Morning photo: Randomized …

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

A little photo-foolin’

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Winter dreams.

FRISCO — I hope these images don’t come as too much of a shock to readers who are used to seeing traditional landscapes in this space. But after about a year, I re-opened the PS Express app on my iPhone after updating it and found all sorts of groovy new features that I had to play with. PS Express is the Photoshop iPhone app, and while some of these effects are questionable for photojournalism, others could come in handy at the right time. The point is, get to know the tools you have available; that way, you’ll know how to use them when you need them.

Slightly swirled rose, edited in PS Express, the iPhone Photoshop app.

Slightly swirled rose, edited in PS Express, the iPhone Photoshop app.

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Filed under: Colorado, Morning photo, photography, seasons, Summit County snow and weather | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Morning photo: Deep greens and blues …

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

Dream colors

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Blue River.

FRISCO — Sure, hot pink and vivid orange are eye-popping, but there’s something to be said for the soothing blues and greens of forests and streams. These colors on the cooler end of the spectrum have always been my favorites. Starting way back, when time came to pick out a flannel shirt, I invariably went in that direction over the flashy reds. Photographing the darker blue and green shadows and crevices can be a little tricky. Too much shade and the blue takes over completely. And even though the iPhone does well in the shade in many situations, when there’s snow in the picture, the sensor really wants to tilt toward the blue end, and even high-end DSLRs may need some adjustment of the white balance to capture what the eyes sees rather than what the sensor wants to capture. (more…)

Filed under: Morning photo, photography | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Morning photo: Going mobile

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

A year of iPhoneography

Slanting sunlight on the Snake River picked up by the iPhone, enhanced with a camera filter app.

Slanting sunlight on the Snake River picked up by the iPhone, enhanced with a camera filter app.

FRISCO —I’ve had my iPhone for a year now, and I probably use it as much for photography as anything else. As much as I’d heard (and seen) about the iPhone’s camera, I have to admit that I’m a bit old-school when it comes to photography, having learned the basics in a black and white darkroom, working on school newspaper and yearbook photos. It didn’t take long for me to adapt to digital imaging — I never really liked turning my film over to a photo shop and then waiting for a few days to get prints. And when I started playing with iPhone camera and editing apps, I quickly decided that the whole concept of mobile compact photography is worthwhile addition to my photography quiver. I almost always have my DSLR with me, but there have been a few situations when I’ve learned to let go of the Nikon and to trust the iPhone. I especially like the way it responds in low-light situations, and the sensitivity of the sensor to slight tilts of the lens. I’m not trying to be all evangelical, but I’d feel pretty weird at this point heading out to shoot without packing my phone along.
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Filed under: Colorado, Frisco, Morning photo, photography | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Morning photo: Frost City, USA

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Bob Berwyn

The heart of winter

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Even a dead tree can become a thing of beauty in the right light, covered with frost.

FRISCO — I had a chance to try out the Olloclip lens for my iPhone camera the past few weeks. I was especially interested in the macro attachment, and after playing around with it for a while, finally figured out how to optimize the shots. If you haven’t heard of it, the Olloclip is a three-way (wide-angle, macro and fisheye) lens that simply slips over the corner of your iPhone. It retails for about $70 and adds some versatility to your repertoire. I still haven’t figured out all the tricks, but I can say that, for a pocket-sized attachment, it offers some fun features. It’s never going to be quite as sharp as a true all-out DSLR macro lens, but as the photo below shows, it does the job for casual snapshots. Now, to explore a telephone lens for the iPhone. All the photos in this set are by iPhone. (more…)

Filed under: climate and weather, Colorado, Morning photo, photography, seasons, Summit County snow and weather | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Morning photo: Insta-week

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Fun with filters — or not?

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This scene was shot in full but bright shadow, but still turned out very, very blue in the original version (below) so I used the warmest Instagram filter to see what it would do.

FRISCO — A lovely week to take photos in Summit County, with a dense frozen fog early in the week as temperatures dropped to well below zero, and soft snow pillows on the boulders lining the Snake River. I shot a lot of images with the DSLR, but the images in this series were all taken with the iPhone, some filtered through the fun Instagram app. After an early week furor over Instagram’s terms of service, the popular photo sharing service backed away from some of the changes announced earlier, which would have enabled the company (owned by Facebook) to sell Instagram user images to third parties, including advertisers. Instagram reacted quickly to the criticism and backpedaled, but it’s still not completely clear whether the new conditions will be acceptable to pro photographers, so for right now, it’s wait and see.

Many of the images in Summit Voice photo essays are available in our Fine Art America online gallery, and there’s also Summit County gallery at our ImageKind website. You can also order images by contacting me directly at bberwyn@comcast.net. It’s a great way to support independent online journalism! (more…)

Filed under: Colorado, Environment, Morning photo, photography, Summit County Colorado | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Morning photo: Mountain magic

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Day-glo …

A recent sunrise over the Continental Divide, Shot with a Nikon DSLR and then Instagrammed via iPhone.

FRISCO — Late October and November always seem to bring some of the best sunrise scenes of the year. Part of it is that sunrise is more accessible time-wise, occurring at a reasonable hour that allows me to do my morning parenting obligations and still get out in time to find a good spot, which, luckily, usually isn’t too far away. The changing weather patterns also contribute, often leading to unique cloud formations over the peaks that jut nearly three miles into the atmosphere, breaking up the wind flow, and part of it, I think, is due to the placement and angle of the sun in relationship to the local topography. In any case, as I look through the archives, many of the most dramatic shots are from late autumn, and this year is no exception.

The same shot as above, straight from the DSLR.

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Filed under: Colorado, Morning photo, photography, Summit County Colorado | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Morning photo: Full moon!

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Sweet moonrise in Colorado

Floating on a bed of clouds.

FRISCO — Catching the full moon rise is always a special treat, especially when there are some wispy clouds in the sky to help frame the glowing orb. But trying to expose properly for the sky, the moon and the foreground is tricky. More often than not, the moon ends up as a featureless white disk, unless you use special trickery, like multiple exposures or HDR. Saturday night, moon played peek-a-boo through several layers of clouds, so it was like watching the moon rise several times.

I had both DSLRs with me, as well as an iPhone. The older Canon with a somewhat sketchy 300 mm zoom did a decent job of capturing a semi-closeup of the moon floating on a bed of clouds in a one-second exposure, using a rock as a tripod – yes, I forgot the tripod when I jumped on the bike to get to the reservoir for the session. The iPhone camera, as much as I love it, definitely is not ideal for low-light landscape shots. Even with moderate lighting, it loses definition and gets grainy real fast. The workhorse Nikon did a decent job, but it was interesting to see how the colors and sharpness were affected as I jacked up the ISO setting. (more…)

Filed under: Colorado, Morning photo, photography, Summit County Colorado | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Morning photo: Pano-mania

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

New iPhone updates include nifty photo feature

The view from Oro Grande Road.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — After updating the iPhone with the new iOS 6 operating system, I explored the camera for new and improved features, including the panorama function. All I can say is — totally amazing. A small arrow in the viewfinder helps keep the pan level, and although there is some distortion (you can see it in the curvature of the foreground in the image above), it’s an amazing new tool. You can adjust the height of the image by how much you pan — the longer the pan, the skinnier the image. I haven’t read up on the camera updates, but it appears that the HDR has also been tweaked for the better.

An afternoon shot at the Meadow Creek wetlands to test the HDR.

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Morning photo: Postcards to myself …

Posted on August 22, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Note to self: Travel again — soon!

On the approach to Frankfurt we flow low over the Rhine River. The river figures big in Teutonic mythology, and the morning mist hugging the gorge was a nice touch for our arrival.

By Bob Berwyn

SUMMIT COUNTY — I love taking pictures and telling stories, but ultimately, many of the images are really most valuable as personal mementos of journeys and adventures I’ve shared with my loved ones. This most recent trip was no exception. Many of the pictures will never be published anywhere, but cherished all the more for the personal moments they reflect. But others are fun and help interpret the places we visit, along with evoking emotions every time I look at them. To me, there’s almost nothing better than the anticipation, after a long flight, of setting foot in a new place, even if it’s a place where I lived for many years and where I have family history. The picture above brings back the tingly feeling of starting a new journey. (more…)

Filed under: Austria, Europe, Morning photo, photography, tourism, Travel | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Morning photo: Closeup!

Posted on August 17, 2012 by Bob Berwyn

Some semi-macro photography from Colorado

SUMMIT COUNTY — This week’s popular #FriFotos Twitter chat is all about closeups, and there’s nothing better than getting up close and personal with nature via pictures. As much I love photography, I try to keep my gear simple and to a minimum, so I don’t have a true macro lens. Instead, I’ve been using a compact Fuji Finepix camera on a macro setting, and more recently, my iPhone camera to try and capture detailed images of flowers, bugs, mushrooms and ice crystals. Join in the  fun by uploading your favorite closeups to Twitter and tagging them with #FriFotos, then sit back and enjoy the pics from around the world.

Filed under: Colorado, Morning photo, photography, Summit County Colorado | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a Comment »

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