photoartflightiPhone Multi-Image Stacked Panoramas
Posted on April 10, 2022
On our walks in our Community I usually do not take a Camera but if I see something interesting I have my iPhone 11 Pro with me. I liked this Flowering Tree I saw as we were walking back to our Condo. I tried shooting a few different versions with 2 different lenses – the 1.5mm (Full Frame Camera Equivalent lens -13mm) and the 6mm lens (Full Frame Camera Equivalent lens -52mm). The Featured Image is a 5 image Panorama taken with the 1.5mm lens, assembled in Photoshop.
Hole In The Clouds
Posted on April 9, 2022
As we were taking a walk in our community I noticed the dense clouds above us. In one area of the thick cloud cover there was a circular opening in the Dark Cloud cover. I thought it looked interesting so I took a series of images with my iPhone 11 Pro. The Featured Image was taken with the 6mm lens with a digital zoom added (216 percent) for a Full Frame Equivalent Image taken @ 111 mm. Usually I do not use the digital zoom feature on the iPhone, but wanted a full image featuring the “Hole”. I did not take out the “Noise” in the Featured Image since I thought it added some to the “Dark Mood” of the image. I then shot a 2 image vertical panorama to get more of the clouds above since below would have some buildings that I did not want. Then I backed off and shot a series of wider views of the Dark Clouds.
Brigantine iPhone Multi-Image Landscapes
Posted on January 10, 2022
I was going through images to post and found this series of iPhone Multi-Image Landscape images from the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in Oceanville NJ. The clouds on this visit were amazing and I decided to try shooting a series multi-image panoramas using only my iP11 Pro using the 3 different focal length lenses on the iPhone. Overall they worked out quite well. I was never fond of the panorama feature on the iPhone because of the “bowing & bulging” look to the iPhone panoramas. Instead I shoot a series of images and assemble them in Photoshop. Also the pano feature on the iPhone only gives you a “long” image unlike shooting a series of images in multiple rows giving a longer & higher view. The Featured Image is a 3 image pano, shot with the 1.5mm lens & assembled in Photoshop.
Sandhill Crane Panoramas From Lake Woodruff NWR
Posted on December 23, 2021
These are from a trip a couple of years ago to Lake Woodruff NWR. It is located in Volusia County, Florida near the community of DeLeon Springs. It is a very interesting NWR to visit and is surprisingly empty of visitors except for the Wildlife. If you see a few groups of visitors there it is not the norm. Many times you are there almost completely by yourself which because of the size it is a little strange feeling. The famed St Johns River forms the western boundary of the 22,000-acre refuge. The refuge contains a wide variety of habitats. Among them are marshes, swamps, creeks, hammocks and uplands. One of my favorite birds besides Bald Eagles are Sandhill Cranes which seem to really like this Refuge. On this day there were quite a few Sandhill Cranes roaming around the ponds close to the entrance. It is very strange to have a bird that large walk right up to you to check you out. Many times you are just a few feet from them. On previous visits they were more wary and did not get close. I was just using a Canon 7D with a 300mm lens for wildlife and my iP11 Pro for landscapes. The Featured Image is a 7 horizontal images panorama stacked vertically to get the whole Crane in. When shooting panoramas of slowly moving birds foraging you still have to shoot the sequence very quickly to have the images line up correctly without having to do a lot of touch-ups on the overlaps.
Lake Woodruff NWR Multi-Image iPhone Panoramas
Posted on October 11, 2021
Many times when we are out walking in Wildlife Refuges I carry a main camera with a 400mm lens or a 150-600mm zoom lens and a m43 camera with wide angle 14-140mm lens. I also have in my photo vest a few Teleconverters just in case I see something interesting farther out for the full frame camera. But as I am getting older I am using my iP11 Pro more for the Wider or Multi-Image Landscape Panorama shots. The Featured Image is made with the iP11 Pro using the 1.5mm lens (Full Frame Camera Equivalent ~13mm). I shot 14 images, shooting 3 rows of 4 images and then 2 images in the center just as a precaution to make sure the images line up successfully. When using the iP11’s 1.5mm lens I overlap the images even more than if I was using the 4.3mm or 6mm lens. Photoshop does a good job lining up and blending the multi-rowed images from the iPhone..
Brigantine Cloudscapes & Landscapes
Posted on August 26, 2021
The cloudscapes were Great on our visit to the Brigantine Division of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in Oceanville New Jersey. For the Landscapes I was using 3 different setups depending on what I was trying to show in my images. For really wide views of clouds & landscapes I used an Olympus OMD-1 with a 7.5mm Fisheye lens (180 Degree FOV) or my iPhone 11 Pr0 with the 1.5mm (Full Frame Equivalent Field of view ~13mm) or the 4.3mm lens (Full Frame Equivalent ~26mm). I corrected the Fisheye lens Distortion of the 7.5mm Fisheye lens on the Olympus in Photoshop using the Adaptive Wide Angle Filter that is accessed under the main “Filter” listing on the top menu Pull Downs. For the far out or distant landscapes with flocks of birds I was using a Tamron 150-600mm lens on a Canon R (Some with a 2X Teleconverter giving me a 300mm to 1200mm).
The Featured Image is a 3 image panorama taken with a 7.5mm Fisheye Lens on an Olympus OMD Camera.
Spotted Lanternflies
Posted on August 9, 2021
It seems we are seeing more of the Spotted Lanternflies in our area. Before you would only see one here or there, but now you see them quite often, especially at parks or when taking a walk. They are not good flyers, so you often see them just fly erratically for very short distances then land. Then wait a little and fly again or seek shelter. They are interesting photo subjects but very very invasive! While the Spotted Lanternfly prefers the Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), it feeds on a variety of host plants including fruit trees, ornamental trees, woody trees, vegetables, herbs, grains and vines.
The early stages of the Lanternfly:
- There are four nymphal instars.
- The first three instars are black with white spots.
- They grow from a few millimeters to appro. ยผ inch and have no wings.
- They are strong jumpers to avoid capture or predators.
- They appear in this stage beginning in May through July.
- The fourth instars are approx. 1/2inch in size and bright red, covered in black stripes and white spots.
- They are strong jumpers and will jump to avoid danger.
- They appear in this stage from July through September.
NJ Department of Agriculture Posting:
Spotted Lanternfly (SLF), Lycorma delicatula, is an invasive planthopper native to China, India, and Vietnam; it is also established in South Korea, Japan and the U.S. It was ๏ฌrst discovered in the U.S. in Pennsylvania in Berks County in 2014 and has spread to other counties in PA, as well as the states of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, New York, Connecticut and Ohio.
This insect has the potential to greatly impact agricultural crops and hardwood trees. SLF feeds on the plant sap of many different plants including grapevines, maples, black walnut, and other important plants in NJ. While it does not harm humans or animals, it can reduce the quality of life for people living in heavily infested areas.
Why You Should Care
SLF is a serious invasive pest with a healthy appetite for our plants and it can be a signi๏ฌcant nuisance, affecting the quality of life and enjoyment of the outdoors. The spotted lanternfly uses its piercing-sucking mouthpart to feed on sap from over 70 different plant species. It has a strong preference for economically important plants and the feeding damage signi๏ฌcantly stresses the plants which can lead to decreased health and potentially death.
As SLF feeds, the insect excretes honeydew (a sugary substance) which can attract bees, wasps, and other insects. The honeydew also builds up and promotes the growth for sooty mold (fungi), which can cover the plant, forest understories, patio furniture, cars, and anything else found below SLF feeding.
If you see a Spotted Lanternfly, help us Stomp it Out!
Colorful Trees From Our Community
Posted on April 12, 2021
These images are from a recent walk in our community. I have not posted much lately because I scratched my cornea but it is feeling much better now. I also have a lot of Fisheye images to post soon. The images here are all taken with my iPhone 11 Pro. I noted in the captions when they are made with a series of multiple images for the final image. The Featured image is made from 8 handheld iPhone 11 images taken with the 1.5mm lens. (Full frame camera lens equivalent ~ 13mm.)
Tree Panorama From Davidsons Mill Pond Park
Posted on March 19, 2021
We were taking a walk through the woods at Davidsons Mill Pond Park to get some exercise & fresh air. I was just using my Phone 11 Pro looking for interesting landscapes on the trails going though the woods. This image was near the very end of the trail through the woods. I was using my iP11 Pro with the widest lens 1.5mm (Full Frame Camera Equivalent ~ 13mm). I took 5 horizontal images in a series going from somewhat straight on to looking up, then the final image getting the top of the trees. I loaded those images layered in one Photoshop file and blended them for my flattened image file. I then adjusted my final blended image to get rid of most of the “distortion” because of the extreme wide angle of the 1.5mm iPhone 11 lens. This corrected a lot of the “bowing of the trees reaching for the sky”. It actually came out better then I thought it would.
Audubon Plainsboro Preserve “Walking” Panorama
Posted on March 17, 2021
We went for a walk at the Audubon Plainsboro Preserve to get in a nice walk. As we were walking down one of the long straight paths across from Lake McCormack I thought I would do a panorama of the woods. With the sun’s position it was casting long interesting shadows in the foreground. Usually I shoot a series of images from the left to the right, but shooting from a somewhat center position of the image I want to capture. Here I was near the start of the panorama I wanted to capture. I was using my iP 11 Pro with the 4.3mm lens (Full Frame FOV ~ 26mm). So I decided to shoot a series of images as I was walking down the path. This way I would not get as much of the “distortion” of the very small iPhone lens. If I was positioned about in the center of the image I wanted to capture I would get a very smaller distant distorted “view”on each end of the pano because of the iPhone’s small lenses. So it would look distorted with much smaller ends. So I went to where I wanted to start my panorama and a took an image. Then counted fifteen or so steps and took anther image. I did this down the entire length of the view I wanted to capture. In the end I had 16 images for my main panorama which is my featured image. The total length is 110 inches x 10 inches @ 300ppi. All images aligned & assembled in Photoshop.
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