Smart pho(ne) tography

BENGALURU: These days, the smart phone is as good as several machines put together – calculator, watch, and of course, a camera. And with more advanced lenses in phones, the nature of photography has changed a lot. Photographers from different specialisations, like wildlife, wedding and macro, don’t mind clicking some photographs using their smartphones instead. The size of the equipment may be becoming smaller but the scope it provides is only getting larger. The biggest perk? Accessibility, says shutterbugs. 

Phone photography has become such a rage that there are now professional classes on it. Sreekumar Krishnan, who takes workshops on phone photography, can go on and on about the advantages of his favourite subject. “Phone photography is basically a point and shoot formula, which was the concept of photography when it started. It was later that complexities like zoom and other features were added. Now with phone photography, everything has come full circle again. These formats come handy during street photography,” says Krishnan. 

This trend has also become a game changer when it comes to lugging around equipment. Especially when phone cameras started going beyond five mega pixels. “Ever since phones like Samsung S6 and iPhone 6 came out, the cameras have been high-end. The resolutions are so good that the pictures have print quality. Phone photography might even take over other forms of photography, except for certain genres like wildlife,” says Krishnan, who won the first prize at iPhone Photography awards 2019, for a picture he shot on his phone. 

For Hari Prasad Vasishta, a wildlife and event photographer, it’s all about taking a good picture. “Most work-related photography is done on the DSLR that I use. But during other times, you get one chance to capture a moment that won’t happen again. That’s when a phone camera comes handy,” says Vasishta, who has been a professional photographer for the last eight years. He is also a part of many photography groups on WhatsApp and social media. “In these groups, we discuss meetups and new tricks or hacks we learned. A subject that is discussed a lot is phone photography, which is fast growing now. There’s a lot to discuss when it comes to the quality and techniques used for a better frame,” says Vasishta. 

Besides being compact in size, phone cameras can be lighter on the wallet too. Many shutterbugs can now take up their passion without shelling out a huge sum of money on a professional DSLR. Sandhayashree Kudli got hooked to macro photography three years ago but was not keen on investing in a DSLR at that point of time. “For macro photography, you don’t need to buy a camera with a big zoom lens. Now there are macro zoom lens available, which you can attach to your phone camera,” says Kudli, adding,  “And these lens start from a price range Rs 4,000. It’s definitely more economical.”  

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