Slow Shutter Effects – iPhonography

My day to day photography is often done using my iPhone and lately I have been experimenting with one or two different camera apps. The set of images below were taken using Slow Shutter Cam which, if you can be sure to keep the phone steady is nifty little app.

Fountains

The problem with long exposures being used to achieve that misty / ghostly effect or smoothness in flowing water, is that everything else gets the same length of exposure. There are various ways of dealing with this but the Slow Shutter app simply uses thevideo setting on the phone camera rather than the stills setting. It is, however, a still image that is saved.

It is a clever answer to the exposure issue and there are options to take images up to the full resolution of the camera (8 megapixels). I have had a few issues with the handling of colour which can be seen above but I suspect this is something that I will be able to manage better with time and practice. These images have had some post production adjustments applied but the main issue in taking them was that I did not have a tripod with me and had to rely on keeping the camera steady with the aid of the railings round the fountains.

The fountains are in the centre of Middlesbrough in the NE of England which is, according to some, one of the ugliest towns in Britain – I disagree and suggest they take another look, this time with their eyes open and no prejudicial blinkers!

 

Clematis Montana Freda

Clematis Montana “Freda” – this was our compensation for not seeing so much of our Cherry blossom this year. Though the plant is not yet very extensive, it has put out its best set of flowers yet and is a great pleasure to see on the edge of our patio 🙂

Photos courtesy of my iPhone 5c.

Clematis

Clematis

White Bluebells or Blue Bluebells

Spring is the only season left for me to produce a video from Lower Lliw Reservoir. I am hoping that now that the bluebells are coming out in our garden, there may also be some showing themselves at the reservoir.

I wonder if they will be white bluebells or blue bluebells?

Photos were taken on my iPhone 5c.

Bluebells WhiteBluebells Blue

 

 

Incredible Fungi in the Ghost Forest

The Ghost Forest is a permanent external exhibition at the National Botanic Garden of Wales which features huge tree stumps and their roots from the rain forest.

The trees in the Ghost Forest, most of which fell naturally in storms and have their roots intact, are ‘ambassadors’ for rainforests worldwide,” said Ms Palmer. “The absence of their trunks is a metaphor for the absence of the planet’s lungs through deforestation.

It is clear from the exhibits how majestic the trees were when standing in their natural environment. Their contribution to a natural, sustainable environment, alongside those others in the rain forest, must have been as substantial as the trees themselves.

Hopefully, the attention that this exhibition attracts to the issue of tree felling in the rain forests and other woodlands around the world, will grow and spread like the fungi that has now appeared on the stumps in the exhibition. They are amazing objects, both trees and fungi and of course, one would not exist without the other.

These are my final iPhone photos this week from the Botanic Gardens in Carmarthenshire. The first shot was taken using the iPhone Camera app and the fungi shots were taken with PureShot. very little pst production adjustment was made to any of these photos.

NBGW Ghost Forest

NBGW Fungi

NBGW Fungi

NBGW Fungi

NBGW Fungi

You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Winter Lakeside Walk” which features Llyn Llech Owain Country Park in Carmartheshire. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Architectural Scale – Is Perspective Real?

I like this photo largely for its composition and the perspective of the buildings,  both real and apparent. I say real and apparent because the buildings themselves are in fact taller than each other going from foreground to background – it’s not just the effect of perspective. I must make a point of taking a photo from the opposite end of the beach and see how they appear in perspective when the most distant building is the tallest!

The photos I have been posting this week were all taken on my iPhone. I seem to be doing this more often now but whether my iphonography is improving is another matter. It is a very convenient way to record observations (and sounds when I don’t have my kit with me) but in order to get effective images with the phone, you have to look at things differently. Angle of shot is probably the most important point . . . but that could be said for DSLR photography as well, I guess!

The photo below would have been grainy anyway, given the time of day and the fading light but there is a tendency for the iPhone camera to over expose when the light is dim. The image you see below is the result of post processing. Unlike a DSLR camera, you have pretty limited options in these circumstances when it comes to telling the camera what to do.

Update – Thanks to  and his iPhone Photography School, I have discovered the PureShot app which allows much more flexibility in shooting from the phone.

Meridian TowerThe buildings are on Swansea seafront – all apartment buildings, the closest being Meridian Tower. The lights in the background are those of the Swansea / Cork Ferry.

It was a wild and windy day . . .

. . . and it had been a dark and stormy night! But it wasn’t actually rainy when I finally went for a much needed walk around Hemlington Lake in Middlesbrough on New Year’s Day. I did two circuits because one was just not enough and was lucky to get back to my inlaws’ house in the nick of time without getting wet.

I had brought my cameras with me but had not taken them out on the walk and so relied on my iPhone 5c yet again. Watch this week’s featured StillWalks video below to see what the place is like in better weather (albeit Winter).

Hemlington Lake

Hemlington Lake

This week’s featured StillWalks video is from Middlesbrough. Although the production for “Suburban Lakeside Walk” was done in the Winter, it was clearly much better weather than is evident in the iPhone photos I took around the lake this winter.

You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “Suburban Lakeside Walk” which features Hemlington Lake in Middlesbrough. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Effects of the Sun

Taking a photo into the sun is not usually recommended if you want a half decent shot but having an idea of what was going to happen doing this with my iPhone, I went ahead and broke the rules. A very important rule in photography is first to understand the rules – and then to try breaking them.

The resulting photograph was not what you see below – that has had the darker areas adjusted (minimally) but I made no other changes as I actually like the strange light the image has. The thing that is frustrating though, is the effect of the sun itself and without lens filters, I don’t I have much control over that. I don’t mean the lens flare – I like that too. I mean the uneven edge to the white area . . . but the more I look at it, the more I like that too. To each their own – you can make up your own mind about it!

And the shell? This is a very common and fascinating object on Swansea Beach.

Swansea Bay Winter Sunshine

Swansea Bay Shell

Photos taken and adjusted on my iPhone 5c. Check out StillWalks on Instagram for more of my iPhonography.

This week’s featured StillWalks video is the introductory welcome video to the StillWalks website. On this you will meet me and see just a little of what goes into making a StillWalks video.

You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Keeping Things in Perspective

Keeping things in perspective seems to me to be so important. In order to do this I often have to adjust the angle at which I look at things and take into account the current circumstances. Standing back and being more objective can often help but this is not always easy to do.

My main strategy for doing this is walking – and that, of course, is where StillWalks came from and, I hope, may be able to take others as well. With this is mind, I have decided to feature my StillWalks “Welcome” video this week.

Swansea Bay Sea Wall

Swansea BayPhotos taken and adjusted on my iPhone 5c. Check out StillWalks on Instagram for more of my iPhonography.

This week’s featured StillWalks video is the introductory welcome video to the StillWalks website. On this you will meet me and see just a little of what goes into making a StillWalks video.

You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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