PHOTOGRAPHY

So Much Choice, So Little Time

Another summer if almost upon us here in Southern Spain. I say almost - it was 37c here mid-week, back down to under 30c yesterday and today thanks to a little cloud cover. Needless to say I've been out and about with the phone/camera - and over at my tech blog, you can if you're interested, read about my new favourite tool, the Hohem M6 SI Smartphone Gimbal. I won't labour the point as I gave this wonderful AI-assisted device lots of coverage here. That's not all that's been happening from a photography perspective here at Bedrock however. First, the realisation dawned on me that no mattter what, much as…
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Hotel Areca in Torrellano near Alicante

Traditional photography, modern phone or AI art?

My last "Real" camera is gone - so that'll lose me some viewers - I no longer see the point (for me anyway). I've recently splashed out on the Samsung S22 Ultra - a pocket masterpiece in more ways than one. Here is one of my first feeble attempt at a sunset - not even using the highest definition lens. First off - straight from the phone - during my recent trip to Alicante (Torrellano to be precise)... early morning view 5 minutes after I got out of bed at the hotel Areca on the edge of Torrellano... Given the heat we had here in Southern Spain in the summer…
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A Bright, Sunny start in early January 2022

It's not very often I can manage a kind word about the Northeast of England in January but today the sun was out, full belt all morning and most of the afternoon. Ok, it was VERY cold but that's what heavy coats are for - and so out with the new Mi 10 Pro phone complete with 100Mpx camera. As it happens I didn't have to go any further than our own garden to get a cheery photo. And here it is...
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Just a Short Entry – Poco X3 Phone

You've probably seen me writing about the Xiaomi Pocophone F1 which as well as being a decent phone is excellent for casual photography, good enough that I sold my Nikon P900 and other traditional cameras - well, time stops for no man or woman and I've now (as of December 2020) moved onto the Poco X3 - and what excellent cameras it has, from the 64Mpx main camera down to the (much lower resolution) macro camera. For more on this check out my tech blog. Sadly the ability to take IR photos seems to be missing out of the X3 but the camera aspect of the phone is so much…
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Registrations

Dear all This is very important: I've just started to dramatically cut back on what look like BOT registrations on the blog. It is entirely possible I may accidentally delete some genuine registrations for which I humbly apologise. If you are reading this you are obviously not a BOT - PLEASE take a moment (and if you were deleted, register first) to go to the PROFILE tab and ADD YOUR NAME - and if you like, photo - be assured none of this information is used commercially. That way I'll know you have taken the time to prove you are a human interested in my blog in which case you…
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Infra-Red for Pocophone F1

Isn't this supposed to be about photography? Well, yes and given the number of people out there who's primary photographic tool is their phone, I thought I'd spend a few minutes on software specifically for the Xiaomi Pocophone F1 and the Xiaomi Mi 8. I'll grant you this is for the front-facing cameras only but non-the-less a worthwhile addition to already useful phones - in my case the F1. A short time ago, I picked up CameraIR for Android. I checked on the web and to say the least, the promotion for this free APP is understated. NO special tricks like phone rooting, just install the APP from the Google…
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Kinemaster for Android

Who would have thought that you could get even remotely acceptable video editing out of a mobile phone? For some time now, half-decent mobile phone cameras have been able to make video recordings - in the case of my Xiaomi Pocophone F1 up to 60fps at 4K. There are even phones with decent lenses as well. The one thing that has been missing is half-decent video editing so I've always had to go back to the PC. Well, all of that has now changed. The YouTube video I refer to here is a mere 1080p and is a short technical video describing a new toy from AliExpress. All of that…
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Paradise Drowning

Not something you’d expect in the South of Spain in summer, but here’s our local river in Galera after the floods, just as the sun was re-appearing… a rather drab affair, somewhat improved with the aid of Skylum Aurora HDR…
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Leading Lines

There are probably almost as many techniques in photography as there are photos – one of them being covered right now at the local Altiplano Camera Club is the use of “leading lines” to draw the viewer into the main subject of the photo. The idea is one I’m well familiar with - to provide an easy path for the eye of the viewer to follow toward a focal point in the photograph. Roads are one convenient mechanism as they generally go somewhere and if that is somewhere photogenic - that’s half the battle. There are of course many other sources of leading lines in real life – and the…
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Deep Art Effects

No, not a new idea but an APP for Android (and probably IOS but as I’m not an Apple user I didn’t check that out). The idea behind the “Deep Art Effects” package is not new, I’ve been using PRISMA for years to cartoonify or otherwise enhance photos but I’ve only just discovered this winner and almost immediately gave them my financial support. The package offers a wide range of tools for processing your photos and this is one of my favourites. Very little effort is needed to turn a half-decent photo into a work of art (or complete mess depending on your viewpoint). Sadly the DAE package does not…
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