Here’s another comparison photo from my iPhone 6 Plus and my Nikon D800. They may not be a fair comparison per se, but it’s always fun to see the difference in quality between a mobile photo and that from a dSLR.
I posted the square cropped version of the iPhone 6 Plus photo on Instagram. But this is just one example where square just doesn’t cut it. The full version, as seen here, us much more dramatic and screams for attention.
The long exposure was done through Slow Shutter Cam app; I believe this was either a 4 or 8 second exposure. I believe I edited the colours in Instaflash Pro, and then put it through VSCOcam, where I applied the M4 preset to get this overall faded yet colourful look.
The Nikon D800, shown below is a 1 second exposure. It was edited in Lightroom where I enhanced the colours near the horizon, added a saturation gradient to the sky, and sharpened and brightened up the buildings a touch. The composition is very similar to the iPhone 6 Plus, but you can see that it is zoomed in much closer to the skyline.
I personally like the Nikon D800 version better with the vibrant tones to the sunrise. I love the subtle mixture of blue, yellow, and orange half way up this photo. The sharpness of the buildings can’t be matched by the iPhone either.
Still, it’s amazing what a mobile phone is capable of accomplishing in a matter of minutes. The edit oh my iPhone took a lot less time to do than the edit in Lightroom—and I could change the look and feel of the photo in seconds with the tap of a filter.
That’s the payoff with mobile photography!