Tag Archives: iPhone 4 photos

Black and White Processing

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I took the original shot with the Pro HDR app, on my iPhone 4. I prefer the HDR (High Dynamic Range) results from this app over the Apple camera app, the results are more dramatic. However for the best results from Pro HDR two things have to be considered.

  • The camera must be held as still as possible – Pro HDR goes through a sequence of several seconds to detirmine the required exposures and then takes two shots with about a second between them. If you move too much the combined image will be ruined.
  • If there is a lot of movement in the subject you are photographing then the delay described above with spoil the results.

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Pro HDR

Once the picture is taken you can adjust several image qualities before saving the picture – I increased the colour saturation.

I then imported the image into Photogene2 for more editing – having tried a number of editing apps for my iPhone I particularly like Photogene2, it is easy to use, with a well thought out interface, based on “dial a function”, so you can find the effect or tool you want very quickly.

Photogene2

I cropped out a section of the original image - I included a large section of the clouds that I was interested in and less of the green field. I also cropped for the distinctive line of trees, loosing the hedge and the larger trees.

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I then applied the “simple black and white” effect.

Photogene2 simple black and white

To get the results I wanted, I increased the exposure and the contrast.

Photogene2 exposure and contrast

The final thing to do is to save the finished image to the Camera Roll and post it to my blog.

Note – during the process the save the intermediate images as I make changes, so if I am unhappy with any of the results I can back up and try again.

Bank Holiday Walk

I had a short walk out east of Newark on Bank Holiday Tuesday – the light was just right as I passed through Stapleford Woods.

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The above image was taken with Camera+, but the original was very dark in the foreground. I then used the Camera+ “Clarify” function to lighten the foreground without losing the sun burst.

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All images made with my iPhone 4, including post processing and cropping.

iPhone Photo Backup – A Solution

It has come too late to help me, but for the future, Apple has provided a solution to automatically transfer copies of your iPhone photos to your PC (either a Mac or Windows machine).

iCloud, which comes with iOS 5 can be configured to transfer the photos via wifi. I had to install a control panel for iCloud on my Windows 7 laptop (download it from here) and create an account on my iPhone using iCloud in the Setting app. In the same app I turned on the “Photo Stream”. In the Windows iCloud control panel I went with the default settings so the photos are stored in folders in my Pictures folder – this is convenient as this folder is included in the my Online Backup software and so they are also backed up offsite.

I tried it out, I turned the iPhone wifi on and my laptop was connected to the office network. I took a photo and it then took only a few moments for it to appear on the laptop.

Just what I needed.