Legally Blind Photographer Takes Impressive Photos With Help From iOS Accessibility Features

Luis Perez is legally blind and has been diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (tunnel vision), meaning he has less than 10 degrees of vision. However, that has not stopped him from becoming an accomplished photographer thanks to the many accessibility features provided in iOS.

Perez is an Apple Distinguished Educator who works on showing how technology can help empower those with disabilities. He even holds workshops at different Apple Stores around Australia.

In an interview with TechGuide, Perez says he relies on features like VoiceOver, Zoom, and Invert Colors -- all which help him take great photographs.


I use VoiceOver - it can tell me the number of faces, their size and the distance and so on, he says. So even if I was completely blind I could still take a really nice photo. I use that to listen to some of the controls on some of the apps that I use.

He also explains how he uses Zoom and Invert Colors.

Zoom allows you to magnify what’s on the screen – that’s probably the one I use the most.I still have some central vision and that magnifies the screen so I can see it more clearly.

[Invert Colors] gives you a high contrast mode because I have a problem with my disability with light and that makes it a lot easier for me to see the contrast in the scene, Perez says.
But then I also take a lot of photos. That’s the beauty of digital - you can take a lot of photos and find one that’s good and then share them with everybody.


Perez is also an author of en eBook called A Touch of Light which highlights some ways to learn accessibility features on iOS. You can listen to his entire Podcast interview here in episode 98.

You can see some of Perez's photographs on his Instagram account here