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...?

Sunnies On

A shelf of salt & pepper shakers catching the last rays of afternoon sun.
The image was imported into ProCamera app and had the 'sunburn' filter added.

Season change

There's been a swing towards Autumn in the last few days... a spot of Instagram seems appropriate.

On the rocks

A classic drink on a vintage tray. Looking through one of my folders of photography apps, I decided to use an app I haven't used for a long time - Edwin. It has a range of old-school edge effects and some filter treatments.

Market Day

Shopping for veges is always a good time to shoot a few photos on the iPhone. These shots were edited together in an app called PhotoGridPro.

Good Friday for baking

An Easter weekend treat - crunchy-top lemon loaf - fresh out of the oven.
I usually decide how to treat a photo after it's been shot, but this time I used the app Instagram to actually take the shot - composing in a square format is quite enjoyable.

Jonathan Livingston

Another view of the kinetic sculptures along Evans Bay - put through my old faithful formula of using 'clarity' and 'so emo' in the app Camera+.

One for Robert C

The views from 'The Heights' at twilight can be quite spectacular on a good evening.
Another occasion to bust out the panorama mode on the iPhone.

Heading for the light

There's always something going on at the airport. I'd stopped in on this occasion to view a photographic exhibition... and take a few photos with the iPhone.
I grabbed a free app called photo editor so I could retouch out a distracting piece of rubbish that was on the floor. The app has just turned it into a darker fuzzy blob (below the man on the left), and I also used the app to convert the image to black and white.

Fish & ?

Have heard good things about the fare from here.
Instagram-ed.

Glitzy premiere

The screening of a short film I'd worked on was held at a rather swanky local theatre.
This shot was captured at 800 ISO and given a bit of Camera+ treatment.

Suburban Retreat

Probably a student flat - they tend to be the only places that end up with couches on verandahs.
The image looked fine as it was but I decided to give it a retro look with Camera+.

Waterside Festivities

As part of Wellington's Summer City events there was an Asian Festival being run along the waterfront. Some of the food stalls were extremely popular with queues winding along the wharf.
I used the app Over to place the type onto this shot - it seems to have a good range of fonts available.

Fleeting Visit

Another Monarch on a popular plant in our garden. These visitors will be becoming less frequent as the days are getting cooler, but whenever I watch one it seems to remind of perfect summer days.
Cropped, processed and framed with Snapseed.

Growing Strange

I noticed this tree in the grounds of the old Porirua Hospital. The lighting wasn't very interesting so I thought I'd grab a shot on the iPhone as a visual note to go back another time... but decided to post it here anyway - with a bit of Camera Awesome treatment.

Information Mining

Digital photography is great for many reasons, not least of which is the array of metadata that's stored away with each image.
I've got a few apps which will reveal the background data of photos, this is a screenshot of a photo being viewed in Camera+ - showing all sorts of info, like aperture, shutter speed, ISO rating, file size, time and date of capture, which filters have been used, and because of the GPS tagging that goes on - you can view where the shot was taken.

Precious

A recent addition to Wellington's airport to recognise the premiere of The Hobbit movie.
The shot was enhanced somewhat in Camera+.

Kitchen Prep

Celery and red peppers ready for adding to the pot.
Cropped and given a slight tweak with the app 'qbro'.

Amber Glow

A local craft beer sitting in the evening light... when you spot some nice lighting always reach for a camera... and if that camera happens to be a phone, so be it...

Beach Shack

A great place to hang out - whatever the weather.
I decided to run this shot through Instagram (the Mayfair filter).

Boardwalk

Lovely old weathered planks often make for interesting photographs. These ones lead up to jetty beside a river and had one or two early autumn leaves scattered on them.
Enhanced a little with Camera+.

Summer flutter

I sometimes think that I should join the Instagrammers of the world and keep using the app for everything that I shoot... but then I think 'no, I like the variety of apps available' - so I just use it now and then.

Above and Below

I didn't need to use a fancy underwater rig to shoot this - it was a viewing window at a trout hatchery.
I processed the shot with an app called HDR FX Pro to help balance the exposure of plants and water.

From above

This could be an aerial shot of earth or an ultra close-up of something organic... but it's an image of a geothermal pool with various types of algae, taken from about 2 metres.
The original was a little flat looking, but once I applied the clarity filter from Camera+ it came alive with more saturation and contrast.

Skyfall (the time lapse)

First rule of shooting a long time lapse sequence: make sure you have enough space on the memory card... Second rule: have plenty of battery power.
While shooting a time lapse of this sunset I ran out of space on the memory card and the battery in the camera was just about flat.
Yeah, I should have just used the iPhone...

Like a duck to...?

This was quite a pretty image without any editing, but after running it through Camera Awesome it looks old-school and a bit mysterious.
I used the preset called 'More Wang' plus a border filter.

Cruise Season

Cruise ships have been coming and going in Wellington harbour for quite a few weeks now, generally for only a night or two.
This ship was leaving on a beautiful evening and gave a long blast on the fog horn just after the shot was taken.
I edited this in the native photo app - cropped and auto-enhanced.

Honey on Ice

The instructions from our generous friends were to put this bottle on ice. The bourbon- based liqueur got thick and syrupy but didn't freeze.... very smooth...
Once again I used the Camera+ app to add a bit of drama to the shot.

Before & After

Once again the power of the iPhone to make a quick and effective edit to an image impresses me.
This shot in difficult lighting was imported into Camera+ and treated with the Clarity and Sunkissed filters.

Morning Light

Early morning is generally a great time to shoot photos as the contrast level is usually not too high. The flaring in a shot like tends to add to the mood of the image. No editing.

Yellow Terror

Vespa = wasp. Some very nice detailing on this 300cc GTS Supersport.
I imported this shot into an app called TtV PS.

Ariba!

Snacking at the local Mexican restaurant it was a good time to compare the camera in the iPhone 5 with a friend's iPhone 4. This sort of situation suited the new phone's ability to shoot at ISO 3200.... no contest.
Processed in the Best Camera app.

Morning Walk

A glorious morning in Wellington and all along the waterfront people walking, running, cycling or scooting... I feel a bit of an outsider to all this feverish activity.
No editing on this shot.

Curious...?

The doberman pinscher at the end of the driveway was looking like he was prepared to follow through with the promise of helping out anyone who was wanting to find out the answer to this.
The image was converted to black and white in Camera Awesome.

Comfy Spot

A great place to relax with a beverage - the Grand Lobby at The Roxy Cinema.
This shot was edited slightly in Camera+.

Good Day on the Bay

Oriental Bay is always a great place to hang out over summer... young or old, there's always something to do there.
These 3 shots were combined with the Mixel app.