Union Square through a pinhole

Well, I finally have the results of the pinhole camera pictures I took a few months ago. This first batch was taken during a quiet day in Union Square. I say quiet because it was on one of those days when the farmers’ market is not set up. Not even the art vendors were around. It was a bright sunny day too, which you will notice… Though I took lots of pictures that day, most of them repetitive views, I have only posted a handful on Flickr and even a small selection here. I’ve contemplated doing a bit of post processing work on them seeing as these pictures were saved digitally from the film processor. I do think they could use a bit of work but then thought against it because I think the images will lose it’s authenticity. I don’t think they would be less of a pinhole camera picture but rather, the photos would be pretentious. And I don’t want that.

Anyways, please feel free to leave comments or feedback on this post or on Flickr.

I admit this photo is a bit washed out; too much time, I think. What I do like about it is that it captures the bustling of Union Square. If you are not familiar with Union Square, it is one of the major train hubs in Manhattan where you can connect to the 4, 5, 6, L, N, R, W trains. Union Square itself is also surrounded by popular brand shops, great places to eat, movie theater, hotel, banks, and higher education. It’s a great location!

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This is not a particularly interesting shot initially but it strikes up memories for me. I met a date here once for a late night rendezvous… This is a very popular restaurant especially for weekend brunch. You can expect to wait at least 30 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday to get a table here where the waitresses are supposedly aspiring actresses and/or models. The food is pretty good, too.

Plus, it was directly opposite a subway entrance where the pinhole camera was propped up.

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I don’t recall if I was aware of the man in the foreground but I’m glad he was in the shot. When I take pictures, if I can, I would prefer not to have people in it. But I think for this one, having the dynamic figure in the foreground helps the photo. Otherwise, it would just be a dull image of some street scene…

Why I like Hipstamatic’s Melodie lens

One of the lens I have come to really enjoy is the Melodie lens. I have mentioned in a previous post that the Melodie lens is one of my favorites that I pair with the Blanko film. I have found myself using this combination especially when taking pictures of subjects that are mostly green like plants and flowering trees because it brings out the “green” in the subjects. Images shot with the Melodie lens tend to come out with a bright, crisp, and dewy lushness that brings a liveliness to plants and flowers. I’ve used it the Melodie lens to capture some shots when the cherry blossoms were in bloom, cactuses while I was inTexas, and most recently, beautiful broad leaf tropical plants.

Feel free to leave comments here or on Flickr. 

My submission to Square Magazine

As I had mentioned in one of my posts, I was participating in a photo competition hosted by Square Magazine who were giving away 8 Stenoflex pinhole cameras. Well, I didn’t win, and it wasn’t a surprise. I did attempt to try to use an actual pinhole camera but made the mistake of sending them away to get processed because I thought it was cheaper and would not take as long. Plus, when I got them back, I wasn’t fully happy with the results. So instead, I sent in faux pinhole pictures, which were taken with the Hipstamatic app, and was permitted. Below are the 10 images I submitted. Feel free to leave comments here or on Flickr. I used the John S lens and Claunch 72 Monochrome film via Hipstamatic app.

The people who did win deserved to win. You can see the winners here.

More reasons why I *heart* Camera+

I have been busy re-editing the photos I took with the iPhone 3GS especially with regard to the trip to England in 2010. The photos I originally published onto WordPress with the posts just looked terrible, washed out and looked out of focus. Granted the iPhone camera isn’t a high megapixel camera but you can still produce really high quality pictures with the megapixel you’re working with when you have the proper camera apps, which I did not have at the time. And it helps to post your pictures onto Flickr and link to it in your posts as opposed to posting directly if you don’t have a self hosted blog.

I’ve been using Camera+ app to do my photo edits and I must say, the edits breathe new life to the images. Camera+ has multiple set scenes which you can use to adjust your photos to the correct coloring. You can then add an FX, which can enhance your image in a variety of ways and this is where you have a little bit of control. For the re-edits of the photos of the England trip, I’ve been correcting the scene with either “auto”, “clarity”, “flash”, “portrait”, and “scenery”. Each scene has it’s purpose and does a great job in correcting the lighting of the photo. The FX I’ve used frequently are (though not in any frequent use order) “vibrant”, “sunkissed”, “magic hour”, “so emo”, “fashion”, “overlay”, and “cross processed”.

Below are examples of photos which compare the original followed with edited versions, and an explanation.

Example 1:

This photo was taken at Castle Howard outside of the city of York. As you can see, the original has a bit too much exposure so the image is a bit washed out. The water looks a bit murky and the goldfish look dull.

I was able to fix this photo with “clarity” and “vibrant”. I selected “clarity” because it help to lighten areas where it was too dark and darken areas where it was too light. “Vibrant” helped to bring out more color in the subjects. And then I decided to crop the photo using the preset “golden” so the photo could be more focused on the subjects to the right of the cupid sculpture. I even added a “vignette” border to concentrate the viewer’s attention.

With the modification, the water is clearer and the goldfish seem to come alive. Even the cupid sculpture is more defined and noticed as a feature in the photo. I also really like how the greens, blues, and orange became richer. The photo seems to be more animated, in my opinion.

Example 2:

Here is a picture I took of Leadenhall Market in London, England. As you can see, it’s a bit dark and lacks detail. The colors are muted to the point that it lacks recognition.

The photo above was edited with “clarity” and then followed up with “color dodge”. I personally don’t know exactly what “color dodge” does but when I was deciding between “color dodge” and “overlay”, “color dodge” gave me the coloring I wanted for this photo. I like that the whites are blown out; it really livens up the photo and the space I was trying to capture.

Example 3:

Here is a photo of the Millennium Bridge in London. This was taken late in the afternoon. The sun was about to set. The original photo does not properly show the afternoon sun setting along the Thames River.

I edited the original photo with “scenery”, which punched up the color, shadows, and brightened up the photo. I then added “magic hour”, which gave the image a kind of lazy warmth. I thought these combinations worked well to give me that late afternoon lighting of the bridge along the river with St. Paul’s cathedral in the distance.

And as you may have noticed, I also cropped the photo using the preset format, “golden”. By using this particular preset format, the crop gives the photo a bit of a panoramic feel of the bridge extending from end to the other side of the Thames.

Example 4:

This is a photo of St. Paul’s in London. As you can see, it was a sunny day and the photo has too much exposure because I was aiming up towards the sky. The photo begins to look a bit washed out. I was trying to capture the architectural details of the facade.

In the edited version, I modified the photo using the “portrait” scene to brighten it up. The “portrait” scene works very well for other subjects in addition to people, and then added an “overlay” FX to blow out some of the areas that lacked interest and highlight the interesting architectural features like the columns, pediment, and frieze.

Example 5:

Here is a photo of St. Paul’s coming off The Millennium Bridge, a typical shot but even as a typical shot, it should still be distinct.

I enhanced the photo by adjusting the scene with “auto”, which brightened the image but still get the contrast. I then added the “cross process” FX, which gave the “auto” adjusted photo with a nice wash of warm afternoon sun. I like how the “cross process” effect highlighted the architectural details, which seem to be lost in the original photo.

These are just a small sample of photos I edited with the Camera+ app. It is definitely a great improvement from the original, which were taken with the iPhone camera only. When I realized I could salvage many of the photos from the trip to England especially the photos taken in London, I proceeded to edit all relevant photos. I don’t see photo editing as work, I see it as fun!

Austin-TX with Hipstamatic

I was recently in Austin, Texas and used Hipstamatic’s Bondi HipstaPak: Ben Watts lens and Big Up film. This particular HipstaPak was perfect for capturing the essence of the city. I love how the lens and film saturate the colors of the subject, lighting it afire. The crazy random borders also work great to emphasize the uniqueness of Austin, especially being less conservative compared with the rest of the Lone Star state.

If you’d like to see more pictures of my trip to Austin, TX with Hipstamatic, click here.

An adventure through the pinhole

I first became interested in pinhole photography after a friend told me about her experiences with pinhole photography. She actually hand made one from materials instead of a purchased kit. I had one brief experience with pinhole photography back in 2005 when we traveled to Eastern Europe. I had been given an easy to make pinhole camera by Sharan, a Japanese company.

I experimented with the pinhole camera while in Prague. From the roll, I only have 3 worthwhile pictures. I never played with it again. I don’t remember why I stopped, it doesn’t really matter why I stopped then but that I have a renewed interest now.

I recently became obsessed with the Le Sténoflex, a complete pinhole camera kit by a French company. There is a contest by Square Magazine, an online magazine featuring and promoting square format photography, who is giving away (8) Stenoflexes. The kit includes everything you need to capture and develop your prints. If you’re not familiar with Stenoflex, click here to learn more. I liked the ability of developing my own pictures as part of the photography experience. I could easily buy Stenoflex but I was attracted to the idea of winning one through a challenge. The contest required each entry to submit (10) square format pinhole camera photographs, and although iphoneography is permitted, I wanted to stay true to the contest’s and magazine’s request. So I purchased a square format pinhole camera, which Sharan offered in their product line.

I’m currently on an adventure collecting images with my P-Sharan SQ-35. I am curious about the results if any will be successful and interesting. I don’t think my chances will be high in winning one of the (8) Stenoflexes but, boy, would I love to win one.

Wish me luck! And stay tuned to see what I’ve captured with the P-Sharan SQ-35.

iPhoneography New York

As you may you know, I have an account with Flickr but some of you may not be aware that I have created groups. One of the groups that I’ve created is iPhoneography New York. At the time of creating this group, I had noticed there wasn’t a group dedicated to images captured of New York with the iPhone.

Preposterous! -I know, right? Well, it’s true. There were groups for other locations, and I thought there should definitely be one for New York.

And hence, the creation of this group, iPhoneography New York. Currently, there are a few members, and I suspect the number of members will grow when the word gets out. I haven’t done much in publicizing it. I figured that people will seek it out and find it, which is probably how the group now has more than 1 member.

I honestly believe this could be a great group. A group with huge number of members who are sharing great photos of New York captured with the iPhone. Of course, you have to sign up to Flickr in order to join. If you don’t have a Flickr account, you should consider getting one. It’s free to sign up. You can upload your images for free. For more information about signing up for a free account with Flickr, visit their website. Once you’re signed up, come and join the iPhoneography New York group and share your amazing iPhone shots of New York.

The group has some simple rules that must be adhered to:

• All photos regarding New York, which may include New York State, New York City, other cities in NYS, or views of NYC from New Jersey, etc.
• Photos must be taken and processed using the iPhone and iPhone apps only.
• You don’t have to be a native New Yorker to be a member, as long as you have photos of New York taken with your iPhone that you want to share, you are welcome to join and add some great images to the pool.
• All photos are moderated. Photos that do not comply with the rules shall be removed.
• Photos submitted must indicate that it was taken with an iPhone (EXIF data) and must be tagged with location unless the submitted photo has evidence of being taken in New York.

The current members have added some fantastic photos of New York moments, and I encourage you to take a look for yourself, join, and add your moments to the pool.

i *HEART* Camera+

One of the iPhone camera apps that I have come to *love* is Camera+ (not to be confused with an app that has a similar name, Camera Plus). In fact, I use Camera+ as my replacement for the iPhone camera. Camera+ came highly recommended by Marty from Life in LoFi, whose opinion I trust.

Ever since I downloaded the app, I have used it to take photos of NYC moments, the many foods I have eaten (and then post them onto Foodspotting via their iPhone app, another app I just adore). I love the quality of the images, the ability to edit the images (albeit limited options), and apply FX to the images within the app. The edit options though limited still give me the ability to quickly edit my photos to look amazing by cropping it, punching up the color or contrast, or changing the mood by applying one of their FX filters.

Original photo

photo edited and cropped with Camera+ app

I find Camera+ does an excellent job in capturing food especially when there is good lighting. The foods just seem to be even more delectable when captured via Camera+. This is especially true when a border is added. I like to use the thin white border or the dark mat border.

I love the crop feature in Camera+, which offers some standard crop sizes and the option to do “free form” crops. My go to crop is either the Golden or Square crops. I like the proportions of the Golden crop. The square crop is handy for the food photos I take because Foodspotting uploads pictures in a square format.

Sakura Macaroon @ Takahachi Bakery

Coffee Chocolate Bun @ Takahachi Bakery

Camera+ also has a grid so you can adjust your handling of the iPhone to capture “straight” shots. It’s a handy feature when you don’t want odd angles and perspectives in your images, which can be distracting.

Another great feature is the ability to share your photos via various platform, which include Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and email. I love that I can share directly to Flickr. I can input the title, description, sets, and tags – that is just awesome! I personally think Camera+’s ability to share directly onto Flickr works much better than the Flickr app for iPhone. I also love the fact that I can share edited photos without having to save to my photo album. This allows me to edit it in other ways and post to Flickr.

share directly onto Flickr

Not only does Camera+ have great sharing options but you can copy more than 5 photos and paste them onto your email (not to be confused with sharing via email through Camera+), which the standard iPhone camera allowed you to do before the update in one of the previous iOS. This is just incredible! Plus, you can copy photos with or without edits! That is just an incredible feature just in case you wanted to keep the originals after or before you edit them.

copy multiple photos from the lightbox

What I would love to see in future updates are the ability to straighten images during editing, and apply more than one scene and FX as layers.

For more official information about Camera+, click here.

New York Fashion Week with Hipstamatic

As you may already know, I am a fan of the Hipstamatic camera app for iPhone. If not, you should read this.

I was recently selected as a Hipstamatic Community Ambassador for one of the fashion events during New York Fashion Week. I met Mario Estrada from Hipstamatic and his videographer, CJ, who was there to video the event. We attended the fashion show at The Milk Studios Building in the Meatpacking District. I had great fun going around the rooms and taking pictures with the Hipstamatic camera app while models were being made up and dressing up for the shows. There were lots of photographers around, of course. The energy was incredible! The models all looked beautifully! At some point, I felt fat, short, and ordinary even though nobody would necessarily describe me as those things – at least, I don’t think?

Both the Jeremy Scott and The Blonds fashion show were amazing, fun, and high octane! The clothes were exciting and playful! I loved Jeremy Scott’s Superwoman dress and cape. The model who wore this did a fabulous job! I loved how the cape was low and flowed as she strutted down the runway.

And then there was a fun Asian inspired corset made with googily eyes from The Blonds collection! Yes, googily eyes!

The presentation for Rochambeau was calmer as it was held in a private room at the Standard Hotel. Rochambeau is a men’s fashion designer and so the room was set up with handsome and gorgeous male models standing in two rows. The clothes were tré chic! The men were made up to look like members of early 80′s rock and new wave bands – IMO. I also liked how their eyes subtly highlighted so when they glared into the camera, it was either intense or wounded soul.

I liked the Rochambeau collection. I think it would take a very fashion forward and confident guy to wear any of the outfits presented. How refreshing would it be if more men dressed in couture fashion as women (well, some women)!

I took many pictures with the Hipstamatic camera. I specifically used their latest and among my favorite lens, the Chunky Lens and paired it with a couple of favorite films like Kodot XGrizzled and DreamCanvas. I thought the combination of the Chunky lens and these films gave an effect that I associated with fashion, the energy, and the runway. The Chunky Lens also adds a great halo around the subject, which I think is ideal for capturing fashion.

Thank you Hipstamatic for the opportunity! I had a great time! And I love LOVE Hipstamatic!! If you don’t have it, you should definitely download it!

For more pics of the last day of New York Fashion Week, please click on the following links below. Enjoy! And let me know what you think!

Jeremy Scott fashion show

Rochambeau presentation

The Blonds fashion show

My favorites from Hipstamatic

Of all the iPhone camera apps I have in my collection or virtual camera bag, Hipstamatic is by far my favorite! I love their square format. Probably the first camera app to shoot and print in the square format! I love and collect their add-on lens and films when they release them. Though I have all their lens, films, and accessories I have favorites.

My favorite lens are “John S Lens”, “Melodie Lens”, and “Chunky Lens”.

I don’t know who is John S but it is my go-to lens especially when I pair it with Kodot XGrizzled and BlacKeys SuperGrain! I love how the colors range from rich and saturated to muted and moody when I use the Kodot XGrizzled film. Kodot XGrizzled film is also my go to film and favorite. I love the border that it creates! I also like the subtle vignette that the lens creates when I use Kodot XGrizzled and BlacKeys SuperGrain. And when I use a B+W film like BSG, it produces an amazing contrast effect that creates wonderful B+W images that reminds me of  favorite photographers like Wee Gee and Walker Evans.

an example of John S Lens and Kodot XGrizzled film

an example using John S Lens and BlacKeys SuperGrain film

Melodie Lens is my next favorite because the lens adds a nice subtle green tint to images that a bright and fresh look to images I have captured. I like pairing this lens with Blanko film. The Melodie Lens was released just in times of the Christmas holidays and images I captured came out bright, cheery, and fresh.

an example using Melodie Lens with Blanko film

Recently, Hipstamatic released a new lens called Chunky Lens just in time for New York Fashion Week. This has become one of my favorite lens because it randomly creates this lovely halo  around your subject; kinda like highlighting them , or pointing the spotlight on them without it literally being pointed exactly on them. I must admit that I love the color  of the images when paired up with Kodot XGrizzled film.

an example using Chunky Lens with Kodot Grizzled film

an example using Chunky Lens with Kodot Grizzled film

Yes, I do love Hipstamatic. It is one my favorite iPhone camera app that creates stylized images. I am usually happy with the results more often than not. The app offers enough randomness that you can get interesting variations of the same image. And with the latest updates, it is faster which allows me to take even more pictures and not miss moments.