Galaxy S8 – The Little Things

The screen of the Galaxy S8 is BIG, but as “they” sometimes say, it is the little things that matter.  I don’t know how true that is in all situations, but I’m discovering that it is certainly applicable to mobile technology.

When I moved over to Android and Samsung, from Windows Mobile, I knew about the big stuff that would be different, like the availability of more apps that were part of the “app gap” on Windows.  More important to me are some of the little things.  These first two features and things that I had requested on Windows for many years.  They are small things, but they matter to me.

Today’s double dose of small things are sponsored by the letter “C”.   I use my phone for a lot of things, but two areas that are mission critical in the JDE, are COMMUNICATION and CREATIVITY.  See, the “C” connection happening?  

In A Galaxy S8 Near/Far/Pan Focus Away

I have had my Galaxy for about a week. In that time,  I have played with the camera,  quite a bit. One of my favorite features is Selective Focus. It will take a single photo and allow you to change the focus. To do this you need to select Selective Focus from the camera menu. 

What happens,  is that the camera simultaneously takes multiple photos and gives you these options for effect. You get an option to choose the closest item as a near focus, or the background as a far focus,  or a pan focus,  which puts everything in focus. The editing screen for making that selection looks like this:

So, while the feature is not exactly the same as the dual camera Portrait Mode on the iPhone 7, the flexibility of the multi-frame approach does provide creative options for the photographer. 

Here are some shots with Selective Focus. 

Having the option to change your mind is a convenient and useful feature. Which focus do you prefer? 
Here you see that it works on the front facing camera, as well. 

Do I share my focus with the Beverly Hills sign or not? I can decide that later, with Selective Focus. 

Finally, it works with the front camera in low light. Craziness… 

After a Spinning workout at RPM Fitness Studio

There are limitations to selective focus. The dual camera option on the iPhone 7 lets you do these things from a distance where the Galaxy S8 needs the subject to be relatively close to the phone. For most of what I do this is not a deal-breaker but it would be awesome to combine both approaches and maybe Samsung has that a in mind for the Note 8. Of course, Apple surely has some tricks up its leaves with the upcoming iPhone 8. For now, the Galaxy S8 was the best option for me to choose. What do you think?

Please note, that I wrote a majority of this blog with voice to text on my phone. I think this mobile thing is here to stay and make us even more productive.

Have an apple! 😊 

Photography Tip: Stop. Pull Over. Pay Attention.

Today’s photography tip doesn’t require you to buy any special equipment of grasp any concepts or even practice to get it right.  I just want you to slow down in life, notice what’s happening around you and find things you want to capture in your photography.  Sometimes when you’re driving, you might want to pull over and park, because you see something that you want to take a photo of.  You might want to walk a new area or even your own neighborhood, to seek out interesting subjects.

When you get in this mindset, you’ll see photo opportunities everywhere.  While you’re doing that, you’re also training your “eye” and your photo framing will get better and you’ll find interesting perspectives.  Don’t worry about any of that now, just remember: STOP. PULL OVER. PAY ATTENTION.

The past few days, I’ve been doing just that with my Lumia 1020.  Let’s see what I found! 🙂

Picture Yourself

Many times we make our first impression, not in person, but online.  It’s a static image that doesn’t have the charisma of your animated self.  We need to maximize the impression that this image makes.  Does it put you in your best light while still looking like you?  Does it give clues to your personality?  When they look into your photographed eyes, do they see a sample of your soul?

If we work together, the answer to those questions will will be YES.  Are you read to Picture Yourself?

Images to Video on my Lumia 1020

I needed to be down in Hollywood for an appointment and I decided to do a little tourist walk.  I took 10 minutes and gathered some pictures and a couple of videos.  Later, I had some Pho for dinner.  You don’t know what Pho is?  Not to worry, you’ll see it in the second video.

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is perfect for capturing great images.  The Windows Phone ecosystem has a ton of apps to use with imaging, as well.  Today, I’ll show you examples of  two of these apps I used to quickly put together video content to share on social media.

All of those selfies w/ my Nokia Lumia

 

Ahhh, the selfie.  There’s a song about them and even a new TV show that bears the name.  I kinda hate most of them, but then I thought I’d take them to another level. Obviously, I’d be in them (BONUS), plus I’d use my Windows Phone as the consistent prop and I’d inject bits of awesome inspiration, into every shot.

There are 25 pictures in this collection that I did over a few weeks, recently.  There were kind of a hit and I’ve been asked to put them all in one spot because my friends didn’t always see the “selfie of the day”.  Now they are here in one spot.  I hope you like them as much as I enjoyed making them.

All 25 images were shot on the phone and edited on the phone.

Tools

• Nokia Lumia 920 (the red one in  most shots)
• Nokia Lumia 1020 (the white one in some shots)
• Fhotoroom – my workhorse editing app and also the community where I first displayed these images!
• Fantasia – another editing app I used for tone-mapping and some precise edits
• Melange – app I used for cutting and pasting (see #22 & #25)
• Tripod

Selfies w/ Lumia Series

If you’ve been paying attention to any of my social media channels this past week, you’ve probably noticed a theme.  I’ve been taking selfies using the Lumia 1020, of my and my Lumia 920.  The 920 display shows a picture that is always the “prop” .  I always used language as though each image was showing an “app” that should be available for Windows Phone.

It all started with this picture of me sleeping with a “teddy bear”, that I entered into a selfie w/ phone contest run by www.winphan.net.  Alas, the contest was a random drawing and not for having a creative, well-executed shot.  I didn’t win, but I got inspired take more.  Let’s see what I came up with!

Just PROSHOWing Off Some Fave Lumia 1020 Pictures

The Nokia Lumia devices are not just all work, although you can see the good work that can be done with these phones in my last post.  No, today I discovered the ProShow app for making slideshow videos out of you still pictures.  Here’s my first one!

Some notes:

Lumia Gets REAL…estate

I have to tell you that the Nokia Lumia 1020 puts in work.  I’ve used it on paid video jobs and paid event photography jobs.  Now, it just got REAL.  My friend asked me to do a shoot of his new real estate listing.  I brought along my trusty DSLR because  “size matters”, when people are paying for pictures.

I took about half of the photos with the DSLR and half with the Lumia 1020.  The Lumia had a wider angle, which is great for capturing smaller rooms where I couldn’t back up any further to frame it properly with the DSLR.  That wider view was also great for capturing the totality of the yard spaces.

I’m only going to post pictures taken with the Lumia in this posting.  If you are interested in the house, please check out the listing here: 10521 Northvale Rd – Represented by Cory Holtzman.

My PureView of the Hollywood Sign Hike

Last week, I was in Portland and the change of scenery was great, but you gotta come home, right?  My friend John reminded me that we often forget how interesting the place we live can be.  With that being said, I decided to share one of my favorite hikes in Los Angeles.

In my pursuit of entertainment fame and fortune…or just the ability to pay my bills by doing what I love…I sometimes need perspective.  It’s the kind of perspective that tells you that your awesome even when you can’t get a meeting or a referral or an audition.  Yes, perspective feeds the ego and shuts out negative talk because OBVIOUSLY “they” are the one’s missing out.

OK, enough of that (for now).  Let’s get to the hike.  Every picture was taken with the Nokia Lumia 1020.  Most were taken with the Nokia Camera app, but some were taken with Fhotolens and 4Blend HDR apps.  Finally there are some panorama shots taken with the Nokia Panorama app.  I’d like to say that this was a sponsored piece.  Seriously, Microsoft, Nokia, etc…I’d LOVE to say that this is a sponsored piece.  How ‘bout it?

Yes, there’s the hike.  The picture above is on Beachwood Drive which takes you to the trailhead.   Much like going to the movies or watching TV, the sign reminds you of your destination for the entire journey.  Keep reading past the break to experience the journey with me.