Part Deux

Another image from yesterday (Valentines Day) - the barista mentioned that he'd only just learned to pour a good 'heart' into the crema.
Edited with Instagram.

Personal message

A timely (and uniquely spelt) message left for Brit in Mt Cook today.
I used the good old Best Camera app to alter the image slightly.

Harbour Skies

Another twilight view over Wellington harbour from Seatoun Heights... or Upper Miramar... depending on which real estate agent you listen to.
Cropped with the Apple native photos app.

Yes, we have some

Down at the local markets again.
This shot was cropped & enhanced with an app called qbro.

Who are you calling a geek?

I suppose it's better than being called a nerd...?!
Camera + app.

Glitch in the system

I was missing a few of the clever system tweaks that I had applied to my earlier iPhones after Jailbreaking them, so when the recent Evasi0n software became available I decided to try it.
Things have been running very well generally - the 5 hasn't become sluggish or glitchy... until today I had this odd keyboard anomaly (oh, and the stock weather app keeps crashing... not a biggy).
I think this 'blackout' was due to a hack I'd installed that altered the keyboard to display lower- case letters when appropriate (not a standard feature). After a restart everything seems fine now.

Looking South

Another lovely evening in the Capital and a good time to go for a walk with the iPhone.
No editing at all on this 'magic hour' shot.

Hello Handsome

This guy (or gal) was under some timber I was moving and in danger of being squashed so I moved it to some foliage. Of course I grabbed the iPhone for a few photos before it walked off.
This shot was imported into Camera+ and cropped, clarified and given the 'depth of field' look.

All sauce & no chips..

I wasn't quick enough to grab a shot while there were still hot chips in the bowl!

Given the 'lo-fi' filter treatment with Instagram.

Greek Isles

OK, no, not really. This is Wellington's Worser Bay and it only kind-of reminded me of Greece once I put a 'warming up' filter on the photo with the app Camera Awesome.

Maybe that old jetty structure could be part of Atlantis, maybe...?

This Way

Yep, the bus does go around a corner there...
After trying a few of the filters in the Camerabag app I decided on a basic black & white treatment.

Cuba View

I seem to have ended up in one of my favourite cafe's again - El Matador on Cuba St. Last time I was here I sat outside and took a shot of the red couches they had in their outdoor searing area, this time the front window gave amusing views of Sevens rugby fans in their costumes.
The photo was given a selective focus effect with the app Tilt Shift.

To Market

Newtown Market on a Saturday morning is always a busy place, but mostly in the fruit & vege section. This area off to one side was a little quieter.
Snapseed was used to edit this photo - I cropped it and altered the saturation.

Twilight Invasion

Another late evening shot, this time of the signage outside The Weta Cave. A movie buff destination in the heart of Peter Jackson's film empire.
Although it didn't really alter much to the image, I did make a couple of adjustments in Camera+... just to help contrast and saturation.

Newtown Splendour

This old shop/house at the South end of Newtown has probably been home to many people and many businesses over the years.

The photo was cropped and given a 'viewfinder' border with the app Camera Awesome.

Fig Tree

Late twilight can be lovely lighting for most subjects, particularly foliage. This fig tree showed great detail in the leaves which has been enhanced with the clarity setting of Camera+.

Dog Talk

There aren't many places around the city where dogs are encouraged to go walkies, but along the airport end of Lyall Bay Beach is a very popular dog-friendly zone.
This shot is unedited ie. yes, that sky is real - Wellington is in the middle of some classic summer weather (classic for somewhere like Fiji, not Wellington!).

Creature from Below

This discarded cicada shell has been left on an oak tree that often plays host to these creatures. I'm pretty sure that one of my very early blog entries was another shot similar to this, but taken on an iPhone 3G (the first model iPhone to be sold in New Zealand).
Link added - old cicada post

This image hasn't been edited at all but I did use a small magnifying glass held in front of the camera lens to allow it to focus closer than it normally would.

Water Tower

This sculpture is in Petone next to the outlets for a well known and popular aquifer. People come from near and far to fill all sorts of containers with the cool clear water.
I decided to use Camera+ to increase the saturation of this image.

Nasty View

Lying back in a dentist's chair is not often a pleasant place to be. Having someone use power tools on your teeth and charging lots of money for the privilege is a good incentive to look after your teeth!
I've edited this shot with Camera+ but the arms on the ceiling fan have 'bent' due to their movement during the exposure.

Keep Clear

I've been noticing more of these labels on buildings around Wellington. The wording seems strange to me... do they mean that a particular building is more prone to earthquakes than the building next door? I really think that the label should say 'damage prone building' or 'earthquake susceptible building'.

Southern Sunrise

Early morning in Picton with HDR mode on the iPhone camera app. This helps extend the tonal range to give extra detail in the shadow areas as well as the highlights - sometimes it can help an image... sometimes it can give a very odd false look.

Through the round window...

On a crossing of the Cook Strait this shot was taken after entering the Marlborough Sounds through a large 'porthole' window.
Another Instagram image.

Go go gadget

This is our daughter's cool wee gadget bag/purse - sitting on a table at El Matador (the location of yesterday's blog post).
A good subject for the Instagram treatment.

Indoor Outdoor Flow

One of Cuba Street's recent hospitality arrivals has set up this funky outdoor seating area for their customers.
This was shot on a lovely Saturday morning and the image hasn't been retouched.

Shadow Play

Pinot Gris in the sunlight - slightly modified with the Camera+ 'clarity' filter.

Where there's muck there's brass...

A local scrap metal dealer has been collecting junked musical instruments for quite a few years - seemed ripe for some Instagram treatment.

Mexi-combo

Guacamole and a margarita - it doesn't get much more Mexican around here... except maybe when I add a 'More Cowbell' filter to the photo (courtesy of Camera Awesome... and La Boca Loca).

The Bat Scooter

The motorbike parks around town are usually full of all types of scooters - this one has a certain appeal. 

I used one of my favourite filters from Camera+: So Emo.

Homely

This is one of Wellington's older bus stops, and one that's had a bit of media coverage lately. Before Christmas it had a random makeover to give it a few homely touches - there was even a decorated tree set up in December. It seems the bus company is quite happy to leave the furniture and decor touches in place.

The image was shot with the HDR setting on and then given a few adjustments with Snapseed to bring out some detail and knock back some saturation.

Tunnel Vision

Another camera test to see how it performs in difficult lighting situations. This was taken at about 9.00pm, 320 ISO 1/20th sec shutter speed. There are a few apps that dig out the metadata from photos on the iPhone - the screenshot is from app called Lab.

Sign of Summer

Today is certainly not one that could conceivably be considered as a summers day.... but through the magic of scrolling through my camera album... I decided to chose a classic harbour-side summer scene.

Cropped and filtered with one of the earliest popular photo editing apps around - Best Camera (endorsed/promoted by top photographer Chase Jarvis).

From the garden

Scallopini fresh from the garden and ready for a tasty stir-fry.

I used that old iPhone standby, Instagram, to process this shot.

Photography with Flare

Shooting towards the sun is often a good test of a lens (or how clean a lens is) and the 5 certainly handles the extremes rather well, with good contrast away from the flare. 

There's been a lot of talk of purple flare with the new iPhone camera, and although there's certainly evidence of it happening, it doesn't seem a major issue at all. 

Witness For The Defence

Grabbing a park in town is often a tricky affair. This time I was in a zone just outside a timed bus clearway... but the electronic meter wouldn't accept any money and seemed to have been programmed for the wrong zone. Luckily there was a helpful warden nearby who agreed that he'd be a witness (luckily I didn't get towed).

Another instance where always having a camera with you can be a big timesaver.

I used the Photo fx app to pixelate the warden's face and number.

More than a Zephyr

Wellington (and the country) has been buffeted by pretty severe winds over the last few days. This kinetic sculpture, titled 'Zephyrometer', sways in the slightest breeze but it rarely gets pushed this far.
I imported this image into Photo fx and added a grey grad to the blank sky, got rid of some background haze and cooled down the colour temperature.

First Job

A few days ago I needed a few images to post online of items to sell... so of course it was time to reach for the iPhone 5 (fitting for this classic piece of Apple hardware and the iBook under it).
Due to the odd angle I had the camera at, the gyroscope was fooled and the image displayed upside down, so I used the native photo app editing tools to rotate the image, save it, and then send it to the auction site and this blog.

Twilight Sailing

This driftwood structure made an interesting frame to the Interislander Ferry leaving Wellington harbour.
I increased the saturation of this shot slightly using Snapseed.

Show time

The foyer of Embassy Theatre just before another screening of a little movie called The Hobbit.
Cropped and given the retro look with an app called Retrogram.

Security Ports

Loving the overall speed improvements of the '5' over the iPhone 4. It may have been that my 4 had been 'clogged' with dozens of apps that I hardly ever used, or that it had been Jailbroken and had quite a few tweaks applied (I do miss them...), but I guess it's mostly the faster processor and more RAM that means the '5' is able to access the camera quicker and apply changes to images almost instantly.
This image was worked on in Camera+.

Gelato Weather

Wellington's waterfront was teaming with tourists and locals enjoying the sunshine today... they say you can't beat Wellington on a good day, and today was a very good day.
This shot was taken in a busy gelato shop and filtered with the first iPhone photo app (I think) that I used on an iPhone 3G - CameraBag. Nice to see it still provides a good edit and works really quickly on the '5'.

Afternoon Rosé

A difficult decision today - do I post a photograph of my coffee or my glass of wine?
This shot was treated with a filter called 'Brownie - Dark' in the app Ttv PS.

Beach collage

A quick wander around the beach with the new iPhone - the camera manages to capture great dynamic range and good colour depth.
These few quick snaps were put together in the Mixel app.

Urban Panorama

I've used numerous panorama apps for my earlier generations of iPhones - some have been simpler than others But the new panorama function of the iPhone 5 is just so easy it's tempting to use it all the time.
Most of these types of images are made of static landscape views, which it's most suited to. You can see some visual anomalies that can happen with moving subjects, as I'm panning the camera while people are walking.

Whole New World

Well, how about 'New Year, New iPhone'. Yep, am getting to grips (happily) with an iPhone 5 - loving the capability of the camera, the taller screen and the speed of the processor.
This image was made using the new panorama function to shoot a 'short' panno at Oriental Bay.

The night before

Small rooms in the Big House

On a prime piece of real estate overlooking Wellington's harbour there is an old prison that has just ceased operating. They held an open day for the public to get an insight into what it was like behind the brick wall and razor wire - it was actually so popular that they extended it for a second day.
This photo was given a filter called 'retrodrops' in the Retrogram app.

Above and beyond...

A few months back I checked out a very enjoyable New Zealand made western feature film - Good for Nothing - and pre-ordered a copy of the DVD.
I had heard that it was about to be released but was given a very pleasant surprise when the director of the film ambled up our driveway and handed over a beautifully wrapped & wax stamped copy of the DVD... such service!
A benefit of living in the hub of Wellington's movie district.
This 'pack shot' was given the rustic treatment with Camera+

Guy Fawkes Night

I was fortunate to have a superb ring-side view of Wellington's fireworks show on the harbour (not only a great view, but great food and company).
I took quite a few photos with my DSLR and then got out the iPhone to try out an app called Slow Shutter. It allows you to choose a variety of shutter speeds that aren't normally accessible with the standard camera - this was shot at 1 second and then given a boost with the 'drama' filter in Snapseed.