This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Thrifty Thursdays feature photographs taken with equipment costing less than $500.
[Apple iPhone 4s - $300; collapsible light reflector - $12]
While I like the convenience of my little iPhone, coaxing solid natural history images from it is challenging. The trouble is the iPhone has both a wide angle and a profound depth of field, so absolutely everything near the camera ends up clogging the image. Without careful attention to composition, the intended subject is too easily buried in clutter.
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One solution to the iPhone clutter problem is to force a simple composition through brute force. To capture the summer yarrow, I arranged a featureless white reflector behind the flower. The subject stands alone in perfect clarity.