Capture winter scenes of Yosemite easily on an iPhone

On a visit to Yosemite last week, I had some good photography fun. While I had packed my “big” camera (a Fujifilm X-Pro2 with an 18-55 mm zoom lens), it stayed in my camera bag the whole time we were there. I opted instead to go “nimble” and to take photos exclusively with the camera in my iPhone 7 Plus.

With each upgrade to the iPhone family, the camera capability has steadily improved. My iPhone 7 Plus has the latest example of this technology — with a high resolution sensor, optical image stabilization and some pretty sophisticated image processing, which combine to provide some outstanding images.

As they say, the best camera is always the one that’s with you — and having such a great camera in my pocket meant I was never without it — and I could enjoy capturing quick moments without worrying about camera settings, etc.

Plus, my iPhone automatically syncs all of the images I’ve taken to the iCloud Photo Library which then copies them to my iPad and Macs. For this trip, I left my Mac at home for the first time and did my post-processing on my iPhone or iPad. I didn’t have to worry about copying images from camera cards, etc. The whole setup just worked.

While I won’t be able to print large versions of these images, I appreciated the trade off between being nimble with a streamlined workflow versus the normal “big” camera workflow. Highly recommended for just having fun with your photography.

A couple of years ago I heard about a photo workshop being taught in Yosemite for just iPhone users. I poo poo-ed the idea at the time, but my experience last week shooting with my iPhone demonstrated just what a great idea it is.

Photos by Scott J Loftesness (c) 2016

Author Scott Loftesness is InMenlo co-founder and serious student of street photography.