Shooting with a cell phone

Mission Creek, Kelowna

I am considering putting a photography course together on shooting with a cell phone camera.  I have rarely used my cell phone to snap photos as my normal method involves DSLRs.  More a device of convenience, the cell phone's ability to capture images has never interested me.  That is, until now.

I have an opportunity to teach photo courses in the Spring session through Kelowna's recreation association.  I have been in contact with their program administrator and we have discussed what I can offer the community in terms of photography courses.  One of the ideas that came up involves cell phones.

There is a wide range of cell phones, both old and new, and some boast some pretty impressive capabilities.  Google's Pixel 7 Pro, for example, boasts a 50 MP (megapixel) sensor with a 5x optical zoom.  The $1200 price tag may seem like a lot, but it is cheap compared to Apple's flagship iPhone 14 Pro Max at $2300.  Most of us, including me, prefer cell phones that are less expensive and go for, and keep, older models with far fewer features and abilities.  

My own phone is a Galaxy A51 running Android Version 12.  It has 4 rear cameras and one front one.  One of the front cameras has a 50 MP sensor.  The above photo was taken with the wide-angle lens at 9 MP (and cropped down to the above image).  I tweaked it a bit in Photoshop before posting it here.  The native app on the camera is very impressive and even lets me operate on full manual mode.  I downloaded a few other camera apps and found I could produce other experiences and features.

My concern about teaching a cell phone photography class is that there is just such a wide variety of abilities and software apps out there.  Imagine one person coming in with a flip phone and someone else with Apple's flagship and trying to teach them both at the same time.  I will have to do more research on the subject before committing myself.  That said, I think cell phones can do a good job of capturing images.  It's just not my thing.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com

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