Category Archives: Photography Tips

Playing with an iPhone Camera

I purchased a new 8MP camera that came with a phone attached. It is called a 4S. I’ve used the phone a few times, but I have been mostly learning how to use the camera. It has a f/2.4 lens with digital zoom (which I can turn off so I do not accidentally use it), ISO 64-800, and 1/15 sec as its longest shutter speed. It can be used to make ordinary photos, 360 panoramas, large panoramas you can zoom into, videos, and time-lapse movies. Here is a sampling from a week of shooting.

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Above is a time-lapse movie at 24 times real time. Below are a pair of panoramas I took with the iPhone December 30 at True’s Ledges in Lebanon, NH. Footing was slippery and I sure didn’t want to go for a swim in the brook far below. You can zoom way in, pan around, and explore the scene in detail. Can you find the wheel someone tossed into the brook in the first pan?

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Red-tailed Hawk in West Lebanon

Jann spied an “owl” high up in a bare tree far across the parking lot of the “K-mart Plaza” in West Lebanon yesterday. As we drove over to investigate it turned into a hawk. I got a few poor shots out my window (did not have my long lens in the car) before the hawk flew across the temporary entrance ramp for I-89 north.

As I got out of the car to try to get a shot of it on the ground, it flew back with something in its claws and landed on a lower branch of the tree. I moved around the tree and shot from several angles—fighting branches the whole time. The best angle turned out to be almost under it. I could approach the red-tailed hawk quite closely. It was much more concerned with the mouse it was eating than me. I was completely ignored. Interestingly, in the fourth photo of this series, it appears I caught a feather floating to the  ground.

There are several photographic lessons here. The simplest is you can never get a photo unless you have a camera. Always carry a camera. Second, you don’t necessarily need huge, powerful lenses, especially with larger species. Getting close physically is more important than getting close optically.

Finally, there is a function on many cameras that few people understand or use, but it is often invaluable in getting a decent shot. It is called Exposure Compensation. Camera exposure meters sometime need help in making the best exposure—particularly with a small bright subject against a dark background in contrast light or, as was the case here, a small dark subject against a bright sky. The photos that follow were shot at EC=+1 and +1.3 which brightened both the hawk and the sky.

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Merry Christmas

A few days before Christmas we had 6 visitors. Here are four of them.

We took a hike along Mink Brook to the Connecticut River. Ice was just starting to form. We heard the loud insistent call of a tufted titmouse and found it among the chickadees high overhead. A red ornament graced the walk. Further along was a blue one.

Then a few inches of wet snow filled our yard. It stayed on the trees only a short time but it was a pretty sight while it did.

On Christmas eve morning the sky was filled with color.
The previous post has a panorama that you can click and spin. The version below—not taken with an iPhone—allows you to zoom in a see details. The images is composed of 27 separate photos.

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Manang Simplified

The village of Manang located in Nepal north of the Annapurna range and south of Mustang abounds with fascinating stone structures. This brief slide show has versions of some of the photos I took where I have simplified some of the detail. This technique often allows the viewer to better focus on important details. I found the ladders carved out of logs facinating and very characteristic of the area.  You can see them in several of the photos here.

The second-to-last image of this set is the very comfortable Yeti Hotel, with some of our wash. The last photo is a straight shot of lights outside the plastic-covered window of my shower/toilet room.

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