iPhone4 Camera

When I went bird watching at Magee Marsh, I knew it was a long boardwalk and I wanted to concentrate on seeing the birds without hauling camera and tripod. I was carrying my iPhone4 to make notes on what birds I was seeing.  But, being a photographer, the morning sunrise and the boardwalk seemed to cry out for me to take their picture to remember the beauty here.

I'm really impressed with iPhone4's 5-megapixel camera.  While technically a point and shoot, it has features that let you go beyond.  With the tap to focus, the camera can changes the exposure as well as the focus, allowing you to capture the beauty in lighting situations that need thought as to exposure.  And, the live view gives you an idea of whether you have tapped correctly to get the finished look you were hoping for.  In addition, they have built in a HDR (High Dynamic Range) function that shoots multiple images and combines them at the time of the capture.  How cool is that?


This image was taken at Burlington of the Mississippi River at flood stage from the restaurant. Note the blown out details in the trees along the river and the sky.

Using tap to focus, the exposure adjusts and I got the view of the river with the tree in silhouette which was my goal.

At Magee Marsh, the sunrise was beautiful. Using the tap to focus I was able to get the details in the sky to capture the delicate colors of sunrise.

I was pleased to even get the "rays,"

The fall colors along the boardwalk were also memorable. Here is an image taken not using the tap to focus. Notice how the sky and foliage and foliage are blown out, because the lighting is so different between the shaded boardwalk and the sunlit foliage.

Here is the same image using the tap to focus and the built in HDR. What a difference!

Then taking the image into photoshop:

While the iPhone4's camera doesn't match the quality of my Canon 5D MKII, it is still a great way to capture moments when I'm walking, doing bird watching or don't have the big camera with me.