2015 photos

My collection of 2015 photos is linked to in my signature below. I had a really nice 2015. This is the first year I shot almost exclusively with a cell phone camera. I used an iPhone 6 until September and then a Samsung Galaxy S6 the rest of the year. I could never go back to a DSLR again, I love cell phone photography too much. I visited Grand Canyon and Zion National Parks and took a trip up to New England to see the fall colors. My favorite photo of the year is the photo of the Mill Stream restaurant.

I did have something strange happen this year. Google keeps track of how many people look at each image and usually I have a few hundred hits on each of my photos. In November I posted my October photos and my favorite photo of the month has been getting a steady stream of hits, around 25 to 50 per day. So far a total of about 2000 hits. But none of the other photos in the album have much more than a hundred hits. I can't figure out where the hits are coming from.

Love them and hard to pick a favorite there are so many good ones....but do agree with your choice as it is spectacular.

Keep shooting...

Jim

good stuff

As always, it's difficult to pick a favorite.  I still really like the Lookout Studio.  The photos of Londonderry made me want to visit that area.  Also liked the alligator and all the shots of the Grand Canyon.  Very impressive collection, Tom.

Margi

Let's just say there aren't any of your pictures that I don't like!  They're all good.  The colors and clarity are amazing.  Now if they could just make a cell phone that I can hear as well as it takes pictures, that would be great.  Anyway, good job and good year, Tom.

ArdraF

Wigpro said:

Love them and hard to pick a favorite there are so many good ones....but do agree with your choice as it is spectacular.

Keep shooting...

Jim

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Thanks Jim. I can't stop myself from shooting ;D

Olustee bus said:

good stuff

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Thank you

Tom and Margi said:

As always, it's difficult to pick a favorite.  I still really like the Lookout Studio.  The photos of Londonderry made me want to visit that area.  Also liked the alligator and all the shots of the Grand Canyon.  Very impressive collection, Tom.

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Thank you Margi. I really like the shot of Lookout Studio but for a different reason. I can see a bench that I spent hundreds of hours sitting on (no exaggeration) waiting for the Condors to show up. The big mistake I made in Londonderry was not stopping in for dinner. It gets great reviews and the menu looks fabulous. I am going back there next October for a longer trip and this time I will have dinner there.

http://www.menupix.com/menudirectory/menu.php?id=380197855

Photographing the Grand Canyon is like cheating. Point your camera in any direction at any time of day and you get a masterpiece.

ArdraF said:

Let's just say there aren't any of your pictures that I don't like!  They're all good.  The colors and clarity are amazing.  Now if they could just make a cell phone that I can hear as well as it takes pictures, that would be great.  Anyway, good job and good year, Tom.

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Thank you Ardra. I agree, it would be nice to be able to hear my cell phone. But one thing I have noticed is that it is mainly the person's phone who I am talking too that is causing the problem. Often I can hear the other caller perfectly. I have the Samsung S6 and the S7 is due to be released in a few months and I am excited. Cell phones just keep getting better and better.

Truly amazing photos. We had no idea of the quality  that could be achieved from a cell phone. Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year!

Thanks for sharing. Makes we want to travel more and visit all these amazing places.

    Tom, thanks for sharing, they are all great, but my favourite was " OK, which one of these babies do I have to deliver next", or the Stork and baby gators.

Ed

Dream Chasers said:

Truly amazing photos. We had no idea of the quality  that could be achieved from a cell phone. Thanks for sharing. Happy New Year!

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Thank you. I am thrilled with the quality I am getting with a cell phone too. In a few years DSLRs will be obsolete. No reason to carry around five pounds of a several thousand dollar camera when your phone will do just as well. I realize that people with a lot of money invested in their system don't want to hear this, but technology marches on.

Jeff and Anita said:

Thanks for sharing. Makes we want to travel more and visit all these amazing places.

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You are welcome. It has the same effect on me. I have two vacations planned for this year, one to the west coast and one to the east coast and I am dying to get going.

Hfx_Cdn said:

    Tom, thanks for sharing, they are all great, but my favourite was " OK, which one of these babies do I have to deliver next", or the Stork and baby gators.

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You lost me Ed, which one was the "OK which one of these babies..."?

  That's why I went on to say, the stork looking at the gators, to me it looked like she was trying to decide which baby she had to pick up and deliver next.

Ed

OK that makes sense. I am easily fooled.

I am thrilled with the quality I am getting with a cell phone

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Any tips you could share re taking photos withe a cell phone v with a DSLR? So many folks have smartphones with cameras, and those cameras have improved so much over time. OTOH I see so many "poor" photos taken by folks with their cell phone. TIA.

One thing with cell phones is (speaking generally about people now, not specific individuals) to get over the obsession with vertical (portrait) shots, especially in video. For some reason a large percentage of the videos I've seen (and too many stills, as well) are portrait. Another factor is that it's harder to hold the cell phone steady than it is a camera you press to your eye, but steady is required. I see some recent ones have Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) but they're not that common yet (or so it seems), and that's not a cure-all anyway.

You'll probably want something to shade the screen when the sun gets to be a problem, too. And all the "rules" about good picture taking (rule of thirds, etc.) still apply on the pocket computer (misnamed as a cell phone).

Of course I expect Tom will have a lot more to say.

Larry N. said:

One thing with cell phones is (speaking generally about people now, not specific individuals) to get over the obsession with vertical (portrait) shots, especially in video. For some reason a large percentage of the videos I've seen (and too many stills, as well) are portrait. Another factor is that it's harder to hold the cell phone steady than it is a camera you press to your eye, but steady is required. I see some recent ones have Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) but they're not that common yet (or so it seems), and that's not a cure-all anyway.

You'll probably want something to shade the screen when the sun gets to be a problem, too. And all the "rules" about good picture taking (rule of thirds, etc.) still apply on the pocket computer (misnamed as a cell phone).

Of course I expect Tom will have a lot more to say.

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No I have nothing more to say, you are 100% correct in your observations. The vertical videos drive me nuts too. Mine has optical image stabilization built in. It is the first cell phone I have had with it built in. But the beautiful thing is it has voice control so when I hold the camera up I just say "shoot" and it trips the shutter greatly reducing camera shake. Cell phones are not perfect by a long shot. I get a new one every year and I always get the top of the line. I currently have Samsung S6 which is rated number one in most every cell phone top ten. Every year the top of the line gets better by a large margin and I am expecting them to be the equal of DSLRs within the next few years. Their biggest problem is lack of a zoom. I can't do birds in flight yet. But my camera has a eight to one zoom up from a three to one zoom of last year. Considering the size of the sensor and the thinness of the cell phone body it will take a few years before I can do BIF. However every camera has limitations as to what is can shoot, even the most expensive DSLRs and the challenge to me is to find things that a cell phone camera is good at and avoid the things it is poor at. Oops, I guess I did have more to say.  ;D