Splash of Pink – Shot on iPhone with Don Komarechka

Words by Don Komarechka - A Platypod Pro
Edited by Eryka Bagwell

"One of the upgrades on the iPhone 15 Pro Max is an increased telephoto reach from 3x to 5x, only for the Pro Max. This additional reach will also play into magnification. When paired with a @moment 75mm Macro lens you can get some pretty intense magnification out of that camera!"

"The main camera (1x) on the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max cameras (as well as the 14 equivalents) is capable of shooting 48MP raw files. This is not true for the wide and telephoto cameras which are still both limited to 12MP. That said, there is a lot of potential even with the limited resolution, as you can see in this image. The scale is extremely small, a couple millimeters. This is cropped slightly, but you can see that high magnification with a phone camera is certainly possible!"

"We must understand that there are certain limitations at play here, and it’s not just the resolution of the camera sensor. The closer you get to your subject, the shallower your depth of field becomes. We are also playing at the extreme edge of resolving power due to diffraction; even if the telephoto camera was capable of generation more than 12MP, I doubt it would translate into anything meaningful in the final image due to diffraction. I’ll save the physics lesson on diffraction for another day, but this is a realm where a larger professional camera could get better results. Not saying the results here aren’t worth achieving, though! Especially as so many people are ditching the interchangeable lens cameras for shooting more exclusively with whatever fits in their pocket."

"As for additional equipment, the shot is set up using @lumecube 2.0 lights and a bunch of gear from @platypodtripods: their NEW smartphone Grip is a key component, but so is the Handle, the Gooseneck arms, the Elbows and the Super Mini Clamps. The Clamps are good for holding larger things for the very precise grip needed to hold a dandelion seed, it’s augmented with an alligator clip. You might want to create images like this under a towel, as you’re going to get a lot of water everywhere."

Shot with @halideapp for manual focus and raw output.

You can view more of Don's work by visiting his website and/or his Instagram page.

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