broad_ologie: iphoneography

Showing posts with label iphoneography. Show all posts

Sunday, 15 February 2015

Sunday Outing: Sea Palling 15th February 2015

Today we ventured out to the cost. While there was no rain the weather was infinitely gloomy. So trusty tripod and filters in hand I experimented with long exposures.

This is the shot I am happy with out of the 12 I took. Did a bit of editing to get it looking presentable. I'm still finding me feet so I don't think I will enter any long exposure into Wex Mondays until I get a bit better at the whole process. Any tips from my readers would be gratefully received.

I also snapped a shot with my iPhone.

Edited on Snapseed. I have briefly tried the new Darkroom by Bergen app but I did miss the selective editing tool I'm accustomed to in Snapseed. I will be having more of a play Darkroom over the next few weeks and plan a review.

Friday, 13 February 2015

Friday Adventures: Friday 13th February Blakeney

Far from being unlucky I had a great morning shooting today (on Friday 13th!) at Blakeney.

On my last trip to Blakeney, I was feeling under pressure and uninspired. I got one good composition that day, which was poor quality so I went out today to have another go at it!

'Leader of the Pack'

I am really happy with this shot. It was well worth the wait in the cold for the right group to stroll on by!

I have two more images to edit but I need to do a little research on how to edit the clouds. They look a bit pap!

I'm feeling a little under the weather so I'll do those later on.

I also snapped this chap on the way to the car.

Taken on iPhone camera and edited in Snapseed.

By the way, you can see all these images on my Flickr page :)

Tuesday, 10 February 2015

Friday Adventures: 6th February Blickling Hall

Today I took myself off to Blicking Hall. There is a particular piece of architecture on the grounds I had sudden inspiration to photograph!

Quick shout out to David Hopley a talented photographer in York who sold me his old (brand new) tripod for a bargain price! Armed with this and after quickly stopping by at Wex Photographic to pick up a Cokin ND8 Filter, I was ready!

Having not done a great deal (no) long exposures before I had a lot to learn!

First I found out how light leaks through the viewfinder. So I covered the camera with my jacket. Since my camera was second hand I didn't get a cover for it with the camera.

Then I discovered 30 seconds is not always long enough to get the right exposure. Keeping your finger on the button during bulb mode causes shake/blurring. In short I need a external shutter release cable.

Finally I discovered. TO MY HORROR. I had a HUGE fibre stuck to my sensor. Initially I thought it was on the filters and spent about 10 minutes trying to 'clean' them. Queue a visit to Wex on the way back to pick up a puffer.

But after all that I did get one shot that I am pretty happy with.

To get this shot I used a combination of the Cokin ND8 & P007 Infrared Filters and a 30 second exposure at F22. Editing wise I converted to Black and White in Capture NX-D and then did some dodge/burn in GIMP. And used the clone stamp tool to rid the picture of the ghastly fibre!!!

Due to the freezing temperature and the long exposures my battery didn't last long (I don't have a spare - another thing to add to the list of near future purchases). I'm going to go out there again and see what I can do with more experience and a clean sensor!!

Sunday, 25 January 2015

iPhone Apps: TinType by Hipstamatic

Cost: £0.79
Developers Website: http://hipstamatic.com the TinType page is here.
Available from: App Store on iPhone.

I joined the iPhone party quite late. Just this month in fact! I made a considered choice that I would find it the most useful and good quality smartphone for photography.

I'm really enjoying exploring all the apps and wanted to share my TinType experience with you all!

Now you may already familiar with Hipstamatic but TinType's interface is a little different.

On opening the app you go straight to the shooting mode/view finder. The area included in the cropped frame is indicated clearly and you tap the screen to shoot. As with most apps you can switch between rear and front facing camera with the dedicated button on the bottom right of the screen.

You can also use a photo from your library. Just tap the link to your photo reel in the bottom left of the screen. This is one big advantage TinType has over Hipstamatic where you can't apply effects post photo.

Once you have the photo you want to use, you have three different choices of filter. Black and white, sepia and colour all three emulate TinType also known as Wet Plate Collidion processing (a very early type of photography). You can choose to have a boarder or not. There is either square or cropped frame.

Film grain intensity can be added or removed using a slider.

Then you can also change the highlight intensity for the eyes. The app sometimes finds it hard to pick up the eyes. When this happens there is a little slash through the eye symbol.

You can change the "depth of field", with a slider. Basically this slider just makes the top and bottom of the frame more or less blurry. So not actually changing the DOF.

What I liked most about this app:

When I got my new phone I sat down to have a look at the apps. I thought I'd have a go with TinType to see how good it was. Now I lined up my first shot, really not expecting it to be very flattering. I'd been home from work for a few hours, scraped my hair back, put on my sloppy clothes and didn't have any make up on and my skin is quite blotchy in places. This is what I got:

Three words: NEW FAVOURITE APP.

Haha. Vanity aside it's an amazingly cool effect and I've never seen shots from a smart phone like it before.

If I can get shots like that making no effort what can I do putting a little thought in?

Here are a few shots I've gotten recently.

Same picture with showing the three different filters available.

Colour.

Black & White

Sepia

Pros:

Really unique filters.

Fast and Easy to Navigate.

Can apply filters to existing photos in your library.

Cons:

Not so good if you have a heavy fringe or are an animal (app can't pick up your eyes)

Can't edit anything such as contrast/brightness/ect. But most things can be easily tweaked in another app before being transferred into TinType. If you're that bothered.

Only three filter choices come as standard with no upgrade available at the moment. Quite a limited choice for a paid app.

Apple only.

Overall: Bravo! I love it. I am officially hooked on the Hipstamatic universe!