My iPhone just blew me away — and it’s not the new iPhone 15…

“How this picture puts my DSLR clicks to shame,” remarked a fellow reporter after we captured some night mode shots of the dark valley. The conversation took place soon after crossing the Umling La Pass, the world’s highest motorable road at 19,300 feet above sea level.

I used an iPhone 14 Pro to capture the images below, and my friend had a Sony DSLR mounted on a tripod to click a long exposure shot. This was never meant to be a comparison between phones and DSLRs. We all know where that conversation goes. Most of the elements visible in the photo were almost invisible to the naked eye, which makes it even more impressive.

But a phone compliment, that too from an experienced photojournalist, encouraged me to experiment a bit. I swapped SIMs and handed my iPhone 14 Pro to Mohammed Meherban — a photojournalist whose work has appeared on outlets like National Geographic, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Reuters.

We’ve had our fair share of debates over the years discussing smartphone cameras, and I’ve always failed to convince them that Google Pixels are better than iPhones. This time, we put the iPhone 14 Pro to the test in the otherworldly terrain and extreme weather of Ladakh, often referred to as the “Roof of the World.”

Over the course of a week, the iPhone 14 Pro was used to capture some stunning photos of Pangong Tso Lake, the Changa La area and the stunning Nubra Valley, among others. The photos taken by the iPhone 14 Pro were so stunning that not a single photo shared on social media needed the slightest editing. It was an amazing, eye-opening experience — and one that proved I probably didn’t need the new iPhone 15 Pro.

How to Take Incredible Smartphone Photos

There is a world of difference between the scenes captured by a photojournalist and an average smartphone user. So, how can an average smartphone user reach that level of finesse? “To be honest, it’s not really possible. It takes years to learn and master this craft, but there are some basic rules that really make a difference,” Meherban told me.

“Don’t take photos just for the sake of it. Before you press the shutter, tell yourself that the photo you are about to click tells a story. Once you have that in mind, create your frame accordingly,” he adds. The point is valid. Even for basic product photography, we make adjustments to highlight an aspect that is supposed to explain something.

Here are some basic tips that can make your photos stand out:

1. Enable gridlines from the viewfinder. Once there, try to dedicate one-third of the frame to your subject and leave the rest to the surroundings to set the scene for the narrative.
2. See if the environment around you follows any geometry. Look for lines and diagonal arrangements, and adjust the frame accordingly, keeping your subject as the focal point.
3. If your frame has natural openings, such as windows, gates, doors, etc., try to find any symmetry or lines and adjust the frame accordingly.
4. A vantage point that can show colors and reality in contrast to a frame is a recipe for a great shot.
5. When taking a close-up shot – say, of a person or animal – adopt a slightly off-center viewpoint where one eye is aligned with the vertical center of the frame. This approach gives the impression that the focused eye is following the lens.
6. Find an object that disrupts the pattern or breaks the symmetry. Make it the focal point and let the element of chaos become the storyteller.
7. Don’t be afraid to play with advanced tools. A slight change in exposure value and depth adjustment can do wonders.

all you need is one eye

While we’re talking about fairly advanced kit like the iPhone 14 Pro, I recently sat down with Marchella De Angelis, a director whose film was titled woolf women Released in UK cinemas in June this year. About 15% of the film was shot on phones, with some key shots coming from very old hardware, including a Sony Xperia 5 and iPhone 7.

Marcela told me that this is the first feature film with this degree of smartphone shooting. “In some scenes, it’s hard to tell,” she adds. But when she revealed more about the production process, I was really shocked. “All sound throughout the film was recorded on an iPhone 11.”

Actually, the trailer of the film is mostly footage shot on iPhone. For post-production, the crew turned to Adobe Premiere Pro, and did not need to hire a sound engineer. Yes, lighting poses a challenge due to sensor size limitations, but it’s amazing to see how much one can achieve with a seemingly old phone with a little patience and creativity.

Why is the iPhone 14 Pro still so good?

A recurring theme I hear from professional photographers and journalists is that they first master the basic principles – and then bend those rules. But at the end of the day, it’s a trial-and-error adventure. As you experiment, you learn and hone the craft. This doesn’t mean you need a DSLR to get started. A phone like the iPhone 14 Pro is a great start.

In fact, it offers a healthy set of tips that can eclipse even a DSLR or pro-grade editing software. Take filters, for example. They’re a convenient way to take in the sights, but that’s all there is to them.

A few years ago, Apple introduced Photographic Styles, which let you preview how a scene will look with a unique lens before you press the shutter button. Think of it like placing different transparent crystals in front of the camera to capture a scene in completely different lighting.

The best thing about photographic styles is that you can adjust the tone and warmth of each style using a slider to get the exact color profile you want. But what surprised me during the trip was how good the night mode experience was.

I’ve always held Google’s Pixel phones in high regard for their low-light capture capabilities. But the shots captured by the iPhone 14 Pro – and that, too, with a short shutter capture window – are clearly better than what I’ve seen from a Google phone in terms of colors.

It is not that the Apple phone has changed the night frame to daylight. But the level of noise suppression, grainy texture control and the colors it can reproduce really surprised me. Portrait captures were equally good with precise edge clearance and beautiful Bokeh effect.

Once again, the iPhone 14 Pro wowed us with its video capture capabilities. All the clips I captured retained a surprising amount of detail, a bit of focus hunting, and a level of stabilization that’s difficult to achieve on Android phones. All this without playing with any pro-level controls or digging into prerace settings.

What really impressed us was the Cinematic mode, which does an impressively good job of keeping focus locked into a moving frame. That’s pretty impressive, but what’s really better than this video capture trick is the ability to edit those videos natively on the iPhone. I’m not talking about basic edits like trimming or applying filters.

We’re also looking at changing the point of focus and adjusting the strength of the background blur effect. Of course, the A16 silicon inside helps, but being able to do that kind of demanding editing natively on a phone is something that needs to be experienced to truly realize the magnitude of it.

At the end of the day, I couldn’t help but ponder the merits of a continued iPhone upgrade. Stabilization is another aspect that puts the iPhone 14 Pro (and its brothers) miles ahead of what a DSLR can achieve, especially when you need to capture a moving subject or one that is moving around.

I recently wrote a story asking where “pro” upgrades actually exist for the iPhone 15 Pro duo. After putting the iPhone 14 Pro through its paces, I’ve doubled down on my resistance to an upgrade to the iPhone 15 Pro. Generation after generation of warriors offers camera hardware and software tricks that are enough to astonish even a photojournalist.

So, is it good enough to replace a DSLR? “Not quite. But if the need arose, I could definitely use it for time-sensitive tasks without a second thought,” Meherban says. It’s still a win, and for a normal person, That’s a strong enough reason to stick with your trusty iPhone 14 Pro for a while longer.