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Scott Bader Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 April 3, 2013 iPhoneography: Instaprofessional You see them everywhere, people of all ages, composing their perfect shot. Their phones raised, eyes squinted and strained to see their phones screen in the brightly lit sun. Then, with a quick tap of the finger, and a swipe through some preset filters and the photo is quickly posed to the incredibly popular smartphone application Instagram. They are iPhoneographers. Their favorite medium? Smartphones and the highly popular Instagram application. Instagram has been a sensation since its launch in October 2010. The developers Mike Krieger and Kevin Systrom had no idea that by the start of 2013 it would have 90 million active users, 19 filters and that the simple photosharing application would be worth nearly $1 billion dollars. As those millions of users snap away, add filters and share smartphone photographs, what is happening to photography as a whole? How is Instagram changing photography and is it for the best? Instagram has become so popular that camera and cell phone manufacturers have adapted their product development and marketing strategies to accommodate the growing trend. For example, Canon, one of the leading camera manufactures released the worlds smallest and lightest digital single reflex camera or DSLR (Canon USA Corp); an attempt to get consumers who have put down their big, bulky DLSRs in exchange for their phones instead. They sacrifice quality and control for ease of use and form factor. Canon is not the only camera manufacturing

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company that is challenging the new trend. Nikon has released point-and-shoot cameras that have gotten considerably smaller over the years. The Coolpix S01 is about the size of a deck of cards. The S01 has a 10.1 Megapixel sensor, 3X zoom, a 2.5 inch touchscreen display, and even shoots 720p HD video. The Coolpix S01 also only costs $180 (Nikon Inc.). Sony, a long time maker of high-end DSLRs and point-and-shoot cameras, has also been changing its approach. For example, they released a series of cameras called NEX. The NEX series is remarkable because they are mirrorless, meaning the camera is significantly smaller because of the lack of a mirror. The cameras are also remarkable have because of the an interchangeable-lens system, meaning they have a system that is equipped with lens mounts so photographers can change lenses based on their needs, giving them more creative control. Not only are the NEX cameras smaller, but they have the same sensors inside them as their big, bulky DLSR cousins. The NEX cameras are tailored to beginners and novices. They show tips throughout all the menus and have a 3 inch tilt-able touchscreen to navigate those menus with. The third generation NEX camera comes equipped with WIFI, so users can take photos and quickly email them or send them to their computers. Not only are the NEX these cameras smaller but they have interchangeable lenses for creative control, a larger sensor that gives users DSLR quality and settings that gives users DLSR control over their pictures (Sony Electronics Inc.). It didnt take long for Samsung to come along and try stealing a market share into the competitive camera market. Samsung released the Galaxy Camera 4G in August of 2012; and it is booming with features trying to peal users off their cell phones and onto cameras. From the back, you would never be able to tell the Samsung Galaxy Camera 4G was a camera, as it looks like your average Android phone. The camera actually runs Android, the phone operating system! This means consumers can download apps to the camera. Applications like, lets say Instagram. This means that owners

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could take a picture with the Galaxy Cameras 16 Megapixel censor and then use its 4.8 inch touchscreen display to crop, add a filter to the image, and upload it to Instagram only seconds after the picture was taken. Not only are you connected to the internet at all times with Verizons 4G network, but you have exceptional amount of control over the cameras settings, giving them DLSR control over things like shutter speed, the amount of time your cameras shutter stays open for and aperture, the size of the hole the shutter opening; this controls depth of field. Shutter speed and aperture are generally untouchable in the point-and-shoot world and camera phone world. With these settings, the Galaxy Camera gives its users more creative control over the pictures they take. The Galaxy Camera also offers voice control, a pre-installed photo editing software and software that will allow the user to share pictures with up to eight other devices within range of its WIFI (Samsung). Camera manufacturing is not the only industry having to change because of the popularity of Instagram. Phone manufacturers, like HTC, Samsung, Motorola Mobility, Research in Motion, Nokia, and Apple, have all had to change their phones to accommodate consumers wants and needs for better cameras built into their phones. The phones have settings that rival some pointand-shoot cameras like flash, scenes, auto white balance, exposure settings, multi-shot, panorama, and auto focus. Nokia released a phone last February with a 41 megapixel sensor in the camera called the PureView 808. The PureView is a primary, yet extreme, example of where camera phones have gone since the release of Instagram (Nokia). The camera functionality is quickly becoming one of the biggest selling points for cell phones. Companies are releasing products with increasingly advanced settings and features with every passing software update and new handset. For example, Research in Monition (RIM), manufacturer of Blackberry, announced new camera software called Time Shift Mode. In Time Shift Mode you can tap on

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someones face in a group shot and you can go forward and backward in time on just that face in order to clear up closed eyes that ruin group shots (Research in Motion). The Samsung Galaxy Note has a similar feature. With an update to Android comes many camera improvements and additions. Photo Sphere is just one example. When the program is selected, the users move their phone in a 360 degree fashion, pausing every dozen degrees while the phone automatically snaps a picture. When the user has covered everything they want in the picture, the phone combines all of the images into one 360 degree image of your surroundings (Rehm). Not only have manufactures improved the picture taking process, but they have also improved the postprocessing process as well. Manufactures have installed advanced photos editing software into their phones. Users can crop, adjust exposure, white balance and even add vignette with the default photo editing software. When your standard smart phone camera software is not enough, theres an application for that. There are thousands of applications in the iPhone apps store and just as many in the Google Play store. There are so many that both applications stores have individual categories for photography in the applications section, Instagram is in the top five of the Photo & Video Apps category and the top twenty over all applications in Apples App store and in the top five of Googles App store. There are apps like Aviary and Snapseed that gives users more postprocessing control thant the manufacturers already give you. Applications like Aviary also have pre-set Instagram-like filter effects that give users more options to the filters that Instagram also offers (Aviary). There are apps like Pic Stitch and Photo Grid Collage Maker where you can organize your pictures into collages to post on Instagram. There is even an Adobe Photoshop app that you can edit photos. But wWhat if your hardware is not up to par? There are accessories for that. An online store called Photo Jojo sells dozens of accessories suited specifically for

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iPhoneography. They offer lenses that connect to a phone via magnets for more creative control over you smart phone pictures, a pocket flash that plugs into a smartphones headphone port, iPhone viewfinders, iPhone shutter grips, iPhone telephoto lenses, iPhone cable triggers, iPhone tripods, iPhone boom mic and even and iPhone SLR mount, so you can mount your huge SLR lenses to your iPhone! They even sell an iPhone Adventure Suit which is an underwater case with a lens attached that protects the iPhone (Photojojo). The list goes on and on and some people do buy these products to better their iPhoneography and over all, to better their Instagram posts. Desktop photo editing software, like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, Adobe Lightroom, Gimp and Camera Bag 2, is another market Instagram is changing. Camera Bag 2 is a very inexpensive, but powerful photo editing software where users can adjust exposure, contrast, saturation, highlights, shadows, white balance and the brightness. You can also dye, apply color filter and add lens flare and a vignette to your images to name a few features. What is most remarkable, however, are its Instagram-like preset styles the program comes. Styles like 1974 which makes photos look like theyve travelled back in time. Another style is Mono, which give the image a monochromatic tone. Users can drag a slider to Remix the style to tweak certain elements. Users can also add their own adjustments on top of the presets. All the photo editing software listed above have Instagram-like filters or presets that are available for download, this wasnt always the case. Camera Bag and Photoshop did not initially have presets that users could download and, use to completely change the tone and look of their image. The variability and usability are recent trends, trends that started gaining popularity beginning when Instagram started gaining popularity.

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But is this change in photography good? The arguments for and against Instagrams effects on the world of photography are endless. In a recent article from The Verge, an online technology news source, two editors, Chris Ziegler and Dieter Bohn, debated the pros and cons on Instagram. Ziegler argues that A century from now, were going to have a generation of hopelessly confused youngsters. (Ziegler) Implying that our future generations are going to look at our Instagram photos and be confused by the phony colors that the filters creates. He then states that when users add Instagram filters to their images, they are destroying the image because it is robbed of its accuracy. He further argues that Instagrams filters serve no function other than to aggrandize your own false sense of artisanship. Ziegler makes his point that Instagram filters are just a misguided replacement for a properly co mposed shot and a decent sensor (Ziegler). Ziegler is not alone. David Allan Brandt, a professional photographer, spoke with CNN and said the problem is the image before the filter is applied. He explains that if you start with a bad picture and apply a filter on top of it, it is still a bad picture (Strickland). Zieglers debate partner, Dieter Bohn suggests that the majority of posts on Instagram are not to create a historical record and most Instagram users are not photo journalists and are not trying to be (Ziegler). He goes on to say When most people share photos, theyre trying to share their experience at that moment. Adding a filter is a way to make what came out of an inaccurate image sensor feel more true to that moment (Ziegler). Bohn makes a valid point that Instagram users are using the service to share experiences with their family and friends. Their goal is not to generate records for future generations to look at to get a grasp on what our lives were like. This brings up a point writer Ashley Strickland made in her piece on CNN, Art Photography: When reality isnt good enough. Strickland points out that photographers have always done some form of post processing, from Ansel Adams, arguably the most famous landscape photographer,
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burning shadows and dodging highlights in his darkroom to modern day photographers editing in front of their computer monitor (Strickland). The point is that pictures have always been edited in some way, whether its in a darkroom, or through technology. Even though the filters on Instagram have received back lash from the photography community, there are still people that believe it should be given a chance. In a recent Google Plus hangout, Huffington Posts Josh Zepps spoke with a variety of professional photographers and amateur Instagram enthusiasts. One of his guests suggested that the reaction to Instagram filters can be compared to the reaction to color film when it was first introduced (Stop Instagramming!). When color film was introduced in the early 20th century there was large back lash against it. However, it quickly become the new way to take pictures much like Instagram is becoming today. So is Instagram benefiting photography and photographers? In the same Huffington Ppost Google Plus hangout, a guest compared Instagram to YouTube. Before YouTube, videography was only for professionals, however YouTube has allowed amateur videographers to have the ability to produce films and videos to share to the world. In the same way, Instagram has taken photography away from solely being in the hands of the professionals to giving amateur photographers the opportunity to partake. Another guest mentioned that Instagram is helpful to the photography community because it sparks interest in photography and encourages users to learn (Stop Instagramming!). Based on these points, Instagram opens the world of photography to the masses and helps amateurs become interested in photography, but what does it do for established photographers?

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Photographers can use sites such as Flickr, 500px and Tumblr to showcase and promote themselves and their photographs and to get inspiration from other photographers work. Photographers can now use Instagram. For example, in an interview with Columbus Alives Jackie Mantey Colomnus, College of Art and Designs photography chair, says that he uses Instagram to get inspiration and that the app forces him to be more creative (Mantey). National Geographic photographer Peter Essick mentions he simply sees Instagram as another medium of photography and he uses it to reach people (Kavner). There are thousands of professional photographers on Instagram that post their latest work for the public and get great publicity by doing so. So is Instagram actually benefiting photography? Even though some are critical of Instagrams filters and amateur users, Instagram is cultivating wonder and curiosity in photography in the next generation of professional photographers. Professionals and amateur photographers alike are inspired by the work of others while promoting their own work at the same time. Instagram is rapidly taking over the photography world and is altering the way viewers take and look at pictures.

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Works Cited Aviary. "The World's Best Photo Editing SDK." Aviary.com. Aviary, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. Canon USA Corp. "Press Releases." Canon U.S.A. : About Canon. Canon USA Corp., 21 Mar. 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. Mantey, Jackie. "How Instagram Is Changing Photography." Columbus Alive. The Dispatch Printing Company, 29 Nov. 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. Nikon Inc. "Archived Products." Nikon COOLPIX S01 Digital Camera. Nikon Inc., 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. Nokia. "Nokia 808 PureView." Nokia.com. Nokia, July 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. Photojojo. "Photo Gifts and Gear for Photographers." The Photojojo Store! Photojojo, n.d. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. Rehm, Lars. "Hands-on with Android 4.2's Photo Sphere." Connect. Digital Photography Review, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. Research in Motion. "The New BlackBerry Z10." BlackBerry Z10 Smartphone. Research in Motion, 203. Web. 07 Apr. 2013. Samsung. "Samsung GALAXY Camera." Samsung IN. Samsung, 2013. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. Sony Electronics Inc. "Sony Alpha NEX Digital Cameras | Sony Store USA." Sony Alpha NEX Digital Cameras | Sony Store USA. Sony Electronics Inc., 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. Stop Instagramming! Dir. The Huffington Post. Perf. Jos Zepps. The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 2012. Web. 6 Apr. 2013. Strickland, Ashley. "Art Photography: When 'reality Isn't Good Enough'" CNN. Cable News Network, 18 Aug. 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2013. Ziegler, Chris, and Dieter Bohn. "The Verge." The Verge. Vox Media, 9 Apr. 2012. Web. 06 Apr. 2013.