(embiggenable) • iPhone - Night Mode
(embiggenable) • iPhone
IN MY RECENT ENTRY, stupid is as stupid is, I WROTE that it was important to have a basic understanfing of how the iPhone (or any in-phone camera) works in order to get the most out of it. After reading some responses to a comment, re: in-phone cameras are capable of high quality picture making, I made on a photo blog wherein some commenters mentioned that they could not make quality prints beyond an 8 inch max dimesion, I came to the realization that there are obviously a lot of piture makers out there who are less than knowledgeable about not only anything beyond rudimentary file processing, but also how to make a high quality print.
DISCLOSURE: I am a Photoshop power user and have been using various versions-upgrade after upgrade-of the program for over 25 years. During that time I have been processing / prepping image files to high quality direct-to-plate pre-press standards. That is, files which are used to make printing plates for commercial printing press use. My knowledge and experience in doing so is directly applicable to processing / prepping my picture files for high quality printing on my Epson Wide Format printer.
A typical comment:
...I've made 8x8 prints and they look good, not great but actually pretty good.
Case in point, this picture maker has a problem. Or, perhaps, even many problems. He/she is using an iPhone 11 MAX PRO so the problem certainly should not be there, although, as I know from conducting iPhone picture making workshops, quite a few people with good phones make iffy pictures (technically). But, even if they are making decent image files, they have no idea how to take those pictures to the next level ...
....and the next level is knowing how to process the image files and this where most in-phone camera picture makers fall short. Using good picture processing is paramount. There are some very good apps out there - Snapseed, the new Apple processing tools, to name just 2. However, understanding how to use those apps in order to improve file quality, as opposed to damaging a file-which is very easy to do if you do not know what you are doing-requires a bit of learning. And it is this step on which I concentrate much of my iPhone workshops.
My next step in prepping a file for printing is to download the file to my desktop setup where I perform "finish" fine tuning in Photoshop - the full desktop version. A very important element in the fine tuning is a reasonably well calibrated monitor. Without that, a user is sorta "working in the dark". With it you are working to WYSWIG standards, aka: What You See on the monitor is What You Get on the printed picture.
Of course, getting what you see on the monitor on a print also requires that the printer you are using is set up with the right paper profile amongst a few other printer settings.
All of that written, ever step of the way from making the picture, processing the file and making a print requires knowledge and attention to detail. There are no shortcuts or punching a button and letting the machine and software do the rest. Or, to write the venerable computer adage, garbage in, garbage out.
I suspect that those who are having difficulty getting great, not just "good", results from making pictures with an iPhone (or similar) do not have the knowledge of and/or an understanding of the complete process.