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2014 iPhone Photography Awards winners announced

Published Jun 15, 2014 | Allison Johnson

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2014 iPhone Photography Awards winners

Photo by Julio Lucas

The iPhone Photography Awards (IPPAWARDS) has announced the winners of its 7th annual Photographers of the Year contest, along with top photos in seventeen individual categories. Entries were submitted from photographers in seventeen countries, and naturally, all were taken with an iPhone, iPod or iPad. Photographer of the Year winners receive an iPad Air, and each category winner is awarded a gold bar 'from the most recognizable private gold mint in the world'.

Above is the photo that won Florida-based Julio Lucas the award for Photographer of the Year, and you can click through this slideshow for a look at the other winners.

Entries are currently being accepted for the 8th annual competition - note that there's a fee to enter based on the number of images submitted, though there's no limit on entries allowed.

Source: IPPAWARDS

Tags: apple, awards, iphone, photography

Comments

Total comments: 102

Those mcIntosh telephones have still QVGA cameras? Outdated!
Anyway, these 589X442 imperforate stamps look very silly on my Eizo 30'' monitor. So, i need to view them on my old Nanao 14'' CGA monitor....

PS. These "thumbnails" are just a bit bigger than the sensor of my 645D...

0 upvotes

Proof that it's the eye behind the lens that matters most. Great pictures! Will an iPhone take an equaly great picture in every situation a DSLR could? Of course not. But here's proof that, in the right hands, even the simplest of cameras nowadays can work wonders. Anyone who thinks otherwise should get over themselves. ;)

5 upvotes

No doubt, great pix. But these photos could be taken on any modern smartphone. Another irksome i-propaganda.

0 upvotes

so why don't you start an Android Photography competition or Samsung or something. I am sure you get huge response specially if you mention Apple.

2 upvotes

The title should read
"2014 iPhontography iAwards winners announced"

0 upvotes

Compare no. 19 - travel category with:

http://www.dpreview.com/challenges/Challenge.aspx?ID=9738

0 upvotes

I agree that taking pics with a phone is spontaneous and reflexive in a way that a pro camera can't, but of all the pictures above, i believe all of them would have been more easily and better taken with better lenses.

0 upvotes

For all the repeated post processing critics:
If you're not post processing, you're lazy. If it doesn't improve your photos, you're without skill. So the only people that criticize well done post processing are those that are: 1) lazy, 2) without skill, 3) both.

Comment edited 3 minutes after posting

6 upvotes

Bah. There's nothing wrong with shooting for the great "straight print" to the extent that such a thing can even exist in a world of in-camera processing and a zillion settings.

Can we still criticize poorly done post-processing? Obviously that's a matter of taste to some extent, but it's the real issue here. Is the pp just part of the process, did the judges seek it out, or is it a bit heavy handed to make up for the limitations of the hardware?

1 upvote

Shooting without Post is like cooking without seasoning.
No one says you are not a real chef if you add seasoning. Quite the opposite, they are praised for their skills at seasoning.
Have fun eating plain boiled poataoes without salt or sour cream or mayo or er... Nutella.

0 upvotes

Have fun eating oversalted potato soup with garlic, cloves, asafoetida, terragon, cocoa, mint and tamari.

I'll have a fresh strawberry.

1 upvote

Says the guy who postprocess even his comments...

0 upvotes

There are really images.. i.e. heavily processed and stylsed.. nothing wrong with that, but, I wouldnt consider them pictures or photographs.

1 upvote

because they're better than yours?

5 upvotes

They are iPhoney-graphy :-D
Works of art :-D

1 upvote

Taking photos with a cell phone and with a dslr are different processes. The tool makes you see it differently, partly due to the limitations of the tool but also partly due to the nature of the tool. I have taken many photos on my dslr, rangefinder, micro four thirds and cell phone and entered all to camera club competitions. All have been well received.

It's not about lugging the camera, it's about horses for courses, in the simplest comparison I won't shoot landscapes with a rangefinder or street photography with a dslr. But what you see around the image border as well as the scene (and about a gazillion other things) are the constraints for me. Those constraints produce challenges but also produce opportunities. Go try it, it's actually quite fun to try a different tool.

4 upvotes

Yep.

1 upvote

ok... now show us your work Isca

1 upvote

Out of curiosity: Why wouldn't you shoot Street Photography with a DSLR?

0 upvotes

Eddy M - here you go, not sure what my portfolio proves or disproves though.

http://garethcallaway.smugmug.com/browse

0 upvotes

Combat - A few reasons, the biggest ones are that a dslr is a little too obtrusive. With street photography you tend to want so shoot a moment in time as it were and in order to not disturb that moment you need to be a little more stealthy. Additionally, and this sort of flies in the face of the above you sort of need to be a part of it so you need to be up close so the longer lenses that are the advantage of a dslr over a rangefinder for many types of shooting aren't in this case. The other thing that is quite important to me at least is that a rangefinder viewfinder is not WYSIWYG as it has crop lines in the viewfinder meaning that you can see outside the frame of what you're actually taking a picture of. This means that it's easier to see the context of what you're shooting, an important consideration in street photography. Thinking about it, the iPhone has some of those advantages, no viewfinder so you see context and it is very unobtrusive and non-threatening.

0 upvotes

I guess I can understand not being so "Obtrusive" but isn't the point of street photography to capture the image as you see it?

I mean, I understand that you could walk around with your phone on camera mode, or a point and shoot, but the focus speed of certain DSLR lenses, and the shutter speed are a MAJOR advantage.

i.e.: I have a friend who like to flip the camera off in EVERY picture... for what reason? I have no idea... but I hike with this friend all the time, and when we're hiking, I like to take pictures of him, and my camera focuses and snaps a shot before he even knows what's going on. A feat I highly doubt I could accomplish with a rangefinder, or point and shoot, and DEFINITELY not with a phone... so I capture his natural state, and quick enough that it's not disturbed until after the picture is taken.

0 upvotes

Good points but the trouble is you only get one shot. Rangefinders are all manual focus and there is no fully automatic mode so there's alot of pre-setting or focussing on the fly or focussing using hyperfocal focus. They're also nice and light and honestly, the process of taking the shot is different. It's infinitely more engaging for street or candid photography in my experience. That's not to say that I don't enjoy the dslr, I thoroughly enjoy that for landscapes, setting up a tripod, setting the focus, dropping in the grads, that too is engaging for landscapes. As I said in my very first comment on the iPhone awards "horses for courses", I'm not married to any brand or type of camera, it's whatever works for you to make the images that YOU are happy with. I find it amazing that so many people are willing to discount an alternative view of looking at the world through the lens.

0 upvotes

"It's infinitely more engaging for street or candid photography in my experience"

I can see that... I'm fairly new at the entire world of Photography (especially digital)... so i'm always asking questions...it's the way we learn.

"I find it amazing that so many people are willing to discount an alternative view of looking at the world through the lens"

I am, to my own admission, a little bit of one of those people. I di find it incredible, however, the dynamic range that today's P&S Cameras are able to capture/create with a single shot.

I have a lot to learn about Landscape Photography, but I still have a difficult time focusing on a bright sunset, and still capturing any detail in the dark foreground...but as they say: Practice makes perfect, right?

0 upvotes

Look up graduated neutral density filters - they will solve that problem to an extent and give your images more depth as you won't be fighting blocked out shadows and burnt out sunsets. But you're absolutely right, practice does make perfect.

0 upvotes

I am not sure that the moon in 'Photo by Elena Grimailo. First place, Landscape' can be that big if it was captured with a phone. Looks to me like it was captured with a telephoto lens. Thoughts anyone?

4 upvotes

Ok having taken a picture of the moon tonight with my own phone (not an iPhone) I think that there is no chance this winning picture was taken with a phone camera. I think on a full frame dslr one would need a lens of about 300mm to get the moon to be that size relative to the mountain. How did this competition verify the source of the images?

1 upvote

Not only that, but the lighting seems wrong. The moon and earth are illuminate by the same source, yet the shadow angle seems to differ between the mountain peak and the crescent moon.

2 upvotes

(Manah) is right. I think it is extremely lazy to be of the frame of mind that "lugging" a camera where you go is too much work. Gee whiz, you have models like the Olympus E-PM2 and Sony RX100 to choose from, models that are very small yet do well, certainly way better than a smartphone. In the case of the E-PM2, it practically matches a Nikon D7000 and newer models like the Sony A6000 do even better.

I'm sorry, but if "lugging" an Olympus E-PM2 or Sony RX100 is more than a person can "bear," that's just pathetic and to me such people just don't rate. No one's saying you have to lug 4x6 film plates or a Nikon D4s, but come on already. Enough of this "the best tool is the one you have with you." My child has a Fisher Price camera with a pop-bottle lens, it's always around--I suppose Nikon, Canon and Sony E-mount gear just isn't necessary anymore? Yeah, right.

Comment edited 9 minutes after posting

1 upvote

phone photography! What is the freaking point? Is it because they are too lazy to carry a real camera and lenses that we should make this a topic? Ridiculous! DPreview, please focus on photography, not cell phones.

1 upvote

These are photographs.

9 upvotes

Ah, the real and the unreal, only this time applied to cameras themselves. :). Let me assure you that the iPhone is a "real" camera.

2 upvotes

Cause some people can't afford a DSLR/SLT or mirror less camera and to see a significant improvement you need to spend about £350( at least ). The iPhone ( and others) provide normal people a chance to do something different or to capture an interesting moment, it is these two uses that usually make people want a more advanced camera.

2 upvotes

Wonderful images. Photography has always been about composition and light. It matters not what you use to capture it, as long as you're comfortable with it.

6 upvotes

Great pictures!!! Made with a thing that was not made to make photographs in the first place.

3 upvotes

I think its funny that so many people criticize these camera photos for their post processing. They act is if those using "real" cameras never make any adjustments in post especially for shots used in competitions that allow it. I guess there are those that feel photography is somehow discounted because it is now more accessible and easier to do. Oh well, there loss I suppose. There are some really great shots here and I'd be happy to have taken them with any camera.

11 upvotes

However you look at it there are some very nice images there. And I enjoyed looking at them.

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 34 seconds after posting

6 upvotes

Despite the use of a camera phone and the photos being edited, it clearly demonstrates that it is the keen eyed person behind the camera that ultimately determines the composition and quality of the shot.

8 upvotes

"real camera", "it's a phone" etc etc. I'd say the limitations are self imposed by the people who think that way. I own a dslr, rangefinder, micro four thirds and iPhone, all of which are cameras for a certain type of photography. Part of the art of the iPhone is the "limitation" of it and part of it is its compactness. I spent a year of an iPhone photo a day and loved it. The most I managed with a "real camera" is a month. Authenticity? You don't take a photo, you make it, do you use Photoshop, Lightroom, or whatever to post process?

9 upvotes

I teach and agree completely. A purist notion, particularly in a medium of such diversity of technical and conceptual objectives, is often a product of rigid thinking, antithetical to creative processes.

4 upvotes

It is the contest itself to be criticised.

Don't get me wrong - most of the ideas the guys have had are ok, and the composing looks fine for the purpose.

However almost no image has left its authenticity of the moment it was taken.
A lot of the winning images don't have a natural look anymore. And, and, and.

Nice arts anyway, but the name of the contest is a joke and potentially blinds reviewers.

A photography contest shall be contest where captured images are in competition. Any falsifying shall be forbidden. If at all post processed than limited to setting compensation (wb, exp comp, etc.).

3 upvotes

Your conditions of a proper "photography" competition fly in the face of photographic practices well over a century old. Pictorialists had little interest in rigid fidelity to the original scene. Later Dadaists and Surrealists constructed the photo from elements of realism, but the photo was ultimately a constructed reality; consider Man Ray, Hannah Hoch, etc. And there are many more well regarded photographic movements up to present - many predating digital - that are/have not been beholden to an authentic presentation of the natural world. Even analog photography that was thought largely as "straight" was in fact manipulated at the enlargement stage more than many realize e.g. heavy dodging, burning, masking, filtering. Sure there are veins of photography that preference naturalism, image seeming to come straight out of the camera. But that is but one perspective of many in historical and contemporary photography. So I'm not sure what is the basis of your edict.

4 upvotes

I am no native english tongue so I assume I did not chose the right words to say what I wanted to say.

It was not my intention to blame heavy post processed photos - I assume I did not.
I am well aware that this is part of modern photography these days (and some older days, too).

The point for me is that this contest has had the intention to reward the best image captured by an iPhone and not to reward the best creation out of photoshop or whatever program.

3 upvotes

I apologize if I misunderstood you.

1 upvote

Just beautiful! Who cares whether these were captured by the camera in a phone or just a camera. They are fantastic.

5 upvotes

I wonder how many people would actually notice that these photos were taken with an iPhone

14 upvotes

Phones as photography....let's be serious.

1 upvote

We are.

5 upvotes

The scary and pathetic thing is they ARE serious. I guess I should head over to a golfing site and in the forums discuss using broomsticks or a mop instead of clubs, because "they're always with you" and "the tool doesn't matter."

Comment edited 35 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Larry, are you a janitor?

4 upvotes

Thats the problem with DSLRs…maybe they are too serious and need to lighten up a bit.

0 upvotes

I didn't realize that a CAMERA was capable of lightening up.

0 upvotes

Eye makes the photo, camera is just a tool to record the photo as requested. More important things are the timing and the place. Post process usually can reduce the differences between cameras.

7 upvotes

I can certainly understand criticism of mobile phone photography (and by extension Instagram) and its impact on photography in general. But, to be fair, the level of mannerism rooted in default filters and excessive processing here is about the same as the recent Sony Awards or many other contemporary contests. And, in truth, there is some very strong work here. Will these images hold up under pixel peeping scrutiny or at large scale? Perhaps not. But still they are competent and compelling photos. And, I am left to suspect that at least some of the criticism is based in simple territorialism in terms of equipment and recalcitrant attitudes belying a natural evolution of image making.

9 upvotes

With the exception of maybe 3 or 4 photos, I'd say iPhone was the limitation.

0 upvotes

You can still tell a story with a limited tool!

But you can not tell a story without a tool, or even worse without the associated mind tool-set.

Todays generation of mobile phones solves the first one in most situations. The second one it their own responsibility.

4 upvotes

What is wrong with some of you people? You are all pros right are you that insecure in your own photography?My camera is bigger than yours crap.You would find someone to argue with in a locked room by yourself !

4 upvotes

Can't help to think what these would look like taken with a real camera.

11 upvotes

but, ya shoot with what ya got :)

5 upvotes

A lot better when blown up, but maybe of very differenct scenes (where a large camera could have have been brought / scared people).

2 upvotes

I think the good ones will put exactly the same thoughts in your head when you look at them compared with these phone versions.

1 upvote

On my computer sized images, probably not so much different.

2 upvotes

Very nice pictures and art! Thanks for sharing.

2 upvotes

Now days these digital cameras can capture what you look at just dial on P or Auto. And mobility of that device will get you the best of moments- passing weather, nature scenes or lightning.
Personally I mostly use my DSLR, but I rarely have time to wait or think to bring my camera with me when those perfect moments appear. So there you are, having a winner, to have your camera on board and ready to capture those sudden moments.

1 upvote

These are nice, but interesting that almost all are heavily processed. Is that an artifact of the limitations of the tool, or just the selection process and an Instagram generation?

1 upvote

It's likely just a trend.

Pretty much all photography posted on the web are processed, with adjustments to exposure, contrast, colors, sharpness, noise, lens distortion correction, cropping, etc. Even jpg's straight out of the camera are rendered with the manufacturer's own aesthetic taste in detail, contrast, and color rendition. But with cellphone photos, they tend to follow the very specific aesthetic sensibility that screams Instagram filters.

I personally find that aesthetic too distinct and specific, and when it's overused everywhere, it becomes homogenized and predictable. When an overused and highly distinct processing style becomes the main focus/merit of the image, it becomes a liability instead of a merit.

4 upvotes

Isn't post processing the norm now? I mean the settings in the camera, a little unsharpening mask, etc are what is advised to all.

You always have your phone with you so mobile phone photography is here to stay. Better via a phone than missing the moment

0 upvotes

Post processing goes way back to the beginning of photography, dodging and burning, high or low contrast paper, overlaying images, toning.

2 upvotes

The popularity of Instagram and other apps of its ilk likely stems from the limitations restricting images captured by a camera phone. Lower DR, DOF, more noise, inability to capture fast action, etc. To mask these limitations, there is a tendency to use heavy PP as a crutch.

Combine that with the desire for one-upmanship on social media and photo-sharing sites, you get an inevitable influx of apps to simulate quickly faux-artistry with frequently overcooked images which subvert the occasional beauty of an image or two captured by the unsuspecting poseur.

2 upvotes

Sure, post processing is the norm - I certainly fiddle with practically every keeper in Lightroom - but I find some of these pretty heavy-handed, even though I like many of them quite a lot.

1 upvote

Some of these are really nice photos. Others are pretty dull or the reason the phone is interesting has nothing to do with the composition or quality of the image.

For example, Photo 5 is the Milwaukee Art Museum and almost anyone who's ever been there has taken that picture. The building is impressive, but if you look at the photo, it's really not very interesting and the IQ is poor.

1 upvote

of course great photos can be taken with ant camera or phone nowadays. i went out to shoot with a girl that used a matchbox as a camera...but no matter how much cell phone companies try to advertise, still, in the end the photo will be for the web or small prints...IQ and big prints are not what cell phones offer...

0 upvotes

I have a photo hanging on a wall from an iPhone 3GS that looks pretty good. If you got up close and did some pixel peeping maybe it wouldn't look to good to you but on the wall as an 8X12 from the proper viewing distance it looks pretty damn good. I was walking through a village in England and all I had was my iPhone. So I have a nicely captured photo and a good memory. As good as from my Canon gear? Maybe not but my Canon gear wasn't with me.

Comment edited 30 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

I believe The Print looks good, at arm lenght (to look at this size). But this size is not a big print...A3+ or more is big

0 upvotes

I can understand the interest in cellphone photography ... but i-only photography competition is an advertising campaign. I hope that dpreview gets paid for posting those pictures.

8 upvotes

The iPhone consistently ranks as the most used device for taking pictures according to Flickr. Apple definitely has the market in terms of photography related apps. Lightroom mobile is only available on the Apple platform.

1 upvote

Are the iPad and the iPod among the most used, too?

Comment edited 22 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

we do not, of course.

1 upvote

thanks dpreview for showing us another window of creativity, where the force of the thought can be demonstrated through a humble phone. imagine the freedom when one does not have to brag about the kind of lens used...

2 upvotes

I understand why there is a segment of the DPReview membership who find these images compelling. Even some judges are not immune to being drawn to overused, vapid Instagram filters.

1 upvote

This is not a 2014 iPhone Photography Awards winners but the ….2014 photo post editing contest !!!!!
Congrats iphone not a single unedited photo

12 upvotes

It it were 80 years ago there likely wouldn't be a single image without burning and dodging.

3 upvotes

Neither now, 80 years later, with all the technology available on an €800 smart-phone burning and dodging is unavoidable to make an image attractive

Comment edited 6 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Photographers will always want to make their shots "better" and in the old days we dodged and burned under the enlarger and frantically rubbed our photos to create heat while the image was appearing in the developer tray. I have a feeling many would consider that creative and using digital tools nowadays to be cheating.

1 upvote

Photographers dodged, burned and masked photos with paper stocks, always did and will keep on manipulating exposures either inside a dark-room or in front of a pc display But those photos are over-processed and the original capture is hardly recognized in any of these shots .

0 upvotes

The demise of photography continues. First, we are told the camera doesn't matter. Now a contest based on what camera you used. What a joke. Some are way over processed to try to achieve a look you would get with a real camera. Paid photography's decline continues also, people are going to see what you can do on a phone and say "maybe I don't need to hire someone for my daughters wedding". All these seminars preach "you can have a career in photography". They say that because they want you to pay for more seminars and more gear. But, there are hardly any paid photo jobs anymore. Professional photography, RIP.

1 upvote

I wonder if you would have the same complaint if it was a "Diana-only" photography awards.

2 upvotes

Web designers often complained about 14 year old children designing people's websites. The kind of person who would ask someone to photograoh their daughters wedding was never going to pay for your services because they clearly dont value photography.

Perhaps if youre short of work it is because either youre not very good at photography or if you are, youre not very good at promoting yourself.

Just from your post, I'd suggest you have a negative attitude thst would put clients off.

0 upvotes

All great, exept for the cheating picture 6 that most certainly is not shot with a smartphone.
This DOF is not achievable with the size of the iPhone sensor.

0 upvotes

The DOF effect could easily have been achieved post capture

2 upvotes

Maybe they have used an add-on lens?

Comment edited 11 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

An add-on lens can't change the sensor size physics, but they could have used a lot of Photoshop masking.

2 upvotes

I assume you can lock focus on an iPhone? I don't know as I've never had a phone with a camera. If so you can lock it closer to you and recompose. I note that the immediate foreground is sharp. If you know what you are doing you can trick the DOF like that.
To me they are a pretty nice set of images, I don't care what they were taken with. I'd be pleased with them, but then I'm not a "photographer". I'm not an "artist" either.......

1 upvote

Thanks, I was thinking exactly the same - no way the DOF is achievable with an iPhone.
I also don't think the moon in #9 is real.

Comment edited 4 minutes after posting

1 upvote

They used Gaussian blur instead of Lens blur, and the background looks unnaturally blurred.

2 upvotes

What makes you think that shallow focus is a superior way to make photographs? You have heard, in cinema, of people like Orson Welles and William Wyler? Sometimes you want shallow focus, sometimes you want deep focus.

1 upvote

I don't think anyone in this thread said that shallow focus is a superior way to make photographs.

0 upvotes

Smartphones are often criticized for their alleged inability to produce shallow focus, bokeh effects, etc. i'm simply remarking that this style was not always as favored as it appears to be today.

0 upvotes

Nice. Really nice.

3 upvotes

Very nice, at least in this relatively small format. Maybe they'd hold up well at larger sizes, maybe not.

0 upvotes

It's the eye that counts. Not the "I".

5 upvotes

This is way beyond beautiful!
We are entering a new era on creativity and self teaching photography.
Kudos to you all!

7 upvotes

Total comments: 102

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