Posts in Category: Samsung WB250
Snowberry Clearwing Moth
I spent several hours yesterday at Massachusetts Audubon’s Drumlin Farm Wildlife Sanctuary being the ZEISS guy for their yearly Optics Fair. Mostly I was talking optics but I did take them to chase down this interesting moth when it flew by.
At first I thought it was a particularly yellow Hummingbird Moth…or “Hummingbird Clearwing Moth” more properly…but further study shows it as the closely related Snowberry Clearwing. It was quite large: 2 inches tip to tail and with a 2 inch wingspan. Quite a creature!
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Program and Macro, with Intelligent Zoom to about 600mm equivalent field of view at 10 mega pixels. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7. Cropped for scale.
Last Rose of Summer
I went down to the beach yesterday to see if there were any birds around to digiscope, and got honestly and seriously distracted by the amazing sky 🙂 And it was cold at the beach! Not jacket cold, but chill enough in the wind so that I was not truly comfortable in my shirt, birding vest, and shorts. Fall is coming on way too fast.
As I say, I could not resist the sky, and there were just a few Beach Roses blooming very late right in front of one of my favorite views. Okay! Pic-op.
I used the Samsung Smart Camera’s in-camera HDR mode (Rich Tone), and then processed the image for maximum impact in Snapseed on the Nexus 7 v.2. Snapseed has matured since I last tried it. It now works with full resolution files. I like several of the editing features: Ambience and Structure in particular, and I like the slide to adjust metaphor. It is as close to Lightroom as Android is likely to get 🙂
And for this image I got the effect I was after. The last rose of summer, with fall coming on too fast!
Wood Shed
We were hiking along a road, or the last vestiges of a village street, near Tubingen, Germany, to cross the Neckar river on a foot bridge, looking for raptors late in the day over farm fields where Storks wandered…when I saw this wood shed attached to an aging barn. I could not resist. My companions, all hard-core birders, turned around to look for me when they noticed I had fallen behind. “You have to remember,” I said, “I am a tourist here, and I am going to do the tourist thing and stop to take pictures.” They had a good laugh at that…the tourist birder is a new concept in Germany…but I got my pictures!
I love the blend of textures here…raw wood, weathered wood, wood siding, bleached out particle board, concrete and brick. Such a range! I zoomed in for a tight crop with the Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Rich Tone (HDR) mode. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Google Nexus 7 FHD.
Overlooking Bad Boll
We are staying in Boll southern Germany for a few days, visiting Birding Centers that ZEISS supports. This is the view out over Boll from a local height. Boll is known, among other things, for its orchards: its fruit and juices. They call them “meadow orchards” because the trees are wide spread to allow grazing between and under them.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Rich Tone mode (HDR). Processed in PicSay Pro on the Nexus 7.
Forest for the trees…
This is a vertical sweep panorama. I was looking at the dead pine in the center background and the image builds itself around that, but the most interesting thing to me is the distortions introduced in the surrounding trees by the sweep process. It is a bendy world the sweep panorama mode captures 🙂 The only difficulty in this kind of vertical sweep is getting your head back far enough without falling over.
This is at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge on the trail at the headquarters.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
Monarch in the Glade
The other day while hunting dragonflies along the Mousam river at Old Falls Pond I looked up to see this Monarch sitting on a bush about 10 feet away, perfectly backlit for a shot. In a normal situation that is easy reach for my Canon SX50HS and the 1800mm equivalent I shoot most bugs with, but this was the day I had forgotten the SD card in the Laptop after processing the morning’s images and I was left with only the 18x reach of my Samsung Smart Camera. That is a measly 432mm equivalent field of view. The Samsung does have Intelligent Zoom, which scales back the number of pixels captured rather than enlarging pixels to fill a larger frame and simulate a longer lens. It has two steps: 10mp and 5mp. I ran it up to the end of the 10mp range, which should be something like 600mm equivalent field of view. I am actually quite pleased with the results…not pleased enough to leave my Canon at home on my bug hunts, but pleased enough to be confident that the Samsung will deliver in a pinch, even for the occasional tel-macro.
Program with -1/3EV exposure compensation. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
Goldenrod Forever!
I have never seen so much Goldenrod as is growing on the Kennebunk Plains this summer. A great spread of yellow under the sun. Of course, for allergy suffers, among which I am one, this is not good news 🙂 What we suffer for beauty…and it is a beautiful plant. I can almost forgive it my itchy eyes.
Here I have used moderate telephoto to compress the layers, and cropped both top and bottom for a wider effect…to emphasize the spread of the Goldenrod.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Rich Tone Mode. 85mm equivalent field of view. Nominal exif: f4.4 @ 1/250th @ ISO 100. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
Weekly Blazing Star Bloom Update
Time for what is becoming my weekly Northern Blazing Star bloom update. Still not quite there. The bloom on the south side of the Kennebunk Plains is well advanced, with some blooms moving on toward seed, but there are only individual plants in bloom on the north side of the Plains…and even on the south many plants are still in bud.
Yesterday, however, the Goldenrod was in full cry! I was able to find this lovely stand of Blazing Star isolated against a backdrop Goldenrod. What a contrast in color. I may mess with this later in Dynamic Auto Painter to see what it would look like as a painting. 🙂
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Action Freeze Mode (the wind was blowing a gale, and the flowers were never still). f5 @ 1/750th @ ISO 200. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone.
Wet Rose
We are having another 24 hours of rain to end the week. This was taken near sunset on our last rainy day, when the storm finally moved out to sea and the sun broke through for a few moments. The sun was already gone by the time I got to the beach roses covered in rain water, but they still made a good study in the soft light of early evening. The colors are never richer than when wet, and the drops add interesting highlights. And, of course, Rosa rugosa petals always have that crushed silk texture that catches the eye.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F in Macro mode. 32mm equivalent (the Macro default). f3.4 @ 1/45th @ ISO 160. Processed in PicSay Pro on the Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone. Auto Enhance by Google+.
Trees by threes
This trio of popular trees along the Kennebunk Bridle Path caught my eye one day as I passed. I like the lichen on the bark, and the pattern the three make against the greenery. The 24mm equivalent lens provides the depth of field to shot close in to the front tree, and yet have the others in relative focus as well. It is all about composition, really.
Samsung Smart Camera WB250F. Program. -1/3EV exposure compensation. 24mm equivalent field of view. f3.2 @ 1/60th @ ISO 100. Processed on the Samsung Galaxy S4 in PicSay Pro.