Richmond Hill, Georgia

[Dennis Bishop]

My last I-don't-know-how-many images were from shots taken on the way to, or in, Florida. Finally, it was time to head northward. With the help of my iPhone, I found a small restaurant in coastal Georgia's Richmond Hill, navigated there, and took the shots for this image right outside it.





iPhone 5s, PureShot camera app, iPro Super Wide auxiliary lens (at least I think I used it for this), ISO 32, three-exposure HDR at 2 EV increments

processing highlights

• warped the image in Free Transform to eliminate distortion and cropped for composition (Cropping was a tough call. I didn't want to lose the reflections, and I didn't want to have the horizon smack dab in the center. That's what spawned the idea of doing an image within an image -- keeping most of the reflections in one and putting the horizon in a better place in the other.)
• Topaz Simplify -- saved watercolor preset
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- saved watercolor wash preset, Hard Light blend mode
• Fractalius -- three saved black & white presets, Multiply/Divide/Multiply with two of the layers masked
• Simplify -- saved black & white edges preset, Multiply
• Snap Art -- saved brown (instead of black) & white Line Art preset, Multiply
• Filter/Render/Picture Frame for the blue frame around the inner scene
• photo filter adjustment layer -- warming 85 masked to the inner scene
• gradient vignette -- masked out of the inner scene

[gary ellwein]

The overall composition, color palette and post processing of the main image is great. The image within an image nicely deals with the central horizon.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Very cool Dennis, I LOVE the frame within the frame. Gives it a sense of heightened reality. Very creative!

[Mitch Carucci]

You can do more with an iPhone than most of us (I am referring to me here) can do with a real camera!

[Paul Lagasi]

I just bought the new iPhone 6 and wow what a difference in image quality. Love the composition and as far as I am concerned love the framing, always use on in my images...Nice scene, well done

[Hazel Grant]

reflecting on Paul's comment re iphone 6.....are you all moving to iPhones instead of compact cameras for your quick carry arounds?

[Dennis Bishop]

reflecting on Paul's comment re iphone 6.....are you all moving to iPhones instead of compact cameras for your quick carry arounds?

A few years ago, after missing what could've been some wow shots because I didn't have my one and only camera with me, I bought a reasonable compact camera. Trouble is, I don't carry it around just in case. I did take it to France instead of my real camera, but I didn't want to leave it in the car because of what high temperatures might do to it, and I just didn't want to carry it around everywhere. Whenever I leave home, my smartphone is always with me, so I opted for one with a good camera. The auxiliary lenses were added later when I gained confidence in the photo capability of the smartphone. Without the auxiliary lenses, I don't know that I'd settle for a smartphone; with them, it's no contest (for everyday use, at least). If I were headed somewhere on a plane, I might still take the compact camera along.

When it comes time to replace the iPhone I have, I'll look hard at smartphones from other companies, too. Memory will be another consideration. Shooting even three-exposure HDRs at high quality uses up a lot of space. During a trip, I've had to download shots to a laptop in order to free up memory even though I was also shooting with my real camera as much as I could.

[Anita Bower]

I can't help but notice the frame-within-a-frame. I like it very much. I think I know why you placed it where you did, but I'd rather a more symmetrical position.

This is a lovely scene. The two boats are framed by the pier and the land; your unique processing look works beautifully here--I especially like how it renders the boats; the colors are luscious without being over-saturated; the slightly dark overall look works really well.

The iPhone is serving you well in many respects. Did I already ask if you use a tripod with it?

[Anita Bower]

reflecting on Paul's comment re iphone 6.....are you all moving to iPhones instead of compact cameras for your quick carry arounds?

Thanks for asking this question. I have neither a smart phone nor a compact camera and I feel the need for a small, easy to carry camera.

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . The iPhone is serving you well in many respects. Did I already ask if you use a tripod with it?

Thanks for your comments, Anita. In an ideal world, I'd have centered the inner frame left-to-right or had it even more asymmetrical. Putting it like this was a compromise, but I'm not crazy about symmetry.

I think I might've responded to the tripod/smartphone question from someone, but that's okay. I use a tripod with it infrequently, which is strange because I rarely use my real camera handheld. Of course, it's much heavier. I have a Joby Gorillapod that includes a ball head and a holder that will accommodate the phone horizontally by grabbing it with a spring-loaded clamp. It's small and easy to carry around. The ball head permits using it vertically. There's a bubble level built in, but I also have an app that can be used to check for level. (On my real camera, I use a level in the hot shoe.) I also have an ancient, somewhat rickety, aluminum tripod that I keep in the trunk of my car. The holder from the Gorillapod can be easily detached and screwed on to the aluminum tripod. Another way of attaching it that I don't use is built in to the iPro auxiliary lens kit I keep with me. When using the iPro macro lens, focus is pretty critical, so I like to use a tripod for that.

[Anita Bower]

Thanks for your comments, Anita. In an ideal world, I'd have centered the inner frame left-to-right or had it even more asymmetrical. Putting it like this was a compromise, but I'm not crazy about symmetry.

I think I might've responded to the tripod/smartphone question from someone, but that's okay. I use a tripod with it infrequently, which is strange because I rarely use my real camera handheld. Of course, it's much heavier. I have a Joby Gorillapod that includes a ball head and a holder that will accommodate the phone horizontally by grabbing it with a spring-loaded clamp. It's small and easy to carry around. The ball head permits using it vertically. There's a bubble level built in, but I also have an app that can be used to check for level. (On my real camera, I use a level in the hot shoe.) I also have an ancient, somewhat rickety, aluminum tripod that I keep in the trunk of my car. The holder from the Gorillapod can be easily detached and screwed on to the aluminum tripod. Another way of attaching it that I don't use is built in to the iPro auxiliary lens kit I keep with me. When using the iPro macro lens, focus is pretty critical, so I like to use a tripod for that.

Thanks for answering. I had wondered if the need for a tripod worked against the easy availability of the iPhone, such as in this particular image, which is an HDR.

[Dennis Bishop]

Thanks for answering. I had wondered if the need for a tripod worked against the easy availability of the iPhone, such as in this particular image, which is an HDR.

Remember the Ivory soap 99 and 44/100ths percent pure commercial? Real camera or iPhone, that proportion of my images are probably from HDRs. Handholding the iPhone for them in reasonable light hasn't been a problem.

[Anita Bower]

Remember the Ivory soap 99 and 44/100ths percent pure commercial? Real camera or iPhone, that proportion of my images are probably from HDRs. Handholding the iPhone for them in reasonable light hasn't been a problem.

Interesting. I confess to never have done an HDR.

[Dennis Bishop]

Interesting. I confess to never have done an HDR.

When I first encountered the HDR concept, the idea of having a good histogram without blown highlights and featureless shadows made sense. When I looked at the available software, however, all the examples were too grungy for my taste. Nevertheless, I kept my eye on it and started to see examples I liked better, so I downloaded a trial and tried an image with and without HDR. The sky, without HDR wasn't nearly as good; it was pale enough that the clouds weren't all that noticeable. To my surprise, the other colors in the HDR version were also much better. The side-by-side comparison sold me on HDRs.

When processing an image that didn't have enough bracketed exposures for one reason or another or if the photo was taken before I started bracketing exposures, I use the Exposure slider in Camera Raw to produce additional exposures I can use. It has worked very well.

[Anita Bower]

When I first encountered the HDR concept, the idea of having a good histogram without blown highlights and featureless shadows made sense. When I looked at the available software, however, all the examples were too grungy for my taste. Nevertheless, I kept my eye on it and started to see examples I liked better, so I downloaded a trial and tried an image with and without HDR. The sky, without HDR wasn't nearly as good; it was pale enough that the clouds weren't all that noticeable. To my surprise, the other colors in the HDR version were also much better. The side-by-side comparison sold me on HDRs.

When processing an image that didn't have enough bracketed exposures for one reason or another or if the photo was taken before I started bracketing exposures, I use the Exposure slider in Camera Raw to produce additional exposures I can use. It has worked very well.

I know a photographer who used the toning part of the HDR software on images that aren't HDR. I don't know of a flower photographer that uses HDR. I have run in to situations when photographing non-flowers, where I think it would be helpful. But you seem to be saying that it is helpful even if you don't need HDR.

I have used the exposure slider in the RAW converter to create two or more images, then combined them.

Thanks for the comments.