Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category
Iphone 4 camera problem (UPDATED)
***UPDATED TO INCLUDE COMPARISON IMAGES FROM 3Gs***
The following images highlight a problem with the iPhone 4 when producing photos under normal tungsten light (~3200k). the first image was shot under fluorescent light, whereas the second image was shot under standard household tungsten lights.
Images from iPhone 4:
Images from iPhone 3Gs:
Lens design is not trivial
I created this to help explain why lens design is so complex. This is a trivial illustration, but it touches on a FEW of the key principles that explain why designing lenses is really a years long process. I’d love any feedback you may have on the subject. If you know more about lens design than me (and you have a degree or achievement to back it up), then please correct me where I’m wrong. My knowledge, while more than most, is still highly limited.
Thanks!
CLICK TO VIEW LARGER:
*Bonus points to anyone who can name the camera company that misleads their customers by selling extreme fast lenses (e.g. f/1.2) which can never be tack sharp wide open at certain focus distances
More Expensive != More Valuable
Digital Review has an interesting in-depth comparison between the Nikon D90/D5000 and the Canon Rebel T1i 500D. Nikon offers better build quality, double the shutter life, better ergonomics, better button/menu/interface design, better image quality, better video mode, lower pixel density, better high ISO performance…not to mention the whole lineup of lenses that so many Canon V-SLR shooters are picking up so they can shoot better video on their Canons.
Short translation: the Nikon kicks the crap out of the Canon. Again.
There’s a tremendous difference between price and value. I’m not afraid to pay top dollar for what I buy, but only if by paying more I’m receiving a greater value. I’m frankly surprised so many people can willingly spend more for less, as is almost always the case with Canon cameras. I think, generally speaking, that Canon shooters don’t understand that “more megapixels” doesn’t automatically mean “more camera”, or better images for that matter.
Magical Rainbow Tower Of Dreams
Ten layers of multi-coloured chocolate chip sponge cake, each separated with a layer of icing.
The title is what sells it.
Engulfed (photos)
A few months back I pulled my car off a dirt road and trudged through quite a bit of brush in order to get a closer look at this fire. I was on my way home, and could see the plumes of black smoke for miles as I approached via the freeway.
I decided on a whim to get closer and see what I could see, even though I didn’t have my “real” camera with me. I met up with an amiable fellow named Thomas, and together we went fire-hunting with our iPhones. It took a lot of cutting through the willows, but eventually we did come within spitting distance to the burn.
Needless to say, it was an incredible sight. The photos don’t do it justice. I was really wishing I had a RED One with a long lens, or at least my D2X with me. The imagery, quite honestly, was breathtaking. Real, high resolution images would have been awesome, and high quality film/video would have been even better.
There were a few times that the flames were a bit too close for comfort, though for the most part we were careful not to let ourselves become surrounded. But the thing that probably struck me the most—aside from the 30-35 foot high surges—was the living nature of the flames as they collectively danced along the tops of the brush, speeding to one patch, burning, pausing, then speeding to another. The heat rose visibly off of the browning reedtops as they bowed dutifully toward the flames, being tanned by the unbearably high temperature. It was clear that these flames had a mind and will of their own, as well as the power to command nature. You can’t help but wonder how anyone would be so foolish as to take its power lightly.
As an aside, I’ve always wondered what fire is. It’s not solid, it’s not gas, it’s not liquid. It isn’t air, earth, or water. It isn’t made of particles, though it seems to produce quite a few as it burns. What is it? Its one of the few things in this world you can’t hold, but you can definitely feel. Maybe I’m way off in my assessment. For instance, maybe it’s actually a gas. I’m a photographer, not a scientist. Either way, if you can shed any light on the mystery, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
P.S. Notice the finger in the top half of shot number 3? Probably not. But that’s how I achieve manual exposure on the iPhone 3g in a high contrast scene. Not ideal, but hey, it works.
✈ Sent from my iPhone
***All images shot and edited exclusively on the iPhone. (First image gamma adjusted in PS due to WordPress being a bit too aggressive in srgb gamma correction.)
Meltdown redux—featuring: jack
Literally minutes after meltdown número uno, we’re presented with a second glorious performance—an encore, if you will.
✈ Sent from my iPhone
Jack has a meltdown
Gotta love the woes of childhood. If only I could trade my problems with his. 
✈ Sent from my iPhone
Plenty of reasons to enjoy this father’s day
We spent a good part if today going through home videos of the kids over the last few years. What began as an exercise in cataloging what was on the DV tapes quickly turned into a multi-hour family veg. session remembering good ol’ times.
Here are a few iPhone pics from one of the tapes we recorded of the 2+ feet of snow we got our first winter back in Utah:
Probably the most apparent thing, at least to me? Kids do grow fast.
But don’t think the entire day was wasted on gushy sentimental crap. My wonderful wife served me a delicious breakfast in bed, I had some incredible steak for dinner, and we all went for a lazy Sunday drive right around sunset.
I think I need more father’s days in the year. Thanks guys for the great time!
Sent from my iPhone
Nice little iPhone U.I. tweak
I wish I had a screenshot of the old iPhone 2.0 call info screen, because frankly, it sucked. I always lamented that there wasn’t any really pertinent information there, and rather just a bunch of wasted space. Well, to my surprise, once I had OS 3.0 installed and working, I soon happened upon the call info screen, and was almost giddy to see that there was now a useful display of data pertaining to the call(s) which I had drilled into.
Instead of seeing only a comma separated list of times when a call was made, (which was totally useless), I now see a nicely formatted table of calls, organized by incoming/outgoing, and listed by date/time made. They include the time the call was made/received, as well as the length of the call:
It’s little things like this that garner my overall appreciation for Apple products. While I’ve wanted this feature for some time, it’s like they read my mind with this most recent update. So many other interfaces are left wanting. And wanting. And wanting. And they never seem to change.
Thanks for figuring it out, Apple!
Attach multiple photos to an email on your iPhone
This stumped me for a minute or two – I knew I had seen that it was possible to attach multiple images to an email message, but it wasn’t obvious once I had gotten the new iPhone 3.0 OS installed. Here’s a quick refresher for you if you are wondering too…
Go to a gallery on your iPhone. Click on the rectangle (with an arrow shooting out of it) in the lower left corner of the screen:
You will now be in select mode, and you can scroll throughout this entire gallery and select whichever images you would like to copy:
Now that you have some images selected, simply press the copy button at the bottom of the screen, and Voila! they’re in memory:
Go to your mail application, activate your cursor in the email body, and again press your finger down on the cursor until you see the magnifying glass. Let go, and the black copy/paste bar should appear. Press the paste button, and there you have it. You should see all of the images that you selected appear in the email.
Note that you can also choose the “share” button, instead of the copy button after you’ve selected your images from the gallery. Be aware that depending on which approach you use, final image sizes will vary (i.e. copy/pasting will allow you to send the full resolution image, while choosing the “share” option to send the image to mail will cause it to be shrunk down to a more suitable “web” size). Something to be aware of if you need one or the other.
Sent from my iPhone