photoartflightFall Walk In The Woods
Posted on November 28, 2019
We took a walk through the woods at a local park just to get some fresh air. I only had my iPhone 11 Pro with me since I was not thinking anything would be interesting to photograph. The sun was low and most of the leaves were off the trees, but the shadows of the trees were amazing. The iPhone did a nice job photographing in a variety of lighting conditions. After getting use to the new iPhone for a while now, I tend not to use the pano mode as much, preferring to shoot multiple images to assemble my own wider or panorama views. Even with the 1.5mm lens selected (Full Frame Equivalent 13mm), I want more width without more height. On this walk I had enabled the phone to shoot HEIC Raw files instead of jpeg files. This way I supposedly had true Raw Data to work with in Adobe Bridge before opening in Photoshop instead of enabling Adobe Camera Raw to open jpegs as Raw files with settings. Also for certain scenes I like using the 16:9 capture mode setting for longer scenes without using the 4:3 usual capture. The 16:9 does not work with the 1.5mm lens.
1.5mm lens
1.5mm lens
16:9 format – 4.3 lens
2 image panorama – 4.3mm lens
4.3mm lens 16:9 Format
2 image panorama – 1.5mm lens – assembled in Photoshop
2 image vertical panorama – 4.3 format
4.3mm (26mm Full Frame Equivalent) 16:9 Camera Format
i Phone Panoramas
Posted on November 25, 2019
I use 2 different methods when using my iPhone for panoramas (or for images just requiring a slightly wider view like the featured image). The examples here are with my older iPhone 6 when I was in Florida in the Spring. The iPhone 6 had a 4.2mm lens which is equivalent to a Full Frame camera lens Field of View of 29mm. Many times you get a “curve” on the horizon and a distinct “Curve” and distortion on the ends when using the panorama feature on the iPhone 6. It really stands out if you are on a road that is straight left & right of your position and you are basically shooting a pano looking down the road to the left moving the phone down the road on the right. You get a distinct “bowing” look to the image as in the last photo in this post. Sometimes you can say it is an interesting effect, but not really ideal for the image. How close the objects are in the center has another set of problems because the far left & right are farther away and with a wide lens on the iPhone distortion looks more prominent. Because of this sometimes I take 2 (or more) individual images with my iPhone and use Photoshop to blend them for a panorama (or just a slightly wider view than the standard 1 image). I do this instead of the Pano mode in the iPhone which tends to distort the horizon line. The featured image is just a little wider so the tree on the right is more in the image. With the new iPhone 11 Pro, I have 3 lenses so I can shoot much wider than the older iPhone with the 1.5mm lens (Full Frame Camera Equivalent is ~13mm). In the examples below I also used the “Warp” feature in Photoshop (Edit>Transform>Warp) to straighten out the horizon somewhat which also can get a slight curve to the horizon in the image. I also have my system setup to open jpegs from the iPhone in Adobe Camera Raw to have even more options in adjusting my files before I even open them in Photoshop. Doing it this way, I can adjust the settings of the jpeg file, sort of treating it like a faux “Raw” file. It seems to really work well with my new iPhone 11 Pro. But these examples are from the older iPhone 6.
2 Horizontal Images, stacked vertically for more clouds
iPhone 6 – 2 image pano Stack for a little more clouds
iPhone 6 – 2 image sunrise Pano for more width (Horizon Line Corrected somewhat in Photoshop)
iPhone 6 – 2 image sunrise panorama, with more overlapping of images, assembled in Photoshop. This give a little more on the left & right sides. Sometimes you lessen the “curve” arc of the pano mode by shooting 2 single images and blending them then using the “Pano” feature.
Panorama made with iPhone 6 showing “warping curve” distortion of railing on deck platform by just using the Pano feature on the phone. (Horizon line here was Corrected Somewhat in Photoshop)
iPhone 6 Panorama shot @ Blackwater NWR Wildlife Drive – Showing distortion of road (on left and right) by just using the pano feature while standing on the road.
Test Images iPhone 11 Pro
Posted on October 16, 2019
My old iPhone was not able to update to the newer software updates so I got a new iPhone 11 Pro. I was interested in seeing how the new camera would stand up for image quality. The new camera seems to work well to a point, but skies or solid color areas seem to have a slight darker center area in wide angle mode. But that is somewhat easy to change or fix in Photoshop. Some of the extreme wide angle shots also have a weird distortion, but again somewhat fixable. The file size seems to be also good for uprezzing (to a point) for larger printing. Overall I am quite happy with the performance. At the wide end the lens is only 1.5mm, but in full frame camera equivalent field of view is 13mm. So that is why you are seeing distortions that need some work in Photoshop. I also had to try shooting images for assembling for panoramas in Photoshop. That seemed to work well also. You just have to overlap more than usual. It has a 2X optical zoom, but up to 10X digital zoom. You probably would not want to print the digital zoom images too large, but handy for documentation or for the web.
Single Image @ 1.5mm (Full Frame Equivalent 13mm)
2 image Panorama, assembled in Photoshop @ 1.5mm (Full Frame Camera Equivalent 13mm)
Single Image @ 4.3mm (Full Frame Camera Equivalent 26mm)
2 horizontal image Pano – stacked, iPhone 11 Pro @ 1.5mm (Full Frame equivalent – 13mm)
Single Image @ 4.3mm, iPhone 11 Pro – (Full Frame Equivalent 26mm)
Early Morning
Posted on February 7, 2019
An early morning sun shining through the tree limbs. Shot with an iPhone as I was taking a walk at a local nature preserve. 2 shot HDR image using the Camera Pro App. Sometimes you just do not feel like lugging around a big camera, but usually when you do not take one you see an image you want to take or one that catches your eye. The Camera Pro App is a love hate relationship. Sometimes it is amazing for its HDR feature. Other times if fails miserably. I give it working well 60 to 70 percent of the time. I have now switched to the Camera+ 2 app which seems to work better.
Mackerel Sky
Posted on January 15, 2018
As we were taking a walk, we saw this unusual cloud formations. I do not think I ever saw this before, or maybe I just was not looking. After researching on the internet, it seems to be called a Mackerel Sky. I only had my iPhone with me and I did not want to use the panorama mode. I shot 3 vertical images with a lot of overlap so I could assemble them in Photoshop. If I did not allow for a lot of overlap, it would have been a problem assembling them without a lot of distortion because of the small iPhone lens.
These clouds form high in the sky, and the afternoon sun catching their underbellies gives them a dappled, silvery sheen.
That’s because cirrus clouds – thin, wispy, collections of ice crystals – are harbingers of change. They form from small amounts of moisture in the air ahead of approaching weather fronts. As a front draws nearer, sturdier clouds gather and the weather changes.
Mackerel-type cirrocumulus can be an indicator of warm winds lifting up and flowing out from a distant thunderstorm. The ripples form when humid air at the far-flung edges of the storm system pushes past clear, cool air high in the sky. It’s the resistance of the cool air to this motion that causes the ripples.
Ridges of cloud form where water vapour cools and condenses, while troughs of space form where it warms and re-evaporates. When gentle ripples begin to form across the entire sky, it’s a good bet that the storm or its remnants will arrive in just a few hours.
I guess at my age I am still learning something new! Now I just have to Remember IT!
Parting Of Clouds
Posted on May 19, 2017
I like photographing clouds. You do not have to go anywhere to photograph them. Just look up. I know there are amazing areas to go for landscapes and clouds, but my work keeps me from traveling to distant locations. Some day I hope to do that. Plus I also use them a lot for backgrounds in my e-books. Either full strength or slightly ghosted with other images and text on top. I am happy to see what I can get the most out of close to home. I guess it is more of a challenge to see what I come up with.
Shot with an iPhone 6 with the ProCamera app (2 shots) in HDR mode during a walk. Adjusted slightly in Photoshop.
A Big Y In The Sky – Or A Large Thanksgiving Turkey Wishbone
Posted on November 25, 2016
When we got home Thanksgiving Eve, we saw this huge “Y” cloud in the sky. I never saw a cloud shaped like this before so I shot quite a few shots as it was moving by above me. I only had my iPhone with me, so I shot multiple shots and spent about 15-20 minutes shooting as it drifted overhead. As it got more directly over me, it was harder to get shots because even shooting multiple sections, with the wide angle of view on the iPhone, it was starting to distort the shape making it harder to combine into a multiple image panorama on the ends. I settled on using this series. I combined them as best I could from the series that I shot farther away. 5 horizontal images, overlapped and combined. I am learning combining iPhone images are a challenge because of the wide angle of view and the distortion differences between images. I tried shooting a panorama on the iPhone as it was overhead, but that really distorted the ends of the pano. Even the the problems this is one of my favorite cloud images!
