Category: iPhone 4

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iPhone 4 Photography

Juicy Orange

I’m continually amazed at the photos that the iPhone 4 takes – and this is just the latest example.

Last Sunday, we had a particularly nasty rainstorm rolling through the San Francisco Bay Area. I had a mid-day flight to catch and, before I left for the airport, I took Lily outside one last time.

Walking back into the house, I happened to notice this orange hanging on the orange tree right off our deck. The colors and the water droplets really caught my eye. I pulled my iPhone 4 out of my shirt pocket and took the shot – with the umbrella (yes, it was still coming down!) and Lily’s leash in the other hand.

Later in the week, Trey Ratcliff released his new iPhone app 100 Cameras – and I used the new app to tweak the image a bit more. The final result is what you see below. I love the colors and the detail – in the skin of the orange and the droplets. I think of that one dark spot as the “beauty spot”! In a word: juicy!

Oranges

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iPhone 4 Photography San Francisco/California

Vanishing Point

Early Tuesday morning – ahead of our private payments workshop with our client – Carol and I headed over to the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco to grab coffee.

In the atrium lobby of this great hotel, these lights hang down from above – all you have to do to capture this shot is to LOOK UP! Pretty amazing – and very cool!

Hyatt Regency San Francisco

Shot with my iPhone 4 – adjusted with Instamatic.

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Cavalier King Charles Spaniel iPhone 4 Lily Photography San Francisco/California

Loving the iPhone 4 Camera with TiltShiftGen and PhotoShop Express!

I’ve become a big fan of the old adage – the best camera is the one that’s with you – and mine of late has been my iPhone 4 along with two great apps that just make my iPhone-based photography more fun!

Last Friday I was in San Francisco attending a conference that was held on the 32nd floor of the Westin St. Francis Hotel – with big windows all around. I had fun taking some San Francisco skyline shots – and then using PhotoShop Express‘ Stylize feature to play with them. Here’s an example:

San Francisco - Stylized - by Scott Loftesness

Yesterday, I snapped this photo of Lily which she was sitting on the couch watching the drizzle outside. This was adjusted using TiltShiftGen to add the blur and the vignette around the edges and then uploaded using the Flickr app (TiltShiftGen doesn’t currently support uploading directly to Flickr):

Lily - Cavalier King Charles Spaniel - by Scott Loftesness

The photography that’s now possible with this combination of the iPhone 4’s great image sensor and these photo apps is just great fun! What are your favorite iPhone photography apps?

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Aviation iPhone 4 Photography

Fun at Hiller Aviation Museum!

This morning I went to the Hiller Aviation Museum at San Carlos Airport to hear Richard Luehring talk about his experiences as an RSO (Reconnaissance Systems Officer) on the SR-71. He accumulated over 2,100 flying in the SR-71.

I enjoyed hearing him talk about his incredible confidence in the team at Lockheed responsible for designing and building this amazing aircraft – including Kelly Johnson of Lockheed’s Skunk Works. The Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines were equally amazing (“In Thrust We Trust” was P&W’s motto!).

While waiting for the lecture to begin, I shot the photo below just using my iPhone 4. The model was hanging in the ceiling above the audience. I loved the peaceful nature of the image and the lighting.

Across

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Books Food and Drink iPhone 4 Living Menlo Park Norway Photography

Friday Night Jazz at Cafe Borrone

We joined Chris and Linda Gulker last night for a wonderful Friday evening adventure – first some early evening munchies at Cafe Borrone, then the William Gibson event at Keplers (he was reading from his new book Zero History), and, finally, back to Borrone’s listening to Clint Baker’s Cafe Borrone AllStars perform some great jazz. Truly a wonderful evening!

Chris was able to meet Gibson – one of his favorite authors. Here’s a shot of the two of them chatting just before the book signing – and another one taken by Linda!

The photo below I took with my iPhone 4 while just sitting at our outside table at Cafe Borrone – I used the TiltShift Gen application on the iPhone to generate the particular look/blur. It looks a bit “other worldly” – perhaps a scene out of a William Gibson novel?

Friday night at Cafe Borrone by Scott Loftesness

Categories
Apple Compact HDR HDR Photography iPhone 4 Photography

First Photo: iPhone 4 HDR using iOS 4.1

The iOS 4.1 software update for the iPhone 4 became available today and I installed it on mine. Here’s the first photo I took in HDR – looking right outside my office window. The “surprise” new feature announced last week at the Apple event was HDR for the iPhone 4 – so I wanted to try it out right away!

The first image below is without HDR on – the second is with HDR on. You can see how the stuff in the shadows (cars under the trees, bushes in the foreground, even the wall on the right side) is made more visible in the HDR version. Cool stuff – and no noticeable impact on shutter speed meaning that you can take HDR photos without the wait of traditional autobracketing, etc.

No HDR:

IMG_1557.JPG

With HDR:

IMG_1558.JPG

When we get some more interesting iPhone HDR shots over the next few days, I’ll share them here!