Go on a virtual mini-vacation to the English countryside
ProCamera user Mark Allen went on a photo trip to the Lake District (UK) and came back with a beautiful series of calming landscape photos.The slideshow is best enjoyed in full screen mode and 1080p HD quality (gear icon).
Hello Mark, thank you for taking the time. Please tell our users a little bit about yourself and your photography.
I’m from Belfast, Northern Ireland, retired with plenty of time on my hands. My father was a photographer, so I always remember having a camera. Some of what my father tried to teach me when I was young, must have stuck because I have always found it easy. I’m not a professional photographer and do not do any commercial work. Every year a friend and I go a trip, solely to take photos. this year we went to the Lake District in England. I brought all my camera gear, cameras, lenses, filters, tripod, etc. We often leave our gear in the car and wander around to carefully select the best point of view. Once I found ‘my spot’, I took a record of the view using the ProCamera app on my iPhone 6 S Plus.
All the photos we have seen in the video slideshow were taken with ProCamera. What was the decisive factor for you to use the photos taken with the iPhone for your slideshow after you came back?
I was astonished at the clarity and vibrancy of the iPhone photos. I was even more surprised at how well the images taken with a clip- on ultra wide angle lens turned out. Folks from my camera club are used to me going on trips and then producing a slideshow. I thought it would provide them with some entertainment to watch the show and only realise, right at the end, that the photos were taken with an iPhone!
How did your fellow camera club members react when they found out none of these photos were taken with your “big camera”?
I think some of them thought it was a trick. I had to produce the EXIF data to convince a few of them. People are used to camera phones producing rubbish images. The reality is, that if I had not been using ProCamera’s HDR 5 shot mode, many of my photos would have had lost details, simply because of the high dynamic range of the vistas. Really bright skies, dark deep shadows are a recipe for burnt out skies and black holes. ProCamera allows users with knowledge of photography to get the very best from its teeny tiny sensor inside. Of course knowing what you are doing also helps!
You almost exclusively used ProCamera’s HDR camera mode during your trip. Where do you see the main advantages of the high dynamic range images?
I liked the idea of the app taking five images. What it means is the app takes a very dark, dark, normal, bright and very bright photo, five photos in all, and all in just a moment. To get the very best from it a mini tripod would be best, but I just braced my elbows to my side and kept it as steady as I could. The app automatically blends all five images together replacing details that would ordinarily be lost. ProCamera’s HDR offers a number of final options. I find the ‘vivid’ and ‘dramatic’ settings too vivid and dramatic for my tastes, so I always use the natural setting. I edited and adjusted each image, on my iPhone, with Snapseed. I mainly corrected wonky horizons, cropped to get a more pleasing composition. I then made the slideshow with ‘Pictures ToExe’ which allowed me to sync the music with the photos.
We love to hear real-life stories like that since we also believe that great images are the best proof for the capabilities of the iPhone camera. So you plan on shooting regularly with your iPhone and ProCamera?
Absolutely, the best camera in the world is the one you have with you, and my iPhone is nearly always with me. I only use ProCamera to take photos, all the other ones I have collected and used over the years have been binned. Clearly, the fact that I always have my phone with me when I leave the house means that there are no longer any missed photo opportunities. I am confident that my iPhone 6S Plus and ProCamera will do a great job.
We see people using the features of ProCamera in so many different ways (which is great!) – what are your favourite three functionalities?
Goodness, there is just so much. I think the app appeals to folk who know their photography. They can then benefit from all the advanced settings. My favourites are the HDR and the Low Light Plus. My advice is to RTFM – read the flipping manual. I have the manual as a pdf on my phone, just in case I get stuck.
Any plans for your next photographic series or journey?
Yes, I am just back from a trip to the European Alps. Again, I had my Fuji with me but I took over 300 photos with my iPhone. I think I got a bit carried away, but I knew the results would be good.
I guess this could result in another excellent photo slideshow!
My next project is a slide show of photos I took in Poland, Auschwitz and Schindler’s Factory. It will be dark and perhaps rather unsettling.
By no means an easy topic, don’t forget to send us a link once the slideshow is online. Thank you, Mark, and keep up the great work.
