Cell Phone Camera Blogging
Greens at Phoenix Cafe
One day I was caught without my camera. My brother and I were just at the gym and I wasn’t carrying my purse. I just had a cell phone, money and ID in my pocket. I found myself at Phoenix for dinner and thought I’d snap a few pictures for Twitter prosperity. I mean, I don’t have to blog every meal, right?
Singapore Noodles
Then I started thinking about all the bloggers who rely on cell phone pictures alone. No fancy macro, to hell with the light, little regard for art, what is white balance, bokeh and the like. It was just about the food and what they thought. The pictures were little more than evidence they actually went to the restaurant. Can I do it too? Will people still read the Minty if I relied on cell phone pictures? Probably not?
One day, I was talking to someone who I thought had a fancy camera (you know those DSLR types) but he was using his Blackberry and seemed surprised I asked. Apparently he had given up his fancy camera and was going to non-digital soon.
Last year, Eater talks about the sins of food blogging. Some are pretty funny (I hate flash!) but seriously, no tweeting during dinner? Really!? Oh, and they’re anti-cell phone pics.
tomato fish with rice
I’m going to have to say after enjoying my new Canon these last few months, these pictures are pretty awful. But it doesn’t diminish the fact it was a decent meal. I liked the snap of the greens. Maybe the noodles were a tad dry and the slightly sweet fish in the tomato fish dish could have been a bigger portion but overall, it was a fine meal. This was the simple meal I needed after a session at the gym. Damnit, I wasn’t going to blog this meal!
Then there are the people who take pictures of their meals who do it only for the pleasure of remembering what they ate. They may never blog the meal. They’re not bloggers. And if you ask them, the pictures are strictly for them.
Some other people who have gone cell cam:
Playing with Negative Space (recipe blog)
David Lebovitz talks about food blogging and a bit about cameras, even cell phone pictures (he seems to be a fan of iPhones) in this post.
There’s a certain speediness to using cell phone pictures. Sure, you can edit photos with a variety of apps on smart phones like iPhones but if you’re going from cell to blog, you can get it out within minutes of eating your meal. For the most part, I take photos on my regular camera and “edit.” If it photos were taken in great light (i.e. natural daylight), I rarely edit my photos. But even with my nifty new camera, it takes some time to sort through the ones I took in dark or dim restaurants. I don’t use photoshop but a program attached to flickr where I first upload the photos. I am trying to take fewer shots (my first is usually the best anyway) but it’s rare when I take less than 30 pictures of one meal (unless it’s just of one item!). Then I do a little levels work and saturate my photos with more color. I want it to be as vivid as I remembered it.
I suppose that’s why as an artist, I cringe a bit at the weird color of these cell phone pics. I highly doubt I’ll do this again so I’ll leave cell phone pics to those with better cell phone cameras!
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I use a the 8mp camera on my Droid Inc for all the pics on my blog. I find the best thing to do is upload your pics and then touch them up: exposure, saturation, etc. You end up with pretty decent shots for a cell phone.
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I’ll have to look at your pics again! I know for sure my blackberry sucks for cell phone pics. Eek!
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Loved this piece. I’ve been taking pictures of my food with my cell phone for years. Over the years, the quality of cell phone pictures has improved greatly; of course, it is still tough to compete with a device developed solely for picture taking. I recently started a food blog (www.myguiltfreeeating.com) and I only take pictures using my phone. I thought about getting a camera, but it would be inconvenient to remember to grab it all the time and I take pictures of EVERY meal. Perhaps, if I find myself hopelessly addicted to taking pictures of my food (and forcing close friends and family to relive the moment with me) then I will invest in a camera. But my hope is, that by the time I’m ready for my next cell phone, cell cameras will be capable of producing properly focused, accurately colored food porn.
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Thanks for the comments! I’ll have to check out your blog. I have somehow miraculously trained my friends to wait for me to take the pics. Even though I don’t ask them to.
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Food looks great. I use an iphone for a lot of my blog pics.
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I use my iPhone 4 for all my blog pictures. I have two main blogs; one devoted to my dogs, and one where my dogs “host” a burger review site. The phone takes decent pictures, I always have it, and if someone ever says something about “no pictures” I can always try and cover up that fact by claiming to use the phone as a phone. Went to lunch today and he asked, “aren’t you going to get a picture for your blog.” And I told him I already had. It was that quick, that easy, and that inconspicuous. I’ve also used it as a general reporter’s tool; recording quotes, taking notes, etc. It does everything I want it to.
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Yes, there is something more innocuous about using your phone. I’m really bummed out when I go to restaurants and they don’t allow photos. But my phone sucks so much for pictures, I usually don’t bother and only tweet the photos. I wonder though if I had a better camera on the phone what would happen.
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I love my DSLR, but lugging it around can be a pain in the ass sometimes. Plus I hardly have time to blog anymore so it’s nice to be able to use the phone to show my followers that I’m still alive & eating!
Thanks for the link! 🙂
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That’s what I’ve heard about DSLRs so more than likely I’ll never get one. I really like my camera and generally carry it all the time. But there are moments where I forget.
And you’re welcome, I love your blog and I hope you blog more!
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Oooh this looks delish!
p.s. it was a pleasure meeting you at the 80s party.
http://modanistajunkie.com
xoxo,
melrod
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Hi Mel!! Thanks! It was great meeting you, too. I’m back from London. Hope to see you and Jamie again. I’ll see what Bren’s up to and maybe we can have a reunion!
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I’m actually looking for a new phone solely based on the quality of the camera, just for this reason. P.S. I LOOOVE Phoenix. YUM.
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Heh, good plan! I was out with some bloggers and they actually take the photo and then take a pic on their cell phones of that pic to tweet! I guess that’s one way of getting better “cell phone” pics.
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