Last time,
we talked about the basic functions and some tricks of the iPhone camera to
maximize the quality of the images you make. Today, we’ll focus on improving
images through in-app editing software after images are made.
Unlike Photoshop edits, iPhones give photographers a Plan B
and Plan C for mistakes.
Plan B: When you
complete your first set of edits and/or crops, the iPhone will create and save
a new image with a different name. Your original photo will no longer appear in
your phone’s library, but it is still there. When you download your images,
you’ll see the original plus another file that contains the edits.
However, if you DELETE the corrected photo from your phone,
the original (unfiltered) image will also be deleted. I’ll explain later, but NEVER
delete an image from your phone unless it is backed up elsewhere, or it’s completely
useless (a photo of the inside of your pocket).
Plan C: If you
completely mess up a photo with too many filters, it isn’t a problem. Close the
edit. Reopen the same photo and press the “Revert” option on the bottom-right
of the screen. You’ll get a pop-up screen that states “Revert to original will
remove all edits made to this photo. This action cannot be undone.”
Then, choose “Revert to Original.” You’re back to where you started,
and the image is uninjured.
Crop
Professional photographers learn to “crop in camera.” We
include only items we want to see in the frame and/or use the edge of the frame
to remove items we don’t want to see.
However, sometimes we don’t have the option to do much more
than point-and-shoot before the moment is gone. In those instances, we can use
a digital crop to make the image look better (banish the portable toilet beside
your friend).
A strong caution about
software crops: You will lose detail, and the image will suffer
substantially if you digitally crop it. Your goal should be to use every pixel
of the frame. If you must crop down, do so sparingly. iPhones are good at
hiding their flaws – until you crop. Then, every flaw, interpolation and
“invented” or “rounded” pixel becomes obvious.
With the selected photo open, select Edit in the top-right
corner of the screen. Near the bottom-left of the screen the crop box will
appear beside the word “Cancel” (it looks like a square with curved arrows).
Tap the crop box.
This creates a bounding box around thee image. You will also
notice a portion of a circle under the bottom of the bounding box with compass
degrees for fine-scale rotations. At the bottom-left of the active area is a
box with a curved arrow to control orientation. At the bottom right of the
active area is a box with additional shaded boxes to represent crop formats.
Autorotation
When an image is first open in the crop area, the iPhone
will try to help the photographer by applying an autorotation and crop. It
selects a horizontal or vertical line as a “key,” then it rotates & crops
the rest of the image to match the key line.
Depending on your shooting style, this is useful. If you’re
very deliberate, you’ll need to undo this by either tapping “Reset” (back to
zero degrees) or swiping left or right on the rotation wheel under the photo
until it is to your desired position.
Orientation
This is the most basic edit. iPhones are good at detecting
horizontal camera orientation (if the camera is horizontal and perpendicular to
the ground). However, if the camera is used to photograph something flat on a
table (parallel to the ground), it will default to vertical orientation.
If the captured image isn’t in the desired orientation, it’s
simple to fix.
With the photo open, select Edit in the top-right corner of
the screen. Near the bottom-left of the screen the crop box will appear. Tap
the crop box.
If the image autorotates, see if it’s OK or Reset the image
to zero degrees.
The orientation box will appear in the bottom-left corner of
the active area. This allows the photographer to rotate the image in 90-degree
rotations. If the image is upside down, press the box twice (a 180-degree
total).
If direction isn’t vital (food photos), it’s often best to
rotate the image until the dominant light source appears to come from the top
of the frame.
If this is the only change, hit Done.
Fine-scale rotation
As mentioned above, this is used to make subtle image
alignments. The image can be rotated slightly or severely by swiping left or
right over the semi-circular dial at the bottom of the bounding box.
As a genera rule, it’s wise to choose one line as a “key”
within the frame and orient the remainder of the image off the key line. Often
this is the horizon or a vertical line of a wall or beam.
Sometimes, photographers create visual tension by choosing a
harsh, perpendicular rotation.
If this is the only change, hit Done.
Size
When dealing with mobile social media, you can either choose
the crop or settle for whatever the media platform does to your image. I prefer
to make proactive choices whenever possible.
Click on the size button, the available options are
Original, Square or the ratios 2:3, 3:5, 3:4, 4:5, 5:7, 9:16.
Most social media platforms will use a 4:5 crop on your
image. By choosing this option first before sending to social media, the
photographer chooses what is cut or remains in the image area.
Instagram prefers square images. However, it will generally
accept 4:5 single-image posts. Multi-image posts will all be cropped to square (or
the special template used).
Again, the photographer wants to be in control of the crop.
If a photographer only shoots with Instagram in mind, s/he may as well shoot in
square format to have better edge control. If the image will be on several
social media platforms, it’s best to make images with the full frame, then crop
to 4:5 for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Once those are posted, crop square for Instagram. At this
point, there is the square version of the image, plus the original. You can
download both to your computer or you can “Revert” to eliminate the square
version.
9:16 is a widescreen cinematic crop. Use this crop to make
custom YouTube covers for your videos from the field. It can be replaced later
if needed.
Non-standard crops
The bounding box around the image can be moved to make
non-standard crops. This is useful to deliberately crop something out of the
frame or crop to change frame orientation. If the image will be emailed or used
in a non-standardized location, this is the preferred crop.
However, for standardized media platforms, an additional
crop size requirement may be applied. Once the original crop is made, a
standard size can be applied to the remainder of the image. This may require
additional crops until only the desired portion of the image remains.
Edit Suggestions
Over time, Apple’s basic iPhone image software has become
extremely good. The automatic mode is good enough for most people. However, it
is designed to present “vanilla” images, they’re good but not amazing without
something else.
Luckily, there’s a full editing suite available in the photo
library.
With any library photo active on the screen, choose Edit at
the bottom of the screen. The bottom of the screen will now show “Cancel,” a
crop symbol, a triple ball for filters (see above), a “radio dial” for settings
and “Done.”
Select the radio dial.
You will see a stack of options. They are Light, Color and
B&W (black & white).
Light Edits
Choose the toggle button on the far right of the screen in
the Light section. You will see the following seven options: Brilliance,
Exposure, Highlights, Shadows, Brightness, Contrast and Black point.
Each of these can be individually adjusted for up 2.3
positive stops (lighter) in 1/5th stop increments, and 2.3 negative
stops (darker) in 1/5th stop increments. Please adjust as necessary.
In photography, a
“stop” is one level of light. In most photos, there is a “dynamic range” of 5
stops where 1 = black with detail and 5 = white with detail.
For my particular shooting style, my Go-To settings are
typically: negative 2/5th highlights, positive 1/5th
black point, and a touch of Brilliance if needed to open the mid-tones.
Color Edits
Choose the toggle button on the far right of the screen in
the Color section. You will see a sliding bar of color options. This sliding
bar makes changes to several background options simultaneously to speed
editing. However, it becomes a hammer when a tweezer might be more appropriate.
If I’m in a hurry and the image is close to correct, I will
often start with two frames worth of positive color shift to make the colors
pop. This is often too much, so I back down a little if the colors start to
overpower the scene.
When a more subtle approach is needed, press the three lines
on the left side of the screen above the sliding scale. You will see the
following three options: Saturation, Contrast and Cast.
Saturation is the intensity of the colors.
Contrast is the difference between light and dark.
Cast is the color balance from cold (shades of cyan and
blue) to warm (shades of red and yellow).
Most often, the sliding scale will handle the Saturation and
Contrast. However, you may need to manually adjust the Cast depending on where
and/or when the image was made.
If the image was made in a completely shaded outdoor area,
it is probably a cool scene that needs to be warmed some.
If the image was taken in tungsten, halogen or sunset light,
it could be very warm (red to orange). So, you might need to add some negative
cast to remove some of the orange tint. But the iPhone software probably tried
to make the light “normal” colored by adding blue/cyan. So, it may be best to
add warm light back into the scene to make it look like it did during the
actual sunset.
The opposite holds true when shooting blue flowers or sky.
The software may try to remove the cyan/blue shades. It’s best to slide the
Cast settings to the negative side to make the cast cooler (blue/cyan).
The iPhone color and light balance options are limited, but
better than depending on the camera software alone. If you want to learn more
about color balance, temperatures and more, please see my blog post “
BalanceThe Light.”
B&W Edits
B&W = Black & White (grayscale)
When you first tap the button, the image remains in color,
but you’ll see a gray sliding scale at the bottom of the screen.
Slide through the entire scale. It will go through a series
of grayscale version equating to Red, Green and Blue filters.
You can make additional changes by tapping on the three
lines on the bottom-right of the viewing area. Under B&W, you’ll now see
Intensity, Neutrals, Tone and Grain
Intensity adjusts color filtration separate from the other
options to shift light emphasis to specific areas of the image.
Neutrals adjust the middle gray tones toward the lighter and
darker ends of the spectrum.
Tone adjusts the contrast or “flatness” of the image.
Grain adjusts the amount of artificial film grain introduced
into the image. Don’t use it.
Enough for now,
Please see Part 3: Storage
