Director Rian Johnson, known for Knives Out and The Last Jedi, has developed a $13 iOS app called Chromagraph Camera to bring the specific visual aesthetic of his movies to iPhone photography. Johnson, a devotee of analog photography who often uses a Leica M6 on set, wanted to create a tool that allows others to access the same image processing decisions used in Hollywood productions.
The app was created by Johnson and his longtime cinematographer, Steve Yedlin. It functions by bypassing elements of Apple’s image processing pipeline to apply a film-like look. While the app includes standard camera settings like burst mode, maximum exposure time, and color tuning, it also allows users to import existing RAW images for processing.
Johnson explained that while he prefers his professional gear, carrying a camera on his shoulder or a large backpack is a "pain in the butt," noting that he always has his phone with him. He has been interested in phone photography since the days of Nokia phones with "garbage" cameras that produced "grainy and contrasty and funky and beautiful" photos.
Johnson noted that modern smartphone photography has lost character, becoming "sharper, brighter, and more clinical" due to computational photography. He previously attempted to achieve his desired look by editing default iPhone photos in Snapseed or using third-party RAW apps, but found the process of shuffling files and tweaking endless sliders to be overwhelming. He said, “I would do a lot of messing with every photo,” and then it was a little like I’d wandered through the woods and I wasn’t sure how I’d gotten there.
The development of the app was inspired by Yedlin’s work. Yedlin believes that with the right algorithms and settings, there is no perceivable difference between an image shot on film and one shot on digital. Yedlin previously created color grading scripts to give Johnson’s movies an organic celluloid look. Johnson stated that after seeing those tools work on film scans and RAW files, he "bullied" Yedlin into trying to do the same for iPhone photos.
