Saturday, May 10, 2014

Weekly Wrap-up With Far Too Many Photos.

Happy Mother's Day to you a day early!  It's been a nice week here.  Busy taking photos (as you will see below) working, running, and that's about it.  I ran 16 miles this week, which is the most I have run since before the Princess and that included a 5 mile run this morning.  I've been doing 4 consistently, but 5 is the longest I have run since the half marathon.   It felt nearly effortless, so I guess I'm finally officially back in the saddle! I registered for a 10K in June, but more on that another time.


 The big news in my world is that I had to get a new phone.  Two very important buttons on my Samsung Galaxy S3 decided to die and when clients started to call me and my phone was not registering that I was even getting calls, it was time to upgrade.  I'm glad we had one available.  When I went on the site to look for free upgrades, I came across the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom.  I had no clue that Samsung had a camera phone available and after looking into some reviews, I ordered it immediately.  
Right up my alley. 

 Those of you that follow me know that I have a love for all things photography related, so having a phone that takes decent pictures is important to me.  I can't always carry around my DSLR. In fact, I have less and less desire to lug it around but still want fabulous photos, which leaves me with a dilemma.  By the way, I wasn't asked to do a review or anything, I've just been having fun with the phone and thought I would share.    

The biggest complaint others had was that it was bulky because it has a lens on the back of the phone.  Well, if you have ever carried around a Nikon D90 dslr, you know what bulky is.  This is not bulky for me and I was aware going into it that it would be a little thicker because of the lens.  It's a necessary evil. You cannot get good photos with just a little tiny camera hole on a phone.  Believe me, I've tried!  I actually think the bump/lens make it easier for me to hold, there's no way it will slip out of my hand.  It also has a real shutter button. I could never quite get the hang of pushing a button on the phone screen to take a pic without moving the phone, which makes your shot blurry or not as sharp.  Hope I'm not boring you with all my photo talk, you can always skip down to the photos!

It was important that I have bokeh in my shots.  In the simplest terms, bokeh is the blurry background in shots.  Most camera phones and point and shoots cannot produce bokeh at all.  This baby can!  Now granted, it's not as "creamy" as the bokeh on my D90, but I'm still pretty pleased with it.  You kind of have to force the lens to give it to you though by getting VERY close to the subject that you are focusing on.



Here's a comparison from a shot I took a few years ago of the same flowers that bloom under the tree in my back yard. This will give you an idea of the differences. The first is from my new phone:


This is from a couple years ago with my dslr:


I'll admit, the camera phone takes really sharp pictures, but if you look at the dark areas on both the photos, you'll see what I mean about "creamy bokeh".  Both nice shots though and I'm happy that the phone can even produce this kind of shot.

Ok, enough comparing, I LOVE the camera on this phone and I'm really happy with it.  I'm not giving up my dslr anytime soon, but this really satisfies my need to have something easy to carry around that takes great photos. 
Here are a ton of shots I took this week with it!

My furry running partner twice a week, Normie-
 







  It has a really WIDE angle too, which is great for sunrises and a bunch of great presets for things like dawn, nighttime, fireworks, macro, etc.




The way the sun was coming up through the trees, it reminded me a bit of my tattoo!



My tattoo, in case you have no clue what I'm referring to.  
(any excuse to show it off!) LOL








 See the horsey in the background??


So I'm pretty pleased with my new toy!  I'm glad I have something to take some quality pics when I'm out and about.  

How about you?  Any new toys lately?  Do you carry around a dslr or point and shoot for photos or just rely on your phone? 

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Mother's Day weekend!!

14 comments:

  1. Lovely photos and everytime I see your tattoo, I love it more. I big back tattoo is my reward when I get to my goal weight. I'm still not completely sure what to get but yours is just outstanding. I mainly take photos with my iPhone 5 and they're good enough, but whenever I see a fancy camera picture I realize they could be so very much better. Happy Mother's Day!!

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    1. Thanks Twinkie and Happy Mother's Day to you! I can't wait to see what you get. So you have no idea or do you at least have some sort of idea of what you want? Animal, vegetable, mineral?? ;)

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  2. What a wonderful phone you got. That's perfect for you! I have a rather large Kodak camera with one of those super fancy German lenses on it ( it was a really good camera for back in its day) but I got tired of lugging it around through disney and on vacations and such so I got this little Sony camera a while back and I love it! It works just as well as my big camera but I feel kind of silly when I take it to my photo shoots for the magazine or newspaper. I liked it so much that I would still carry the camera with me along with my phone when I go to disney, or other vacays as well but now i've got so lazy that I just use my phone for most of those pics now.

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    1. Yeah, it's funny how that works. Sometimes what a camera LOOKS like doesn't mean much! People NEVER notice when I have my small 35mm lens on my Nikon but they think I'm some fancy photographer when I have my zoom on, because it's big. The funny part is that the zoom isn't nearly as good of a lens as the small 35mm. LOL

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  3. Woah! I didn't even know they made such thing as a phone with an actual camera lens on it! Those are some gorgeous pictures. The one three up from your tattoo is my favorite. So so gorgeous! And love your tattoo as always =)

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    1. Thanks Lauren! I didn't really know they did either, so this was a happy surprise! Haha, I think I should just put a pic of my tattoo somewhere on the front blog page, that way I don't have to keep posting it. ;)

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  4. This camera...I mean phone! OMG, I'm in love! Amazing pictures!!!

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  5. Great pictures, I seriously wish I had your eye for capturing a great photo. I'm sure the camera does a lot of the work, but the photographer still has to angle it right and know which is the best direction to shoot from, that is a great skill and talent you have! Have fun enjoying your new toy:)

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    1. Aw, thank you Kristy! I do think that it's partially the photographer and partially the camera that make a photo good! I don't *think* about the logistics of a good shot, it's just something I *see* naturally. In fact, if I try to think too much about it, it never comes out right! LOL

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  6. Absolutely stunning photos Karen!!

    This camera phone looks amazing. I have an S4 right now. Had no idea that camera one even existed, but I want it! I don't mind a little extra bulk if it means quality pics!

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    1. Thanks Lauren! I had an S3 and really liked it. I didn't realize the S4 Zoom existed either! I totally don't mind the extra bulk, I'm already used to it and my 7$ case arrived and it's awesome, makes it feel totally protected and easy to grip!

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  7. That is amazing photo quality from a camera phone! I'm super impressed! It isn't practical to have a real camera out when you run and it's so great to be able to get gorgeous pics like this now when you're out and about! Just imagine what your Princess Half Marathon photos will look like next year! - Jess

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    1. Yep, this is about as good as it gets for me. I can't run with my dslr but this thing is fantastic for snapshots. I wish I had it for the PHM, but I'm excited for Feb 2015 now!!

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