Cameras built into cellphones have improved substantially. My Droid X phone captures 8 megapixel images through it’s tiny lens. Since I almost always carry a pocket camera I haven’t used the cellphone camera very much, but recently I decided to give it a try. One advantage of the cellphone camera is that the pictures can be sent out as e-mail directly from the spot where you took the picture. We’ve all seen the blurry products of those attempts, but it seems the problem is not always with the camera. In good light, they can take respectable pictures.

The effects of light on a subject depends upon the the positions of the subject, the camera, and the light source. I am fond of strong back lighting, which depends upon getting subject, camera, and light source carefully aligned. Set up correctly, back lighting has the potential of giving subjects the drama they deserve. Subjects like scrambled eggs or sorbet, for example. With a lightweight pocket camera and a small subject, the camera can be held in one hand and the subject in the other to very quickly get the lighting aligned.