You may recall that big sporting event in the capital this summer, the one with lots of athletes and almost as many professional photographers? So you’re a top professional photographer and need to cover the Olympics? What do you do – call in the favours from the big brands and beg… borrow… ‘acquire’… the biggest range of kit you can think you might need; fisheye lenses, tilt-shift lenses, big telephotos, multiple pro cameras for remote triggering. Yes that will all help of course. But what if the challenge was to cover the Olympics just with a camera phone or two.
Dan Chung – Olympics with a smartphone
I’m fortunate enough to have met with Dan Chung from the Guardian newspaper several times in the past, and I can tell you he’s always been one for pushing technology to it’s limits, wireless transmission, video, it’s all in Dan’s bagful of skills, so shooting the Olympics on an iPhone would be an interesting challenge then.
Take a few minutes to read down the long page of pictures on the Guardian’s website to see how Dan took great pictures of a major sporting event just using an iPhone. Then go look at your camera bag and work out if you really should concentrate on using what you have and getting better, more interesting subjects in front of the lens. Yes Dan was an accredited photographer and so he got the positions in the stadiums, but look at all the results achieved by making use of his abilities as a photographer.
Dan Chung’s Olympic smartphone photoblog
If that inspires you then don’t forget to stop by Dan’s DSLR News shooter website.
Also remember that coming up in this years program we have an evening entitled “Shooting on a shoestring” where several members will be describing some unusual, interesting and inexpensive bits of kit they use for photography.
Schneider lens kit for iPhone 4 – £200
Adaptor for binoculars – around £50
Canon binoculars – £280 minimum
Snapseed app – £2.99
iPhone 4 – from £319
Total – from £851 to over a grand
Or… Jessops are currently selling a Canon EOS550 with 18-55mm and 75-300mm lenses for £549. Add a second hand fisheye lens for £500 and you have a total of just over a grand.
I do see his point, and I agree wholeheartedly, that it’s not what you’ve got – it’s how you use it. But what he has done is take something that is already in your pocket, stick loads of gadgets all over it (gadgets that don’t fit in your pocket) and claim to have taken pictures with the phone – which he hasn’t. He’s taken pictures with a load of ‘kit’ and processing software.
Dan does have a fantastic eye for a picture and would have captured great shots regardless of whatever he was using, but all the articles I have read on this have focused on the fact he was using a smartphone, when in reality he was using third party add-ons to record an image on a sensor that just happens to be in the top left corner of a telephone. Those articles seem to gloss over the fact that they are not your run of the mill ‘sports’ shots, but creative, imaginative, and above all different.
I have often used my iPhone to take shots in situations where I don’t have my dslr, or when the battery has run out on my point and shoot, and am amazed at the quality I get. I am a big user of Snapseed for adding a bit more atmosphere, and have actually used the iPad version of the Snapseed app to create an artistic flower canvas.
Regardless of whether Dan used expensive binoculars or lenses as well as an iPhone, I think everyone should have a go with their camera phone from time to time, the results may surprise you!