Nothing says the end of summer like equipment tests but there we are. I spent the last afternoon of summer testing lens and camera bodies whilst at the same time trying to make some interesting images.
The summer ended with the first moon of autumn slowly growing in the sky.
The last day of summer, at least here in Britain, and I thought I would make the passing with a series of images ( I know hardly groundbreaking!) that I captured in the last days of Summer.
I continue my quests to make my iPhone capture better images and I am afraid the jury has returned its verdict and surprise surprise I am now having add two seconds to my capturing experience by opening the phone and using the Adobe Lightroom app. Such a pain!
I then tried this out with my Sony and its much more expensive lenses at Powys (I know it is technically Powis but when in Wales use the Welsh language wherever possible) Castle. It was an interesting experience and has given me much to think about (spoiler alert: The Sony is the better all round but there is a place for the iPhone.)
One final thought…800 px and 72 ppi do not show any of these images at their best .
I have been running a few tests on my iPhone (this is a fancy way of saying I was messing around with iPhone whilst awaiting the coffee to arrive) and have come up to the very unscientific answer to the problem I have with my iPhone camera is that the camera is fine it is the post production software that Apple has developed is a bit, well in my opinion (your opinion may vary and I respect that), shit. There was a time that I enjoyed the wayward results that the iPhone would produce but this latest iteration just doesn’t cut it for me. What the software appears to be doing is using ‘computer learning’ to make the photograph for you and it would appear, to my eyes at least, to be not making a very good job of things – especially around trees on the land/sky horizon.
What I have done is switch back to using Lightroom on the iPhone as the camera app in there gives you significant leeway to make the photo you want rather than what the computer wants to create and then saves the image file as a .DNG. This means that when you post produce in Lightroom on the Mac all the settings can be reversed or enhanced with no loss of technical quality from the image.
The reason why I stopped using this is that I liked using the shortcut button on the lock screen of the iPhone rather than having to unlock the iPhone and then open the Lightroom app. I know it was only a few seconds but that is me. So I guess I’ll just have put up with this pfaff but I find this annoying (this really is a first world of first world problem!)
It wasn’t supposed to have been a walk along the canal but this is Sunday so people decide to walk their dog and I am afraid that some people don’t realise that just because they see cute bundle of energy bounding around others, ie me, see themselves being surrounding by what looks like a pitbull which is not fun. However, the owner of the dog quickly got their dog under control, once I had asked (?) (Not sure whether me sternly asking ‘ do you mind getting your dog under control!‘ counts asking or ordering. Muscle memory I’m afraid. Anyway I realised that there was going to be lots more encounters like this so I decided to walk along the canal.
Unfortunately, I only had my iPhone with me and no matter what I try I just can’t make this bloody camera do what I want it to do. Of course I could take a deep dive and waste more time but I don’t see why I should waste more time. This is the first iPhone camera that I have to say is truly rubbish and by now I have had at least 6 iPhones going all the way back to just after they came out. None have been this bad. The only saving grace is the super wide. Moan over.
It was a lovely walk and not the one I intended but such is life so in its own way that pitbull type dog did me a favour and I suspect he was just being youthful and full of beans but when it is a pitbull type dog how are you supposed to know?
Stranger danger? Not sure but I’ve been making painting. It was fun.
With the heat wave still waving away for another day or so it has given me a bit of time to make a couple of drawings – actually little more than sketches but that doesn’t matter, I’ve picked up a real pencil and made some marks on a piece of paper. Whatever marks I make today hopefully tomorrow things will just get a bit better. It has been nearly a year since I tried to do this so I am bound to be a bit rusty. Also my tastes have changed so who knows how things will progress?
And the heatwave continues and now we officially are in a drought. As I write this the temperature is, according to my watch, 31 degrees C outside but thankfully there is a wonderful breeze blowing in from the north which has made all the difference.
We have started to change our lifestyle to adopt to the heat. We get up at dawn, currently around 5:30 and get some work done before breakfast. I usually go out for a walk in the early morning and I have to say it is very very refreshing. However, the ground is rock hard and the drainage ponds have all dried up.
This is just not normal or should I say this wasn’t normal but I suspect that boat has well and truly sailed. Now we must start to adapt our lives to this new normal and all the time our so called leaders are bickering about, oh I don’t know what any more. What is clear is that they are giving next to no attention to the ever increasing effects of global warming.
To end on a positive (?) note there was a beautiful harvest moon this morning – so I guess that is something 🙂
Here we go again! The summer heat is back. I was reading in the paper this morning that apparently Global Warming isn’t happening and even if it is we will develop technologies to overcome the problems – so what problem? This is being argued by the same people that said that technology will fix the Irish border problem after Brexit. Not sure how well that is working out at the moment.
In truth, we will find solutions to problems that is what the human race does but wouldn’t it be better not to have the problem in the first place? Also what about the many millions of people that live in areas of the earth where, because of global warming, can’t live there anymore? What will they do? I suspect they will find a solution to their problem by moving to where they can live, again something that humans have done since, well, there were humans. And how does ‘technology’ fix whole ecosystems that we depend on for our food? And and and…We may not like it but the earth’s climate is changing and we are contributing to that change so we either start to do something now, even though it is expensive, or later when will be much much more expensive. BTW that later isn’t as late as some might think.
It is a while since I went for a walk around Abbey Park, Leicester. Last time was just before Christmas and I seem to recall a bit colder than today. Most of the birds have had their broods for the year and they appear to be taking stock before once more preparing to endure another winter. Talking of endurance the park itself has seen better days. The first time I walked around the park was in the 1970’s and there is a rundown feel about the place that was hanging in the air back then. So much for the benefits of Brexit…too political? I think not.
Simon's Blog 