I was asked to do a talk on cell phone photography. Great idea, but while I was testing the concept, I kept hitting obstacles that prevented me from getting the image I want.

The lens is too wide. A wide (ish) lens{{1}} is great for general use photography. however for product shots it quickly became a problem. It was much harder to control the background, Reflectors and other things kept creeping into the sides of the image.

I had to get too close. This is related to the point above. to fill the frame with the object I was shooting, I had to get very close. This created problems while casting shadows. It was also difficult to hold the camera in the appropriate spot (see next two points)

Perspective was off. Perspective is the relative size of near and far objects{{2}}. Using a wide lens requires you to get closer to fill the frame, this will emphasize perspective, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but it is an extra issue to deal with. The people I was going to teach would be flummoxed by the extra awareness required.

It was difficult to hold the camera steady. Since the camera was so close to the subject, any small movement changed the composition dramatically, possibly cutting off parts of the piece I was photographing. I know there are various clamps and accessories and I could use the self timer, but even pressing the screen to start the countdown caused issues.

You will notice I am not talking about image quality, which was ok for the intended use of web display. Even things like colour fidelity could be dealt with in post processing. The main issue was that using a cell phone camera for product shots (jewelry in this case) was much more difficult than using a “proper” camera.

Yes you can use a cell phone camera for product photography. It is just a lot harder, and you have to be much more aware photographically. In other words, the people most likely to use a cell phone camera were the ones least likely to be able to take a good photo with said cell phone camera...

[[1]]Many street photographers love a 35mm equivalent lens. It allows you to gain a presence in the scene, establish an environment for your subject, and generally works great in low light.[[1]]

[[2]]This is a very simplified explanation, but I could write a whole article (or more) on perspective. The wikipedia article is a good place to start[[2]]