iPhone and serious Photography

Perhaps the title is too serious. Photography should be fun and creative, not so serious. That's exactly why mobile phones are also fine cameras. They are always with you and you don't have any adjustments to make when you shoot. Just point and shoot. Nowadays the quality of photos has improved a lot and you can take photos in many situations and for different media. Even pro photographers use mobile phones, at least for fun.




Of course phone cameras still have limitations compared to 'real' cameras. Noice level is quite high in dark, you can just dream about soft bokeh because of the huge depth of field, they are so light that photos are often shaken and blurry.

In past few years have taken thousands of photos with my iPhone. I have also done post processing in iPhone and iPad. I must say that many of those photos are quite cool, if I may say so myself. I have not published many of them but I will probably publish more in the future.

One of the best things with iPhone are applications you can buy from Apple AppStore. These apps give totally new dimensions to photography, and I just love some of them. Mostly I use these apps:

- Hipstamatic
- Pinhole Camera HD
- Best Camera
- FXF by Joby
- Pro HDR

For post processing I use
- PhotoForge2
- Photogene
- Impression
- Iris

I will tell more about these apps in my next blog. iPhone and iPad make a great pair and they are almost my best friends. The best friend is of course my wife who stands my hobby when I'm away shooting and when I'm sitting by my Mac for hours doing post processing.

I must admit that I'm very excited about these new possibilities. I hope you tolerate my enthusiasm. I don't even try to be cool and objective. With this disclaimer I shift the responsibility to the reader.




- I appreciate comments and discussion

Lessons Learned from My Travel Gear

Hello again,

And sorry for the time passed without any blogging in English.

In January I wrote about the gear I intended to take with me for my travel round the world. I was traveling for two months, so the size and weight of photo gear was essential. All the time I was on the limits of free luggage weight. Once I had to pay extra, that was in French Polynesia.

My main camera was Canon S90. It survived few bumps, and was reliable all the time. The image quality is also fine.



I can really recommend this compact camera as a travel companion. The biggest minus is the fact that point and shoot cameras are slow. Sometimes the situation has already passed when you are ready to shoot, and the shutter lag is also quite long.

I had Olympus 3000 Tough for underwater photos. In Australia I found out that this camera was not waterproof after all. After taking few photos just below the water surface the thing was dead. But Olympus was sandproof. I took this sand dune surfing photo one hour before the termination of work contract.



I had to buy a new waterproof camera in Brisbane. This time I bought Canon D10 which was already quite an old model, but I have been quite pleased with it. Image quality is rather good and I find it much easier to handle than Olympus. I even took one of my most popular Flickr photos with this D10.



I got a new replacement camera from Olympus when I was back home in Finland. I haven't user that much but it has worked fine.

I shot also video. Mostly I used Canon Legria HFS21. The quality of video is great but you really should have a decent tripod for videographing. I had to discard most of my footage because it is a pain to watch a shaking HD video. You can also take still photos with Legria. I used it when I needed longer telezoom. Otherwise the image quality is OK but noise is remarkably higher than with S90. This one is taken with Legria.



I must learn more from shooting video, and practise, practise, practise. I made a small video about New Zealand penguins. You can see that in YouTube in case you are interested. It is HD so you need bandwidth.

Penguin Walk in Otago Peninsula

For some action clips I used Contour HD helmet camera. I mounted it to my helmet when I had I scooter ride around Moorea Island. That was great fun, and the video camera was very easy to use. You must pay attention to camera's positioning, otherwise you don't get want you want. Mostly I got tilted horizon because I didn't adjust horizontal level carefully.

I also mounted Contour HD to my mask when I was snorkeling. The waterproof case was excellent and easy to use.

I also took some photos and videos with iPhone. The image quality is not tremendous but good enough for many situations. Video quality is very good when you just can keep the phone still. With iPhone applications you can also easily create nice moody photos. I will wrote more about iPhone apps is the future. Some Finnish blogs are already in my other blog.



Summa summarum, I was quite satisfied with gear I had with me. In few occasions I did miss my DSLR, but then again, I wouldn't have liked to carry more equipment with me.

For the next trip I will take Fujfilm Finepix X100. That is a real camera with great image quality and superb handling. Learn more from Ken Rockwell

Thanks for reading!


- I appreciate comments and discussion

Great Water

Iguazu, Argentina/Brazil, 15.-16.3.2011

IIguazu Falls (Spanish: Cataratas del Iguazu / Portuguese: Cataratas do Iguaçu) is the most magnificent place that I have ever seen. Period.

I’ve never been to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, and probably will not be as long as Mugabe is in power, so I can’t compare. I’ve been to Niagara, but in spite of its grandness Iguazu is in its own class. The water flow in Niagara is bigger but most of it is in Horse Shoe Fall on Canadian side while the U.S. side is more modest.

Iguazu means Great Waters. Iguazu actually consists of 275 falls and it is 2.7 kms wide. The highest fall are 82 meters while Niagara is only 53 meters. In all the other places all of these separate falls would be tourist attractions. But here you can see them side by side, bigger and smaller, all in the most beautiful environment.


The environment is also quite challenging because of the vapors rising from the falls. That’s why I used mostly the waterproof Canon PowerShot D10. In some spot I had to wipe camera’s lens all the time and the shoot quickly. No time to adjust composition or anything else. These snapshots don’t give justice to the beauty and grandness of the falls. No pictures can.

This small train on Argentina's side takes visitors from the park entrance to the actual falls.

There were many beautiful butterflies who found us irresistible.

The road to the biggest fall Devil's Throat goes along bridges of Parana river and through the islands.

The falls are located in the border of Argentina and Brazil. You’ll have a better overall view from the Brazilian side and you can walk along the pier to the lower base of the highest fall Devil’s Throat. 

On the other hand from Argentinian side you can reach the top of Devil’s Throat. You can also walk among may falls and thus get a closer contact to the falls. Once you go there you should definately visit the both sides.

On of the most ecstatic experiences was to stand near the falls to get really wet. You can really feel the natures elements on your skin. I felt like a child, and I loved it! I didn’t mind getting wet, it was just refreshing because the temperature was over 30 degrees.

Some videoclips taken with PowerShot D10.

Encounters of the third kind

Otago Peninsula, New Zealand, 16 Feb 2011.

I have already returned home. So my blog is a bit behind schedule.

Although I love nature and especially nature photography, I can’t say that I’m any expert in flora and fauna. However it is fun to participate guided tours where you can get a closer contact with the nature.

Near the town of Dunedin in New Zealand South Island there is Otago Peninsula which is famous for its wildlife. It is a sanctuary for albatross, penguins, fur seals and sea lions.

We participated Peninsula Encounters tour operated by Elm Wildfile Tours. We were lucky because we actually saw all the named species, some of them even from a near distance.

Albatross is a magnificent bird with wingspan over 3 meters. In spite of that it weights only 6 to 9 kilograms, depending on the amount of food in the stomach. When a young bird leaves the nest it will not set its feet on dry land for five year until it is time to make a nest of its own.

It is quite difficult to photograph birds, especially when you don’t have proper gear with you. I sure missed my DSLR, I knew I’d feel that way at some point of my trip. AF servo is very useful in shooting moving objects. Now I just needed to settle with my pocket camera and a video camera. Hopefully these photos still show something about tour’s offerings and feelings.

Here is a photo about a nesting albatross. There is also the Royal Albatross research center where we could see the birds from their observation cabin. 

After seeing the albatross we continued to another part of the peninsula. There were two beaches we could observer penguins, seals and sea lions. We had to desend and climb some nice hills a few times during the tour. Next day we could feel that in our butts.

When you observe animals you must approach them in quiet and stay still if the animals move. 

You mustn't go too near of sea lions because they are very unpredictable. Never turn you back to them, always keep them in your sight.

When we were climbing back on the hill, two penguins came down the same way. We stepped aside to give then a free path. For a while they were a bit shy but then decided to walk on by. 

Here is a small video about that walk.

Before returning to the city we had to climb back on the hill once more while the sun was setting behind them.

In The Footsteps Of The Hobbits

It is a bit distressing to drive in New Zealand on the left-hand side when you do it for the first time, especially in the cities. In the countryside driving is quite easy and there is very little traffic. One can drive several kilometres without seeing another vehicle. In New Zealand the population is mainly in the east coast. Left coast and inner parts have very few inhabitants.

The sceneries in the Middle-earth are magnificent. Here they filmed the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I definately must see those movies again when I'm back home. Perhaps I can identify some spots.

The first day of driving started from Christchurch in rain. We knew there should have been mountains on our right side, but all we could see was drizzling rain. Then suddely when we drove on a small hill we saw a piece of blue sky. After one kilometer the sky was all blue and no clouds at all. We arrived by the Lake Tekapo where we stopped to look at the amazing turqouise water. It was almost surreal.

We arrived to Aoraki after 4 pm. Aoraki aka Mt Cook is the highest mountain in NZ, over 3700 m high. The top of the mountain was blinding white against the deep blue sky. Aoraki is Maori name meaning the splitter of clouds. Never have I got such a great scenery from my hotel window.

The next night image is taken through the hotel window. The sun had just set and the moon is shining behind the cloulds. The sight was magical. I only had a pocket camera with a relatively small sensor. That cause some noise. Even thought Canon PowerShot S90 is a great travel camera you must pay the price for light travel gear.

Next morning we took the trak to Glacier Lake near by. This lake has icebergs even in the summertime. In these photos thet don't look so big but in real life the are huge, tens of meters above water surface. They can turn upside down suddely, so better not go too close.

Next day we drove to Dunedin which is one of the oldest towns in NZ. The roots are in Scotland. Duneding means small Edinbourgh in Gael language.

The weather in NZ change rapidly. One day there is 40 degrees and then temperature drops to 15 during the same day. This morning the temperature in Dunedin was 9 C. Brrr... must put my fleece on when we go to Otago peninsula to watch penquins.