iPhone on Safari

The last few days I have been taking my iPhone with me on game drive with the idea of trying to actually shoot wildlife with the 2 megapixel camera.  Possible??

I have said this before – it is not about the camera you are using!  With wildlife photography we have all been conditioned that larger is better.  More zoom.  Always.  So is it then possible to shoot African wildlife with a phone camera at a focal length of around 37mm?  I reckon it is and as a little sideline self project I will attempt to get decent iPhone images of Africa’s Big 5.  Only rhino and leopard to go!

Firstly you have to either get very close to your subject or actually think about and plan your composition.  What??  I cannot just zoom in or out to make an image?  After this you have only a few very basic editing applications with which you can process your images.  Challenging, but I reckon it can teach you quite a bit.  Here are a few of my ‘using-an-iPhone-to-capture-wildlife’ attempts.  Underneath each image I have given the iPhone applications I used to capture and process that image.

Shot with iPhone camera and processed with Best Camera.

Shot and processed with Best Camera.

Now if the first thing you notice in the above images is noise, distortion and other technical issues – you are missing the point.  Look past that.  The reality is that the images were shot with a 2 megapixel phone camera with a really bad zoom function and no functions to speak of.  That’s it.  As photographers we sometimes forget that photography is not only about the technical side of things but about the actual picture.  The vision you have for your images.  Telling a visual story.

For wildlife photography I suppose the lesson is this – for a shot time at least, forget about the technical side of your photography and just shoot.  Look at composition rather that aperture.  Look at visual elements rather than ISO.  As an exercise, try this.  For one week limit yourself to one single focal length and for the entire week shoot only at that focal length.  No matter what.  You will initially find yourself quite frustrated but soon you will start seeing things differently.  You will actually use your feet, or vehicle, to compose better shots rather than just turning the zoom ring.  It is a brilliant way to start thinking again.  To start seeing again.

During the last few days of game drives I have been shooting with a 50mm f/1.8 fixed focal length, apart from taking the iPhone along.  Not only was it quite handy to have the wide aperture during all the gloomy overcast conditions but I also had to think and compose differently compared to using the 500mm.  Great exercise and there is a reason many people do self-assignments like 50/50 where they use a 50mm fixed focal length and shoot one image a day for 50 days.  Here is one of yesterday’s 50mm images.

No zooming or funny stuff.  Look through viewfinder.  Compose in viewfinder.  Click.  Image done and one more lesson learnt.

So whether you have a fixed focal length lens, use discipline to limit yourself to one focal length or you use you iPhone give it a bash.  Don’t just zoom in and click.   Look, see and then photograph your subject.

Oh, if you don’t have an iPhone you can use any phone camera and if you do have an iPhone remember this – your iPhone is very much like a penis.  It’s fine to play with it when you are on your own but it’s considered rude to yank it out around the dinner table!!

Until next time.

Gerry