Perhaps we should save Samsung’s AI-driven colorization capability for older black and white photos, for which more can be forgiven. In the Gallery app on Galaxy S24 Ultra, I converted a more modern shot to color and the result, while not bad, isn’t good.
Look at the Featured Image and observe the green nose of the woman next to Odi, for example.
Two days a week, a food truck selling—you guessed it—vegan street food sets up on the North Park side of Texas. Across El Cajon Blvd on the University Heights side of the street is McDonald’s for anyone craving carb-and-protein-rich alternatives, like Big Mac.
I have yet to get a good shot of the truck, mainly because of vehicular obstructions. The sign has been challenging, too, but I got a singular opportunity on Dec. 8, 2023. The Featured Image comes from Leica Q2. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/1.7, ISO 100, 1/5000 sec, 28mm; 11:57 a.m. PST.
Across San Diego County, more than 145 drop boxes are placed to receive ballots, which California mailed to all registered voters. Today, the state held primary elections, including President of the United States. Fifteen other states commenced primaries on this Super Tuesday.
My wife and I unexpectedly used a drop box, rather than continue our customary practice of voting in person. Annie felt poorly, and I am juggling family matters. We don’t expect Dad to live through the week. But he is still conscious and cognizant, receives visitors (whoa, the county sheriff, among many others), or makes and receive phone calls. But Dad’s strength and vitality ebb away, and his decline increases. My sister was right urging us both to fly to Maine—she from Florida—over the weekend of Feb. 16, 2024.
During the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns, my wife and I let expire our membership to San Diego Zoo. Reason: Hefty price increases.
For example, we paid $112 annually for a residential 2-adult pass six years ago, with no blackout dates. I grumbled when the price jumped to $149. In 2024, one-forty-nine is the cost for one adult membership, with blackout dates. Meaning: Twice as much, with restrictions, compared to five years ago. Ah, yeah.
For some reason, last night, YouTube’s algorithm suggested a not-so-interesting video about a street photographer with whom I had limited knowledge. My watching some portion of the vid generated suggestions for others and finally the gem: Documentary “Finding Vivian Maier“, which I watched in its entirety this evening.
Quick backstory: A large portion of her collection of media—including more than 150,000 negatives, hundreds of undeveloped film rolls, audio recordings, and home movies—were auctioned in 2007; she had failed to keep up payments on a storage unit. Vivian Maier was an unknown, unpublished photographer at the time; she died in April 2009, following a fall, unaware that her street shots had started to draw attention after some were published on Flickr.
For the first Caturday of March, we meet a stout shorthair seen on Cleveland Ave.—the first of three on the same day, which is more than the total number for the previous two years. What’s up with that, suddenly?
I used Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to capture the Featured Image, which is composed as shot and straight from the smartphone; no edits. Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/200 sec, (synthetic) 230mm (digital and optical zoom); 9:52 a.m. PST, Feb. 24, 2024. Nickname: Lavish, for appearing so fine, posed, posh, and regal.
The Featured Image is a memory marker. I shall explain. The grass on this property is rarely overgrown like this. But the woman responsible for tending things has lost the privilege of doing so. For reasons of protected privacy, I choose not to show the building.
One of my neighbors is in the process of losing her home. Supposedly she will be duly compensated, but what she wants is to stay in the neighborhood she knows and loves, living out her life in a house her grandmother once owned.
What a Leap Day treat: Two of the squawkers that flap around the neighborhood perched atop the building next door. I pulled out Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and captured the Featured Image and companion. Both are pseudo-10x zoom; the camera combines 5x-optical lens and digital wizardry to mimic what the S23 Ultra could achieve totally optically.
Vitals: f/3.4, ISO 32, 1/320 sec, (synthetic) 230mm (digital and optical zoom); 5:10 p.m. PST, today. The other is same but 1/310 sec. Both photos are composed as shot. I must admit that the 10x renders are as good as or better than what would come from Galaxy S23 Ultra.
I don’t know why, but this thing gives me the willies. Nov. 5, 2023, while walking along El Cajon in the University Heights, I passed a mounted photo lying on the sidewalk beside ill-named BLVD North Park. Presumably, that’s a shadow selfie shot somewhere else.
The Featured Image comes from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 800, 1/30 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 7:39 p.m. PST. The sun set at 4:54 p.m., and evening’s darkness had fully arrived. This photo benefits from ambient building light and the smartphone’s night shooting capabilities.
As part of the settlement of a class-action lawsuit, San Diego will no longer enforce overnight parking laws that restrict where some vehicles can park. The prohibition has burdened people sleeping in RVs and vans, particularly, with costly tickets or tows.
Section 86.0139 of the San Diego Municipal Code states: “It is unlawful for any person to park or leave standing upon any public street, park road, or parking lot, any oversized vehicle, non-motorized vehicle, or recreational vehicle between the hours of 2:00 am and 6:00 am”.
On just one walk over the weekend, I added three more putty-tats to the backlog of the unpublished. If I rightly recall, the queue reaches back to at least June of last year. This fine feline was more recently photographed: Jan. 9, 2024.
The Featured Image comes from Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/1800 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 1:28 p.m. PST; somewhere along Howard Ave. For commanding presence and basking in the sun, this stout tabby earns nickname Blaze. He (or she) is the the one-hundred-twenty-sixth kitty found behind door or window.
Yesterday, I used Samsung Photo Assist on Galaxy S24 Ultra to colorize a blurry black-and-white portrait from the 1950s. Today, we transform a sharp shot taken using an exceptional camera: Leica Q2 Monochrom. To see the original, click through to “Ghosts Light Up the Dark“, Sept. 30, 2023.
I kind of like what the auto-AI enhancement tool has done to the Featured Image. Do you? Remember: All done on the smartphone, with little effort on my part. Neither clarity nor detail was compromised during the conversion, something I wondered about.