Conde Nast uses Apple's iPhone 7 Plus to shoot covers for 'Bon Appetit,' 'Traveler'

Publisher Conde Nast is continuing to use the powerful camera of the iPhone 7 Plus to its advantage in important areas of its publications, with two magazines using photographs generated by Apple-produced smartphone for their cover shots.

Conde Nast Traveler's 21st annual Hot List Awards issue features an image of a small boat on a beach in St. Barts. The image for the May issue highlights the iPhone 7's Portrait mode, which uses a depth-of-field effect to keep objects in the foreground sharp while applying a "bokeh" blur to the background.

It is claimed this is the first instance of a travel publication cover being shot using an iPhone 7 Plus.

The other magazine using the iPhone for its cover is Bon Appetit, with its Travel issue featuring a portrait of a woman with a blue background. For the shot, the magazine's creative director Alex Grossman explored Oaxaca, Mexico's Tlacolula Market, to find an ideal location and subject.

Photographers Peden + Munk were chosen to shoot the cover, said to have been selected for having an adventurous style that works well within Bon Appetit's pages.

"The iPhone lens is how we look at photography now," said Grossman. "It changes the whole process and feel of a photo shoot, making it more intimate, less invasive, more nimble. We wanted to create something our readers would relate to."

"This is technology completely changing how the publishing and design industries are moving forward," Grossman adds.

This is not the first time that iPhones have been used in a major way in magazines. Last year, Bon Appetit experimented by shooting the magazine's entire issue using iPhones, with photographers exchanging their heavy camera bags for a pared-down equipment list.

At the time, the photographers noted a number of benefits to working with iPhones, with Daymon Gardner calling it "liberating" to use, while Michael Graydon suggested shooting on the iPhone forces photographers to let go of their "ego," losing the "intense and professional" appearance associated with a DSLR camera.

There were some negatives to be found as well, with Matt Haas believing he looked like a "tourist gone rogue," while Cait Oppermann said she "felt like a creep" photographing people with a smartphone while they waited in line. Even so, the experience left the photography team with positive experiences of working professionally with an iPhone for a camera.

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10 Comments

foljs 390 comments · 15 Years

About 7 years ago

Publisher Conde Nast is continuing to use the powerful camera of the iPhone 7 Plus to its advantage in important areas of its publications
A more accurate description would be: "Publisher Conde Nast is continuing to use the powerful camera of the iPhone 7 Plus for no other reason than to get the free publicity that comes whenever some major outlet uses an iPhone for its photos/videos".

SpamSandwich 32917 comments · 19 Years

foljs said:

Publisher Conde Nast is continuing to use the powerful camera of the iPhone 7 Plus to its advantage in important areas of its publications
A more accurate description would be: "Publisher Conde Nast is continuing to use the powerful camera of the iPhone 7 Plus for no other reason than to get the free publicity that comes whenever some major outlet uses an iPhone for its photos/videos".

That's not an especially bad reason, nor is the reason a knock against Apple. All in all, a win.

dysamoria 3430 comments · 12 Years

Are they using manual modes in third party apps or just hoping to get lucky with the automatic stuff in the iOS camera app?

The continuing push against using the right tool and a trained artist...

tmay 6455 comments · 11 Years

dysamoria said:

Are they using manual modes in third party apps or just hoping to get lucky with the automatic stuff in the iOS camera app?

The continuing push against using the right tool and a trained artist...

It's the right tool for their audience, so why not show them the possibilities.

I'm speculating that this was in fact a trained artist with assistants using a tool that could get the job done to satisfy the requirement, and most likely with third party apps in manual mode. No professional photographer lost his job.

frac 480 comments · 14 Years

dysamoria said:

Are they using manual modes in third party apps or just hoping to get lucky with the automatic stuff in the iOS camera app?

The continuing push against using the right tool and a trained artist...

It's not the camera or even whether the photographer is an artist...it's the product or style if you will, that is important. These magazines are selling content, not high art prints; content you can aspire to own and experience and since the vast bulk of photography is by phones along with folks memories, then expectations can be matched with the experience.
I sympathise if you are lamenting the loss of a generation of hard won skills. I've personally experienced three such transformations...Plate camera >> Roll Film >> Medium Format >> Digital and each one was seismic. Put simply, photography moves on regardless of the photographer's time and investment. However, skills are transferable if the photographer has a god eye tho' the superseded content creation loses market value. At least this democratisation's price_of_entry is much lower.