Dali Museum

[Dennis Bishop]

Whether you think you're a Salvador Dali fan or not, I recommend a visit to the Dali Museum in St Petersburg, Florida. The building, itself, is something to see. This image shows the upper (third) floor and the top of the helical staircase. There was a Picasso exhibit while we were there in February. Through July 26, there is an exhibit showing some of the common interests of Dali and Leonardo da Vinci. It's worth pulling up the museum website just to see the two men combined in a single image. The main gallery shows many works of Dali in chronological order, which is an interesting and educational experience. If you go, be sure to read the titles of the works because a lot of insight into Dali can be gleaned from them.





iPhone 5S, PureShot camera app, iPro Super Wide Angle auxiliary lens, ISO 32, f/2.2, three-exposure HDR at 2 EV increments

processing highlights

• a single blurred Belle Fleur texture in two layers -- Normal and Exclusion blend modes, followed by the base image
• Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Color
• a different Belle Fleur texture -- masked, Overlay
• three Fractalius layers -- saved black & white presets, Multiply/Divide/Multiply
• Snap Art Line Art -- saved black & white preset, Multiply
• Simplify -- saved black & white edges preset, Multiply
• Nik Silver Efex with a blue tone
• Nik Color Efex -- Glamour Glow preset
• Photo Filter adjustment layer -- yellow, masked
• Photo Filter adjustment layer -- underwater, masked (not quite an inverse of the previous mask)

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dennis, this is wonderful! I like your perspective and, of course, your workflow, and I especially like the splashes of orange and yellow. Thanks for the heads up on the Dali/da Vinci exhibit - I'll have to make sure I get down there before it closes. You're doing great work with the iPhone!

[gary ellwein]

This image would make the buildings architect happy. I'm certain you captured his vision. I love the strong graceful converging lines. The simplification of the image accentuates the lines.

[Hazel Grant]

Your usual beautiful applications. Like the dark vs light (left and right ) with the spiral in the center. Caught a good place there. Good to know about the museum.
I'll have to check out that pure shot app. didn't know HDR is possible with iPhone.

[Nancy Bell]

The building itself is art, and you captured and processed that very creatively! The splashes of color are perfect against the very neutral colors of the rest of the image. However the neutral colors are so filled with curves, spirals and crossing lines that the neutral colors emphasize them and pull them together for a cohesive whole. How handy the iPhones are!

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . I'll have to check out that pure shot app. didn't know HDR is possible with iPhone.

Thanks for your comments, Hazel. I like the PureShot app because it gives me some control options I wouldn't otherwise have. It's not specifically because it permits HDR that I have it. Actually, the iPhone can do HDRs without it. At least, the 5s can, but I don't know about earlier versions. The iPhone, itself, saves two versions of the photo. One's an HDR; the other isn't. (Saving the non-HDR version is an option that can be changed in Settings.) The individual bracketed shots are not saved. I just took a test shot using the iPhone Camera app of what's in front of me. I'm pretty much opposite a window, and it's light outside. The inside of the room is much darker although at least one of the monitors has the light BPN background. In terms of overall exposure, the non-HDR version looks better to me than the HDR one. PureShot, on the other hand, saves only the individual bracketed shots, which allows me to do the tone mapping instead of relying on the Apple algorithm. In addition, I can save the PureShot photos as high quality TIFFs. Each of the three shots used for this image was almost 23 MB. As far as I can tell, there's no choice of photo quality settings in the iPhone 5s.

[Mitch Carucci]

Great composition & processing.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Really well composed, and you couldn't ask for better lines and shapes. I like the spiral shape and the middle and I find it leading me up to the sweeping arcs at the top. Very engaging.

[Hazel Grant]

Thanks for your comments, Hazel. I like the PureShot app because it gives me some control options I wouldn't otherwise have. It's not specifically because it permits HDR that I have it. Actually, the iPhone can do HDRs without it. At least, the 5s can, but I don't know about earlier versions. The iPhone, itself, saves two versions of the photo. One's an HDR; the other isn't. (Saving the non-HDR version is an option that can be changed in Settings.) The individual bracketed shots are not saved. I just took a test shot using the iPhone Camera app of what's in front of me. I'm pretty much opposite a window, and it's light outside. The inside of the room is much darker although at least one of the monitors has the light BPN background. In terms of overall exposure, the non-HDR version looks better to me than the HDR one. PureShot, on the other hand, saves only the individual bracketed shots, which allows me to do the tone mapping instead of relying on the Apple algorithm. In addition, I can save the PureShot photos as high quality TIFFs. Each of the three shots used for this image was almost 23 MB. As far as I can tell, there's no choice of photo quality settings in the iPhone 5s.

thanks for this info. So good to know! I'm going to experiment!

[Anita Bower]

You are doing quite well with your iPhone and using the lenses to good advantage! What kind of tripod are you using?
I love all the curving lines! Also, the light and dark, with a splash of color. My eye travels all around the image, taking it all in, starting and ending with the spiral. I feel enveloped. The lighting (whether done in camera or in processing) is perfect.

[Dennis Bishop]

You are doing quite well with your iPhone and using the lenses to good advantage! What kind of tripod are you using?
I love all the curving lines! Also, the light and dark, with a splash of color. My eye travels all around the image, taking it all in, starting and ending with the spiral. I feel enveloped. The lighting (whether done in camera or in processing) is perfect.

Thanks for your comments, Anita. The set of images for this image was done handheld, but I occasionally use a tripod with my iPhone. When I do that, it's generally been with a small Joby Gorillapod. The ballhead (that seems like an exaggeration because it's so small) is very well designed. The part that holds the phone can be easily detached for access to a metal insert that's tapped to fit the 1/4-20 thread that's pretty much standard on tripods. My good tripod has an Arca-Swiss-type mount, so I don't use it with the iPhone. However, my very first tripod -- a spindly aluminum one that's good enough for a compact camera -- could be used, and it's always in the trunk of my car.

The lighting is fairly consistent with what was really there, but I used artistic license to lighten some of the darker areas and to draw attention to the staircase.

[Michael Gerald-Yamasaki]

Dennis,

A fine composition, Dennis. I really like the extension of the shadows. I haven't been to the museum in St Petersburg, Florida but have been to the one in Figueres, Spain (near Barcelona). It is spectacular. Large stereo prints! A Sistine-like ceiling! Worth a trip and is high on the revisit bucket list ;-)...

Cheers,

-Michael-