Thanks for following along with my posts this week. And thanks to Doc for allowing me to be a guest contributor.
This is a 15 second long exposure taken with SlowShutter Cam with the iPhone on a tripod. I didn’t have a specific idea on how I wanted to process the image, so I opened it in Pictureshow and started trying out different presets. I liked the unexpected result of MultipleExposure preset that I got here.
This shot of an old Chevrolet was taken using the Camera+ app. First I applied the Clarity preset to enhance the detail then the Sunkiss’d preset, which I dialed down until there was just a little bit of warmth added to the image. Finally, using the radial tilt shift in InstagramI, I blurred the image except for the headlight to focus attention there and simulate a shallow depth of field.
The iPhone is a great camera for capturing candid photos of strangers on the street. I don’t know of a more discreet camera. For this shot I used the Camera Genius app’s Big Button feature, which allows you to use the entire screen as the shutter button. I was able to shoot this from the hip by just tapping the screen without worrying about hitting a particular spot for the shutter button. The sun was harsh and in the original image the subject had really dark shadows around the eyes. So the first step was to open the image in FilterStorm to make a curves adjustment to lighten up the eyes. I applied this with a mask on the eyes so that the rest of the image was unchanged. Next step was to run the Camera+ Clarity preset to bring out more detail. Finally I brought the image into Cameramatic for the black and white conversion and the frame. Cameramatic has become my favorite app for black and white because it has some presets but allows you to really customize the processing.
For this shot of the Embarcadero Center in the Financial District of San Francisco, I placed the iPhone on the ground, centered across the walkway. I snapped the shot with Camera+ when a person walked into the frame. The first step in processing, as is often the case for me, was the Clarity filter in Camera+. I saved the image and re-opened in the MagicHour app where I used the Red X-Pro preset but removed the border and the texture.
I’m fascinated with how a long exposure can transform an ordinary scene into something surreal. For this shot I placed my iPhone on the ground, centered at the bottom of a moving escalator and took a four second exposure using the SlowShutter Cam. It’s important to use the timer to minimize movement of the phone. I wanted the final image to be edgy so I opened the long exposure image in Camera+ and applied the Clarity filter. I saved the file and then repeated this two more times to really bring out the detail. Before saving the last time, I applied the Redscale effect in Camera+ and dialed it down a touch with the slider.
I was returning to work after an unsuccessful lunch hour photo walk when the architecture of the San Francisco Federal Reserve building caught my eye. I wanted to include a human element so I found the spot that gave me the juxtaposition I had in mind. I waited for a person to walk into the frame and snapped a couple shots with the Camera+ app. I knew going in that I wanted to process this image in black and white so I started with the Camera+ Clarity scene and Ansel B&W effect. I was happy with the result but wanted to take it a little further. I opened the B&W in Decim8 and experimented until I found a result I liked. I saved this and then re-ran Decim8 on the original B&W until I got another result that I like but was different from the first. I combined the two Decim8 edits with the original B&W using the awesome Interlacer app. Finally, I added the border with the Cameramatic to get the image above.
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I’m often amazed at the iPhone’s ability to make a picture the looks better than the same picture made with a DSLR. This shot was an afterthought. I had been attempting to shoot this scene of the Golden Gate Bridge at sunrise for a good half hour but could not manage to get a shot I liked. I finally gave up and started to head back to the car when I decided to snap a couple of iPhone shots for the heck of it. Once I got back home and started looking at the shots, I liked what I saw.
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Hello, my name is Brandon Doran. I’m a Software Developer by trade but photography is my obsession. I live and work in San Francisco, CA, which provides no shortage or photographic opportunity. I got an iPhone4 in July 2010 and it has opened up a whole new world of photography for me because it’s a camera you can take anywhere.
Here’s where you can find me:
brandondoran on Instagram
Twitter
Google+
Flickr
