Thar She Blows

AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Yesterday was a pretty blustery day along the Oregon coast with passing downpours accompanied by strong wind gusts. Not a workable combination for either my DSLR or my drone so I did a bunch of experiments using my iPhone 15 Pro. I have seen a number of images where the iPhone takes a very short video (3 seconds total) and the can blend them to make a long exposure but we have no control over the length of exposure and I didn't quite like the water textures. I decided to try using the stacking technique I have been using with my drone with a burst of exposures that were subsequently merged in PS as a median blend. Very hard to hold the phone steady to pull it off (especially with high winds) but the Auto-align tool in PS does a good job of putting things where they belong.

This is a stack of 6 images showing waves at Cook's Chasm right next to Thor's Well with a spouting horn in the basalt formations. I used some rocks to brace my grip on the iPhone while taking the capture burst and still had a hard time keeping it steady in some of the wind gusts. The burst sequence was longer than what I used in processing this image but this subset gave me the look to the scene I was looking for.

IP15_CooksChasmStackM.jpg


C&C always welcome.
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
Trent Watts said:
The results are wonder Alan.. I keep seeing these amazing shots from the iPhone 15...Hmmmm.
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Thanks Trent - I took a lot of images yesterday both out along the coast and up in the coastal mountains using the iPhone 15 and am impressed with how well it does the job. I am still on an uphill slope for the learning curve in how to best use what it can do but it definitely a serious step up from my previous iPhone 13 Pro.
 
JimFox

JimFox

Moderator
Staff member
Hey Alan,

That looks really awesome. That spout is always fun to watch.

Can you explain your process in more detail? I agree that shooting in Live Mode, that when at in most cases switching in the phone to the Long Exposure Mode it is using too many images, and it gets too blurred. I have wished we could chose a shorter section, like a 1/2 sec section of the capture rather then the 3 seconds, because especially with waves, 3 secs is too long and it destroys the look of the wave in Long Exposure Mode.

Are you taking the video created by the Live mode and pulling out specific frames from it? Or are you using 6 separate complete photos taken? I am sorry, I liked the concept but didn't quite understand how you pulled it off.
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
JimFox said:
Hey Alan,

That looks really awesome. That spout is always fun to watch.

Can you explain your process in more detail? I agree that shooting in Live Mode, that when at in most cases switching in the phone to the Long Exposure Mode it is using too many images, and it gets too blurred. I have wished we could chose a shorter section, like a 1/2 sec section of the capture rather then the 3 seconds, because especially with waves, 3 secs is too long and it destroys the look of the wave in Long Exposure Mode.

Are you taking the video created by the Live mode and pulling out specific frames from it? Or are you using 6 separate complete photos taken? I am sorry, I liked the concept but didn't quite understand how you pulled it off.
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Thanks Jim - the iPhone is capable of doing rapid shots in a sort of burst mode. In the main settings go down to camera and one of the options is to set the volume up button to burst mode. It will shoot continuously until you release the button. After that the process is identical to your tutorial on using burst with median blending.
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
I should add that whether you use Live or Burst mode the output will be a 12MP jpeg. Doesn’t matter which lens or other settings you usually use.
 
T

TimMc

Well-Known Member
This appears to be one more step towards leaving our conventional cameras on the shelf.

I used my son's iPhone 15 to shoot a family picture a couple of weeks ago. Printed that picture and 3 from my Z7 @ 8 1/2 x 11 and hung them together on the wall. Absolutely no discernible difference.

I have been watching my prints from a Z50 vs the Z7 @ 12x18 and for the last few months Lightroom has equalized the quality. I am using my Z7 less and less.

And 5 shot hdr's from my drone jump into the middle of the prints and don't stick out.

It will be interesting to see where this all goes.
 
AlanLichty

AlanLichty

Moderator
TimMc said:
This appears to be one more step towards leaving our conventional cameras on the shelf.

I used my son's iPhone 15 to shoot a family picture a couple of weeks ago. Printed that picture and 3 from my Z7 @ 8 1/2 x 11 and hung them together on the wall. Absolutely no discernible difference.

I have been watching my prints from a Z50 vs the Z7 @ 12x18 and for the last few months Lightroom has equalized the quality. I am using my Z7 less and less.

And 5 shot hdr's from my drone jump into the middle of the prints and don't stick out.

It will be interesting to see where this all goes.
Click to expand...
Thanks Tim - Can't say for sure where it will all end up but so far I am not seeing any reasons to complain. I do find that while I still am quite fond of what I can do with my DSLR gear it is not the case that I worship it as the only way you can shoot Real Photos(TM) anymore. For imagery shot in good conditions (no sideways rain in my face) and best seen from the ground the DSLR is my best camera. For shots like above I don't even bother getting it out of the case. The iPhone is water resistant down to 6 meters and that dark gray sky is a nasty squall bearing down on where I was standing with the winds whipping salt spay into my face while I was shooting.

The best part about where it is all going is the fact that each new development is giving us more tools and toys to play with so we aren't stuck only one path to good imagery :)
 
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