Want to get more mileage out of your iPhone camera? Kai Wong has a list of out-of-the-ordinary suggestions for you in the following video:
1. Use your headphones as a remote control
If you’ve got the current incarnation of iPhone earbuds, you can use the volume control on the cord as a remote control. This can give you better camera distance for the ubiquitous selfie.
2. Use the HDR feature to create motion blur
The built-in HDR feature auto-merges three shots, which is normally great for HDR. This can also be used to achieve weird motion blur effects.
3. The ultimate selfie: Face Montage
The Pano feature of the camera is something you’d probably normally use for, well, panoramas. You can, however, turn the camera on yourself while using the Pano option for a face-montage selfie.
4. Color Gel = Lomo Style
Want to get Lomo effects without going back to film or using an app? Stick a sheet of colored plastic between your phone case and the camera lens.
5. Superman
The iPhone camera has the ability to focus at short range. Grab an action figure and create superhero shots by holding it in front of the lens.
6. Random Objects = Random Effects
If an object is transparent, you can probably use it for random abstract images, as Kai does with his water bottle.
7. Use an Optical View Finder for wide-angle conversion
Kai uses an optical view finder to get a wide-angle shot of his cameraman. He notes that the result also looks like he’s shooting a TV screen.
8. iPhone lens accessories
Kai demonstrates the use of a fisheye/macro attachment for the iPhone. These are available in kits and as camera-enhancing protective phone cases and can really give your shots a boost.
Close-up of the photographer’s hand using macro lens attachment.
9. Make use of broken lenses
Kai has a broken 18-135mm lens from which he’s salvaged parts. Holding these lens parts in front of the iPhone camera lens yields a few interesting effects, including a tilt-shift/fisheye shot. Kai happily notes that his iPhone now has Canon optics, and that holding your broken lens bits in front of your phone will make you look pretty silly.
10. Use a telescope or binoculars as a telephoto lens
Kai uses a toy telescope to get a extreme closeup of some faraway plants. The quality of telescope or binoculars you have will obviously have an effect on your results.
These fun tips are useful for taking your smartphone photography to the next creative level. Experiment with them and show us your results!
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