I'd just like to simply add my thoughts of iphone photography...I think it's a joke. Not once have I seen a photo taken with an iphone that had any quality worthy of real photography. The pictures are blurry, grainy and hard to look at. Most photos add the even worse hipstamatic filters which give the photos an even cheesier feel. Sadly, the iphone is probably on it's way to becoming the norm of photography. No need for knowledge, just point your little gizmo, touch the screen and let the phone do the rest. It's the continuation of the dumbing down of society.

I spent five years going to college for photography. I have found more interesting subject matter being shot don’t he iPhone then most of all the work my peers created during my five years at my college.

Half of the work people produce with "real cameras" turn out to be of lower quality then some of that the iPhone Photographers have created. Really the best camera you can have is the one you carry with you. I am not one to carry my $3,000 camera around with me unless I am already on the way to some short of photo shoot. For that reason alone i was producing maybe 20 images a month. Now that I have my iPhone with me I can capture many more moments then ever before. For creativity reasons alone I feel like the iPhone has helped me allot.

In terms of producing bad quality photographs i have to disagree. I have been able to print out images at 8x10 inches with digital enlargers and have not had any issue with pixilated or low quality images. I just have to disagree with your statement that it is the end of photography as we know it. Photography has survived the Polaroid, transition to digital, death of kodakrome.... I think it will survive the iPhone.

This is one of the best photographs I have seen over the past few months regardless of the medium it was shot in. To say that the iPhone is a joke is just such a gross overstatment. http://www.flickr.com/photos/29859887@N07/4229481178/

And here I thought it was composition, not equipment. Troll.

It's not the camera one uses, it's the photographer who creates the image.

It mostly is about composition and not about equipment, but when the equipment being used creates such poor quality photos it hurts the composition. $3,000 cameras are surely not needed to create an amazing photo. There are plenty of brilliant small digital cameras that can easily be carried in your back pocket. Cameras that cost FAR less than the iphone itself. Can those camera instantly post to your twitter, facebook or flickr? No, but I guess that it where the iphone has taken over for the instant gratification like the polaroid.

I find it funny that iphone photographers mask the horrible camera quality with fliters that try to mimic old dirty cameras. Holga and TTV filters don't make you better at composition or make you a better photographer.

So what you're saying is the iPhone is not for you and therefore not worthy of anyone's time.

I'm curious of your critique on the photo linked in the above comments. What are your thoughts on creating photographic art with a poloroid? What about digital versus analog?

As far as the above photo link...I think the composition is off. It weighs heavily on the left side due to the section of wall. I also think it looks dirty and out of focus. Now don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the out of focus and grainy pictures from time to time but this shots overall feel just screams "crappy camera phone". I love film cameras and I love digital cameras but I do not in any way think the iphone camera is up to the quality of either of these.

You know, I'm not even sure why I bothered posting to this board being that I'm outnumbered. I guess to express my hatred of iphone photos. And yes, i hate iphone photos! I think it's a lazy photographers medium. Just because you have a device that takes pictures doesn't mean you're an artist!

You sound like a sad, bitter person.

no, i'm not bitter, i just know crappy photography when i see it.

ROFL I haven't the time to even waste debating my thoughts on this topic with a completely one sided moron.

Just because you have a device that takes pictures doesn't mean you're an artist!

I agree. But for different reasons. What you're saying is that no amount vision, imagination, or skill is going to make in image from an iPhone into art. Because of the fake filters that are applied and the "inferior" resolution? You have an odd concept of art, my friend.

Oh I pretty much said all I will say. Nothing you could say would make him feel any differently. All just wasted typing really... It is all a matter of opinion. He can’t get over the device it was taken with. So he will never see anything redeeming in the photograph.

If he talks about it being lack of skill and instant gratification then he should look in to the pleonastic camera. Something that in the future will remove all need for the user to even focus or adjust depth of field. That to me is more freighting then the iphone camera.

In terms of image quality I have been able to print out 8x10 images that are as sharp as some of the 35mm images and digital images I have shot over the years. I am not sure the reason he even started the subject in the first place. He did not want to discuss his opinion. Simply just wished to complain to us I guess.

@real cameras I'm still waiting for your "thoughts". Seriously though, as with any art form, its not about what equipment you use or what your skill level is, etc. It's sll about how much money you make and the size of your genitalia. Am I right people? High Five! Don't leave me hanging!

I think we scared him away.

@Jon Betts LOL

let's not forget the component of having FUN with our photography! i'm having more fun with my iPhone camera than all my holgas, polaroids, leica, nikon, and canons. of course there are limitations with the iPhone. but there are also limitations to my leica--it doesn't do what the hipstamatic app can do! :) i'm having a blast with this iPhone - and after a year of treatment for breast cancer, i've learned how important having fun is!

The nice thing about art is that it's all subjective.

@real cameras: If you don't like a particular style of music, is it not art then? How about electronica? If there are no real instruments in a recording, do you not consider it music? Whether you do or not, others do.

@real cameras: Please look at the works of Sion Fullana, Valerie Ardini, and Greg Schmigel. Shot with an iPhone and really some awesome photography no matter what camera was used. In many instances, their candid photography could have only been taken with a device as inconspicuous as a mobile phone. Look through the galleries here. There are many, many talented people taking photographs with iPhones and many of them are not using Hipstamatic.

@real cameras: I respect your choice to shoot with a particular class of camera. I'd like to see some of your work.

@real cameras: In my graphic design studio, I have access to pro equipment. To challenge my creativity, though, I enjoy always having a camera in my pocket and shooting with and pushing the limits of digital lo-fi.

@real cameras: There is beauty in the everday. I'm not selling my iPhonegraphy as art. I'm just trying to capture and share a few random moments with people.

=M=

Methink a trial of psychotherapy is indicated.

Heck, I just wanted to say thanks for giving me a shout out in this debate string. - Greg Schmigel, www.justwhatisee.com (shameless self promo!) :-)

I am by no means a professional photographer, but I have created some pretty dope images on my Iphone that have had some individuals asking me to take pictures and offering me money. Especially those of an erotic nature. Erotic Iphoneography is coming. Well it is here. And I see a future in it.

gotta love it. realcameras has certainly gotten folks into a conversation...which I suspect was his intention. Good job Real (may I call you by your first name Mr. Cameras?)

Kinda reminds me of one of my favorite things when photographing people...especially strangers...I compose the shot, look at them, smile and say "Take your clothes off!" I get told I'm bold quite often but ALWAYS get a smile.

Long but Good Read

Get Schooled.

Your Camera
Doesn't Matter

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/notcamera.htm

BTW who are you to judge what someone else may think of art.

You know what they say opinions are like A**Holes , everyone has one. Just some people don't know how to keep theirs to themselves.

This post is really boring. I have seen this discussion many times in the last 20 years. Lots of people talking about films, cameras, optics, lenses, formats, photoshop, filters, .... Boring, I'm sorry.

When I see a good photograph, as when I see any Art creation I like, I just don't judge it because of it's technique. And I also think that people that does it are missing most of the joy of feeling a work of art.

I'm not saying that iphoneography is an art. Just like sculpture is not, or painting, or film, or video, or many other techniques. There are artists, the way they choose to do it's work is not important for me. And I'm sure many artist are now using the iphone for some of they creations, just like some uses polaroid, or lomo, or pinhole cameras.

"I think it's a lazy photographers medium".

That's hilarious. Being able to instantly upload photographs from an iPhone to flickr does not make it a "lazy photographers medium". Photography is no more than capturing an image and whether it's done with an iPhone, a pinhole camera, a Hassleblad or whatever, "lazy" doesn't even come into it!

How can you possibly be a lazy photographer??