(embiggenable) • iPhone
GOOD GRIEF CHARLIE BROWN! THERE THEY GO AGAIN.....in his last 2 entries, Mike Johnston goes off, once again, with his ridiculous bias, re: the iPhone and/or smartphones in general. And, my intial response was very similar to that of Kenneth Tanaka, "To say the least, I’m disappointed by your reaction. I’ve no energy to debate the matter." However.....
....let's first get snarky out of the way - I was neither disappointed nor surprised by the sentiments expressed in the 2 aforementioned entries. That is cuz, in some ways, it is exactly what one might expect from someone who states that he is a writer, not a photographer. And, if I were to throw in a pinch of cynicism, it is also what might be expected from someone who wets his beak from conventional camera gear / supplies sales but hasn't figured out how to do so, re: iPhone / smartphone sales.END OF SNARKINESS So, moving on...
Re; "a writer, not a photographer" - I would be one of the first to admit that Mike Johntson has fairly broad, albeit generalized, knowledge of things photographic. That written, I don't believe that he has claimed to be a definitive expert in any one facet of things photographic. And therein, iMo, a specific lack of digital processing expertise, lies the problem with his thoughts and opinions, re: iPhone / smartphone picture making.
Re: the lake picture in the "wrong camera" entry - as presented, there is a measureable (INFO window in Photoshop) green cast along with a significant amount of cyan and yellow (which exacerbates the green cast) in the clouds. Whether this is due to the iPhone getting the White Balance wrong-which begs the question, is the picture made with the latest iPhone?-or is it due to the fact that it was introduced by questionable processing technique? No matter the answer to either variable, the fact of the matter is that the picture just flat out looks terrible. Green clouds? Really?
In any event, I'll make no assumptions, re: Johnston's iPhone version / processing expertise. What I will write is that, in my iPhone picture making experience-dating back to Version7-I have never experienced a severe WB problem nor been unable to process an image file to obtain a very high quality / desired result (see caveat below).
Having the knowledge and skills to make the most of the iPhone's capabilities makes it difficult for me to ignore the ignorance, re: the iPhone picture making potential, of those who know not of what they speak / write. When I confront that ignorance, aka: lack of experience and/or expertise, it is not done so out of a desire to embarass or demean but rather to enlighten and support those who might be tempted to explore the possibilities of a device which has re-introduced me to the joy of picture making.
CAVEAT I am a so-called Photoshop power user and have been considered as such by printing industry professionals for 3 decades. During that time, I have craved out a pathway through the byzantine labyrinth of Photoshop tools and techniques that gives me the ability to be very proficient at achieving very high standard results when working with image files made with whatever device. FYI, this pathway mirrors nicely in the smartphone processing app Snapseed. This proficiency has served me well in my transition to iPhone picture making.