HOLBOX ISLAND – the smartphone files
I finally did it. I finally tried out my smartphone’s camera. File sizes are not very large, shutter lag all but forbids pursuing moving subjects and no amount of shading or peering will make the screen usable for composition. That said, for such a small package, it does pack a fair punch.
Holbox Island, in southern Mexico, is an unusual place. The beaches’ sand is a little hard but a well-worn couch provides providential padding…
All around Holbox there are many poles sticking out of the shallow water. While the effectiveness in combating erosion is debatable, it is undeniable that they do provide handy resting spots for the many seabirds.
Holbox has two piers, this wooden one is the smaller of the two and juts north into the Gulf of Mexico.
My smartphone camera has such a long shutter lag that moving subjects prove a challenge to capture at the right time…
…but pre-framing and focusing and then waiting for the subject to walk into the frame does improve chances slightly.
Holbox being an odd place, the highlight of the Christmas season is the annual dog dress-up contest, held in the town square. The pup on the right, sporting a green elf-y number, won the contest.
Proud owner shows off his butterfly-winged mutt, who came in a very respectable second place.
The smartphone used for all these photos is an older Samsung Gt-i9070. Color jpegs were converted to monochrome and cropped to the square format on a regular desktop PC.
Thanks for the visit. Hope you enjoyed.
Alessandro Ciapanna
ciapannaphoto 
17 Responses to “HOLBOX ISLAND – the smartphone files”
Sempre bellissime le tue foto, Alessandro!
ultimamente scatto molto con il cellulare, per comodità, ma anche per la praticità di elaborare e pubblicare con pochi passaggi e senza dover accendere il pc ( sì, sono decisamente pigra 🙂 )
trovo che i moderni smartphone siano eccellenti anche come macchine fotografiche, ma quel che più conta, come sempre è l’occhio e la sensibilità di chi li usa.
E le tue foto ne sono una ulteriore prova 🙂
Sempre gentilissima; grazie di cuore. Io ho usato il cell perche’, essenzialmente, su Holbox non c’era granche’ da fotografare. Senz’altro non c’era abbastanza da giustificare il trasporto continuato ed ossessivo della reflex… 🙂
Di un po’… tu cosa usi per elaborare le foto direttamente sul telefonino? Una app oppure un qualche software proprietario…? Se rispondi, ti prego di farlo in termini semplici, che sono digitalmente semi-analfabeta 😉
Alessandro, sarò semplicissima: uso una app che trovo completa e facile da usare ( per chi mastica già un po’ di post produzione): Snapseed. Provala e poi dimmi cosa ne pensi 😉
OK – grazie!
Se ne esce qc di buono lo faro’ sapere. In caso contrario faro’… silenzio 😉
Spero di sentirti…anche solo per dirmi “ma che piffero mi hai consigliato?!” 😀
Aggiornamento: l’attuale snapseed non e’ compatibile con il (vetusto) sistema operativo del mio smart (ma mica tanto) phone…
Come mai non riesco a vedere le tue foto?
Probabilmente l’ultimo aggiornamento della app necessita di sistemi operativi recenti. Prova con VSCO Cam o Fotor. Anche se snapseed rimane il mio preferito.
Probabilmente dovresti solo aggiornare il sistema operativo del tuo smartphone, non hai mai ricevuto notifiche per gli aggiornamenti?
intanto, buona giornata, sperando che da te il tempo sia migliore che qui nel profondo nord dove piove da sabato
Great work with your phone camera, Alessandro! Another tool is always fun.
I especially love the boat with the shredded black flags waving in the wind. Certainly a place full of wonderful photographic possibilities as you have demonstrated.
Hello, Karen! Thanks for the kind words. In fact, i felt there was not much to photograph on Holbox. Which is why i used the smartphone’s camera – the lack of opportunities did not warrant carrying the dslr all over the place. That said, when an interesting subject did pop up, it was great fun to turn my personal music player into a camera for a quick snap…
My opinion of smartphone cameras has been transformed by the iPhone 6+. For the first time I feel it can do some degree of justice to the images. I think you have achieved miracles with your antique Alessandro 😉
Haha! Antique – wow! So true – given that one smartphone year is worth about thirty human years, my smartphone has already passed the venerable age of ninety… 😉
Thank you, Andrew. It is always a pleasure to read your kind words.
You have put that small screen to such good use Alessandro. Love that last shot and the flag flying!
Thanks, Patti. That flag – it was snapping so hard in the wind i almost thought it wanted to bite… 🙂
My smartphone is smarter than me, but it can’t take that kind of outstanding photos …
Haha! Hello and thanks, Covetotop! I think the best part of my smartphone is that, at three years old, it is not quite all that smart… 🙂
Looking good to me – small is also beautiful but there is always Alien Skin Blow Up!
I looked into that Alien Skin – definitely very interesting. Thanks for pointing it out and for the nice words, Lesley!