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Weekly Photo Contest: 4 August to 10 August (Mobile Photography)
- Thread starter JDDavis
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Thanks to everyone who participated. There were a great group of photos that made my work difficult and proved the adage that its not the gear but whats immediately behind the gear that makes the image. Since this wasnt a specific theme Ill try to do my best to critique each image individually and then just pick my favorites.
Without further ado;
NeGRit0 - I like the thought and the contrast between the foreground and background. Kind of like two different worlds. Use of the puddle is nice too but Id have like to have seen more of the needles reflection in it. In the end its a bit slanted to the right and the power lines are just too much of a distraction.
iMac wannabe - Fantastic. I am, of course, a sucker for mountain landscapes. The colors are nice and the reflection worked out really well. The lake looks surprisingly calm for what looks like later in the day. What a particularly like is the way everything (lake, mountains, valley) for a leading line back to the farthest point in the image. The only critique is that the signage in the lower left is distracting (and the tree to the right a bit).
AQUADock - Those are great bushes to get butterfly shots on. I find it hard to get detail our of those (and the red) flowers. I like the shot and the wings of the moth but his head is a bit out of focus (or maybe its my eyes). Seems like a mobile phone camera would have a larger DOF unless you were using an add on lens.
Cheese&Apple - Tip of the cap, Sir. That is about as close to symmetrical as I think you can get with a phone pano. Nicely cropped, unless you hit it this perfect by hand. Very well composed.
jkramerbob - Cool shot. I like the monotone look to it. Seems like it fits the morning well. I like the near silhouette of the boat and the fishermen looking over into the water adds some tension.
themumu - Very nice. I think this turned out well and is a testament for creativity with a phone camera. The water line is just about perfect and I like the ghostly appearance of whats below the water. The only critique is the somewhat distracting background but it in now way breaks the image. On a side note Ive been debating if I should upgrade my original GoPro or look into a waterproof case for my iPhone for on the water and in the water shots.
CharlieBrandt09 - Beautiful sunset and nice colors. Id say the iP5 did a pretty decent job with no editing. If there was a lot of color to the left I might have tried a horizontal shot or a pano but I also like that the railing is in the image.
soulreaver99 - Another great baseball shot. You didnt have the advantage of being dead center but the colors are nice and I like the skyline in the background as well. Id probably crop or clone out the bit of fence and heads in the lower left and see if that worked.
Indydenny - Great idea. I think the editing work was well done on the phone. Im not sure it was necessary or works completely with this image though. The folks in the background distract a bit. Great capture of her looking right into the camera. Its still a neat shot and shows the possibilities of post on a phone.
Miltz - I love the colors and the overall look of the lighthouse. What app did you do the HDR in? I like the sun low across the water as well. Im not totally sold on not seeing more of the lighthouse or the boat in the background but I do still love the look of the lighthouse.
Techzone - Cool tilt-shift. The tilt-shift miniaturization was done very well. What app did you use? Ive tried it with Snapseed with limited success. Its important to have the right image to start with. Youve taken what would normally be a pretty boring image and made it interesting.
Apple Fanboy - Mmmmm, beer! Reminds me of when I was taking trips to Fairford a lot and all the locals wanted Bud Light and we all wanted the local English beer. The shot turned out well. Might been a tad more interesting with a different composition. Surprise! You do mobile photography now!
Todd H - Been there. Pretty place. Nice shot but I think it could have been a little more interesting with some editing in an app. Its real easy for mobile photos to look like they were just a snapshot. Honestly most of them are.
Badrottie - Bonus points for actually taking an angle on the theme while following the instructions. I like the idea for sure. The one thing that gets me though is the really bright reflection above the home button. Its hard not to zero in on that.
Hughmac - Nice juxtaposition with the swans and the coal plant (Im assuming?) Is there a bit of texture applied with an app or is that just the image. I think its composed nicely.
acearchie - Cool tree and I really like the gradiation of the sunrise. My only suggestion is to get a chain saw and get rid of all the other trees so that great old one is isolated. Kidding, but it would be cool to see it silhouetted alone agains that background. Maybe a closer shot with a steeper angle?
Parkin Pig - Cool, kinda Water World-ish place. I think you are on to something there and I would definitely revisit that place. Looks like the clouds are almost letting rays of sun through and that wouldve been great. I applaud what you did with the line and the though but unfortunately for me it took away from the overall image.
needfx - Bonus points for sure for the undercover contest entry and the exotic locale. Unfortunately my brother in law is a hall guard at the National Palace museum and I emailed him a link to this. Kidding you did pretty decent under pressure and perhaps invented another genre of mobile photography.
OK, thats a wrap. Thanks for the entries and I hope some of the things I said made sense. At least two of you mentioned a thread for mobile photography. There was one before but I havent been able to locate it either. We can always start another. I might just do that after this. On to the good stuff .
Honorable mentions to themumu, milts, and TechZone for very creative shots.
3rd Place - acearchie - Love that tree.
2nd Place - Cheese&Apple - The perfect pano.
1st Place - iMac wannabe - Great colors, great reflection, great composition.
On to the next one!
Without further ado;
NeGRit0 - I like the thought and the contrast between the foreground and background. Kind of like two different worlds. Use of the puddle is nice too but Id have like to have seen more of the needles reflection in it. In the end its a bit slanted to the right and the power lines are just too much of a distraction.
iMac wannabe - Fantastic. I am, of course, a sucker for mountain landscapes. The colors are nice and the reflection worked out really well. The lake looks surprisingly calm for what looks like later in the day. What a particularly like is the way everything (lake, mountains, valley) for a leading line back to the farthest point in the image. The only critique is that the signage in the lower left is distracting (and the tree to the right a bit).
AQUADock - Those are great bushes to get butterfly shots on. I find it hard to get detail our of those (and the red) flowers. I like the shot and the wings of the moth but his head is a bit out of focus (or maybe its my eyes). Seems like a mobile phone camera would have a larger DOF unless you were using an add on lens.
Cheese&Apple - Tip of the cap, Sir. That is about as close to symmetrical as I think you can get with a phone pano. Nicely cropped, unless you hit it this perfect by hand. Very well composed.
jkramerbob - Cool shot. I like the monotone look to it. Seems like it fits the morning well. I like the near silhouette of the boat and the fishermen looking over into the water adds some tension.
themumu - Very nice. I think this turned out well and is a testament for creativity with a phone camera. The water line is just about perfect and I like the ghostly appearance of whats below the water. The only critique is the somewhat distracting background but it in now way breaks the image. On a side note Ive been debating if I should upgrade my original GoPro or look into a waterproof case for my iPhone for on the water and in the water shots.
CharlieBrandt09 - Beautiful sunset and nice colors. Id say the iP5 did a pretty decent job with no editing. If there was a lot of color to the left I might have tried a horizontal shot or a pano but I also like that the railing is in the image.
soulreaver99 - Another great baseball shot. You didnt have the advantage of being dead center but the colors are nice and I like the skyline in the background as well. Id probably crop or clone out the bit of fence and heads in the lower left and see if that worked.
Indydenny - Great idea. I think the editing work was well done on the phone. Im not sure it was necessary or works completely with this image though. The folks in the background distract a bit. Great capture of her looking right into the camera. Its still a neat shot and shows the possibilities of post on a phone.
Miltz - I love the colors and the overall look of the lighthouse. What app did you do the HDR in? I like the sun low across the water as well. Im not totally sold on not seeing more of the lighthouse or the boat in the background but I do still love the look of the lighthouse.
Techzone - Cool tilt-shift. The tilt-shift miniaturization was done very well. What app did you use? Ive tried it with Snapseed with limited success. Its important to have the right image to start with. Youve taken what would normally be a pretty boring image and made it interesting.
Apple Fanboy - Mmmmm, beer! Reminds me of when I was taking trips to Fairford a lot and all the locals wanted Bud Light and we all wanted the local English beer. The shot turned out well. Might been a tad more interesting with a different composition. Surprise! You do mobile photography now!
Todd H - Been there. Pretty place. Nice shot but I think it could have been a little more interesting with some editing in an app. Its real easy for mobile photos to look like they were just a snapshot. Honestly most of them are.
Badrottie - Bonus points for actually taking an angle on the theme while following the instructions. I like the idea for sure. The one thing that gets me though is the really bright reflection above the home button. Its hard not to zero in on that.
Hughmac - Nice juxtaposition with the swans and the coal plant (Im assuming?) Is there a bit of texture applied with an app or is that just the image. I think its composed nicely.
acearchie - Cool tree and I really like the gradiation of the sunrise. My only suggestion is to get a chain saw and get rid of all the other trees so that great old one is isolated. Kidding, but it would be cool to see it silhouetted alone agains that background. Maybe a closer shot with a steeper angle?
Parkin Pig - Cool, kinda Water World-ish place. I think you are on to something there and I would definitely revisit that place. Looks like the clouds are almost letting rays of sun through and that wouldve been great. I applaud what you did with the line and the though but unfortunately for me it took away from the overall image.
needfx - Bonus points for sure for the undercover contest entry and the exotic locale. Unfortunately my brother in law is a hall guard at the National Palace museum and I emailed him a link to this. Kidding you did pretty decent under pressure and perhaps invented another genre of mobile photography.
OK, thats a wrap. Thanks for the entries and I hope some of the things I said made sense. At least two of you mentioned a thread for mobile photography. There was one before but I havent been able to locate it either. We can always start another. I might just do that after this. On to the good stuff .
Honorable mentions to themumu, milts, and TechZone for very creative shots.
3rd Place - acearchie - Love that tree.
2nd Place - Cheese&Apple - The perfect pano.
1st Place - iMac wannabe - Great colors, great reflection, great composition.
On to the next one!
I too thought the tree would look pretty cool on it's own - so here's an extremely crude 30 second edit. It's a great pic! (Hope you don't mind, acearchie).
fun subject! amazing winners! props for extensive feedback!
new genre should be named : museum paparazzi sniper
to the next one
taipei national palace museum stealth shots by needfx, on Flickr
-
new genre should be named : museum paparazzi sniper
to the next one
taipei national palace museum stealth shots by needfx, on Flickr-
Last edited:
Thank You.
I downloaded an app called Tiltshift (Android). Thats the first picture I tired with that app & it came out really cool.
Thanks TechZone, I've just downloaded Tiltshift and will give it a go.
----------
This was a last minute attempt to just get something in - the background is Tilbury Power Station (coal fired as you suggested), and the photo was edited in the default Android photo app - a crop and a bit of auto colour correction was all I had available.
Great photos eveyone, and congrats to the winners.
Mobile photography is growing by the looks of it, and I'd love to see a new thread for it.
Cheers
Hugh
Lots of excellent photos!
Many nice photos here (regardless of what they were taken with)! Well done everyone including JDDavis.
Many nice photos here (regardless of what they were taken with)! Well done everyone including JDDavis.
Great entries and thanks to JDDavis for the extensive judging.
A pretty clear winner imac wannabe - just shows what can be achieved with a phone camera.
Gotta say I'm pretty blown away by the picture quality that Xperia Z2 produces soulreaver99.
Cheese&Apple: you nearly brought a tear to my eye with your pic - I saw my first (and second) ever live baseball game at the SkyDome and I'd love to return some day.
Congrats to everyone, and I look forward to the next contest.
A pretty clear winner imac wannabe - just shows what can be achieved with a phone camera.
Gotta say I'm pretty blown away by the picture quality that Xperia Z2 produces soulreaver99.
Cheese&Apple: you nearly brought a tear to my eye with your pic - I saw my first (and second) ever live baseball game at the SkyDome and I'd love to return some day.
Congrats to everyone, and I look forward to the next contest.
Well done everyone...some really great shots and thanks to JDDavis for the outstanding effort.
Funny thing...I really never think of using my phone but I was at a game, loved the view, had nothing else with me and thought why not give it a try.
Let me know if you're ever in town...we'll catch a game - hopefully with the roof open.
Funny thing...I really never think of using my phone but I was at a game, loved the view, had nothing else with me and thought why not give it a try.
Let me know if you're ever in town...we'll catch a game - hopefully with the roof open.
Thanks for the nod this week. I agree the signage was a distraction but honestly that photo never left my camera, it is exactly how it came out. I shoot with a canon dslr but am amazed at the quality you can get using the pano function. As I tell my friends, if you carry a disposable camera to the top of a mountain you'll get nice photos, just have to get to these beautiful places and in this case I was blessed to be there on a beautiful mid morning
Paul
. I agree the signage was a distraction but honestly that photo never left my camera, it is exactly how it came out. I shoot with a canon dslr but am amazed at the quality you can get using the pano function. As I tell my friends, if you carry a disposable camera to the top of a mountain you'll get nice photos, just have to get to these beautiful places and in this case I was blessed to be there on a beautiful mid morningPaul
Congrats to the winners. I kind of ran out of time with this one. So while shooting some bottles for this one, I thought I'd try the same shot with my DSLR. Here they both are.
iPhone unedited shot.
IMG_1673 by apple fanboy1, on Flickr
D7100 shot with flash.
20140809-_DSC7052 by apple fanboy1, on Flickr
I realise neither are perfect, as I was just playing with a flash (I rarely shoot flash, this is maybe the 2nd or 3rd time), so it was more of an experiment, but the DSLR shot is so much more interesting at least to my eyes.
Looking forward to the next one.
iPhone unedited shot.
IMG_1673 by apple fanboy1, on FlickrD7100 shot with flash.
20140809-_DSC7052 by apple fanboy1, on FlickrI realise neither are perfect, as I was just playing with a flash (I rarely shoot flash, this is maybe the 2nd or 3rd time), so it was more of an experiment, but the DSLR shot is so much more interesting at least to my eyes.
Looking forward to the next one.
Evidence that camera is second
I think that this thread has been a great example of showcasing the reality that the photographer is more important than the camera.
Fabulous pictures guys, really impressive pictures in this thread considering the levelled playing field of only being able to use your phone/tablet.
Ken.
I think that this thread has been a great example of showcasing the reality that the photographer is more important than the camera.
Fabulous pictures guys, really impressive pictures in this thread considering the levelled playing field of only being able to use your phone/tablet.
Ken.