Fire in the Sky

There's just something about interesting sunsets and sunrises that makes them ideal for photography.
This was a fairly dramatic sky with mostly dark clouds except the area of the sun - no editing.

Season's colours

The native NZ Christmas tree is blooming up & down the country as we enter into another summer.
I used the Apple photo app 'auto enhance' to add some saturation to the colours in this shot.

Calorie high

Another snack, another snap - this time edited with the native Apple photo app. There aren't very many options, but most images only really need cropping and a bit of a colour tweak.

Looking up

The twilight hours are really stretching out now that we're into December.
This shot was put through the 'chrome' filter in Camera Awesome.

Cloudscape

I had to find a place to stop the car so I could jump out and grab a few shots of these dramatic looking clouds.
I did amp up the contrast somewhat in Snapseed... but not any more than I would have done in the darkroom.

Harking back

Cute cafe message. I did notice that I was getting a good 4G signal so you could cope quite happily without wifi.
This was shot with the recently downloaded iOS 7 on my iPhone 5 - I held the shutter button as I walked past the sign and then edited the shot on the phone.
I do hope that Apple make the 'burst mode' an option rather than on all the time like at present. I prefer to hold my finger on the shutter button and release it to take the shot as it seems easier to hold the phone steady that way.

Make believe

Props for a war film give the look of much activity to the normally very quiet Seatoun Wharf. Instagram again!

Tasty Treat

These may not be the most attractive looking seafood around, but whitebait are such a tasty seasonal morsal.
Instagram - lofi filter.

Classic Hardware

Yep, that's a film camera! Olympus OM1 with a Zuiko lens - it's great to see some old-school photographic gear still being used.
This shot was given the selective focus treatment with the Tilt Shift app.

Shaking the bucket...

..for those that shake. A big thanks to those Wellingtonians who were big-hearted enough to donate to Parkinson's NZ during their street appeal.
Once again given the Instagram treatment.

Take off

Some of Wellington's eclectic architecture given the 'drama' treatment in Snapseed.

Artistic Access

This stairway is in a charming old building built as a photographers studio but now houses two art galleries.
Filtered via Instagram, but not my usual 'Lo-fi'. I used 'Brannan' this time.

What the...?!

This huge wall looks pretty damn amazing. Sharks are cool any time, but this wacky collection kind of shocked me when I noticed them.
Given a little bit of Instagram treatment.

Seafood Extravaganza

A good friend was visiting Wellington and knows how to obtain the best kai moana. He is planning on sharing his excellent local knowledge in a dive magazine so requested some images to support the article.
Rather than reach for the DSLR I opted for the a clean background, some nice side lighting and the iPhone. Cropped and edited with the Camera+ app.

Auto Graveyard

I had a fascinating walk around a 'self help' wreckers yard (no shoes no entry). You take the bits off the cars and pay on your way out.
I recently updated my PS Express app so decided to give it a try. They have added many more options from what used to be on offer and given it the iOS 7 look.

Down in the woods

Well, on the suburbs actually. These two guys are outside the Weta Cave in Wellington, fresh from their efforts to sack on dwarves.
Imported into Camera Awesome and given a rather distressed look.

Spring Springing

Our oak tree is recognising the change of season by popping out some fresh green leaves.
Having been taken towards the sun, this shot had some lens flare and was lacking in contrast. I used the standard Apple editing tool in the photos app to 'auto-enhance' the image.

Gumtree Moonrise

This shot was taken almost an hour after sunset. The iPhone set itself to 1600 ISO to keep the shutter speed as short as possible and there's certainly a good deal of noise visible in the sky.
No editing at all for this image, but I did tap on the area of the moon on the screen to bias the exposure towards a darker setting than it otherwise would have been.

You so siri

I tend to use the 'personal assistant' known as Siri on the iPhone occasionally for dictation purposes. I can use it to write a text message quickly or keep notes but it also works well for setting an alarm on the phone and other things.
Sometimes Siri has some clever or funny responses to commands which can be fun.

From the garden

I haven't photographed anything in the garden for quite some time but with the arrival of spring it seems fitting to include some plant life.
This shot was initially captured with the HDR mode switched on (to help with the contrast) and then imported into Instagram.

Where's the seat?

It seems that they build trials bikes pretty slim these days. This was at a club event in the Akatarawas and I gave the image a minor tweak in Snapseed.

Sharp defence

A gorse bush is well protected from most invaders but a dried gorse bush is even more dangerous.
This shot was given a treatment called Britout in the app qbro.

Gone

That was a tasty cup-cake from the famous Maranui Cafe.
I used the app TtV PS to edit the image (square images have been popular since way before Instagram was around!).

Rock'n'roll

I've tried a few apps that simulate the look of the good-old Polaroid instant print. This image was put through Polamatic. I believe that this has been licensed by Polaroid and it has a pretty good range of frame effects (from clean to dirty to crumpled) and a variety of image filters.

Evening glow

We've had some lovely winter sunsets recently. This shot was cropped and 'auto enhanced' with the standard Photos app.

Inner city living

The back of this apartment building looks like it could be Hong Kong rather than Wellington... but, as was pointed out to me, maybe it looks too clean.
The image was imported into Camera+ and given the 'clarity' and 'fashion' treatment.

Pass the rake

I seem to only use a very few filters when I play with Instagram, and if it's a nature image I think I always use this one - Lo-Fi.

Taking in the view

A local spot with a great view of the hills surrounding Wellington and the airport.
This image was given the 'clarity' treatment only in Camera+.

Gale force

Wellington has a bad rep as a windy city... sometimes it's justified. Overnight we had an icy southerly blast hit the city with speeds of up to 160kmh.
This shot was snapped out of the car window in our neighbourhood - lots of branches down but no major damage as far as I know.
Treated with Camera+.

Retro all around

This new-ish Triumph has been given an old-style classic look with the panniers and paint job, so I went a step further and used the RetroGram app on the image.

Double take

Playing with the double exposure function of KitCam always brings up a few surprises... plus I was surprised to hear that the app has been sold to another company and withdrawn from the App Store - so I was spurred to use it while I could (it possibly won't be supported under iOS 7).

Coo coo

Yes, a telephoto lens might have been easier (I don't use the digital zoom), but a slow walk with the iPhone out at arm's-length got me close enough.
I used the Camera+ app to crop in a little and add the golden/monochrome look.

Taped tape

This clever piece of urban graffiti has been created using a suitably shaped 'canvas' and then applying sticky tape to mimic a cassette tape.
I played with a few editing options before deciding the 'pinout' effect in qbro was what I liked.

Pea Soup

A foggy night in Miramar has given the scene a very monochromatic look - unretouched. iPhone 5 @ 800 ISO

Caged cool

I think this is an early Lambretta, parked in an interesting spot and catching the light in an interesting way.
Given the lo-fi Instagram treatment.

View

Wellington has so many different faces. This view is from near the waterfront and treated with a bit of Instagram action.

Sitting in a setting

This studio setting was looking pretty cool but I put the image through an app called Swankolab which emulates the look of a print processing darkroom. Clicking on different mysterious bottles adds chemicals to the developing tray and changes the look of the 'print'.

Cool digs

Probably cooler on the outside than the inside but this building on upper Cuba St has got fairly exotic look.
The colours were enhanced with the 'clarity' and 'polarize' filters in Camera+.

Alley way

Upper Cuba Street has a host of interesting spaces to photograph. Looking out for areas of shadow and pools of light can change the feeling of the place too.
This shot was edited in Camera Awesome with the Joan of Art filter.

On the move

Luckily the iPhone camera is quick to initiate and simple to control... so you can do silly things like take pictures while driving through tunnels.
Intagrammed with the LoFi filter.

Inception

Looking up at this new building in downtown Wellington reminded me of scenes from the movie Inception.
I've used ProHDR to bring out some shadow detail and used the native photo app to crop the image.

Autumn Light

This image shot in the late afternoon sunlight has been adjusted slightly for contrast and warmth in Camera+.

On the wall

This piece of art was catching the sunlight in a cafe... yeah, usually good places for a spot of iPhonography.
This shot was imported into the app Camera Awesome and given 'more cowbell'.

Lakeside

This early morning shot was taken a couple of months ago. I liked the composition, but the lighting was dull, making the image rather flat.
I imported the shot into Camera+ and used the clarity button and vibrance filter.

Zebra Crossing

I visited Wellington Zoo for the first time in a few years and there were quite a few changes since I was last there.
This is on the main pathway into the zoo itself. No edits.

Made For Walkin'

Photographed through a shop window late at night, I imported this image into the Ttv PS app to give it the sort of look it would have through the viewfinder of a medium format camera.

Sky, Rock, Flax

This wire-framed shape represents a floating rock next to one of Wellington's tallest buildings. The only way I could get everything in this shot was to use the panorama mode with the phone held sideways.
The on-board processing has done a good job of joining the image together... except for some of the fine detail of the steel cables holding up the rock.

Strange Fruit

The Quince. Does anyone actually go out of their way to buy a quince? Nah, just wait for someone who has a quince tree to get sick of the three things that you can do with a quince.
Instagramed.

Words

As a photographer I'm not generally a fan of putting words over images but there are times when it suits a purpose.
I've used a few apps that do a pretty good job of this so I gave Curved a try - yes, it's claim to fame is adding curved type to an image. There are some background templates available or you can use photos, a selection of typefaces, colours, effects plus shapes for the type to follow.
The app seems pretty good, but some odd things are going on with letter spacing...

Media shift

I've been working my way through the task of transferring all my saved data (mostly work and personal images) from optical media (CDs & DVDs) to hard drives.
With some time to kill in a cafe it was a good opportunity to copy over another wee stack of disks onto a portable drive before making a backup copy on a larger external drive. Some of my CDs are over 10 years old but I've only had a couple of very minor file corruptions.... now, do I throw out all the old disks, or keep them as extra backups...?