Should you replace your SLR with an iPhone?

The Guardian recently posted an interesting comparison of pictures taken with an iPhone and the same picture taken with a Canon 5D mk2 (lens not specified). 

A cursory inspection, especially by a non-professional, might conclude that the iPhone is nearly as good as the SLR - in some cases the exposure looks better on the iPhone. So should pros be considering iPhones as a valid alternative to their SLRs?

Sounds like an idiotic question doesn't it and, sure, you obvisouly won't want to shoot a wedding with an iPhone where looking like a pro is as important as shooting like one. But I'm not so sure the answer is as clear cut when you're just shooting for yourself.

Camera phones haven't got the pixel count or flexibility of an SLR, yet. And it'll be a while yet before they get full manual controls, large sensors, RAW recording or interchangable lenses.  But if all you want are snaps that you'll only ever view on a screen or print small then they're more than good enough - and getting better all the time.

This is a perspective issue. When I look at an iPad I see a much more limited version of my desktop computer. I think about all the things I *can't* do with it. When I look at an iPhone I see a much more limited version of a point and shoot camera. But young people don't see limitations - they see opportunities. Young people didn't look at a mobile phone and think, "I'll never be able to type on that". They just used what they had and got really good at it.

And in just the same way young people will use these new tools to make genuine art. They will become skilled in ways that we don't appreciate. We always say, "it's the photographer, not the camera", don't we? And while they're making art those "lesser" tools will improve until they're nipping at the heels of our "proper" gear. We can see that improvement happening already. That's what that The Guardian's comparison article is all about.

We have to be honest with ourselves about the state of technology or we'll end up being one of those old guys still buying 33rpm records and complaining that we don't understand how people can put up with the dreadful quality of those awful CD things.

Wave bye bye to Photoshop

I've been arguing for years that Photoshop is insanely overpriced and as the cost of software has steadily dropped the problem has become more and more pronounced. The app model that the world is clearly moving to has us paying far less for software as cheap simple apps like Pixelmator, Acorn, Fx Photo Studio, Flare, Analog and many others sell for pocket money prices. Even Adobe's own Lightroom makes spending £600+ on Photoshop hard to justify.

Despite this Photoshop has been seen as the defacto photo editing standard for years and for good reason - nothing else can do what Photoshop does. But I teach a lot of photoshop and photography courses and the dirty little secret is that a great many people using Photoshop do so illegally. Why? Because it's way too expensive. Among those that do have legal copies it's very normal for people to be one or two versions out of date.

Cue the recent announcement from Adobe's David Wadhwani that to qualify for Photoshop upgrade pricing you'll need to be on the previous version. So you'll need to own CS5 to qualify for an upgrade price to CS6. As far as I'm concerned that's putting a gun to Photoshop's head and pulling the trigger.

Until now you've been able to upgrade Photoshop from any of the 3 previous versions. Many of the people I teach who own Photoshop rely on this and upgrade every second or third version - particularly because each product version tends to add comparatively little that's compelling to the feature set.

Adobe's answer is that you can subscribe to Adobe Creative Cloud which gives you access to all their creative suite apps plus some other products and services that you didn't know you needed, all for the low low price of $49.99 per month. Yes month. And here in the UK that'll probably £55 per month if Adobe's previous over seas pricing is anything to go by. Well it's the wrong side of the line for me. It's just too much and I won't pay it. I don't like software subscription services at the best of times but this is extortionate. And I'm pretty sure most of the people I teach would just laugh at the price.

Adobe seems to be moving in completely the wrong direction here. They should be giving those huge number of pirate users out there a way to go legal and stay legal. Everyone else seems to have figured out that if you make your software cheaper then you make more money. But Adobe is so caught up in corporate sales that consumers are being priced out of the market.

Time for some video reviews of affordable Photoshop alternatives.

PW177 - Tutorial 23 Chapter 6 - Nik Color Efex Pro 4

In the final chapter of our free Nik Color Efex Pro 4 tutorial we take a look at the vignette filter then complete our round-trip back to Lightroom where we do a little finishing off and then I give you my verdict on the new version of Color Efex Pro.

View all 6 chapters of this free tutorial here

Throughout the course of this tutorial we'll take a single image from the original RAW through to a finished image. This video is one part of a multi-part free video tutorial and review. You can find the other parts at photowalkthrough.com/tutorial23.

PW177 - Tutorial 23 Chapter 6 - Nik Color Efex Pro 4

PW176 - Tutorial 23 Chapter 5 - Nik Color Efex Pro 4

In chapter 5 or out free Nik Color Efex Pro 4 tutorial we take a look at the Pro Contrast filter. This isn't a new filter but it does give fantastic control over the contrast and areas of brightness in your image.

View all 6 chapters of this free tutorial here

Throughout the course of this tutorial we'll take a single image from the original RAW through to a finished image. This video is one part of a multi-part free video tutorial and review. You can find the other parts at photowalkthrough.com/tutorial23.

PW176 - Tutorial 23 Chapter 5 - Nik Color Efex Pro 4

PW175 - Tutorial 23 Chapter 4 - Nik Color Efex Pro 4

In chapter 4 of our free Nik Color Efex Pro video tutorial we look at a new filter type, Levels and Curves and learn how we can combine them with Nik Software's U-Point control points to make selective edits to our image.

View all 6 chapters of this free tutorial here

Throughout the course of this tutorial we'll take a single image from the original RAW through to a finished image. This video is one part of a multi-part free video tutorial and review. You can find the other parts at photowalkthrough.com/tutorial23.

PW175 - Tutorial 23 Chapter 4 - Nik Color Efex Pro 4