The iPhone camera is a sophisticated device. It has compelled millions of people worldwide to take a new or renewed interest in photography. Let’s face it: most of us now have a tiny yet highly competent camera in a pocket or purse at all times these days, and we use it to grab shots of people, places, and things more and more often as the technology improves—and you know what? We’re largely pleased with those captures.

If you’re a SERIOUS photographer, you may be wondering just how much mileage you can get out of your “simple,” ever-ready iPhone camera. Well, the answer may surprise you. In this book, Michael Fagans deconstructs photos taken in 60 scenarios—with a diverse array of subjects, in changing lighting conditions, in places that present unique challenges—showing you how to use solid, traditional photographic techniques to create great shots. Yes, Fagans will teach you the basics of creating a great photo. But there’s far more: He’ll show you that an iPhone, with the aid of apps, can mimic looks achieved by vintage cameras, a range of lenses, and countless filters.

In this book, Fagans teaches you how to use free and low-cost apps and Instagram options to create (or, rather, re-create) beloved vintage-photo effects that you’d achieve with the Holga (a plastic vintage camera known for its unexpected lens distortion) and medium-format-camera looks. You’ll learn how to choose and use digital lenses, filters, and effects—and combine and re-combine them–to intensify color and contrast, de-saturate color, introduce lens aberrations, play with the grain and color cast in the image, and much, much more. What to emulate the look of vintage film stock to create a photo with an aged, time-worn feel? No problem. Want to introduce a little focusing inaccuracy for effect? Easily done. Want to do these things AND use traditional, professional artificial lighting sources (think a large softbox), a professional image-editing platform (Photoshop), and really refine your message while pulling out all the stops? Fagans shows you how.

The deconstruction of the images in this book makes it worth the price of admission. Still, however, there is far more: Fagans is a photographer’s photographer. The book is peppered with inspiring quotes from Ansel Adams, Minor White, and countless other photographic visionaries that speak to the heart of photography.