2017 VAST Catalog - 5

Dialed in: One of Lu's
iPhone shots from Colorado.

Out of Pocket

(HOT- AIR BALLOONS) KE VIN LU

Pro photographer Kevin Lu has shot with his iPhone for clients that range from Absolut
Vodka to Vogue. He became "enlightened" while on assignment in the Arctic Circle.
"I packed all my lenses, backup batteries, everything - but forgot my DSLR camera
body," Lu says, admitting that, at first, he freaked out. "Then, all of the sudden, it was
so liberating not lugging all that equipment." While he's not ditching his gear on every
assignment yet, Lu explains that most smartphone camera sensors now pack in more
megapixels than DSLRs that are just a few years old. Here are his field-tested tips for
print-quality camera-phone pics.
LIGHTEN UP
To correct for camera phones'
tendency to produce harsh
contrasts, Lu almost always
uses the flash to fill in shadows
- even in daylight. But for
moodier night scenes, he uses
flash more judiciously, often
relying on ambient lighting
from a storefront
or streetlamp.
DON'T TRUST THE TECH
Experiment by snapping photos of people with and without
your smartphone's HDR mode,
which layers several images on

top of each other to balance
darker and brighter portions
of the frame. Lu's logic: HDR
sometimes removes tonal variations to give a subject's skin
a mannequin-like cast. HDR
can "open up" a landscape's
beauty, but be careful with it
for portraits.
HAVE FUN WITH A
(SMALL) TRIPOD
For better portraits (and
selfies), Lu says people need
freedom to be playful and
not look directly into the
shot - two things a cheap

cell phone tripod allows. "I
got mine on Amazon for less
than $20," he says. And it's a
necessity for crisp low-light
shots, when using a phone's
countdown timer.

Joby GripTight Micro
Stand. $16,
amazon.com.

THE 2017 COLLECTION

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of 2017 VAST Catalog

Contents
2017 VAST Catalog - Cover1
2017 VAST Catalog - Cover2
2017 VAST Catalog - Contents
2017 VAST Catalog - 2
2017 VAST Catalog - 3
2017 VAST Catalog - 4
2017 VAST Catalog - 5
2017 VAST Catalog - 6
2017 VAST Catalog - 7
2017 VAST Catalog - 8
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2017 VAST Catalog - 10
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2017 VAST Catalog - 17
2017 VAST Catalog - 18
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2017 VAST Catalog - 20
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2017 VAST Catalog - 37
2017 VAST Catalog - 38
2017 VAST Catalog - 39
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2017 VAST Catalog - 44
2017 VAST Catalog - Cover3
2017 VAST Catalog - Cover4
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