Click to see a larger view I've been stalking a tree, for a couple of years. It's not far from work so I stop to see it on the way home occasionally when I have my camera with me, and have taken pictures several times. They are nice pictures of lonely tree, but somewhat lacking. I've been waiting for a great sky to really enhance the photo, but nothing spectacular so far....until tonight. I was heading home in another direction and glanced over to the West and saw the setting sun starting to shoot color up to the under side of the clouds...and I didn't have my camera with me. I made a u-turn in the road anyway and drove down to see the tree. The sky was changing by the minute and I knew that it would look good with the tree in the foreground. I had learned before that the view that worked well for me was with my DSLR and a 100mm lens and the camera on a tripod standing by the fenceline. I had none of those tonight, but I did have my iPhone. Sometimes the best camera to take a picture is the one that you have with you, and the iPhone is all I had tonight.
I have been inspired by Mark Hirsh and his photo series "That Tree", where he took pictures of a lonely Bur Oak tree in a field with his iPhone every day for a year (click on the Gallery link on his web site to see his photos). I certainly haven't been doing it every day, but I have been photographing this tree occasionally for a couple of years - long before I knew of Mark's project.
The iPhone has a much wider angle lens than I usually used from an easy vantage point, so, I had to venture out in to the cow pasture to get close enough to get the shot that I wanted. I normally have in the back of my car a tripod, boots and coveralls or a rain suit to slip in to when I need to take photos off the road, but I had cleaned out the car last week and didn't have my usual accessories. There I was in my slacks and dress shoes, just coming from work, tromping around in a muddy field, dodging cow pies. Sacrifices for a photo. I really wish I had the tripod though. I have a new app on my iPhone called Camera+. It has much better camera functions than the native camera controls and allow for easy selective focus and exposure compensation, allowing me to adjust exposure in the sky to somewhat get the effect that I wanted. I couldn't have done this with the normal iPhone camera settings. Overall, I was pleased with the photos I took, although not the same quality as the DSLR I think they look okay on the web page.
I have been inspired by Mark Hirsh and his photo series "That Tree", where he took pictures of a lonely Bur Oak tree in a field with his iPhone every day for a year (click on the Gallery link on his web site to see his photos). I certainly haven't been doing it every day, but I have been photographing this tree occasionally for a couple of years - long before I knew of Mark's project.
The iPhone has a much wider angle lens than I usually used from an easy vantage point, so, I had to venture out in to the cow pasture to get close enough to get the shot that I wanted. I normally have in the back of my car a tripod, boots and coveralls or a rain suit to slip in to when I need to take photos off the road, but I had cleaned out the car last week and didn't have my usual accessories. There I was in my slacks and dress shoes, just coming from work, tromping around in a muddy field, dodging cow pies. Sacrifices for a photo. I really wish I had the tripod though. I have a new app on my iPhone called Camera+. It has much better camera functions than the native camera controls and allow for easy selective focus and exposure compensation, allowing me to adjust exposure in the sky to somewhat get the effect that I wanted. I couldn't have done this with the normal iPhone camera settings. Overall, I was pleased with the photos I took, although not the same quality as the DSLR I think they look okay on the web page.
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