Cameras in Front of Cameras.

Sometimes, it can look really cool to do some Second Hand Photography. And I do not mean stealing from other People or blatantly copying their Ideas.

I am talking about Photographic Inception, where you shoot a Scene through a secondary Camera, like your Smartphone. You can also do it the other Way around, but the Phone through Camera Way usually looks better.

I really do not know why I think that Photoceptions are Cool, but they kind of are.

Usually, People go through Photoshop or similar Programs to achieve this Style. I do not do that though, as it would not look Organic.

Because of that, I prefer to use the Phones built in Camera, as those are usually good enough for some Inception Photography.

In my Inception Fotos, I usually do something that I would never even think of otherwise: Dutch Angles.

I just think that the Phones look a little better when they are at an Angle rather than them being perfectly straight. That usually looks a little Weird.

Usually, I also use the Stock Camera App for Inceptions, while I usually use something like Lightroom for more serious Phone Photography. Lightroom supports RAW Capture after all.

I also usually Center the Second Hand Camera in my Fotos. That just looks better with a blurry Background.

In some Situations, a straight Phone that is not centred in the Foto can also look good though.

Like when there is a Part of the Landscape you want to show that is not covered by the Phones Camera. In such a Case, I then also go for a less blurry Background though.

Dead Space, while usually nice and good, just does not work very good when it is completely obliterated by Bokeh.

While you also can photograph your ‘real’ Camera with your Phone to achieve Inception, that usually does not work as well.

The Problem here is the Phones more limited Dynamic Range. It usually can not Capture the bright Screen of a Camera and still correctly-ish Expose the Background as well.

Either the Screen looks Right and the Background is gone or the other Way around. And neither really look like what I want to achieve. A nice Photographic Inception.

Shooting Fotos through Second Hand Cameras really can be a lot of Fun. It also looks great if done right.

Just choose a Shutter Speed you are comfortable with shooting One Handed and go with an appropriate Aperture to keep your ISO from getting all to high, and also to get a nice blurry Background, and you are all set.

I kinda prefer my iPhone 11 over the old 6s for the Inception now. And that is because it shows some of the Scene behind the on screen Elements when you use the Main Camera on the Phone.

That creates an extra Layer of Inception for free. And it looks really nice. The Foto in the recents Part of the Phones Camera App is a Screenshot of a Covid-Map of Germany by the Way.