Camera Phone Photography - better than you might think!

[henrah]

Here are some which I think are really good seeing as they come from a 2megapixel camera phone with only white balance as an adjustable.







And here are some with some minor colour and contrast adjustments as they turned out kinda flat. The Mushroom one has been adjusted a bit further than the others, I really wanted to stylise it a bit more than the others.






What's annoying is that the focusing is really rubbish. For example: when taking the picture of the two spiders, I had to focus the camera onto my hand and then move it into position to take the photo, not knowing whether it was completely focused or not; I had to sharpen it a bit to bring out the detail. But the macro is pretty good. I'll try and find the picture of a white moth which showcases the detail this phone is capable of.
Henrah

[jre58591]

wow, thats some pretty darn good photography with a phone. btw, whats in the 1st one? looks like either some metal poles or beams of light in the sky overhead. anyways, what kinda phone is it? my cheap nextel motorola could never take photos like that. theyre always too hard to see.

[henrah]

That first picture was a nice gesture from the heavens above. They opened up a small gap in the dull and lifeless grey that was surrounding my walk to school and gave me a nice cross of airplane jet. Very kind of them ^_^ The house in the bottom right corner will give you a slight sense of perspective.

As for my phone model, it's a Sony Ericsson K750. It has an excellent camera, I highly suggest it as a good phone to have. It also supports music, though probably not to everyone's taste of efficiency and ease of use: it can play it and that's good enough for me. I bought a 2GB memory card so I can hold a lot of music, and overall I love this phone!
HenraH

P.S. The light on it is blindingly bright, a great torch in the night which also enables good night shots too! [/advertisement] ^_^

[kelly_kelly]

You have such a good phone! My camera phone is crap 

[henrah]

Thanks kelly! If you don't want to splash out on a digital camera and only want to take pictures for fun, I strongly suggest getting a good camera phone as it's great being able to just whip out your phone whenever you see something photogenic rather than going out with the purpose of taking pictures with your digital camera, or even having to carry it around with you all the time just to have the same capability of whipping it out whenever you see something pretty.

Here are some more, edited in GIMP - the GNU Image Manipulation Program:



Except for this one. This hasn't been edited in anyway, not even cropped: taken straight from my phone. I took it whilst I was wasting time between lessons in a nearby park. I found a stick, stuck it in the groud out of boredom and took a picture, and I'm suprised at the lack of noise and other such artifacts that are usually noticeable on a camera phone. Maybe it's because I kept the phone against the ground, keeping it absolutely still: I don't think my phone has a very quick shutter speed, which makes it hard to take good photos like this.


More to come. If you'd like to crit my photos, please do, I'd love to hear your opinions on what could be changed or done better!
Henrah

[zheer]

  Good sh*t.

[henrah]

Thanks zheer! Compliments are alright, but compliments with a curse word are even better!! ^_^
Henrah

[zheer]

 Lookz like you live in a very nice place, i is can smell the fresh air. Lucky you.

[henrah]

I think you might be misguided as to where I actually live. The photo of the trees by the lake and of the well among the heather are actually from Yorkshire when I went on holiday this summer. The rest are from where I really live: Wantage, in Oxfordshire. It's a nice place here and there, but mostly chav ridden and dirty. There is however a lovely garden just by my school which I should visit soon before it gets wintery and take some photos. It really is beautiful.

But it's great to know how much an effect my photos had on you Zheer, it makes me really proud!

[Waldszenen]

As for my phone model, it's a Sony Ericsson K750. It has an excellent camera, I highly suggest it as a good phone to have. It also supports music, though probably not to everyone's taste of efficiency and ease of use: it can play it and that's good enough for me. I bought a 2GB memory card so I can hold a lot of music, and overall I love this phone!
HenraH

Haha, my phone is also the K750 and I've only taken about three photos with it since I bought it. ^_^

[letters]

hey these pictures are really good. my camera phone is rubbish its a motorola V620 and they come out really pixelated, plus i havent worked out how to send them to my computer yet. motorolas tend to be complicated when it comes to things like that. mine only come out good when theres very good light and theres no complicated focusing to be done. however im asking for a digital camera for xmas woo! anyway yeah these are very nice pictures its such a shame that the nice things ive taken pictures of come out in little squares!

[henrah]

Haha, my phone is also the K750 and I've only taken about three photos with it since I bought it. ^_^

Go out there and snap away my friend!! You should try the panorama setting, it allows you to take three pictures of a landscape and it blends them together, giving you a small bit of the previous photo to align it correctly. Also try out the macro (the little rose icon), it's really good! But wait... when did you get your K750? Because my uncle also has a K750 yet it's an older model to mine and is quite rubbish to be truthful. Does yours have a big slider covering the lens, and an insanely bright light, and black in colour? If so... GO SNAP AWAY!!!

Yeah, noise is really annoying letters. I still get it sometimes on this camera, and I think that's mainly because it has a slow shutter speed, which means that I have to keep the camera completely dead still or else there'll be some slight blurring.

Though today is fairly overcasted, I think I'll spend a little while going around my garden and taking some nature photos. So expect some more when I come back!
Henrah

[henrah]

Here are three more photos (hammock one is nothing special, I just like being in a hammock, they're so comfy ):




The third one was taken whilst waiting for a Jools Holland concert to start at Blenheim Palace. That place is so beautiful.

[henrah]

Quick new one before I go play badminton:

[pianojam]

WOW!

Keep posting pictures!

[henrah]

Will do pianojam!

These were taken with a proper digital camera that I borrowed from a friend before I got my camera phone:





My favourite is the third one

Here's one that was also taken with the digital camera, but I can't decide how to compose it. Should it be like this:


Or like this:


Which do you guys think is better? I think I went a bit too far and made it too vivid, but what do you guys think?
Henrah

EDIT: I have to post these as thumbnails because it seems that PianoStreet is resizing all but the bee picture here, which makes them seem all blocky and jaggy. Hmph 

[pianistimo]

dear henrah, you're quite the artist!  i like both of the yellow flower compositions.  i love natural pics like this, elspeth's and thal and pianowolfi's.  it's hard for the average person to get a good shot because we don't take enough time and enough shots.  i'm a very lame photographer.  my daughter on the other hand has been known to take some good ones with the cellphone while i'm driving. 

[henrah]

Care to share them Susan?

[pianistimo]

getting them from the cell phone to uploaded is my problem.  it might be easier with a digital camera.  yes.  she's always changing photos for the screensaver on my phone.  usually it's the five year old doing something crazy.  sometimes it's herself makes wierd faces.  and, sometimes she'll surprise me with another kind of natural composition of something artistic in the 'wild.'  flowers, etc. 

i suppose if i knew what i was looking for - i'd get a videorecorder and record some piano music.  i need help with that because i don't know what to buy.  it's probably possible to buy it soon - if i dely getting the piano tuned.  and, of course, cancel the trip to britain.  my life is messed up when it comes to fulfilling musical dreams, but that's ok.  i've got a stack of music and it's getting bigger off pianostreet's free scores.

the thing is that there is always some school function which sucks money out of parents right and left - and as soon as that one is over - another one comes.  and field trips and lunch money  - and clothes and books,e tc.  i blame that - but of course, i could get a full time job.  maybe next year.  then i will buy some more stuff - like a good digital camcorder.   

[henrah]

No, don't cancel your trip to Britain! Where would you go when you visit? The Lake District is beautiful, though I've never been there. And there are some wonderful parks dotted around London. If you can spare it, you should come see my recital hall that my dad built. It holds our lovely Fazioli and his own self-design organ (electrical design that is, methinks). Wantage - where I live - has some nice surrounding areas, especially the Ridgeway. You should definately give it a visit!
Henrah

[letters]

Pianistimo - or "Piano Forum God" as you now seem to be called - come and visit Devon! that's where i live. its very beautiful - there is Dartmoor national park, which is a moor with tors and wild ponies and streams etc, and there is north Devon with its dramatic coasts and Exmoor (although it is slightly inferior to Dartmoor). There are some great legends surrounding Dartmoor eg the hairy hands. you will find out more if you visit. There are lots of nice beaches too (Exmouth is big and sandy) and the interesting cities of Exeter and Plymouth from which the Mayflower set sail taking the pilgrim fathers. exciting stuff. Advert over! Where do you live Pianistimo?

[henrah]

I holidayed in Devon with my friends and it was a lovely place. We stayed at an old stables near Ilfracombe, and there was a lovely beach nearby. I can't quite remember the name, but we dug an awesome tunnel in the sand!

[pianistimo]

dear henrah and letters,   it sounds like three days is not enough.  i am crazy enough to want to see all that anyone would dare show me.  i wish i was a better photographer.  if i don't make it in november - maybe springtime!  what are tors?  isn't that an aussie term for aligators?

[henrah]

Spring would be a much nicer time to visit. Winter here is cruddy, it really is. Barely any snow, just cold and not very nice looking.

Here are four more photos taken just a little while ago when I got back from school. Again, with my camera phone and edited in GIMP:








It's starting to get a little bit more sunny here, so expect more photos as the days go by!
Henrah

[pianowolfi]

This little ladybird is adorable!

[henrah]

Isn't she just? It looks like she's shying away from the midge that landed further to the right on the leaf. Maybe there's an inexplicable romance between them

[letters]

i love your pictures!!! i want that ladybird. i found one the other day and put it back on a leaf, it looked a bit lost on the pavement.

pianistimo: tors are sort of rocky outcrops, dartmoor is granite and it is where the softer rock and soil has worn away revealing granite. There is one that looks like a face called Bowerman's nose (i think). they look a bit funny but people climb up them, theres a big walk called Ten Tors where you must climb 10 tors in 2 days, people from my school do it you have to walk about 40 or 50 miles.