Allergy Runner

Take Better Photos with the iPhone

Creating useful close-up photos can be a challenge with the iPhone and these tips will help.

1. Make sure that your photography subject is well lit and not shadowed.
2. When taking photos of skin problems, remember that some types or colors of light will make a rash seem to fade or look worse. The rash might really stand out under the lights in your bathroom or kitchen. We recommend keeping the photos as true to life as possible unless the camera otherwise will miss too much detail.
3. Don't get too close. The older iPhone cameras will not take good photos when held closer than 12 inches to your subject. Help is available -- see below.
4. Don't trust the iPhone shutter sound. Think of the sound as indicating the shutter opening, not closing. If you move the camera or subject immediately after hearing the sound you might spoil the photo. Wait for a second after the sound before moving anything.
5. Pressing the camera shutter button with your finger does NOT take a picture. Lifting your finger off the button is what triggers the camera.

Take advantage of tip number 5 when snapping photos from angles in which you can not see the button you need to press! To make these shots, grasp the camera and put any available finger firmly on the shutter button. You should see the button depress as you do so. Then line up your shot and when ready, lift the shutter finger. Snap. This is really useful when using a mirror to see the screen on a self-portrait.

This strange behavior is probably why many of us get occasional blurry shots that seem to be aimed in completely wrong directions. Have you ever taken a photo of something but got the floor or ceiling instead? Ignoring Tip # 5 could be the reason why!

Improve the iPhone Camera with an external lens

If you search around on the Internet for a bit you'll find a handful of ways to take close-up or macro photos with older iPhones.

Several of these methods involve attaching an awkward home-built lens and holder to your iPhone. This makes your iPhone less portable and the solutions are so awkward that we won't consider them further.

However, there are two interesting solutions currently available at different price points that we will highlight:

Radio Shack's 3-Lens Magnifier
$8.99 USD
This is as simple as it gets. You don't necessarily need the Radio Shack version. The idea is to hold the lens over the iPhone camera when you take your close-ups. This makes it more difficult to take single handed shots but 3 lenses gives you some flexibility.

Griffin Clarifi Protective Case for iPhone 3G
$15.69 - $34.99 USD
This is a two part case for your iPhone. The bottom section comes off for easy docking of your iPhone in any of the Apple cradles. Using the full case is wise since it protects your iPhone and keeps the macro lens position correctly over your camera.

That's right. This quality case has a built-in, sliding lens for your iPhone. It really works and works well. You'll be snapping photos of food labels, business cards, and skin rashes from as close as 4 to 5 inches from the subject.

The Before. The Better After.

The Clarifi is easily our favorite photo solution for the iPhone 3G and a fine case. Please see the sample photo in the section below.

The iPhone 3GS. Clearly better photos.

The newer 3GS comes with an improved camera that features an autofocus feature. It eliminates the need for an external lens. The bottle in the photos below is 2.75 inches tall, distance from camera was about 5 inches. Photos were taken with the Apple Camera application and cropped and reduced to fit. No other adjustments were made.