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The image on the LEFT is photographed with my iPhone 4 using Instagram, and the image on the RIGHT was photographed with my Canon 5DMarkIII and 50mm f/1.4 lens (1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400)

This week I did a quick “rib” food photo-shoot. After I was done photographing the food with my “typical” setup and style, I had dinner (the ribs) and then set the plate aside. I thought that the gnarly ribs looked pretty neat all piled on the plate, so I moved a few around and then snapped a pic with Instagram to share.

I then proceeeded to import my images into Lightroom to start the editing process, and at some point I happened to look over at the image on Instagram. I quickly realized that of all of the images I photographed with my Canon 5DMarkIII, the Instagram photo was my favorite. So I put the CF card back in my camera, stuck a 50mm lens on and did some overhead photos of the exact same setup.

Just goes to prove that a $3,500 camera got trumped by a free app with a $200 phone :) Granted, the technical quality is probably far greater on the image photographed with my Canon, but I never would have made the shot if I hadn’t seen it in a different way. I think I just might have to use this technique more often.

The image on the LEFT is photographed with my iPhone 4 using Instagram, and the image on the RIGHT was photographed with my Canon 5DMarkIII and 50mm f/1.4 lens (1/250 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400)

This week I did a quick “rib” food photo-shoot. After I was done photographing the food with my “typical” setup and style, I had dinner (the ribs) and then set the plate aside. I thought that the gnarly ribs looked pretty neat all piled on the plate, so I moved a few around and then snapped a pic with Instagram to share.

I then proceeeded to import my images into Lightroom to start the editing process, and at some point I happened to look over at the image on Instagram. I quickly realized that of all of the images I photographed with my Canon 5DMarkIII, the Instagram photo was my favorite. So I put the CF card back in my camera, stuck a 50mm lens on and did some overhead photos of the exact same setup.

Just goes to prove that a $3,500 camera got trumped by a free app with a $200 phone :) Granted, the technical quality is probably far greater on the image photographed with my Canon, but I never would have made the shot if I hadn’t seen it in a different way. I think I just might have to use this technique more often.

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Nicole is a photographer, published author, and educator specializing in Lightroom, Photoshop, and photography. She is best known for her books on food photography but is widely versed in various photographic genres, including landscape, nature, stock, travel, and experimental imagery.

18 Comments

  1. Jeff Burkholder June 15, 2012 at 9:00 pm - Reply

    Wow! Hungry you were. ;-p

  2. Douglas Pierre June 15, 2012 at 9:01 pm - Reply

    I would love to have those for my dog.

  3. Joseph Daquiz June 15, 2012 at 9:01 pm - Reply

    Brontosaurus burger?

  4. jesse garboden June 15, 2012 at 9:04 pm - Reply

    Not a rib fan.

  5. Yuval Ararat June 15, 2012 at 9:09 pm - Reply

    +Douglas Pierre cooked??
    +Nicole S. Young the instagram is nice but the cloudy colors are just annoying dont you think?

  6. Lotus Carroll June 15, 2012 at 9:10 pm - Reply

    Love that!

  7. Joseph Fanvu June 15, 2012 at 9:12 pm - Reply

    great, now I'm hungry!

  8. Chris Smith June 15, 2012 at 9:18 pm - Reply

    The plate on the right looks more edible and yummy. :-)

    Have you tried Camera Awesome btw? It is my FAV camera app and is the only photo app that has earned a spot on my launch bar on my iPhone.

    Also, have you tried any of the various Instagram filters for Lightroom that are available?

  9. Brad Sloan June 15, 2012 at 9:37 pm - Reply

    Mmmmm.

  10. Shanti Gilbert June 15, 2012 at 9:42 pm - Reply

    +Nicole S. Young funny I read this as this happened to me a few days back (but not with instagram but camera360) I was taking photos and decided to do one with my phone, the angle I got was the perfect one for me, so I re-did my shot using my camera and I was happy! ;-)

  11. Lisa Donchak June 15, 2012 at 9:57 pm - Reply

    +Chris Chabot , per earlier conversation on food photography. [cc +Yod Sawamiphakdi ]

  12. Jonathan Acierto June 16, 2012 at 3:04 am - Reply

    Gear is great, vision is better! Stole that from Scott Bourne, who stole it from I can't remember whom.

  13. deepak kr bhagat June 16, 2012 at 4:10 am - Reply

    what it this 

  14. Nicole S. Young June 15, 2012 at 9:13 pm - Reply

    +Yuval Ararat Not annoying, just different. For my typical food images I don't add much stylizing, hence the version on the right :)

  15. Nicole S. Young June 15, 2012 at 10:09 pm - Reply

    +Chris Smith Yes, I've used Camera Awesome … it's awesome! :) For the Lightroom filters, I'm thinking of making my own versions, I figure it would be a fun challenge :)

  16. Jonathan Acierto June 16, 2012 at 12:00 pm - Reply

    +Nicole S. Young  Thanks!

  17. Nicole S. Young June 16, 2012 at 8:36 am - Reply

    +Jonathan Acierto I believe you're thinking of +David duChemin :)

  18. neil June 19, 2012 at 6:11 am - Reply

    people are using their phones more and more as camera as one its easy to do and they are getting really good. This kinda proves it really

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