Serious photography..... with a phone.

fullyreclined wrote in post #16448704
NY Times photographer Ben Lowry uses his iphone as a serious image making tool. He has some amazing photos from the conflict in Iraq.

this has a lot to do with software and accessibility. There's a reason why the iphone works in this scenario as well (bright sunny days, discreet tool).

his shots are emotionally striking because he has access to that area, where most people would not. it's kinda like the muhammad ali shot over his downed opponent. There are multiple versions, and every one just as good, but that has to do with being at the right place and time.

A ladder is a great climbing tool for a house, terrible for a mountain.

Charlie wrote in post #16438834
Does photography mean this little now, where formal events can be captured via phone, or are phones just so technologically advance now that they can capture low light events

Her photos don't mean any less to her. The issue here is that her photos don't mean anything to you.

cdifoto wrote in post #16447258
Assuming the same kiss, I would say the mere passage of time and/or the exclusivity of three dimensional space occupation is what separates those images. Not creativity.

Talking about 3 dimensional space, I think that sometimes a photographer is able to approach a subject from a perspective that is altogether unique and creative.

20 unskilled and skilled photographers can take the same photo of a kiss, creating adequate to technically perfect images of a bride and groom kissing. Perhaps it's the creative photographer who thinks a bit out of the box that steps back and decides to take a photograph of the entire room, audience cheering and reacting to the kiss on one side and 20 photographers clamoring for that "perfect shot" on the other.

It takes skill and experience to see something and press the shutter button, but it takes creativity to have vision.

Nathan wrote in post #16448865
Her photos don't mean any less to her. The issue here is that her photos don't mean anything to you.

There were two families at the baptism. I was only recording one, and she the other. They were ok with her photos as she was the only one taking photos for them, and including the key moments and posed shots afterwards. It's a formal event, and a sacrament, similar to a first communion or wedding.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #16448651
I just find it hard to think that some would believe that Robert Franks work wasn't creative.
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=mHtRZBDOgag

Fascinating work. Such history there. Thanks for the link.

airfrogusmc wrote in post #16448790
Ernst Haas said it so well in the quote I posted in # 85

I agree, he sums it up so well. The camera is simply a tool, a means to an end.

I think that phones have already replaced P&S camera's. I think its also possible to replace the DSLR as some people use them because you can get lens's and other neat accessories that previously could only be gotten for a DSLR. Hopefully less people will buy DSLR's actually. The market has been so over saturated for some time IMHO.

pixiepearls wrote in post #16449421
I think that phones have already replaced P&S camera's. I think its also possible to replace the DSLR as some people use them because you can get lens's and other neat accessories that previously could only be gotten for a DSLR. Hopefully less people will buy DSLR's actually. The market has been so over saturated for some time IMHO.

I think cell phone cameras will most certainly put a big dent in P&S. Possibly even for those who would buy lower cost DSLR but prefer cell phone as quality improves. I doubt it will hurt the serious photographer since technology will also improve for their market.

Interesting article about liquid lenses for cell phones that use electrical current to vary the lens.

http://www.osa-opn.org …one_cameras/#.U​oQN4_moVLk

Just as we have read through several posts essentially trying to define "creativity", we need the OP to define just what he means by "serious photography" so we can all be on the same page. Serious photography absolutely can be done with a cell phone camera. A skilled photographer could probably take a cell phone and produce images that would make a bride very happy if she was going to view the photographs on Facebook or the computer only. She might even be happy with some small prints. Would the quality of the photographs match the quality of the same images from a DSLR? Probably not. However, a skilled photographer might produce better work with a cell phone camera than a novice could produce with a DSLR. A cell phone camera is not the best tool for serious photography, but it can be used for serious photography, and the right photographer could produce some pretty impressive work depending on how you chose to view the images.

kf095 wrote in post #16443314
First what is serious photography ?
Taking snapshots at church to post then at FB isn't serious photography.
Taking macros, like real macros, taking portraits like real portraits is serious photography.
Good luck for taking it with mobile phone.

You obviously havn't seen this thread? All shot with a mobile.

Lol... all this back and forth about "creativity". I just went back and read some of the comments here. There's a lot of inherent focus on the "creation" of a photograph, i.e. an image as a thing. Creativity isn't just about the final product. Merriam-Webster online defines it as "the ability to make new things or think of new ideas." That's a broader definition than what some people have adhered to in this thread. "Vision" or the ability to see, I would argue, falls into that "idea" category.

If 10 photographers photograph a wedding moment (dance or kiss or whatever) from a similar angle... the 1 photographer who chooses to shoot from outside the banquet hall through a window could be credited with being creative. He thought outside the box, with a new fresh idea about how to capture the scene. He didn't create the actual photograph (the camera did) nor did he set up the lighting and stage the people. However, he had the creative idea to shoot differently than other people.

Does that help settle some of this debate?

garbidz wrote in post #16439656
And the main thing: It is not the camera tat makes the good shots, it is the guy behind it.
The cameras have been better than the casual photographer for more than a decade now.

I agree with this whole heartedly. If A great photographer who understands composition and light hands swaps their DSLR for the event with a photography-challenged iPhone owner (I know this makes us all cringe) and both take shots of the event, I believe the better shots would be taken by the professional photographer.

Of course, the pro could do even more with better equipment, but spending more money on equipment doesn't make you a better photographer. (I know, I've tried)

garbidz wrote in post #16439656
About a two years ago I posted a thread here asking if iPhones are about to kill the point-and-shoots.
The answer seems to be 'yes'.

All hope is not lost, even for the P&S. One of my adult stepdaughters, who is not a hobbyist in photography, sees the limits of using her smartphone camera, said that she wanted to get herself a P&S a year and a half ago. We gave one to her for Xmas last year.

Unfortunately she dropped it in the sand while at the beach, and the zoom now doesn't. I'm not giving her one to replace the one we got her, because it was one with a Leica lens that I managed to get at a really low price. That she broke her camera before even a year had passed is now her problem to live with. I see how her generation is so brutal with their phones, etc. and have to wonder... don't they know how to care for anything?! I lent my P&S once to my youngest (adult) stepdaughter, got it back after almost 6 months, and it looked like it had been in a war zone...never again loan her something of mine! Her smartphones get broken, lost, and beat up horribly, too!

Wilt wrote in post #16454439
.. don't they know how to care for anything?!

With teenagers, they don't care and actually brake their cell phones on purpose so their parents will get them the latest model.