Photographer Annie Leibovitz recommends iPhone as a camera

I remember reading something about how her kids were so sick of their mother taking pictures of them. They're lucky Leibowitz didn't have one of these when they were young, ha ha.

Point of fact - - Brain Williams is not an MSNBC anchor. He's the anchor and editor in chief of NBC Nightly News.

As for Ms. Leibovitz - she's an artist. She discovering and sharing her learnings about a new artist tool. Cool.

When Leibovitz says that she is still learning how to use her iPhone 4S, she is doing what all photographers should do with new gear; learn its "edges." There are limits and opportunities in equal numbers. The way you work the thing is unique to its form factors. Finding the right way to hold it, view through it, make it work for you in spite of its constraints--all that takes time and habit-building.

Perhaps the best thing you could do to get good on the iPhone 4S is take an afternoon to set yourself a goal of capturing a hundred good images. Meaning you should shoot several hundred--many duplicates with small test variations--all in the space of four or five hours. Try every hand-hold, every shutter release option, every exposure and focus lock technique and every zoom setting to let the camera teach you its personality.

When you absorb its limits and opportunities, you can start teaching it YOUR personality.

100 good images.

The real point here is that the quality of the photograph really lies in the eyes of the photographer, not the technology of the camera. Given that an iPhone (or any other smartphone) is the most accessible camera as it's the one you'll always have with you, it makes perfect sense to recommend it as the go to snapshot camera.

Interesting stuff. I like using my iPhone 4's camera, however it could be a lot better.

A friend of mine recently visited and she has a Galaxy S, and I must say I was really jealous of the photos she got with it. Even zooming in didn't result in pixelation, something I can't accomplish even with minimal zoom on the iPhone 4.

I'm assuming the 4S is better.