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RECENT TRAVEL PHOTOS 4 OF 4: IPHONE

iPhone 4 images captured on a trip to Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio in July 2010. (DIGITAL IMAGE CREATED WITH IPHONE 4 BY TODD SPOTH)

Finally, after a long weekend, the last post in the 4-part series is here, but for posterity, let’s recap the previous 3 posts.

(Click on each of the following to check out the post)

1 of 4: Oktomat

2 of 4: 5D II

3 of 4: Lubitel

Since the new Apple iPhone 4 was released just a week or so prior to my leaving on this recent trip, and given the fact that I had pre ordered and received the new phone, this post is pretty much a given. I took a handful of images and video after receiving the new phone and prior to leaving, however I was excited that I would be able to travel with the phone to put it through its paces.

I upgraded my phone from the Apple iPhone 3G which was 2 years old. The advancements made in the built in camera(s) were worth the price of the upgrade alone, as it is the camera that is ALWAYS with me, even when there is nothing else. I took somewhere in the ballpark of 3000 images during the life of my 3G (click here to see my previous posts from the older iPhone 3G) and am already on pace to break that record with this new iPhone.

Whenever I see something that inspires me or just need a quick photo of something I reach in my back pocket and pull out my phone. I started snapping images as soon as we were in the airport in Houston and didn’t stop until we were home. I believe I took around 600-700 images during the week-long trip, not to mention a ton of HD video clips as well. During our short stay in Chicago I snapped a photo of this beautiful church on the corner of W. Barry and W. Seminary streets. Moments later I started toying with a few of the image editing apps I have installed on my phone. After combining a few of the effects from 2 different 3rd party apps I stumbled on an effect that I found rather appealing. Throughout the remainder of the trip I would go back and edit images taken on the trip in the same manner and came out with another little iPhone photo essay from the travel.

Iphone photo editing by Todd Spoth

The original iPhone4 image, the image converted to black and white, and the final image.

The illustration above shows the progression from the initially captured image to how the image looked after the first step with the third image illustrating the completed image.

The first step was to identify which images would work best for the project. I found that high contrast images with fairly simple content worked best. Huge group photos with a ton of people would often seem muddied up, so sticking to fairly simple images worked best.

Secondly I used the Photoshop Mobile app to convert the images into black and white, boost contrast and perfect exposure. The Photoshop Mobile app is great for those basic tweaks that any real photographer would need. Sure there are a few bells and whistles to entice the casual user into purchasing, but it’s the only app I have (and that I have found) that will let me crop and straighten images with a constrained aspect ratio. After saving the edited black and white image I was ready for the final step.

I have several impulse buy image editing apps that I have been into lately such as Red Giant’s Plastic Bullet app that turns your photos into vintage wonders, but the app that worked for me here is Stephen Spring’s Pic Grunger. It’s a simple application that allows the user to select an image and apply any one of several built in textures. Some of the textures look better than others when outputted. I originally dug the “cracked” look, but since it didn’t hold up too well when I transferred them to the computer, I decided to go with the “creased” look. The app seems to output the images at 1000 pixels on the long end (about 1/3 of the original size) which is definitely a negative and I wish there were more choices of textures, but other than that, the app is awesome. The vintage, sepia tone, textured feel produced from the app gave the images a punch that I really dig.

A few of my favorites are in the slideshow below. Check back periodically as I will most likely be adding more images to this gallery from time to time.

Now that all 4 parts to this blog series is complete, please drop me a line to tell me which set of images you liked most!

JULY 2010: IPHONE OHIO – Images by Todd Spoth

RECENT TRAVEL PHOTOS 3 OF 4: LUBITEL

RECENT TRAVEL PHOTOS 3 OF 4: LUBITEL

The first few weeks of July 2010 were spent visiting family in Chicago and Akron, Ohio. My grandmother turned 80 and members of our family from all parts of the globe congregated in Ohio to surprise her for her birthday. Even though the travel was personal and not business, I still took a ton of photos. This post is the third in a series of 4 dedicated to the images made during the trip. Here you will see photos taken with my Lubitel twin lens medium format camera.

RECENT TRAVEL PHOTOS 2 OF 4: 5D

RECENT TRAVEL PHOTOS 2 OF 4: 5D

The first few weeks of July 2010 were spent visiting family in Chicago and Akron, Ohio. My grandmother turned 80 and members of our family from all parts of the globe congregated in Ohio to surprise her for her birthday. Even though the travel was personal and not business, I still took a ton of photos. This post is the second in a series of 4 dedicated to the images made during the trip. Here you will see photos taken with my Canon 5D mark II digital camera.

RECENT TRAVEL PHOTOS 1 OF 4: OKTOMAT

RECENT TRAVEL PHOTOS 1 OF 4: OKTOMAT

The first few weeks of July 2010 were spent visiting family in Chicago and Akron, Ohio. My grandmother turned 80 and members of our family from all parts of the globe congregated in Ohio to surprise her for her birthday. Even though the travel was personal and not business, I still took a ton of photos. This post is the first in a series of 4 dedicated to the images made during the trip. Here you will see photos taken with my Lomo Octomat 35mm camera.

THE 400 PAGE BLURB BOOK

THE 400 PAGE BLURB BOOK

I recently created a mammoth, 400 page 7″x7″ book via Blurb.com for my grandmother’s 80th birthday celebration. The pages were filled with 100% scanned in film images from my family’s history. See how the book came to be as well as see lots of photos of the finished product in this post.

BEST OF THE CHRONICLE 2010 (JAN-JUNE)

BEST OF THE CHRONICLE 2010 (JAN-JUNE)

One of my regular editorial clients is my hometown newspaper, The Houston Chronicle. Since my workload lately consists of more corporate work, getting an assignment from the Chron often seems like a much needed break. From triathlons to plastic surgeons, these are my favorite images produced on location for The Houston Chronicle between January and June, 2010.

JAMESON TAILLON

JAMESON TAILLON

I recently photographed local pitching phenom, Jameson Taillon, at his high school’s home field in The Woodlands, Texas. Jameson was recently selected 2nd overall in Major League Baseball’s 2010 first-year player draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

SUMMERFEST 2010

SUMMERFEST 2010

After 2 long days of live music at the 2010 Free Press Houston Summerfest at Eleanor Tinsley Park in Houston, Texas, I think I need a nap. Over 70 bands performed in total. Among the artists I photographed were, Girl Talk, Ra Ra Riot, Stars, Slim Thug and Bun-B, The Flaming Lips and more. Some rain on Sunday dampened the mood a bit, but everyone was in good spirits and had a great time.

DEJA VU ALA VINCE YOUNG

DEJA VU ALA VINCE YOUNG

This past weekend I had the chance to photograph Vince Young’s annual celebrity basketball game here in Houston at Butler Sports Complex, a familiar spot for the native Houstonian. Vince Young is well known in Houston as he drew a lot of attention as a high school prospect in the area, eventually playing college ball [...]

FUTURE OLYMPIAN?

FUTURE OLYMPIAN?

A couple of weeks ago I got an assignment to photograph an up and coming high school swimming star from Kingwood, Texas. The image was going to accompany an article for the All Greater Houston section of the Houston Chronicle which is a special section highlighting outstanding high school athletes from the Houston area. After [...]