Taking Photos with my iPhone and taking TIme Out

This past couple of weeks have been quite eventful to say the least and with all that’s happened I’ve found myself even more grateful than ever that I live near the coast.

For me, being able to take some ‘time out’ and slow down whilst looking at and listening to the waves crashing against the shore is medicine … pure and simple, and this past week it was much needed.

Here’s some pictures that I took this past week when I took some ‘time out’ just down the road at Lyme Regis using my iPhone and edited in Lightroom on my iPad.

Each of these pictures I’ve also added to my Lightroom Community Profile Page wheere you can see all of the retoching steps and also download them as a Preset to use on your own images ( LINK )

Handheld 1 second Long. Exposure using the ReeHeld App

Photographing Storm Henk at West Bay with my iPhone

It’s fair to say the weather during the tail-end of 2023 has been pretty dire with what seems like storm after storm , bringing high winds and heavy rainfall , and being perfectly honest I’ve found myself getting more than a little fed up with it.

New Years Eve was no exception with Storm Henk making an appearance , but I had to end the year on a positive , so despite the weather and featureless grey skies I decided to head out with minimal kit ( iPhone and Tripod ) to see what I could capture. 

Living in the South West of the UK and a short drive from the coast , I decided to head down to West Bay, Dorset which is about a 40 minute drive , and I’m so glad that I did because when I arrived , there was blue sky, still plenty of moody clouds , high winds , but … no rain.

Parking up on the Quayside I could immediately hear the sound of the waves crashing onto the beach , and this combined with the sun making an appearance and throwing patches of light onto the sea as it peered between the clouds, conditions could not have been better !

To capture these images I used the Pro Camera App from Moment ; a great app that in addition to giving manual control over shutter speed and iso, also lets you separate focus and exposure lock, does exposure bracketing and so much more including Burst Mode when pressing the shutter; and that’s exactly what I used to capture the movement in the waves.

The images were edited in Lightroom on my iPad and then in Lightroom Classic, with a final finishing touch in Photoshop to give a ‘painterly’ look.

So yes … very happy I decided to venture out on the last day of the year.

Photographing a Storm with my iPhone

One of the results I captured yesterday with my iPhone during the storm down at Lyme Regis.

I love how photographs instantly transport you back to the where, when, what and who.

Taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max

This one will always remind me of the two of us laughing like excited children as the waves from the incoming tide pounded against The Cobb wall and then towered above us and crashed down. Yes we got soaked (one of us more than the other) but it was so much fun.

Dedication … right there! Strong winds, big waves on the incoming tide and this one was giggling like a good ‘un as a BIGGIE came crashing over The Cobb and swallowed her up … and all to help me take some photographs 😍

*Taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max using the ReeXpose App by REEFLEX set to a 0.5 second exposure.

Edited in Lightroom Mobile and Photoshop Beta.

*If you’re interested, I have the kit I use (which in this case addition to my iPhone was a tripod and the BEST Mobile Phone Grip I’ve ever used) over on my GEAR / KIT PAGE

My NEW Favourite Phone Holder for my Tripod

Found my new favourite phone holder for mounting on my tripod … the ULANZI ST-27

Not exactly cheap but well worth it. VERY well made ( metal construction ). Slots straight into the ARCA mount on my tripod. Locks phone in place and separate turn knob to lock in vertical or horizontal.

Lately we’ve had few spells of high winds on the coast and I found that although the SmallRig I have been using is pretty stable on the tripod, the support for the phone itself I’ve never trusted 100%

This new holder though is rock steady on the tripod and the hold it has on the phone is VERY secure with a turn of the red metal dial The inner black metal dial you turn to lock the orientation of the phone ( vertical / horizontal )

. The fact that it is so small too is definitely a bonus!

Check it out on Amazon using the *link below …

*affiliate link

I PRINTED a 72" iPhone Photo and you WON'T BELIEVE THE RESULT !!!

Yes, you read that right: a 72 inch print of an iPhone photograph. Here I not only show the print itself but also take you through the kit I used, along with my favourite iPhone app for creating long exposure photographs. I also show what I used to upscale the original image more than four times to reach the final 72 inches, and I honestly couldn't believe how good the quality of the print turned out to be. It made me very excited about where mobile photography is heading.

The iPhone Photography Conference

It's all GO!!! ... 😃

For the first time ever I'm one of the instructors presenting a class for the upcoming iPhone Photography Conference on the 28th and 29th March 2023.

For my class I'm heading somewhere special that I've never been before and will be going through everything I do to capture photographs on location, editing using the mobile workflow and then printing.

For more information and tickets use this LINK

MIND BLOWN 😲 Mobile Phone Photography + LIGHTROOM MOBILE and PHOTOSHOP on the iPad

Taking photographs and editing them on a mobile device makes for a fantastic workflow, and here I show the whole process from start to finish. I capture a set of long exposure photographs with my iPhone, then edit them in Lightroom Mobile before taking them into Photoshop on the iPad for the rest of the work. From there it goes all the way through to a finished print, and the print I ended up with is fantastic.

iPhone Photography of the iconic Portland Bill Lighthouse

Despite temperatures going down to -8, I couldn’t resist heading down to Portland Bill Lighthouse again to catch the incoming tide and hopefully some better light at sunrise.

My GoPro Hero 10 wasn’t having any of it with the batteries immediately losing all power but thankfully my Insta 360 X3 was having no problems, so I did manage to get some Behind the Scenes footage (below)

Here though is my favourite shot from the morning; captured using my iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Lightroom Mobile App camera, and then edited in Lightroom Mobile and Photoshop on my iPad …

I’m absolutely LOVING the mobile workflow.

Being able to take a photograph with my iPhone and then moments later be sat in a nearby café editing the photographs I’ve just taken on my iPad because they’ve automatically synced across, just blows me away.

BUT to then edit in Lightroom and jump back and forth to Photoshop on my iPad too is just so much fun.

It doesn’t stop there though, because when I get home and sit in front of main computer, the images and all of the edits I’ve done are there waiting for me to tweak and finish off if needed.

Incredible!

To add to this, IF I was using my main camera I could have an equally easy and joyful editing experience by simply loading the images off the memory card onto my iPad Pro and into Lightroom Mobile whilst sat in the café … or wherever 😃

Seeing how this has progressed since Lightroom Mobile and Photoshop on the iPad were introduced, genuinely excites the heck out of me! Sure, Lightroom Mobile and especially Photoshop on the iPad don’t have the exact same functionality as the desktop version (yet) … but it’s coming and to be honest, the workarounds aren’t much to figure out anyway.

I’ll be putting a video together for my YouTube Channel showing this soon.

In the mean time though, here’s a 44 second YouTube Short I put together giving a look ‘Behind the Scenes’ of this Portland Bill Lighthouse Photo Shoot …

BRILLIANT! LIVE Setting for PERFECT Photographs + INTELLIGENT Presets in Lightroom

The Live photo setting on the iPhone and other mobile phones is incredibly clever. It lets you create long exposure photographs, and it also lets you choose the exact moment you want to keep, from just before or just after you took the photograph. On top of that, I look at the intelligent presets in Lightroom. Great advances in technology, or cheating? Whatever you think, this video shows what they can do, and it's very clever stuff.