5 Minute Photos Weekend Digest #15
CLEAN UP YOUR LENSES • NO MORE INTEL MACS • CROPPING IN CAMERA
CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO PHOTONESS
When I was a freelance photographer and had amassed an honorable number of lenses and camera bodies, cleaning lenses was a daily ritual. Before every photo shoot I would carefully blow off any dust from the front and back lens surfaces, followed by a soft cloth. Being a sailing photographer, I often had to deal with sand and salt spray.
Then when my wife, a family portrait photographer, went digital, I added sensor cleaning to the task. Getting into the guts of her DSLR’s to remove dust that was attracted to the image circuits.
All this attention to camera hygiene gets overlooked in iPhone photography conversations, but if you want to capture the very best images you need clean lenses. And if your iPhone spends time in your pocket or bag like mine does, mixing it up with dust and fuzz, then it’s guaranteed to need regular cleaning. Merely grabbing your iPhone will likely add a fingerprint or two on the camera lens.
You wouldn’t have the best reading experience with smudged eyeglasses. Taking photos through a dirty lens is the same thing.
Fortunately, iPhone lenses are small and the glass is tough, so the cleaning task is just a matter of seconds.
What you need is a microfiber lens cleaning cloth. You can get one online or at camera and eyeglass stores. Look for a small one that has a sleeve or pouch to keep it clean. A piece of dirt or sand can scratch the lens. As can most fabrics and paper products over time. Just gently wipe the lenses with the microfiber cloth when they get dirty or smudged, and you’re good to go.
Depending on your iPhone case, you might also have to remove it to get at the whole lens surface.
If you use your iPhone outdoors a lot or live in a dusty environment, you might also get a lens pen with a soft brush to safely clear away grit that could get caught in the microfiber and cause scratches.
Make lens cleaning a regular routine and you’ll be rewarded with clear spotless images in your Photos Library.
BYE BYE INTEL MACS
When Apple introduced their own M1 silicon chip in 2020, it was more than an alternative to using the Intel tech that dominates the PC world, it offered dramatic improvements in performance and energy savings. All Macs since then have run on the M-series chips, now in its 5th generation.
Part of Apple’s magic is that by managing the whole package - hardware and software - they can fine tune the software features to work with their chips in ways that PC makers can’t when using various chips and the Windows operating system. Because Apple can control its own upgrade schedule, the hardware and software refreshes complement each other.
Each year, with Apple’s release of a new operating system, older Macs are dropped from the support list because their hardware won’t run the new OS effectively. This year, with macOS Golden Gate, that cutoff removes all Intel-based Macs.
So what does that mean if you have an Intel Mac?
Basically, it means you can’t upgrade to the new OS on your Mac. Not the end of the world for most users, but worth knowing. It means that macOS Tahoe, the current release (or whatever is the newest macOS your Mac supports) is the last macOS upgrade you’ll be able to install and run.
The good news is that Macs have an amazingly long useful life for most tasks. I have a 2013 MacBook Pro running macOS Big Sur and it’s still a reliable player for photo editing, emails, web browsing, and file management. There are other Macs that topped out at Ventura. They all have their assigned tasks in my studio.
It’s easy to take a swipe at companies like Apple and blame expired tech on “planned obsolescence,” but the flip side is our expectations push technology ever forward. We can’t retrofit film cameras to match the newest digital models. Older cars don’t have blind spot warnings. I remember my dad strapping a turn signal box to the steering column on our old Studebaker sedan. I had to demonstrate hand signals at my driving test. Older computers are the venerable vintage cars of today’s digital lifestyle.
The most meaningful consideration now is that we’ve entered the era of artificial intelligence, and it’s a big part of macOS 27 Golden Gate, along with the M5 chip. When the software releases in September you’ll hear a lot of buzz about this new feature and that. Apple officially supports the current OS and the two prior ones for security updates and some features, so that would include Tahoe and Sequoia. But just how that works for Intel based hardware running them, it’s hard to predict.
The takeaway here is that if you have an Intel Mac and are eager to include AI into your lifestyle, this is the time to think about upgrading to an M5 Mac. This latest chip has been improved in ways that address the specific needs of AI processing and optimize it for on-device performance. Apple’s intent is to deliver a highly personal AI experience that reduces or eliminates the need to call on remote servers and maintains privacy.
INSTANT PHOTO CROPPING
Photography is a window on your world. Every picture you take is an exercise in deciding what to show and what to discard. Your point of view.
In the moment, it’s easy to focus on the subject and ignore the edges where table corners, exit signs, random people, distracting objects, and clutter lives. Mostly, that’s fine because it adds context to the shot. But often it’s not, and you have to do something about it.
Before you reach for the Clean-up Tool and delete the offending object, consider just cropping it out of the frame. Since the dawn of photography cropping has been a staple of the creator’s toolbox.
When you view a photo on your iPhone, just use a two-finger spread to zoom in on your picture and move it around. You’ll find a framing that crops out the unwanted object or unnecessary background. Then just tap the Crop button that appears in the upper right corner of your display.
The beauty of Photos is that nothing is permanent about your edit. You can always revert to the original image. I’ve even cropped for a specific presentation and then reverted back for my ongoing Library view.
The Crop shortcut is a quick way change the look and feel of a picture by eliminating distractions and altering the relationship of your subject to everything around it.
