Aaron Palabyab

Shooting Beautiful Landscapes on my iPhone X

This week I’ve made two YouTube videos on my experience with the iPhone X as a photography tool!

The first video talks about how, ever since I upgraded from an iPhone 6 to an iPhone X, I’ve been leaving my Sony A7RII at home more, for reasons including improved image processing, the telephoto lens, 4K video at 24p and 60p, portrait mode, and RAW shooting and editing. If you’re into the more technical side of things and been wondering if you should upgrade from a previous generation iPhone, this is the episode for you!

The second video talks about how my most popular landscape photo on social media this year was shot on an iPhone X and what that unexpected occurrence taught me. In this video I address the issue of the gap that exists between how we regard our work and how the audience receives it by digging into the question: If an iPhone photo that took me seconds to capture and edit is more popular than photos that took so much more effort to shoot and process, does that mean that the effort I put into the latter actually doesn’t matter?

Hope you enjoy and learn something from this week’s twin episodes! The truth is that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed shooting with the iPhone X as compared to my iPhone 6 and have gotten surprisingly good results from it. Check out my current gallery of iPhone X photos below (click on each image to see larger):

A morning in Sagada. iPhone X JPG, telephoto lens.

Elevated view of Bontoc. iPhone X JPG, telephoto lens, unedited.

Flying into Siargao. iPhone X RAW DNG shot and edited Lightroom CC mobile.

iPhone X RAW DNG shot and edited Lightroom CC mobile.

Spectacular morning landing in Rome. iPhone X RAW DNG shot and edited Lightroom CC mobile.

Tappiya Falls, Batad. iPhone X live photo converted to long exposure.

Dead tree on Sabang Beach, Baler. iPhone X live photo converted to long exposure.


How to Come Up With Ideas When You're Not Naturally Creative

How do you think of original ideas if you're not naturally creative? I learned that a simple change of mindset can unlock the creativity we all are capable of.

About my YouTube channel: Aside from my films, I post weekly dispatches from my life as an emerging artist, in the hopes that the things I'm learning, doing, and dealing with will be helpful to you on your own journey, either as an artist or a person who wants to live a more creative and fulfilling life.

My main resource for this episode is The Creative Thinker's Toolkit by Professor Gerard Puccio from The Great Courses on Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Creati...

Matt Bellasai's Skillshare class on Writing Shareable Content: https://skl.sh/2OLpZJN

My film "No English" with Polish artist Agnieszka Rowińska: https://vimeo.com/248093730

Follow Agnieszka on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agnieszka.r...

Watch other episodes of The Artist Life here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...