Photography workflow on an iPhone

The process and apps I use to transfer light from real-life to Instagram

5 min readApr 13, 2014

There are no rules for Instagram, but I’ve still been accused of cheating it. A quick scan of my Instagram feed reveals a questionable advantage: I’m not using a phone camera.

For the past year, I’ve posted photos exclusively shot on Micro 4/3 cameras. If “Micro 4/3” sounds gibberish, think DSLR but way smaller. I’ve got access to an arsenal of swappable lenses, most of which can produce enviable bokeh (out-of-focus backgrounds). Fast glass and advanced image sensors produce low-light results cell phone shooters can’t match. Yet I don’t count myself a cheater.

I post my photos to Instagram and sleep well at night, because (1) who cares, and (2) I’ve developed a 100% mobile workflow for my photography. My Micro 4/3 cameras capture the images, but after the snap my iPhone takes over. A PC never gets in the way, which means I can share my photos on location. To my satisfaction, that respects the ethos of Instagram and other social media. Also, who cares.

Wireless transfer

My mobile photography workflow is enabled by wireless tech in my cameras, which can beam photo files directly to my iPhone. I have two different Micro 4/3 cameras, each of which does wireless transfer differently.

My Olympus Pen E-PM2, armed with an Eye-Fi memory card. Camera body is about the size of two stacked iPhones

In one camera, an Eye-Fi brand memory card handles the Wi-Fi duties. It’s a standard SD card that could work in any camera that uses the format. The photos I mark as “protected” on the camera sync to my phone, after a clumsy but learnable process: (1) Connect my iPhone to the Wi-Fi network created by the memory card, (2) open the Eye-Fi iPhone app, and (3) watch the images transfer.

Technology enables creativity. And selfies

My other camera, an Olympus Pen EP-5, has Wi-Fi built in. Its functionality is more complete than the Eye-Fi card, though similarly clunky. After connecting to its ad-hoc network with the iPhone, I use Olympus’s app to browse photos on the camera, download shots to the Camera Roll, and even control the camera’s shooting functionality using the iPhone as a viewfinder and shutter control (hello, selfies).

Crucially, in either process, a computer is not needed. And though my iPhone makes a Wi-Fi connection to the cameras, the process does not require Internet or a traditional network. The Wi-Fi transfer works equally well at home or on a remote Hawaiian beach.

Photo taken — and shared — at the Waiopae Tidepools in a remote corner of the Big Island

Retouching

At this point, I’ve either violated Instagram etiquette or simply exploited a loophole. The rest of my workflow plays closer to fair game, using apps available to all phoneographers (iOS and Android).

Snapseed

Nearly every one of my photos goes through Snapseed before hitting Instagram, SMS, or Twitter. It’s must-download software even for mobile phone shooters, but really proves its power when editing high-quality JPEGs from a real camera.

I start by straightening a photo, leveling the horizon where possible. After that, I’ll crop the shot, sticking to common aspect ratios for most photos and slavishly matching subjects and lines to the rule of thirds. Sometimes, this is all the process my photos require.

Sunsets like this don’t require much editing. A straightened horizon and a wide crop will do

But more often, I follow the crop with some edits in “Tune Image” tab. Lift the shadows, lower the brightness, adjust ambiance and saturation. These edits work well on photos snapped through an iPhone’s 8-megapixel eye, but do wonders on the information-rich files from my Micro 4/3 cameras. Where a phone’s image sensor captures sunken blacks and blown-out whites, a real camera sensor spares details. The details are in there, and Snapseed helps me find them.

TouchRetouch

I’ve added TouchRetouch to my workflow only recently, and frankly I don’t need it often. If, after washing a photo through Snapseed, I’m unsatisfied with some out-of-place noise, TouchRetouch lets me remove the offending detail.

The app does the same magic Photoshop’s clone stamp and content-aware fill functions achieve. An unwanted fleck of dust, or a messy bit of litter in the background is zapped from existence by TouchRetouch. When I need the app, I am always surprised how well it works.

VSCOcam

VSCO is a filter app for adults.

I’m kidding, mostly, but I don’t use Instagram’s filters. If I want a filtered look for a photo, I use VSCOcam. The VSCO look is pretty trendy in photography, I’ll admit, but I must also admit that it can give the right feel to certain images. The black and white filters are particularly attractive, but I don’t use the app for most photos. Disappointingly, VSCOcam downsizes the original 16-megapixel files.

A monochrome shot with one of VSCOcam’s great black and white filters

Posting

Not that resolution matters much to Instagram, which shares every photo at one half of one megapixel. The social network further demands a 1:1 square aspect ratio, which I suffered for months before discovering a workaround.

The square photos of Instagram aren’t so bad, the unique aspect ratio works well with some pictures, but more often it forces unsightly crops of otherwise ideal compositions. Enter Instasize, another iPhone app with a simple function. Instasize lets me post photos to Instagram and retain the original aspect ratios. It does so by adding white bars to photos to make them square, but the white bars blend with Instagram’s presentation and the result is visually clean. I give up some resolution but keep the compositional balance I want. A worthy trade.

So my photography process is more complicated than the average Instagrammer’s, but I manage some sophisticated photo work without need of a PC. Am I cheating? I don’t care. With my mobile workflow, I’m fulfilled and taking more photographs than ever before.