Modern devices for extraordinary results
If any of you return to this blog, you will probably know that I have been a strong advocate for smartphone photography for many years now. Having also had the chance to collaborate as an official photographer for OnePlus during the product launch for a few years, I know that modern devices can achieve truly extraordinary results.
iPhone 12 Pro Max: rising up the bar of smartphone photos
With the arrival of the latest iPhone 12 Pro Max, the bar has risen because we have a smartphone with a larger sensor than in the past, a new stabilization module, and also a software mode that allows you to save photos in the Apple ProRAW format, with all the benefits of the case that I have already highlighted in a previous article.
Back to the roots with analog photography
This year, I have also decided to go back to the roots a bit and start to shoot with analog cameras, taking care of the whole process: from shooting to development through the scanning of negatives.
So I started to carry out some portrait and fashion photo sessions (there are therefore others to be published soon) in which I adopted a hybrid approach: next to the photos taken with analog cameras, I also used the iPhone 12 Pro Max for the portraits to obtain some photos in Apple ProRAW format.
Using my own custom color profile and presets
The reason is also that I wanted to gather as much material as possible to successfully experiment with my own color profiles and presets for developing Apple ProRAW files.
Being able to test them in the field, with new material and in different lighting situations, allows me to understand how these presets behave and the results I can achieve in terms of color rendering, even compared to analog shooting.
Note: If you see noise in the iPhone 12 Pro photos, it is because I deliberately added “film noise” in Lightroom as my stylistic choice. The Apple ProRAW comes quite “clean” with its internal noise reduction, so I want to add a bit of “structure” to the file.
About the analog camera I’ve used for this session
For the analog photos, I used two Pentax cameras: the legendary and heavy Pentax 67, which produces a 6cm x 7cm film frame, and a Pentax Mx, a beautiful, comfortable, small 35mm camera.
This was one of the first analog sessions I did in years, and I had some small problems: on the Pentax Mx camera, probably due to my error in loading the film, at some point, the roller did not drag the film well, and so I got some intentional over-exposures that I have to say, I don’t mind! Many times, what is not programmed leads to interesting results!
I also had some difficulties with the initial development I did at home using the new C-41 Kits. For developing color film, you have to be absolutely precise in the first phase and maintain an exact temperature of +38C for the chemistry.
I was probably not so precise at the beginning of the first rolls, and I got some contrast changes and different dominants that I had to correct thanks to the Negative Lab Pro plug-in that I use inside Lightroom to do the inversion of the scans made.
Hello back iPhone XS!
At the end of this blog post, a little surprise: I also used my previous iPhone XS, shooting in Raw format, but this time using the Halide app to get the DNG file (remember that, at the moment, Apple ProRAW is only available on iPhone models 12 Pro and up).
Then, to these Raw DNG shots, I applied my iPhone XS presets, which were created ad hoc for this smartphone’s sensor and thus allow me to achieve excellent final color!
Thanks to the team
Model: Vendela
Agency: Casting Firenze
Makeup: Linda Salimbeni
Styling: Maria Ferrari
Location: Florence, Via San Leonardo.
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