RS - Introduction to iPhone Photography

You can help other RenSoc members take control of their photography by becoming a “Photography Coach” in the Spring of 2022. Here is a draft of the RS activity - more details to follow. 

Activity Title: Introduction to iPhone Photography

Meetings: 3 Zoom meetings + 1 photo walk in a park setting

Day & Time: Wednesday afternoons

DRAFT Description: Attend Zoom class to learn about Apple Camera features and Settings. Enroll in a small group Photo Walk with iPhone Photography Coaches at a park near your home. Attend Zoom class to learn about editing features in the Apple Photos app. Attend Zoom class to learn about how to organize, share and print your photos. Attend Zoom meetings on a computer/Chromebook/tablet so you can use/practice with your iPhone. 

This activity is directed at basic Apple Camera and Photos features and using iPhone 5 and up. 

After people enroll in the activity, I will ask them to choose a Park Photo Walk location determined by our Coaches. My goal is to have 4+ park locations that will all meet on the same Wednesday afternoon. Anticipating COVID restrictions, Photo Walks will be limited to 10 participants and have at least 2 coaches per site. 

✌Consider sharing your iPhone photography joy. 😍

iOS 15 and iPadOS 15

Well, the iPhone 13’s come with iOS 15 installed and it has been a fun ride to explore the new features and check for apps that did not make the cut. So far, no problems. Do NOT update Snapseed if you have it installed. (If you have updated, try editing in the app and let me know how it responds. Most Recent Reviews in the App Store are not reporting success with edits!) 

iPad Pro circa January 2020 has also been updated to iPadOS 15 so I can check apps and features and update our Cheatsheet. This is slow going, too many distractions. 

On my devices the Settings > App Updates is OFF so I can review app changes/updates/compatibility before taping the Update button. More and more apps on our list are showing up as “optimized for 15” and  optimized for the new screen sizes of 13 Pro Max. 

Upgrade time - Circa 2021

The upgrade path ahead - for me - is iPhone 11 Pro to iPhone 13 Pro and in two years I'll be doing this again so this post will help me remember the process. 

Watch 6 and 3 are paired to iPhone 11 Pro 

Wireless Service from AT&T 

Confirm Apple ID and password (or reset password) 

Apple's Use Quick Start to transfer data to a new iPhone   

Basics:

1. Force a fresh Backup of current device 
2. Settings > [apple ID/Name] > iCloud > iCloud Backup ON > Back Up Now 
3. Power off the device and remove the wireless service SIM card (note position in tray)
4. Now current device is an iPod Touch with only wifi 
5. Open the SIM tray on the new device and insert the SIM and close the tray. 
6. Prepare to plug-in both devices 
7. Power on current device while plugged in
8. Power on new device while plugged in 
9. Wait for magic to appear on screen with instructions 
10. Confirm home WiFi connection works 
11. Put new device to sleep and wake it up to confirm Face ID / Passcode 
12. Consider changing the name of new device - or add an emoji 
13. Settings > General > About > Name 
14. Connect new device to automobile sound systems and delete old devices from Bluetooth speakers
15. Compare new iOS to previous iOS
16. Open important apps to be sure they work 
17. Open Contacts, Calendars, Mail and Safari to be sure content has migrated
18. Confirm Apple Wallet and Apple Pay are working
19. Confirm Apple Watch is connected, if appropriate 
20. Connect new iPhone to BlueTooth speakers 
21. Remove old iPhone from list of trusted devices 
22. Connect iPhone 13 to iMac (Catalina) and test Image Capture download 
23. Use PhotoSync for photo transfer to iMac and Dropbox 
24. Update remaining camera and editing apps 
25. Confirm new iPhone iCloud Backup is ON 

AT&T Wireless Services

1. Review Apple article Transfer or convert your current SIM to an eSIM on your new iPhone
2. Find unique IMEI number of new device 
3. Settings > General > About > primary: IMEI 
4. Activate/Transfer service by calling 611 on new device 
5. Tell customer service agent new IMEI number 
6. Update VoiceMail password 
7. Next billing cycle see $30 new device activation one-time fee 
8. Confirm cellular service works by turning off WiFi and connecting to a website
9. Turn WiFi back on 
10. The future of wireless is SIM-less  About eSIM on iPhone 

Trade-In Prep

• Unpair any BlueTooth devices (Watch, speakers) 
• Sign-out of iCloud, iTunes and App Store on iPhone 11 
• Erase content, settings and turn off Find My iPhone as detailed in Apple Trade In: Turn the device you have into the one you want  and What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone 
• Pack up iPhone in Trade-In box with case (if desired) and send it in/drop it off for recycling 
• Confirm new iPhone iCloud Backup is on and has recently backed up 
• Go to iCloud Backup and delete previous iPhone’s Backup to recover iCloud space

Other reading and research 

• Indicated unpair Apple Watch before doing side-by-side data transfer but Apple's current instructions do not include unpairing Watch with this version of hardware
• Lifewire article How to Set Up a New iPhone 
• Lifewire article Do These 12 Things First When You Get a New iPhone is a good review

Photography - For Comparison  

Take photos of the same subjects with both iPhones 

• In full sun, shade, indoors
• Use apps that capture in low light on old iPhone
• Use Apple Camera for low light scene
• Use apps that capture RAW photos
• Turn on AppleProRAW on new iPhone Pro and capture same subjects
• Toggle AppleProRAW off (to save space on device and in iCloud)
• Use Camera+ 2 in Macro mode to take close-up photos
• Use iPhone 13 Pro Apple Camera for close-up photos 

Make screenshots 

• On both iPhones of the About screen to print and file for insurance record
• On both iPhones for later comparison of resolution 

High Resolution Output

• Open apps that preserve high quality output and export the same image from both devices for comparison
• Add device and app name in the Caption field for each photo 
• Check dimension, MP (mega pixels) and file size using PhotInfo, Metapho or PhotoSync

Experiment with New iOS 15 Features

• Live Text 
• What is different in the Photos app
• How do editing apps open Photo Library for selecting photos
•  ... 

Low Light and Night Photography

Apple introduced Deep Fusion for iPhone 11 models and iOS 13, expanding the "computational photography" to preserve details, textures and reduce noise in low light scenes. This is not a setting you turn on or off, but will happen automatically. The 9-to-5 Mac article Here’s how to find out when your iPhone 11 camera is using Deep Fusion features Metapho's ability to report on this feature back in November 2019.

The iPhone 12 Pro models stepped up with 2.5X telephoto lens and additional low-light enhancements.  Apple's article Shot on iPhone 12: Portraits, cityscapes, the night sky, is an inspirational gallery. Another resource is Use Night mode on your iPhone for iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 12 models. Also introduced was the AppleRAW option where capturing great detail in highlights and shadows. LiDAR assists in focusing in the dark. 

Read about A dramatically more powerful camera system. With the iPhone 13 Pro model Ultra Wide camera - Macro photography has come to the native Apple Camera, with a minimum focus range at 2 centimeters - just over 3/4 inch. Macro video, time-lapse and slow motion features have also been added to this 'camera bag.' LiDAR is available for all three cameras. The 3X telephoto is an upgrade and Photographic Styles have been added. 

Before watching the Shayne videos below, note that I'm still not recommending that you update the Snapseed app on iPhone or iPad. Most Recent reviews are complaining that the app freezes. 

As further inspiration - check out these YouTube videos by Shayne Mostyn. In addition to his tips on low-light photography, the demonstrations of processing his photos in Snapseed have taught me new tricks. 

7 ways to do night sky photography with iphone 12 Pro in 2021  

Double exposure snapseed tutorial for iOS and Android  12:56 - double exposure and masking 

How to transform your mobile astrophotography photo in Snapseed 6:50  

How to do Star Photography on iPhone 13 Pro 13:10 - Lightroom on iPhone

iPhone 12 Pro Astrophotography | How to photograph the stars with the iPhone 12 Pro 9:56 

iPhone 12 pro max best camera settings for low light photography 8:18 

How to take photos of the moon with your iPhone 12 Pro Max 13:21  

by Jenham's Astro 

Digiscoping the Orion Nebula using Binoculars and a Smartphone   13:53 - use an app with manual controls exposure controls 1sec at ISO 3000, change format to either TIF or RAW and set focus. 

Will you upgrade to iPhone 13?

If you have an iPhone 11 or 12 then you might not be interested in the iPhone 13 announced by Apple on September 14th. But the lineup is awesome. Waiting for these iPhones to arrive is also why our seminar will not start until October 21/28. 

Pre-order using the Apple Store app on your iPhone or iPad. Choose the standard or professional, the screen size, on-board storage size and payment option. Consider the status of your iCloud storage when picking the on-board storage - you might increase your current subscription of cloud storage and not go for the top level of on-board storage.  

iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max - more pro than ever before - Apple's article details the advanced camera features. There is nitty-gritty techno-speak here, skip over the jargon to read about low-light capability, sensor-shift image stabilization, improved autofocus and, for the first time, macro photography in the native Apple Camera app. The presentation included example videos using artificial intelligence cinematic mode with rack-focusing. So much power in the palm of our hands. 

Compare iPhone Models by selecting your current iPhone and two other models. 

Revving up for fall

Apple announcement set for Tuesday, 14, 2021at 10 am Pacific Time. 

New discoveries  

• David Addison's review of Slow Shutter Cam
• How to Use TouchRetouch to Remove Objects from Photos
  is an article at iPhone Photography School 
• MacMost reviews New iOS Color Chooser Options 

New videos - making space activities are teachable moments

• iPhone iCloud Storage iOS 14  3:14 minutes 
• Camera+ 2 Lightbox Cleanup 25:36 minutes 
• Camera+2 Dropbox PhotoSync 7:09 minutes 
• ProCamera Photos Map PhotoInfo 6:12 minutes 
• Archive Slo-mo Video Frame Grabber app 11:36 minutes 
• Create GIF Live to Video Diptic iMovie 15:54 minutes 

iCloud for Windows users

Apple has an online resource, iCloud for Windows User Guide, that should be required reading for anyone using a Windows computer. This guide provides links to download iCloud on your computer. 

Also for Mac/iOS users who have friends and family that use Windows. In our studio we use Shared Photo Albums and you'll want to read about cross-platform features. 

Nice of you to drop by

Welcome! This is the website, actually a blog, for the Renaissance Society iPhone Photography Studio seminar. Our website is open to all who find this nook of the Internet. While active participants in the seminar will be the source of postings here, we welcome others to dive in, follow along and build your iPhone Photo Library into an amazing resource. 

Two resources to help you "see" what this seminar is all about: 

• Checkout the digital galleries from past semesters posted on YouTube to get an idea of what we do in this class. 
• Watch the summer presentation by Cynthia and Melissa about Smartphone Photography.