Arizona Desert and Apple iPhone

A Nice Hike in the Peace and Quiet

I got to use an iPhone for the first time as a camera. I went out to take some 4x5 black and white photos at the Superstition Museum, but there was some kind of private event going on, so I kept going up into the Superstition Mountains. I exposed one sheet of film, but also took a bunch of photos with the iPhone. It is really quite a nice little camera as long as the light is good. It is moderately wide and takes pictures that are fine for screen and 4x6 prints. I expect that I could even get 8x12 out of these files with some help from photoshop. 

These are all right from my phone. I uploaded them right from the desert as I was hiking back to the car. The location is at the Lost Dutchman State Park. From the Needles View Point day area, I hiked about a mile into the desert and found a vantage point that I hope is pleasing for the lens I was using. It is a 210mm (70mm equivalent) and I waited for a few hours for the light to get good. It was overcast, so there was little contrast. The scene I was shooting only had about 3 stops of difference from high to low. Then about 20 minutes before sunset, the sun came out and I had great light for about 5 minutes. I hope I got it right. 

Here are the iPhone pictures. These were taken, edited (very little), and uploaded from my iPhone. Then, when I got back to the house, they were all waiting for me on my mac in Photostream. They are also now on my desktop in Montana, automatically. I love the way Apple stuff just works. Other technology companies should figure out that it is not enough just to copy what Apple did with the hardware and then try and cram a few more features in so they can say "see, were better than Apple." Oh, if my TV worked, then I could sit down on the couch and all these pictures would automatically be available for my to view there as well. Without me doing anything! Marcie spent 3 hours on the phone with Dell yesterday trying to make her new laptop work. 


The 4x5. I look forward to calling one my own. You can see here how the light was kind of flat and unexciting. It did get better.


Superstitious Cacti.

I tried a shot right into the light. The sun is behind the tip of this cactus. You can see some strange compensation the camera tried to make on the part of the cactus in the light. It was not strangely darker on the top half. Notice  the variety of flora in the desert. Lots of blooming plants.

Saguaro Desert.


Sentinel Cactus and Weever's Needle.

Blooming Cactus. Nice rich colors and a selective focus tool make the flowers pop.

Rock, Lichen, and Cactus
Jolla Glow. I liked all the baby Jolla on the ground. Those little glow balls are actually small cacti that are growing and glowing. It reminded me of the the Star Trek "The Trouble with Tribbles"

Nature's Arboretum. 

Desert Sunset. I really like this composition. It would be interesting to see how this might turn out with film. The range was obviously just a little to much for the iPhone and you can see I have a little camera shake going on. Also, I notice some noise, especially in the sky. I really like how the normally grey rock has an almost glow and has picked up the cool tones of the evening. This was about 15 minutes after sunset. Maybe I'll go back here and try with color film.

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