Photo How To

OK, listen up. If you’re rolling your eyes because “real photographers use real cameras,” we have two suggestions for you to consider: Either replace your five-year-old phone or watch the tutorial below. Then, if you’re still not convinced, go ahead and ridicule mobile photography all you want.

For those who’ve been living in a cave, we’re going to let you in on a little secret: Today’s phones are capable tools for capturing impressive images that can be indistinguishable from those made with sophisticated digital cameras. And as you’ll see in the tutorial below, mobile editing has made great strides as well.

In this episode from Atlanta-based pro Evan Ranft, you’ll learn how to use Lightroom Mobile to accomplish some sophisticated editing techniques. You’ll have to forgive Ranft for his exasperated into, as he recounts “hearing from all the haters” after his last mobile photography tutorial.

Today Ranft proves the naysayers wrong, by demonstrating his powerful Lightroom Mobile workflow with images captured captured on his new iPhone 14 Pro. He includes a “secret step” near the end of the video, and let’s just say that the results speak for themselves.

Don’t worry if you don’t own a state-of-the-art iPhone 14 Pro, because the processing method you’ll learn will work great with images shot using any modern, capable phone. Likewise, while Ranft uses his street photography photos to illustrate the techniques, they’ll work well for just about any outdoor photos you shoot.

Ranft’s Lightroom Mobile tips cover everything from Tone Curves, color and exposure adjustments, masks, perspective adjustments, and much more. He also demonstrates how the presets he created automate many of the edits to significantly speed up the process.

You can find more tips and tricks for both conventional and mobile photography by visiting Ranft’s popular YouTube channel.

And for another interesting take on mobile photography, check out the story we posted back in June comparing results from a 24MP Canon DSLR and an iPhone 13 Mini.