High quality smart phone cameras have revolutionised the way we record life every bit as much as did the Brownie Box camera and the Instamatic in past years. These amazingly portable and powerful tools allow us to capture images, edit them and broadcast them anywhere in the world within seconds. It was only a matter of time before someone wrote a book on iPhone photography.  

Martina Holmberg is a photographer who was devoted to conventional photography until someone introduced her to an iPhone camera. She was hooked. This book is the result.  

There is really nothing to teach about using an iPhone camera. The thing is totally automated and does all the thinking. One good tip though is that the image is captured when the button is released, not pressed. This reduces camera shake and allows you to control the precise moment of capture. Otherwise, in photographic terms the camera is very basic and simple - no ISO settings, fixed lens and every setting automated - so there are no complicated chapters in the book about lens choices, aperture, speed and other technical info.  

The sixty tips are essentially tips for creative photography which you will find in many other books on the subject. This book does, however, present them well and succinctly. Like the iPhone camera, it is refreshingly simple to understand. What comes across is that a whole new world has been opened up to Holmberg. This new toy is actually a sophisticated tool which has invited her to take her creative skill in a new direction. The camera captures the moment with a new level of spontaneity and immediacy that is hard to achieve with conventional gear. Its compact size, the fact that it always handy and it doesn't look like a camera opens the doors of opportunity to have fun and break the rules. It goes where other cameras cannot go.  

The thing that really sets it apart as a creative tool is the software that can be packaged within the iPhone itself. There are forty-four suggested Apps that give the freedom to edit images in endless combinations. These are the creative tools that transform a snap into a creative work of art. The book is packed with dramatic, moody, brilliant and intriguing images. The concept of capture, editing on the spot and transmitting the completed work to anywhere on the globe within seconds is wonderfully liberating for the average person. What used to be the domain of the creative few is now within grasp of any mobile phone user. The potential for moving from mundane photography to something far more interesting is exciting.  

There is a short chapter on using the iPhone video camera, but this is another skill in its own right and deserves an entire book devoted to the subject. Smart-phone video is seriously good.

This book will inspire you to get out there and have fun with your iPhone, or, for that matter, Android phone.

- Gordon Hammond

Sixty Tips for Creative iPhone Photography, Martina Holmberg, Rocky Nook Inc., 2012  US$ 24.95

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