Editor’s Note: Next week is The iPhone Photography Conference, and Lisa is one of the featured instructors! Enjoy this post from early last year about adding your mobile phone to your workflow.

Embracing The Mobile Platform

Let’s speak to the elephant in the room. Mobile photography is here to stay. You can embrace it, use it to ENHANCE your workflow, and make your customers happier (and build more business, by the way)… or stick your head in the sand and watch as more savvy professionals leave you in the dust.

Sorry. Not sorry. 

Before you throw the tomatoes, hear me out.

The time is now:

I’m NOT suggesting you replace that high-end camera equipment with a smart phone. No way. No how. I’m suggesting you master mobile shooting to ADD VALUE to your brand. Follow along…. Incorporating mobile shooting (and mastering the mobile editing workflow) allows you to offer your clients immediate satisfaction–immediate images they can use for social media, or a slideshow they can project DURING THE ACTUAL EVENT. Yuh huh. Real time shots by a professional… while they await your gorgeous final images. 

Smart phones, and the apps photographers need, have finally begun to live up to their promise. And here’s the thing, after you shoot and edit on your smart phone, you can always come back to the studio and work on the large system.

Effects/edits remain intact and ready for adjustment: 

‘Cause lets be honest, its pretty hard to do perfectly precise edits on a phone. But you can throw a quick social post up. Clean up, mask and edit on desktop for higher end usages.

Lightroom’s capacity for image editing will amaze you:

You can go from a straightforward catalog shoot to something dynamic instantly, all on your mobile device. Don’t forget to do social for your client from the set. That gets them really excited! Instant results that tease the promise of your more fine-tuned work to come.

The availability of 3rd party apps is astounding:

Want extra resources for retouching, graphics, text, or effects? They’re here, both for mobile devices and desktop or tablet work. Chose your weapon.

The NEW masking functions in LR are in a word AMAZING. The amount of control you have now is incredibly powerful.

There are even light sources specifically triggered by iPhones. 

They’re super compact, light, powerful, and mobile. They’ll up your mobile shooting game instantly.  

Next week at the KelbyOne Lightroom Conference, I’ll demonstrate techniques for:

• Shooting through Lightroom
• Image processing using Lightroom 
• Adding graphics and export all through LR mobile
• Capitalizing on the ecosystem have smart phones use additional applications 

Come and join us.

Learn how to make more of your mobile workflow.

Don’t fear the phone. Conquer it.

Lisa Carney is an entertainment retoucher with a photographer’s soul. Her photos tell stories rendered in pure light. Because, at the end of the day, it’s all about the light. Capturing it. Refining it. Harnessing it to create mood. Theme. Stories.

You can find more of Lisa’s work at LisaCarney.com, and keep up with her on Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. And don’t forget to catch her and all the other amazing instructors at next week’s KelbyOne iPhone Photography Conference!