Cheers!
Some weeks ago I saw a video on PetaPixel how photographer Alex Koloskov of Photigy took product shots with his iPhone versus his Hasselblad H1. His results are quite impressive.
What Koloskov was trying to do with his iPhone is prove that you don't need fancy equipment to get very good results. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars to get great photos. To see if he was right, I decided that I'll find out for myself.
Koloskov's setup is relatively simple: a platform for his subject, a daylight balanced LED backlight, a tripod, and of course his iPhone. Granted, Koloskov is shooting in a studio, but any sort of space with a blank wall and access to an electrical outlet will do.
Unlike Koloskov, I don't have access to an LED lamp nor do I own an iPhone. What I do have is a stool, a small clamp light with a 40 watt light bulb, and my phone, a Motorola Moto X.
But what about the subject? Koloskov's subject was a glass of whiskey on the rocks. I had ice and a glass, but I am not a drinker. I had to improvise. So what's Hollywood's closest substitute for whiskey? Apple juice of course.
For the most part, my setup is relatively the same as Koloskov's setup.
- Set the subject on the platform (mine is a wooden stool).
- The light is placed under the platform and will shine against a wall.
- Point the camera at the subject and take a picture.
Some other things I did differently from Koloskov's method include using the default Android camera app, hand hold my phone for the shot, and edit the photo on the phone. I also edited the photo on my computer and stacked it against a shot I took with my Canon 550D. These were the results.
Original
Edited in Photoshop
Edited on my Moto X
Shot on my Canon 550D and edited in Photoshop
What I wasn't able to control was the side light coming in from my front door. You can see this light catching from the left side of the glass, which gives it a bit of a glare.
Another thing I couldn't control was the phone's exposure values. The default camera app on Android don't give you much control of the exposure except for exposure compensation. As exposure comp was the only thing I can change in camera, I opted to use an extra stop of light.
All things considered, the image turned out pretty well. One with a critical eye would see that the photo taken with my DSLR is a lot noisier than the one taken with my phone. That is because my 550D had to use a higher sensitivity to match my Moto X's exposure. (ISO 1600 versus ISO 640 respectively.)
However, the photo taken with my 550D is sharper overall as most of the fine edges are in focus. The Moto X focused on what was closest to the camera, that being the droplets that formed at the bottom of the glass. Every other detail, such as the rim of the glass or the ice inside are blurry.
So now begs the question: would I use the cellphone photo for a print? For a small art print it might work. I could see this photo hung in my hall or in my living room. As a larger print, say for a magazine or poster ad, the photo might not get passed the print editor. It really depends on the client, and for most print clients or those who intend for the photo to reach the masses, something from a cellphone can be hit or miss.
Has Koloskov persuaded me that I could get good results without fancy equipment? Most definitely. I've been experimenting with low-key lighting with my cellphone for a while and the results have been pretty cool.
Did this practice help me better understand my phone's functions? It did help me understand my phone camera's software limitations. What I did understand was that I could work with or around those limitations to get the results I want.
If you have doubts about Koloskov's message, just give his exercise a try as I did and decide for yourself if upgrading to a new camera is well worth your time. Apply this exercise to whatever camera you have, may it be your cellphone, your point and shoot, DSLR, or mirrorless and see if you can get the results you truly want out of your photograph. Not getting the shot you want is not the fault of the camera if the camera works just fine. A photographer's command of the camera is what gets the shot right.