Maximizing Your iPhone 15 Pro Max Camera Expertise

The iPhone 15 Pro Max came out a few months back so there has been enough time to put together some tips for folks just jumping into some of the features available with the phone.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max has a variety of lenses that allow you to take photos from different perspectives. There is a main wide angle lens which is what you would typically use for general shots. Then there is a 2x telephoto lens that lets you get closer images as if you were zoomed in. This is great for getting nice portrait shots. Finally, there is an ultra wide angle lens which lets you capture dramatic sweeping landscape images that even the human eye struggles to fully take in. Be sure to switch between these lenses to gain different vantage points of your subjects.

Portrait mode is a fun tool that can be adjusted later if your focus depth isn’t where you hoped it to be. This produces a depth effect that blurs the background while keeping your main subject in perfect focus. The results look like beautiful DSLR-style shots. Portrait mode works best on people, pets, or objects set against relatively clean backgrounds. Use this to make your main subject really stand out.

You may need to manually adjust exposure at times if the default settings produce shots that are too bright or too dark. Tap to focus on your main subject, then hold and slide your finger up or down to increase or decrease the overall brightness levels accordingly before taking the shot. This little tweak can make a big difference in tricky lighting.

For low light shots, be sure to take advantage of night mode. This setting takes multiple exposures then blends them to greatly reduce noise. That allows you to produce clear, bright images even in near darkness. Night mode will kick in automatically but you can also turn it on manually if needed.

For maximum editing flexibility later on, use the 48 megapixel ProRaw setting on the main lens. This massive resolution captures incredible detail packed with way more imaging data than a normal photo. Just be aware files take up a lot more storage compared to standard shots.

I hope these iPhone 15 Pro Max photography tips help you capture awesome shots.

Hipstamatic adds Infrared effect filters through Bucktown Hipstapak

Hipstamatic, the film and lens filters app, is making the sharp black-and-white impact of Infrared photography to a new combo Hipstapak. Called “Bucktown“, the pack includes a film and lens which can be mixed with other films and lens you may already have in your Histamatic grab bag for even more impactful photography.

Previously, when a new HipstaPak was introduced, the lens/film would appear in the oggl social app, included at no extra charge above the social service subscription. This appears to no longer be the case. To use the lens/film in oggl, you must purchase in Hipstamatic, then import into oggl.

The lens in the Bucktown bundle is the ‘Scott S’, named after Scott Strazzante. I have not run this lens against other films to see the difference that it makes on a photos, watch for an update here.

The film is the BlacKeys IR film, which is the backbone to the sharp black-and-white results of photos using this film filter.

While called Infrared, most people will see a resulting image and relate it more to a monochrome print of yesteryear.

 

 

Google Improves iPhone Photo Management

Google offers the storage of iPhone photos to the Google Cloud solution as a quick way of freeing up memory on the iPhone. The iPhone has this solution built in with Apple’s iCloud, but if Google Photo or Google Drive is being used for other purposes, these app updates makes it easier to keep everything in one place (Google vs iCloud).

  • Photo syncing to/from the Google Cloud improved 4x faster
  • A new view to the Assistant Tab cards

Within the Google Photo app, choosing the Assistant option along the bottom of any screen, results in a scrollable list of alerts from Google and quick creation buttons.

The quick create options are available from the Photos area as well, along with album viewing options.

The Google Drive app also provides access to the photos on the iPhone and on the Google Cloud/Drive account to reduce the need to jump between apps.

 

 

Quick High Resolution HDR With Editing Through Lightroom Mobile

Adobe has updated their Lightroom Mobile app with a few features that will be improving my workflow:

  • Authentic HDR taking through the app
  • Exporting original raw images to camera roll
  • Improved rating for images
  • Improved cloud syng

The addition of HDR photography to the app has the customization tuning that I would expect from a Adobe app. Rather than one-size-fits-all, a bit of tuning helps set the app to my HDR style:

A winning feature of using Lightroom Mobile app for HDR is it’s option to have it in the quick apps area of the iPhone. When access is turned on, a HDR snap is just a right swipe on the screen away.

Once a moment is captured, the Lightroom Mobile app takes a little while to save to it’s own editing library. Once there, the HDR photo has all the fine turning options that any photo edited in the app gets:

I enjoy the apps handling of editing a selected area. Most apps let you set a dot or crosshairs where the edit will happen, while Lightroom Mobile uses a circle solution so the editing area is truly known:

Raw image saving is handled via a picker to choose the image between JPG and DNG

The improved rating solution is within the photo detail view… select as many or few stars as the picture deserves.

Walk The Wild Side With A New Film And Lens For Oggl And Hipstamatic

Normally, there is a bit of a time difference between lens/film combos coming out across the Hipstamatic camera and photo sharing products. But, this weekend Madagascar showed up in both! If your a fan of shooting with film and lens effects to get more of a film camera experience, there is the bundle in Hipsamatic iPhone Camera app. If your a fan of the Oggl photography social sharing, you now have the film and lens to mix and match with your other favorites too (Oggl allows for the film/lens combo change after the photo is taken).

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In the case of the Hipstamatic app, there is a new camera face to use too. Love the colors!

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Here is a shot I just took using the Madagascar combo

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In Memory Of Arjan van der Horst – Free Film For Your iPhone

To be honest, Arjan is new to me. I saw the announcement of his passing and the mentions of his impacts on street photography grabbed my attention.

His art was very hipster, so it is no surprise to me to see the folks that create the Hipstamatic iPhone camera app came out with a special roll of film in his memory.

The Arjan ‘film’ can be dowloaded for free via the Hipstamatic app, just launch the app and choose the shopping cart icon. After downloading, don’t forget to choose it from any other ‘films’ you have downloaded. It is a ‘black and white’ roll, depending on the lens you choose in the app to pair with it, produces a very wide variety of effects. The bolder images will best produce what Arjan van der Horst  is known for.

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Fine Tuning Now For Tiny Planet Creations

If it has been a while since you took a look at Tiny Planet, you may want to update and get in to play a bit. The latest update has brought a slew of new fine tuning options. All of these are considered as ‘Live Editing’ tool as you can see what you will get as you make the changes. The tuning options include: Edge Alignment, Latitude, Longitude, Zoom, Horizontal Offset, Vertical Offset, and Duration of the Video if you choose to share the creating of your Tiny Planet.

Improvements to previously available tools is also included for the Edge Blur and Rotation.

Using either a photo from your iPhone’s library or taking a new, choose if you want the wrap to globe or tunnel effect. You can change your mind if you don’t like the direction a picture is going. During this process is when you can also choose the video options.

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Following the globe or tunnel effect application, a row of fine tuning adjustments appear. Each of these can be selected, then a dial like slider is provided below to tune the image.

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All of these options allow for a less random final Tiny Planet photo.

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Presidential Black And White Photography For The iPhone

The Hipstamatic folks keep at it… introducing a new HipstaPak called The District. If you enjoy black and white photography, this will be a nice add to your iPhone camera options. As usual, if your a Oggl social share subscriber, you have access to this film/lens at no extra charge (within Oggl, the Hipstamatic version is still 99 cents when purchased within the app).

01 The District HipstaPak

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One of the example shots for The District lens/film HipstaPak (all are toward US Historical sites, but there is a lot of fun posts on Oggl showing the Pak being put to good use):

04 The District HipstaPak

As the Pak appears on Oggl

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As I promised, here is a shot I took using The District film/lens bundle (defaults to 2448×2448):

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Your iPhone Camera Loves When The USA Is Winning At Soccer

To help celebrate the USA still being in the World Cup, Hipstamatic has their Sao Paulo HipstaPak discounted to FREE. Yes, as long as the USA stays in the World Cup, you can open your iPhone Hipstamatic app and download the film and lens pack at no charge.

If your new to the vintage camera packs of Hipstamatic, this is a nice one for the full retro photography effect. Indoor photography will appear as expired film, outdoor photography with the pack has a box camera appearance.  I have high hopes for the U.S., but to be safe you may want to grab this pack now while it’s free.

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The example photo provided by Hipstamatic:

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And, as usual, a photo I took with my iPhone 5s using the Sao Paulo HipstaPak:

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