This is an odd post: Disappointing photos. Today, while waiting for my wife to fetch me from the ophthalmologist, I stopped to gawk at bees busily bouncing about flowers for nectar. Hundreds of them gathered and proved no threat to me as I closed in and captured 20 shots, using iPhone XS.
Grumble. Can the Apple cameras do no better than these, which are the best of a bad lot? I experimented with standard and Portrait modes—and all the pics look artificial at best, and not sharp enough at worst.
When looking through Nokia N95 photos to illustrate the previous post, I happened upon a palm portrait that my wife, Anne Wilcox, made using the cameraphone on Sept. 14, 2008. I startled seeing how much shorter was the tree then than I remember seeing recently. So, today, I ambled over to the corner of Adams and North, in my San Diego neighborhood of University Heights, for a fresh pic.
The Featured Image shows how the palm has risen since she shot it (left). Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 6mm; 4:10 p.m. PDT. I used iPhone XS for the taller tree (right). Vitals: f/1.8, ISO 25, 1/1992 sec, 26mm (film equivalent); 1:25 p.m.
Palm Sunday is unseasonably toasty here in San Diego. As I write, the official temperature is 27 degrees Celsius (81 F)—and that’s the forecast high, which means more sizzle to come by early afternoon. As I walked along Madison—between Alabama and Mississippi in University Heights—orange and yellow flowers beckoned my attention. At first, I passed by, then turned back for a quick shot, using Leica Q2. The Featured Image is the first of four captures and best composition. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/2.8, ISO 100, 1/2000 sec, 28mm; 10:13 a.m. PDT.
As I lay low for the final photo, an older fellow walking a dog asked, as he passed: “Have you got good Macro on that camera?” I replied affirmatively—even though not using the mode right then. Vitals for that shot, which is cropped: f/8, ISO 100, 1/250 sec, 28mm; 10:14 a.m.
Soon after shooting the Monarch on the aromatic purple flowers, on Feb. 23, 2021, I captured a delightful collection of daffodils; but they bleached out in the sunlight and they weren’t focused within the narrow […]
San Diego is a three-season climate: Early Summer, Mid Summer, and Late Summer. The first fully flourishes: Little birds tweet; crows caw; citrus grows in residents’ yards; squirrels scamper; and non-perennials burst with fresh flowers; among many other delights. In some other locale, these things would be signs of Spring, but Summer never really ends here and merely transitions from states of vitality—which booms this fine February. Despite the drier-than-typical third season, lusciousness abounds. Sights and sounds of vibrant life are everywhere.
Smells, too. While walking along Meade Ave. between Alabama and Mississippi, in the University Heights community, on Feb. 23, 2021, a wondrously friendly fragrance greeted my nostrils, and I stopped to regard the source—the purple flowers you see in the Featured Image. The Monarch presented photographic opportunity, and I pulled out Leica Q2 for two deliberate but hasty shots. Luckily, the first is wings down; the unpublished other, they’re up. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/500 sec, 28mm; 10:39 a.m. PST.
Highly recommended: Avoid making Macro-shots of hanging-flowers when windy. Pixel-peeping the Featured Image reveals what happens when the breeze blows the vine after the shooter focuses but before he (or she) clicks the shutter. I […]
I am not a photographer and bear no illusions about ever being one. My composition skills are raw, and rarely cooked, and I lack the post-production sense that someone else would use to create art. My camera, the Leica Q2, is professional grade and seemingly beyond my skills. But I handle the all-in-one well enough, and it is satisfying to use—enjoyable and versatile.
I am a storyteller, however, and use photos to mark moments or to illustrate a narrative. Take as example the Featured Image (warning: 30GB file), which I captured today along Georgia Street between Lincoln and Polk in San Diego’s University Heights neighborhood. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 11:36 a.m. PST. The original was portrait, but I cropped square.
Our nature trek starts with Enzio Harpaintner and self-titled “Rastplatz“, which translates from German as “resting place”. He used Fujifilm X-H1 and Fujinon XF100-400mmF4.5-5.6 R LM OIS WR lens to capture the little bird, on […]
The Photostream of Matthias Ripp is a troublesome affair, because almost any image would humble this series with worthiness. He is an artist. Among the many contenders: “Autumn Walk“; “Magic of (Low) Light“; and “Say […]
Our Wednesday selection, self-titled “Foggy Morning“, is a metaphor for the United States, following yesterday’s Presidential election. Many things are unclear, which makes the title appropriate. More importantly: The photo, which Sarah Horrigan captured on July […]
There is “no cuter bird than a puffin”, says Rob Oo, who captured self-titled “Style Icon” in Vestur-Bardastrandarsysla, Iceland, on July 21, 2018, using Pentax K-S2. Vitals: f/8, ISO 1600, 1/350 sec, 250mm. The bird […]
We celebrate Sunday with self-titled “He’s Coming To Get You“, which Charlie Marshall captured on May 1, 2019, using Canon EOS 5D Mark IV and EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM lens. Vitals: f/8, ISO 2500, 1/320 sec, 150mm. “I saw this wolf in the HIghland Wildlife Park near Kincraig,” Charlie says of the Scotland shot. “At the time, he was chasing another wolf”. The photo is a keeper for composition and drama.
“I’ve been a keen photographer since I got my first camera at the age of six (I saved up ice-cream wrappers and sent off for a small, leaky plastic camera)”, Charlie says. “I spent a lot of time in my twenties and thirties using disposable cameras, which forced me to focus really hard on composition because there was nothing else to focus on”.