What’s the one camera we all seemingly have on us most of the time? Well, if you’re an Apple user at least, that equates to an iPhone. Author Scott Kelby is no stranger to photography: he’s written over 60 books, from The Digital Photography Book series to Professional Portrait Retouching Techniques for Photographers.
His latest, The iPhone Photography Book: How to get Professional-Looking Images Using the Camera You Always Have with You, is an easy-to-follow resource for photo enthusiasts.
First off, kudos to Kelby as he opens the book with a dedication to his wife, Kalebra. The last line reads, “I love you, and super-dig you!”
While a glance at the chapter contents may seem daunting at first, rest assured that the book is designed to include just one tip or trick per page, rather than an entire chapter. This makes it super quick to thumb through and pick the mini tutorials you’d like to learn on the fly. Kelby writes the book as though you’re out with him taking shots while he offers up little tidbits of what to do for the best outcome.
The iPhone Photography Book will inspire photographers of all levels to just go out there and test what the iPhone can do. You don’t need to have the latest model either as many of these tricks are technique- rather than new feature-related.
For example, here’s a handy tip I learned when perusing the book, and it’s a great one!
Making Your Photo Fill the Screen
Have you noticed that when you take a photo with the iPhone’s camera it doesn’t capture the entire screen? It leaves blank areas at the top and bottom (if you’re shooting vertically) or on the left and right (if you’re shooting horizontally).
If you want an image that fills the entire screen, there’s a trick for that: switch your Camera app to shoot in Video mode. You’ll notice two things: (1) the video fills the entire screen, and (2) once you hit the red record button, there’s now a little white shutter button that appears onscreen. When you tap that white shutter button, it takes a still photo, and like the video, it fills the entire screen.
When you shoot video, by default, it zooms in closer than the regular camera does, so your still image will be zoomed in a bit closer as well. But it’s better than just cropping a still image because cropping your still image would make it smaller, and it wouldn’t fill the screen like this video trick does, so it’s definitely worth trying. In fact, many iPhone photography pros will only shoot in Video mode for this very reason.
For travel, food, concert and landscape photo fans, Kelby devotes an entire chapter to getting the most out of your iPhone in those situations. There’s even a chapter that covers iPhone accessories to beef up your game, including tripods, flash, wireless remote control, and printing on the go.
Kelby doesn’t earn anything off these vendor recommendations, but just wants to let iPhone users know that they’re out there. In fact, from the very start, he includes some fun opening pages on how the book works and what to expect from his writing style.
As can be expected, with each tip or technique there’s a full-colour image included for easy reference. This book will definitely stay within our reach — so many great little tips shared by a pro! You too can make your friends and family say, “Wait…you took this?!”
If you’d like to get your hands on a copy, iPhone Photography Book is available online via Rocky Nook and in Canada at Indigo (online and in stores). CAD $39.95/USD $29.95