Photographers need to take pictures. It’s a practice thing. Like every skill, you need to practice. But that means having a camera with you all the time. The one thing pretty well everyone has with them all the time now is their mobile phone.
The iPhone is a great platform for photography. Not only have the cameras been decent, by phone standards, but the app architecture nicely supports enhancements to your photography. The camera that you have with you always takes better pictures than the great camera you left at home or the studio.
So, whatever the specs of the upcoming iPhone 5, it will be a great phone for photographers. Some HDR capabilities were introduced with the iPhone 4. Hopefully more advanced capabilities, along with higher resolution and better optics, will come with the iPhone 5.
Apps like Instagram make enhancement and sharing easy. Various HDR, long exposure and image processing apps let you have fun with your photography, rediscovering the spontaneity that you may have lost years ago. I find a darkroom like feel of alchemy and spontaneous chemistry errors with iPhone photography and app exploration.
Whatever iPhone you have, give it ago.
Update – So now we know it is called the iPhone 4S and it does have the forecast 8MP camera, with better HDR capability and more.
