Unaversalist church

This is Universalist church in Hartford this evening. I used PhotoForge to exaggerate the grain inherent in a night shot taken with the iPhone. It creates a pointallist (I hope I spelled that right...) effect.

Aidan experiments

To celebrate his fifth birthday, we took Aidan to the CT Science Center. It's an incredible experience for a kid--all hands on and designed for learnig through doing. This iPhone shot needed just minor adjustments in PhotoForge with framing in PhotoGene.

Snow shadows

It really wasn't the best day for photography. To begin with, I have a wicked cold, so my energy level is zilch. When I left for work this morning, it was 12 degrees with a stiff wind blowing. The wind had etched fascinating textures on the snow, but after just three shots, frostbite was setting in, so I didn't worry about exposures. The first email I opened at worked casually discussed a shooting outside the building yesterday, reminding us that ours is a dangerous setting, what with the overpasses, train tracks and general desolation of the area. So all in all, those three shots were going to have to do. I used PhotoForge to try to enhance the light & contrast and MonoPhix to take out residual color cast.

Snow

The snow today was classically soft and fat, like movie snow. Taken with the iPhone, this photo was tuned up a bit in PhotoForge, then converted to B&W with MonoPhix.

Snapdragons

I love the ProHDR app! At first I thought it was only for landscapes, but today I tried it with these snapdragons growing in the little AeroGarden in my cube at work. The light is intense and the shadows deep; the iPhone has no flash and little way to compensate in terms of settings. ProHDR took care of that. I did have to hold the phone very steady for the two shots--a bit of a challenge! I used the Dreamy filter from PhotoForge to give it a romantic softness.

Clouds

Impressive clouds swept over the reservoir this afternoon. I used Mill Colour and Touchup to heighten the drama. It would have been a good scene for HDR, but the road is narrow with no shoulder. I only had time to snap this one shot from the car before someone was coming up behind me and I had to get going.

Rain

Rain on the window creates an Impressionistic effect. Taken with the iPhone, the photo had PhotoBag's Helga filter applied. I also made some subtle adjustments with Mill Colour.

Apples & wine

We'd finished dinner, and the candlelight on the apples caught my eye. The photo was taken with the iPhone. I used PhotoForge to adjust it, then applied its Oil Painting filter. After that, I heightened the darks and lights with Touchup.

Queens

We went down to Queens to spend the day with John's family. This was taken with the iPhone on the Grand Central Parkway. The processing-which was minimal-and framing were done with PhotoGene.

Tower

PhotoForge pumped up the saturation in this iPhone shot of a tower against the sunset sky. The border was created in PhotoGene.

Family

Aidan delights in the attention of his doting aunt and uncle. The original photo had a lot of distracting colors and objects, so I toned down the saturation with Mill Colour and did the framing in PhotoGene, both iPhone apps.

Evening moon

A crescent moon sails over trees as the evening deepens. Taken with the iPhone, it was processed in PhotoForge--first a few adjustments, then I applied the app's Watercolor filter.

Arc

These are the buttresses that support I-91 in Hartford. They form a perfect series of arcs. I took the picture with my little Kodak Z915. It's dark under the highway, and this morning was cloud-ladened, so the original photo--even after the usual tune-up--was ponderous and grey. I applied the Pencil Sketch effect, then lowered the opacity enough so that the original showed through, but the whole photo looked lighter and airier, which brings out the magnificent architecture.

This would have been a good opportunity to for the mini-assignment in terms of Symmetry and Patterns; however, I've been stopped and questioned once before when I was taking pictures here of the bridge structure. I don't think I look like a terrorist, but realistically, it does seem suspicious for someone to be stopped in a nearly deserted section of the city snapping pictures of the underside of a major highway. I decided it was wiser to snag my arcs and head on to work.

Mini-Assignment: Balancing Elements

The ice on Paper Goods Pond hasn't melted yet, but it was a relatively warm day, so this evening ice fog formed. It's eerie. The bottom picture is a stright shot of the pond, the ice and the fog. The second adds balancing elements with the reed in the foreground and the goose flying over the fog near the back. In the third, there's just the reeds in the front, but they present a stronger prensence than the single reed in the middle shot.

Lichen

Lichen on this rock formed fascinating patterns. All I did to adjust it a bit in PhotoForge.

Scissors

I liked the contrasts in this bin of scissors at Lowe's. PhotoForge's Sin City filter reduced it to it's basic elements,

This is the meadow beyond the Hilstead Museum in Farmington CT. After a few tune-ups in PhotoForge, I used CameraBag's Helga filter.

Dr. Seuss

The magic of hearing Dr. Seuss read by a loving grandparent: John and Aidan. The photo was taken with the iPhone and tuned up with PhotoForge; then I used Tilt Shift Generator to soften the edges.

Every winter, these beetles appear in our office. They seem to nest in the artificial plants in the lobby. This one showed up on my desk today. It was shy, though-as soon as I started taking pictures, it flew away. I used PhotoGene and Touchup to tune it up, then Camera Bag to apply the fish eye effect. To be honest, I did a little too much editing with a photo that was taken with a cell phone of a moving target--it's too fuzzy. Alas, some work days don't offer me many options!

Meditative

Paper Goods Pond with the lowering sun casting long shadows on the grass. This was taken with the iPhone. I tuned it up with PhotoForge, then applied it's Dreamy filter. I used Touchup to selectively lighten and darken certain areas.

PhotoForge is my favorite photoediting app for the iPhone. It's remarkably powerful: it has curves, levels, unsharp mask, hue/saturation, exposure, brightness/contrast, among other things, as well as multiple levels of undo.

Warning

There's plenty of bright orange to warn drivers that the road is closed. The photo was taken with my Kodak Z915. I used selective color because the orange is what the picture is all about.

Pebble in the Snow

This was taken in our yard with my iPhone. It was tightened up a bit in the phone with PhotoForge and Touchup.

Bold

This might be obvious for EDIBLE, but I like it better for BOLD: bold colors, bold flavors. It was taken with my little Kodak EasyShare Z915. All I did was to tune it up a little bit with levels/brightness and contrast.

Sunset at the pond

Trio

I hope it's not cheating, but I'm doing double duty again. I was up in the lunchroom nuking my lunch when I noticed these three chairs. I don't take my camera to lunch, so I used the iPhone. And then, one of workers notices me and asks, "Um...so, what are you doing?" "Taking pictures of the chairs!" Thus my reputation is established.

Cold

All but a small patch of moving water is frozen on the reservoir. Geese take advantage of the water; but today we saw two coyotes loping across the ice.

Layers

Green apples stacked for the taking at Stew Leoonard's.

Doors and windows

This photo gets to do double duty: it was taken and processed with the iPhone, and it's about doors and windows-mostly the latter. Look carefully, and there is at least one door. This is my first venture into HDR, using the ProHDR app.

Water drops

Texture: Patches of snow cling to the bark of our magnolia tree.

The Guys (works for Masculine,


too...)

This is the version of Hartford at Evening that I prefer. I don't know why it wouldn't upload properly from the iPhone as everything else has worked well, even the earlier version of this shot.

Hartford at evening

EDIBLE: We call these "funky mushrooms." I'd never pick mushrooms in the wild; but if they're in a package at Whole Foods, I assume they aren't poisonous.

Office building in sunset light

PINK: The steam rising from this smokestack glows in the light of the setting sun.

Toaster

PATTERN: The blinds in this office, lit from behind by a lowering sun, form a striking linear pattern.

MASCULINE: My husband and my grandson sharing a moment together.

Pickles at the deli

LOOKING DOWN: at the foot-trodden snow on the paving stones at West Hartford Center.

Melting snow forms winding streams on our windshield as we pull onto I-84.

In the back garden, dried branches stand stark against the snow.

COLD: Snow drifts past bare winter trees.

Just for fun, here's a video of the actual New Year's cannon blast.

CHAOS: At midnight on New Year's Eve, our friend blows up a pinata using a small cannon. Yes, cannon. The kids--and often the grups, too--scamper around to find the candy and small toys that have been blasted into the snow all over the driveway and yard.