Q: A scenic overlook. A man with a large camera bag puts the bag down, sets up a tripod in a selected spot and attaches a large DSLR to it. He fiddles with the controls, peers through the camera, adjusts the lens, moves the tripod a little, peers through the camera again, fiddles some more, and, finally, takes a number of exposures. Then he removes a phone from his pocket and takes a picture in the same direction. What's he doing?
A: He's tweeting, "Look what I just took a picture of!"
Mike
(Thanks to Robert)
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Featured Comments from:
David Roof: "I wish this were only a joke. This actually happens regularly in railroad photography fora on Facebook."
Jesse Colin Jackson: "I do one better: when on location, I frequently take an iPhone picture of the image on the screen of my 5DIII to send to clients and friends as a preview. 'Picture in picture.'"
Bruce Robbins: "I do this from time to time on my film blog as I think people enjoy seeing the context behind a photograph. Here's one of my Speed Graphic 'in the field.' And another of my Rollei SL66E about to photograph some wartime hangars in the mist:
"Both taken with a humble iPhone 3GS."
Must be Alec Soth.
Posted by: John Krill | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 07:09 AM
I've noticed that people in museums will take a picture of an object and then look at the picture on their cell phone, even though the original is right in front of them.
Cell phones are how we experience reality.
Posted by: Kevin Bourque | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 07:29 AM
Not a joke. Replace tweeting with texting "isn't this beautiful" and I'll admit to having done it.
Posted by: GFF | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 07:48 AM
I happen to have a small concert photography hobby.
You would be surprised at how often these things happen.
In a concert-setting these smartphone snaps are even worse looking.
Posted by: Herman Stehouwer | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 08:23 AM
Or his DSLR lacks GPS.
But not as funny.
Posted by: Jeff | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 10:11 AM
Silly photographer. If he were following the 16 month upgrade cycle his DSLR would have wifi connectivity and he would be able to tweet the photos he was shooting!
Posted by: Rob | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 10:16 AM
Different answer: he's getting a GPS fix!
Posted by: Jon | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 10:38 AM
Even worse is when I set up a camera to take an image, and someone comes up behind with their cellphone to shoot the "same" image.
I wrote about it here
http://alanklughammer.com/info/saw
Posted by: Alan | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 10:53 AM
I have friends (wedding photographers mostly) who will post to Facebook a cell phone picture of the screen on the back of their camera showing off a particularly nice shot they just took.
I usually shake my head a little, but then I just admire the picture. :)
Posted by: Jayson Merryfield | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 11:26 AM
gps4cam
Posted by: Fred | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 11:46 AM
I do a variant of this while on work trips. So during a recent visit to Taiwan I took my 'proper' photos on my M9 and GX7, but shared loads of iphone pics with my wife and kids on a shared photo stream. I wish it were a joke that they prefer my iphone shots....
Posted by: Harry | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 12:04 PM
He used the DSLR, big lenses and the tripod to make some test shoots, then he used the phone to take the decisive shoot that matters. ^_^
Posted by: Frank | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 01:06 PM
Probably making a 'reference snap'.
By the time he's turned up the contrast and saturation to 11; added a little HDR for, ahem, 'atmosphere'; cloned out a load of pylons, footprints, red-cagoule clad hikers, inconvenient rocks and twigs; added a grungy texture or three and then stuck a bright pink border around it, the final image will bear practically zero relation to the original scene. So it's always good to have something to remind you of what you were looking at… :0)
Posted by: Julian | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 01:12 PM
The WiFi connectivity on my E-M10 saves me from taking some pictures of my kids, then taking less-good versions again to send immediately to my parents. Like Thom Hogan says, "connected..."
Posted by: Nicholas Condon | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 01:30 PM
If camera companies would get their acts together and integrate editing and data plans into their phones then I wouldn't have to do this whilst on the side of the road during a RoadRUNNER motorcycle travel assignment.
Seriously, posting pictures on Facebook/Instagram/Etc.. while on the road lets readers come along for the ride while at the same time getting them primed for the story in an upcoming issue of the print magazine. It's fun having them along; some will have been to the area and will share their own memories or give tips on things to see that I was not aware of.
1980 isn't coming back.
Posted by: JohnMFlores | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 02:01 PM
About the GPS fix.
Phone GPS track app. I use GPX Master (free) on my iPhone. Unlike at least one other I tried, it does only one thing, well, and doesn't eat the battery excessively. I got a spare battery/charger, based on horror stories. I've yet to need it.
Merge GPS locations from track(s) into images in GeoSetter (Win, free) or Mac equivalent. GeoSetter happily handles multiple tracks at once, so tracking may be turned on and off as appropriate during the day. I've turned it on, got a fix in a moment, then off, to get a location for just a shot or two.
I've has GPS in two cameras. Slow to get that first fix in both, and generally clunky. The GPS in my iPhone5 and now 5s is both much quicker and more accurate.
The newer generation is undoubtedly better, but I'd rather keep the cameras I have now until some other factor(s) drive something new. I'd rather choose in the future without letting the GPS feature tail wag the rest of the camera dog.
Located Moose
Posted by: Moose | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 05:20 PM
I used my D600/WU-1b/iPhone combo to get pictures of the eclipse onto Facebook last night. Not too far from the subject of this joke.
Posted by: Chris | Tuesday, 15 April 2014 at 08:59 PM
The next level is taking picture with phone of the camera's screen. Not sure if there isn't enough light for phone camera or they need their main camera in the picture.
Posted by: Karel Kravik | Wednesday, 16 April 2014 at 08:13 AM
Replace "phone" by "video camera" and you just described a luminous landscape video journal travel segment. Or maybe I'm just jealous.
Posted by: Renaud | Thursday, 17 April 2014 at 02:06 AM