DSLR or other camera.

Here are a sample of winning images from a number of the different MPA categories this year.

Landscapes 1st Place: Frozen In Time by Jessika Johannsen

Street Photography 1st Place: Shibuya Night by Brendan Ó Sé

Macro Photography 1st Place: Mr. Green by Mariko Klug 

Black & White 1st Place: Countdown by David Ingraham

Water/Snow/Ice 1st Place: Blizzard Days by Coco Liu

Enlight Digital Fine Art 1st Place: Staying Here by Juta Jazz

Visual FX 1st Place: The Beginning Of Shame by Bobbi McMurry

Honorable Mentions

In addition to the individual category winners, a substantial number of honorable mentions are awarded in each category to honor the amazing work being created by so many mobile photographers.

The honorable mentions for each category demonstrate the range and diversity of the entries this year.

Furthermore, the quality of the honorable mentions suggest that it must have been very difficult for the judges to select the winners out of such a phenomenal pool of entries.

Silhouettes Honorable Mention: Station, Framed by Graeme Roy

Travel Honorable Mention: Little Num by Aung Pyae Soe

Street Photography Honorable Mention: Knockers by Glenn Homann

Macro PhotographyHonorable Mention: Estirando La Pata by Unai Momoitio

Final Thoughts

The Mobile Photography Awards have quickly become the touchstone for high-quality mobile photography, and this year’s winners are no exception.

We’d like to congratulate Jian Wang along with all the individual category winners and honorable mentions this year.

Additionally, we’d like to thank Dan Berman and all of the judges for their tireless work in making the MPAs such a success this year.

For more information about the Mobile Photography Awards, and to see the complete collection of category winners and honorable mentions, visit the MPA results page: mobilephotoawards.com/2015-mpa-results

The post Mobile Photography Awards 2015 Announces Incredible Winning Images appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

What Is COVR Photo?

You may already be aware of the original COVR Photo case due to its highly anticipated Kickstarter campaign almost two years ago.

Until recently, the COVR Photo case was only available for the iPhone 5 and 5s models, but it’s now available for iPhone 6 and 6s, and will soon be available in a larger size for the iPhone 6 Plus and 6s Plus.

If you’re not already familiar with COVR Photo, here’s a brief history… The case was developed by award-winning photojournalist Thomas Hurst as a means to photograph his children with his iPhone using only one hand.

Most parents will know how difficult it can be to have even one free hand when you have children, let alone two free hands!

COVR Photo allows you take photos and videos while holding your phone horizontally flat – just like you do for checking emails, texting, etc.

It works by using a built-in prism to redirect the image into the lens of your iPhone. Simply hold the phone down by your waist and point it at your subject.

The flat position makes it far less obvious that you’re taking pictures. This is great for photographing your kids without alerting them to the fact that you’re taking their photo, preserving the spontaneity of the moment.

It’s also a fantastic tool for street photography. It allows you to be much more discreet when taking pictures so that you can capture really great candid shots.

Solid Build Quality & Intuitive Functionality

The new COVR Photo Lens Case for iPhone and 6s features the same solid and dependable build quality as the original version.

Built from durable, high-grade plastic, the case is comprised of two parts:

A soft, flexible inner shell that wraps snugly around your iPhone, and a hard outer case that features the unique sliding lens prism that defines the COVR Photo.

Simply place your iPhone in the flexible inner shell, then pop it into the outer case… and you’re good to go!

This two-piece system is necessary to preserve the rigidity needed for the sliding prism system to work, while still allowing for a snug fit around your iPhone.

It also affords a significant degree of drop protection due to the extra cushioning that the inner shell provides.

The unique COVR Photo prism can be quickly slid into place over your iPhone’s built-in lens using only one finger, making for rapid use when necessary.

If you want to just use your iPhone’s built-in lens, simply slide the prism down and away from the lens so that you can use your iPhone camera as normal.

The COVR App

The COVR Photo case works by capturing images through the sliding prism mechanism. It simply reflects the incoming light at an angle so that it can be captured by your iPhone’s camera lens.

However, this causes the image to be upside down and reversed. While you can certainly shoot this way using any camera app, you might find it a bit distracting and hard to properly compose your images.

The free COVR Photo app perfectly complements the COVR case by automatically correcting for this issue. It flips the image so that you can compose your picture through the COVR Photo lens without it appearing upside down.

Like most camera apps, the COVR app lets you set your focus/exposure point by simply tapping on the screen. You can also switch to the front camera (which obviously won’t make use of the COVR prism).

Furthermore, you’re able to continue using the COVR app even if you disengage the sliding prism.

Just tap the circular arrow icon in the top toolbar and toggle between a normally oriented image (for use without the prism) and a corrected image (flipped/ reversed for use with the prism engaged).

You can also access your camera roll directly from within the COVR app, shoot in regular or square crop format, and even make use of the built in self-timer when necessary.

The COVR camera app may not be as full-featured as some other advanced camera apps, but it works really well and is essential if you don’t want to have to re-orientate your images in post-processing.

I found it to be very responsive and easy to use, especially with street photography, which is one genre that the COVR Photo really excels at.

Best Use Of COVR Case

Speaking of street photography, this genre just might be one of the best uses for the COVR Photo due to the ability to be somewhat covert in your photo-taking.

The ability to blend in and not be seen as a “photographer” can be a huge asset in street photography as it eliminates the chance that your subject will feel self-conscious.

If your subject knows you’re photographing them, they’ll react by stiffening up or otherwise changing their behavior. Once this happens, the spontaneity of the situation is lost and so is the photo.

Another great use of COVR Photo is the purpose that it was originally designed for – taking photos of children.

Just like with street photography, if children know you’re taking their photo, they won’t be as natural and spontaneous as they tend to be otherwise, or they may simply act up for the sake of having their photo taken.

With COVR Photo, you can easily capture great photos of children in their natural state of play.

Photojournalists and documentary photographers that recognize the power of the iPhone as a professional photography tool will also find great use for COVR Photo.

As you might imagine, COVR Photo is really only limited in its uses by your own imagination. You can use it to take just about any type of photos that you normally would without it.

However, with COVR Photo you can take most of these photos using only one hand and without being noticed.

Final Thoughts

Overall, COVR Photo is extremely easy to use, especially with the corresponding COVR camera app. And it fits my iPhone 6s without a problem.

Even with the attached sliding prism, I could quite easily fit the COVR Photo case in my pocket when not using my iPhone. Therefore, this case is definitely suitable as an everyday carry case.

That could prove particularly useful if you’re into street photography, and spend much of your time each day in the city or in other situations that are great for that type of photography.

I hate to admit that I’ve ever dropped my iPhone (it pains me to do so), but I did have one such “incident” while testing the COVR Photo case, and both phone and case made it through without a scratch.

I can’t say the same for some of the other “protective” cases that I’ve owned in the past.

COVR Photo really does make good on its promise of a one-handed photography experience. When I first received it, the sliding prism was slightly stiff and required a bit more than one finger to slide it into place.

But after only a few uses, it loosened up just enough to work as promised, and it’s worked flawlessly ever since.

I’ve tested many different iPhone photography accessories over the past few years, and many of them have their own unique merits, but the COVR Photo is, without a doubt, in my top three accessories of all time.

If you have an iPhone 6 or 6s, or even a slightly older 5 or 5s model, you can pick up a COVR Photo lens case right now.

If you have one of the larger 6 Plus or 6s Plus models, don’t fret as the developer is currently working on a suitable case for you as well.

The COVR Photo Lens Case is available (in black or white) for $34.95 (iPhone 5/5s), $49.95 (iPhone 6/6s) and $54.95 (iPhone 6 Plus/6s – coming soon).

The COVR Photo app is available for FREE from the App Store.

The post Take Better Candid iPhone Photos With COVR Case appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

Three New Lenses

There will be three lenses available: Wide Angle, Telephoto, and a “Zoom” Macro Lens.

ExoLens states that they’ll be available first for the iPhone 6/6s and 6 Plus/6s Plus, but other versions may follow.

So let’s take a more detailed look at the specifications for these three lenses.

Wide Angle Lens

The new wide angle lens offers 0.6x magnification, which yields similar results to an 18mm lens on a DSLR.

The lens is capable of focusing from a distance of 50cm to infinity, which is more than enough range for most wide angle uses.

Telephoto Lens

The telephoto lens offers a 2x magnification with a 36mm minimum focus distance (relatively standard for iPhone add-on lenses), which is similar to a 58mm DSLR lens.

While this would be considered more of a “normal” lens on a larger camera, keep in mind that the built-in lens of the iPhone is actually considered to be a wide angle lens to begin with.

Macro Lens

Of particular interest is the new macro lens. With a minimum focus distance of 30mm, this lens is purported to be the only “continuous zoom accessory for smartphones.”

While it doesn’t appear to be a zoom lens in the traditional sense, it appears that it allows for a greater focal range compared to other macro lenses which typically only focus at a very specific length while all else remains out-of-focus.

Like all macro lenses, this new lens allows you to focus at extremely close distances, but with a bit more range than most macro lenses. This could potentially make for a more forgiving shooting experience.

Many folks use an iPhone tripod, together with an iPhone tripod mount, for macro photography. The shallow focal distance makes it very hard to create decent hand-held macro shots. This new macro lens from ExoLens and Zeiss may remedy that issue.

The magnification of the macro lens is such that an object as small as 3cm could fill the frame for incredible close-up (macro) photography.

The lens also comes with a semi-transparent lens hood/diffuser. This allows you to get extremely close to your subject while still allowing in additional light from the sides to help improve exposure.

It also serves as a handy guide for knowing how close you can get to your subject (the depth of the hood itself).

Renowned Zeiss Lens Quality

All three of these new lenses are characterized by the manufacturer as typical of the Zeiss quality and styling.

From the black anodized aluminum frames to the T*® anti-reflective coatings that minimize glare, these lenses appear to be of the highest design quality.

They could potentially give other premium add-on lenses such as those from Moment Lenses a run for their money.

All three of the lenses are said to offer edge-to-edge sharpness with minimal distortion and no noticeable chromatic aberration (blurring and/or colored “fringing”).

This isn’t surprising coming from such a notable optics manufacturer as Zeiss. To expect anything less than near-perfect optics from Zeiss would be unusual.

At the same time, this puts a great deal of pressure on both Zeiss and ExoLens to deliver on this quality when the lenses are released later this year.

Innovative New Mounting Frame

The lenses attach to your iPhone via a unique ExoLens mounting bracket. The bracket is made from machined aluminum, and each lens mounts to the bracket using a secure screw thread.

The ExoLens bracket doesn’t serve as a full case for your iPhone, unlike many other add-on lens mounts. Therefore, in order to use the lenses, you can’t use a case at the same time.

The ExoLens frame also includes a standard-sized threaded tripod mount and an accessory shoe for mounting external lights and other accessories.

Final Thoughts

The ability to add a Zeiss-quality lens (or lenses) to your iPhone could result in a huge step forward when it comes to using external lenses in your photography.

While we haven’t been able to test these new lenses yet (they’re due to be released some time before mid-2016), they look extremely promising and may very well become the best premium add-on lenses for the iPhone.

For more information, and to sign up for notifications as to when these new lenses will be released, please visit the ExoLens website.

The post New High Quality Exolens Zeiss Lenses For iPhone Photography appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

Easy & Fast Manual Focus

The Focus app takes its name from its core feature – Smart Focus Peaking.

While Focus may not be the first camera app to offer a form of focus “peaking” (PureShot and 645 Pro are just a couple of other examples), it does have one of the best implementations of focus peaking that I’ve seen – even compared to some larger mirrorless cameras that I’ve used.

Focus “peaking” is where areas of the image in the viewfinder that are in sharp focus are highlighted with a bold color. This makes it easy to quickly adjust focus without having to squint and look too closely at the screen.

Simply slide your finger up or down to adjust the focus. As the image moves in and out of focus, you’ll see which areas are in focus by where the highlights or “peaking” is strongest.

You can choose to have the peaking visible at all times or only when adjusting focus. The latter is the default setting and likely preferable for most users.

Here are two examples of focus peaking (using my Christmas tree) to show how the peaking intensity changes as the image moves from blurry to sharp focus:

Focus also lets you adjust the color of the peaking feature. You can choose from yellow, red, green or blue peaking highlights depending on your preferences.

Personally, I find that the default yellow setting works best in most lighting situations, but you may feel different, so having this choice is a good thing.

Additionally, the manual focus feature feels very easy and natural to use. It adjusts quickly and accurately thanks to the strong focus peaking feature.

If having a quality manual focus feature is important to you, then you can stop right here and go get the app. However, the app is more than just a great focusing aid.

Manual Exposure Controls

Like any good manual camera app, Focus offers you full control over the exposure settings of your iPhone’s camera.

Through easy-to-use controls, you can quickly adjust white balance, shutter speed and ISO.

Or, if you prefer to use the auto exposure setting, you can still make subtle tweaks using the Exposure Compensation tool.

Better-Than-Average Flash Control

Another great feature is found in the flash controls. While many folks (myself included) will tell you to rarely use your iPhone’s built-in flash due to the harsh light it casts, Focus does offer a feature that could be very handy in the right situations.

In addition to the typical Flash On, Flash Off, and Flash-Auto settings, Focus allows you to simply turn on the iPhone’s LED light as a steady fill light. You can even adjust the intensity/brightness of the light through simple on-screen controls.

While the light given off by the iPhone’s flash/LED is still a bit harsh for most uses, the ability to adjust the intensity can help reduce the harsh light and make it more visually pleasing.

Additional Helpful Features

Additional features that will enhance your shooting experience include:

• Live display of ISO and Shutter Values
• Live light meter
• 3D Level to help maintain a straight horizon line
• Rule of Thirds, Triangle, and Golden Spiral composition guides
• Timer with 3 and 10 second settings
• Photos save directly to your Photo Library for easy access and editing

Most of these features can be turned on or off via the settings menu located in the lower right corner (the three dots icon).

Final Thoughts

Focus is a great camera replacement app that could easily become your go-to app for shooting if you prefer manual control of most features.

But for ease-of-use, you can still use it in full auto mode and simply tap the screen to set the focus and exposure point.

The app loads quickly and is extremely responsive with virtually no lag time when using any of its features (for the record, I tested it on a new iPhone 6s model).

The only criticism I have is that there’s no option to save images as TIFF files. While not a deal breaker for most users, that’s a feature that more and more apps are offering due to the better image quality afforded by the higher-resolution TIFF format.

Nevertheless, Focus has quickly earned a permanent place on my iPhone, and I look forward to putting it to even more use in the near future.

You can purchase Focus on the App Store for $1.99.

The post New Focus App Offers Great Manual iPhone Camera Features appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

Super Wide Angle Lens

The built-in camera of the iPhone is already considered to be a wide-angle lens by most standards, so the Ztylus Super Wide Angle Lens takes that wide field of view to a whole new level.

You can include so much more of the scene in front of you when using a wide angle lens such as this one. The .63x lens gives you a 100 degree field of view with very little distortion.

This lens is particularly well-suited for landscape and architectural photography as it allows you to fit much more of the scene into your frame.

2x Telephoto Lens

The Ztylus 2x Telephoto Lens gets you twice as close to your subject as the iPhone’s built-in camera lens.

This can be great for simply getting closer to the action, but it also has significant benefits for portrait photography, which we’ll take a look at in more detail later.

High Quality Case

The case for this Z-Prime Lens Kit is very similar to the one for the iPhone 5/5s Ztylus Revolving Lens Kit that we previously reviewed.

It’s solidly built and would easily work as a highly protective, daily use case if so desired. The case can also be used with the aforementioned Revolving Lens Kit (available separately).

Your iPhone slides into the case from the bottom, and it’s secured by attaching the bottom plate to the rest of the case with the included thumb screw.

This may seem very different to how most cases simply snap on, but it provides a very secure shell for your iPhone due to the case’s rigidity.

The Z-Prime lenses attach directly to the Ztylus case using a bayonet twist mount, just like many other camera lens systems.

Each lens easily locks into place for a secure connection. A spring loaded locking tab prevents the lens from accidentally detaching from the case while in use.

I never had any problems with the lenses becoming loose while attached to the case. I even placed my phone in my jacket pocket with a lens attached many times and never had a problem.

Handy Lens Carrier

The new innovative lens carrier holds two Z-Prime lenses and clips to most bag straps, belts and backpacks.

A built-in carabiner also offers more attachment options. I used it by clipping the carabiner to either my camera bag or my jacket’s zipper pull.

I personally found the lens carrier a bit awkward to get used to at first, as I’m not accustomed to having anything dangling off my jacket or camera bag.

However, I quickly found it to be quite handy as it makes for very easy access to the lenses when I need them.

The lenses are secured to the carrier using the same bayonet mount found on the phone case. The only drawback I found was that the lenses can become disconnected if they bump or rub into other objects in just the right way.

They don’t seem to attach to the carrier quite as securely as they do to the iPhone case. This didn’t happen all the time, but be sure to keep an eye on the lenses if you use the carrier in this manner.

Built-In Lens Caps

Lens caps are important for protecting our lenses when not in use. They help prevent scratches on the glass and also reduce dust build-up so that you don’t have to clean them as often.

The Ztylus Z-Prime lenses each include a built-in, spring loaded lens cap that quickly flips out of your way with the press of a button.

Additionally, the lens caps are magnetically attached to the lenses, so they can easily be removed altogether if you prefer to shoot without a lens cap.

I didn’t find the lens caps to be in my way when shooting, so I never saw a need for removing them completely from the lenses.

However, I did occasionally have issues with them opening while in my bag or in my pocket. It might help to have a slightly stronger release tab to hold them closed when not in use, but this is in no way a deal-breaker.

Multi-Element Lens Design

According to the manufacturer, each lens has five glass elements in four groups that enable corner to corner sharpness with ultra low distortion.

Generally-speaking, I found this to be true, although I occasionally found that the lenses would lose a bit of sharpness at the edges.

This is a very common problem with iPhone lenses, and with a small amount of cropping you can usually remove any blurring from the edges.

Multi-Layer Coating

Multiple layers of anti-reflective coatings are applied to the lens elements to reduce surface reflections and increase light transmission.

I found that the lenses don’t affect the quality of light entering the iPhone’s camera in a negative manner. Colors and shading/tonality are captured just as well as they would be without the use of the Ztylus lenses.

Wide vs. Telephoto Comparison

Below is a quick comparison of the differences between the Super Wide Angle Lens (left image), the normal iPhone 6s camera (middle image), and the Telephoto Lens (right image).

As you can see from these examples, the wide angle lens really does capture an amazingly wide field of view. Conversely, the telephoto brings your subject much closer and eliminates the need for extensive cropping in post-processing.

A telephoto lens also eliminates much of the need for using the iPhone camera’s digital zoom feature, which should be avoided in most cases anyway as all it really does is crop your image by removing the outer rows and columns of pixels.

The Ztylus Telephoto Lens can easily bring you closer to your subject without losing any precious pixels/resolution.

Below are the larger versions of the photos taken with the Ztylus lenses so that you can get a better idea of the image quality.

Shot with Ztylus Super Wide Angle Lens

In the photo below, taken with the Telephoto Lens, you’ll notice that while the image is very sharp in the center, there is some slight blurring at the edges of the frame. As mentioned earlier, this is quite common with add-on iPhone lenses.

Shot with Ztylus Telephoto Lens

Telephoto Lens For Improved Portraits

In addition to using a telephoto lens to simply bring you closer to your subject, this kind of lens offers a key benefit when shooting portraits.

Wide angle lenses are generally terrible for shooting portraits as they severely distort your subject’s face. Just look at how the Ztylus Super Wide Angle Lens “bends” the face in the following photo:

Shot with Ztylus Super Wide Angle Lens

This isn’t meant to dismiss the Ztylus Wide Angle Lens in any way. All wide angle lenses (even on DSLRs) have the same effect.

Even the built-in camera lens of the iPhone is on the wide side of the lens spectrum, and still distorts faces slightly when used at a fairly close proximity (as you would when shooting a headshot):

Shot with iPhone’s built-in lens

This is why most professional portrait photographers shoot with longer focal length (i.e. telephoto) lenses.

Without getting too technical, longer lenses tend to “flatten” your image so that things in the foreground and background appear closer to one another.

This effect is intensified in direct proportion to the length of the lens used. Conversely, a wide angle lens makes your foreground and background elements appear farther away.

Using a longer lens like the 2x Ztylus Telephoto Lens helps to render the human face in a more natural manner.

Compare the following portrait photo, shot with the 2x Telephoto Lens, with the previous two images and you’ll see what I’m talking about:

Shot with Ztylus Telephoto Lens

To make it easier to compare, below are the three shots taken with the Wide Angle Lens (left image), the iPhone’s built-in lens (middle image), and the Telephoto Lens (right image).

In particular, pay close attention to the shape of my subject’s face, including the cheeks. Also notice the apparent position of the ears.

In the telephoto image on the right, the ears appear as they should – on the side of his head. In the wide angle image on the left, his ears appear to be wrapped around behind his cheeks.

Your tastes may vary, but I definitely prefer to shoot portraits with a longer lens, and the new telephoto lens that comes with the Ztylus kit is perfect for this sort of application.

Final Thoughts

Add-on lenses are a great way to extend the range of your iPhone’s built-in camera, and with the growing number of lenses and lens systems to choose from, it’s important to take your time and consider what features are most important to you.

If you like the fun perspective that wide angle lenses offer, you’re in luck as the vast majority of add-on lenses seem to fall into this category.

Even with all of the available choices, the Super Wide Angle Lens included with the new Ztylus Z-Prime kit is likely just what you’re looking for.

It combines a broad field of view with a larger, brighter, and higher-quality build that surpasses many of the other, smaller add-on lenses available today.

Good telephoto lenses for the iPhone aren’t as readily available, and since the native camera lens already offers a wide angle perspective, I’m always on the lookout for a solid telephoto lens.

The Z-Prime Telephoto is just the lens I’ve been looking for, especially with regard to shooting portraits.

At only 2x magnification, you don’t need to get too far from your subject to use it in this manner, but as mentioned above, it makes a world of difference in the relative perspective of your subject’s facial features.

I would buy this kit mainly for the telephoto lens, and the kit is worth the cost for that alone.

If you’ve already used a simpler add-on lens system and are looking to upgrade, or if you’re buying your first set of lenses and want to start at a more advanced level, you really can’t go wrong with the Ztylus Z-Prime Kit as it offers a balanced system for most photo applications.

The Ztylus Z-Prime Lens Kit is available for $199.95 for the iPhone 6/6s, but if you follow this link you’ll get a voucher code giving you a fantastic 25% off this price.

The post Review Of Ztylus Z-Prime Lens Kit For iPhone Photography appeared first on iPhone Photography School.

1. Review Your iPhone Battery Settings

The first thing you can do to help maximize your iPhone’s battery life is to review your phone’s settings. You may not even realize it, but there are many default settings that may be unnecessarily reducing battery life.

By going to Settings > Battery, you can view a list of all apps that you’ve recently used, and how much battery usage they each represent.

This will help you keep an eye on which apps are the most power-hungry so that you can keep your use of them to a minimum when you’re unable to charge your phone.

Under the Battery setting, there’s also the relatively new “Low Power Mode” that you can activate when your battery power level starts to become low.

This will reduce power consumption by turning off many background functions as well as some animation effects.

This isn’t a setting to use all the time unless you want to dramatically reduce the effectiveness of your iPhone, but it’s a great way to stretch the last 10-20% when you still need to take more photos.

2. Conserve Power

There are some other settings that you can tweak in order to conserve battery power. To start, unless you’re using any Bluetooth accessories, turn this off by going to Settings > Bluetooth.

Leaving Bluetooth on all the time will significantly reduce your iPhone’s available power. Only turn it on when you actually need to use it.

Similarly, even just reducing your iPhone’s default display brightness will help save power. The backlight is one of the biggest power thieves there is.

To access the brightness settings, go to Settings > Display & Brightness. Alternatively you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen at any time to access the brightness slider on the Control Panel.

I typically set my brightness at just above the halfway point (55-60%). Your preference may vary based on when and where you tend to use your iPhone the most, but generally speaking, there’s little need to ever turn the brightness setting up all the way.

Additionally, turn on the Auto-brightness feature and your iPhone will automatically adjust the brightness according to the ambient light. This helps conserve battery power by using only as much light as is needed.

Just bear in mind that if you shoot photos with the screen brightness turned down, they’ll look brighter when you turn the screen brightness up again.

When you really need to conserve power, you could put your iPhone in Airplane Mode. You can do this through the Settings app, or you can simply swipe up from the bottom of the screen to access the Control Panel and activate it there.

Airplane Mode turns off Wi-Fi and Cellular data, which will make a significant difference to the amount of battery that your phone is using.

This certainly isn’t a good option if you need to communicate with others, check a map, etc., but it’s easy enough to turn it on and off very quickly, so it can be another great way to manage a low battery until you can recharge.

3. Use An External Battery/Charger

An external battery/charger is a must for all-day photo excursions. Luckily, there are many options available depending on your needs and budget.

The simplest and cheapest external batteries will only charge your iPhone once or twice (if that) before they need to be recharged themselves, but that may still be all that you need to keep you going until you can “plug in.”

The larger batteries are capable of charging your iPhone up to six (or more) times before they need to be recharged.

This may be overkill for most, but it can be great to have for long trips and camping where you might not have easy access to mains power for a length of time.

Personally, I use an Anker Astro E5 for longer photo walks and other trips, and it’s never let me down.

Combined with my 6-foot USB cord, I can keep my iPhone plugged into the Anker while it stays tucked away in my backpack for all-day shooting. I’ve yet to run out of power using this approach.

In addition to Anker, there are many other popular and effective brands such as Jackery.

Take some time to consider your particular needs, and then research the various models that are available to determine which one best fits your requirements. You’re sure to find several options that fit your needs and budget.

4. Invest In A Battery Case

If you don’t like the idea of a separate external battery, you might prefer to use an integrated battery case such as the excellent Mophie Juice Pack.

This compact and convenient case protects your iPhone as well as giving you extra battery power for extended shooting time.

Another option to consider is the brand new Smart Battery Case from Apple. Costing around the same as the Mophie Juice pack ($99), this new Apple case may not deliver the same amount of power, but it’s supposed to make up for that by being “smart.”

The case fully integrates with your iPhone in that your iPhone’s lock screen displays separate levels for the battery case and your iPhone’s built-in battery.

While other cases simply push power to your iPhone’s built-in battery, the new Apple Smart Battery Case works “with” your iPhone battery.

If you like your accessories as integrated as possible, then the Smart Battery Case might be a good option.

5. Make Use Of Available Power Supplies

When it comes to charging your iPhone on-the-go, an external battery or battery case is the obvious choice. However, don’t overlook other available options.

For one, I always carry a regular wall charger with me when I go on photo walks.

Instead of waiting for my battery to become critically low, I’ll simply plug it in for a few minutes here and there when grabbing coffee in a cafe, eating lunch, and even waiting for a subway (you never know where you might find a publicly-accessible wall outlet). This helps to keep it charged and ready-to-go.

If you’re traveling by car, ensure you have an in-car phone charger to keep your battery topped up while you’re on the move.

I’ve used a two-port car charger from Anker for years, but there are many other great options as well. The two-port variety is very convenient in case you want to charge more than one device at a time.

6. Lengthen Your Power Cable

One last thing to consider is the length of the USB power cord that you carry with you for charging your phone.

All iPhones come with a standard three foot (1m) cord for charging. However, this can be too short when trying to reach the only accessible AC outlet in a cafe, or if you’re using your iPhone in the backseat of someone else’s car while charging it.

I purchased a six-foot (2m) cord for this very reason, and it’s become my most-used power cord. It’s especially great for use with my external battery.

I can keep the battery pack in my backpack or shoulder bag and continue to shoot with my iPhone while it’s charging, with no restrictions on my physical movement (a three-foot cord would be too short in most cases for this type of use).

Final Thoughts

While battery technology continues to lag behind real-world demand, there are many easy steps that you can take to maximize the usable power of your iPhone’s battery.

From no-cost changes to your built-in settings to a wide range of power accessories, you have plenty of options to take advantage of.

Start with the easy settings and see what works best for your needs. If you still need more power, consider an external battery or battery case to keep your iPhone topped up while you’re out shooting.

Your ability to take photos with your iPhone should only be limited by your subjects and your imagination, not your battery life.

The post How To Maximize Your iPhone’s Battery Life For All-Day Photography appeared first on iPhone Photography School.