Photography

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Examining the iPhone SE Single Lens Camera

Andrew Orr ·

The team behind camera app Halide have taken a look at how well the iPhone SE can take Portrait Mode photos with a single lens camera.

The new iPhone SE can’t use focus pixels, because its older sensor doesn’t have enough coverage. Instead, it generates depth entirely through machine learning. It’s easy to test this yourself: take a picture of another picture.

A good write up, and interesting that it can do this purely with software, while the iPhone XR still had some hardware basis for these types of photos.

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Pixelmator 2.5 Adds File Browser, Photo Browser, Image Size Presets

Andrew Orr ·

Announced in March, Pixelmator 2.5 is officially released today, bringing features like a native File browser, photo browser, and image size presets.

This update is a really big deal for Pixelmator for iOS. These new features might not be amazingly flashy but they’re incredibly important to the future of Pixelmator for iOS. And the headline feature is the awesome Files-based document browser, bringing a much-improved file browsing and opening experience along with great features like file search, tagging, and more.

App Store: US$4.99

App Sale: EXIF Viewer by Fluntro is Currently Free
Cool Stuff Found

App Sale: EXIF Viewer by Fluntro is Currently Free

Andrew Orr ·

Normally US$2.99, EXIF Viewer by Fluntro is free right now. As the name suggests it lets you view the EXIF metadata of photos, which can include location, time stamp, device model, and more. You can delete the metadata using the app as well, which is useful if you don’t want websites like Facebook to read your location from the photo. Most importantly you can bulk edit metadata if you’re working with multiple photos.

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Photographer Claims Apple Copied his Photo in Apple TV+ Show

Andrew Orr ·

Adrian Murphy writes that Apple copied his photo of two kids looking into a glowing chest, a visual that can be seen in Amazing Stories on Apple TV+.

To me, this is flagrant copyright infringement and is using my intellectual property to derive visual elements for one of the most viewed portions of their entire series… the intro that plays before every episode. I’m flattered by the obvious imitation, but I’m also disappointed by the obvious theft.

The scene does look visually similar to Mr. Murphy’s photo. I wonder if he will legally pursue this.

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Manfredi Gioacchini Used an iPhone to Document Climate Change in Antarctica

Andrew Orr ·

Documentary photographer Manfredi Gioacchini is documenting climate change in Antarctica. His tool? An iPhone.

“Most of the usage was related with video recording, in fact the audio of the new phone is incredible,” says the photographer. “That’s important in matters of the climate change… capturing the sounds of icebergs breaking down…”

He also managed to take advantage of the phone’s Night Mode, though it wasn’t necessary for most of the trip, since the sun never dipped below twilight. Scroll down to see Manfredi’s photos for yourself.

Important work, and also beautiful.

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Smartphones Could Help Death Photography Make a Comeback

Andrew Orr ·

The New York Times has a piece today about death photography, and how it’s returning with the help of our ubiquitous smartphone camera.

“But we are returning to the older ways,” she went on, “a movement backward that some say began in the ’70s, with the back-to-nature movement and midwifery and natural births. The natural death movement is part of that. And these photos are unsurprising, too, because we carry our smartphones all the time, and it’s almost like if there isn’t a photo it didn’t happen. Now everyone is a photographer.”

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Join the Mimeo Photo Contest to Win a Signed Print From Photographer Nigel Barker

Andrew Orr ·

Last year I reviewed Mimeo Photos on macOS, and I was pleased with the photo printing service. The company announced a photo contest judged by Nigel Barker, and winners can receive one of his signed prints and more.

The top 9 finalists will win a 20in x 30in print of their own image and a $25 Mimeo Photos voucher towards prints.

One lucky winner will get to choose from one of the below 20in x 30in signed Nigel Barker prints, a 20in x 30in print of their own image, and a $50 Mimeo Photos voucher.

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Twitter Will Stop Transcoding JPEG Images Which Lowered Quality

Andrew Orr ·

Twitter engineer Nolan O’Brien said that Twitter will preserve JPEGs as they are uploaded. This means that uploaded images will retain their original quality.

It’s a small change that has the potential to make a big difference to the way photographers view and use the platform. Nolan’s thread has inevitably kick-started a conversation about plans for other image formats and user-requested changes, so Twitter could make itself even more photo-friendly soon.

Another interesting note is that Twitter automatically strips EXIF data from photos, which I didn’t know. This is nice because this metadata can contain private information, such as where the photo was shot.

Hurry, Pixelmator Photo on iPadOS is Free Right Now
Cool Stuff Found

Hurry, Pixelmator Photo on iPadOS is Free Right Now

Andrew Orr ·

Normally US$4.99, Pixelmator Photo is free right now. It’s a photo editor that promises a full collection of nondestructive color adjustments, full support for RAW images, and machine learning that can improve your photos like a pro photographer. It’s an exclusive app for iPadOS. Here are some of the other features: Batch edit photos using the entire collection of editing tools available in the app; Enhance automatically takes care of all the subtle improvements that go into every great shot — white balance, exposure, shadow, and highlight detail — so you can focus on adding your own creative finishing touches; Presets for film emulation, vintage looks, and more.

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App Sale: Right Now Affinity Photo is just $9.99

Andrew Orr ·

Adobe recently released Photoshop on the iPad. If you’re not happy with it you might like to look at an alternative called Affinity Photo. Right now it’s 50% off at US$9.99, whereas after a 30-day trial Photoshop is US$9.99/mo.

Photo for iPad offers an incredibly fast, powerful and immersive experience whether you are at home, in the studio, or on the move. With meticulous attention to detail each tool, panel and control has been completely reimagined for touch. All rendering, adjustments, brushes and filters have been fully hardware accelerated using Metal. The result is an all-new way to interact with your images, with performance you will find hard to believe.

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The iPhone 11 Camera is Completely New

Andrew Orr ·

In Part 1 of a multi-part series, Sebastiaan de With wrote an article about the iPhone 11 camera and how it’s completely new.

It’s true: The great advances in camera quality for these new iPhones are mostly to blame on advanced (and improved) software processing.

I’ve taken some time to analyze the iPhone 11’s new image capture pipeline, and it looks like one of the greatest changes in iPhone cameras yet.