Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Flaming Flower

One of the wildest, most colorful pictures of a flower yet captured for the blog.  Amazing that it came from an iPhone.

Bookmark from same below:

Seattle 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Restaurant Umbrellas

Once we got on the Ferris wheel I was able to point straight down to capture this perspective of the restaurant umbrellas.  The white circles are outdoor space heaters, I think.

Was pleasantly surprised at the result from Glowing Edges below:

Seattle 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, DT Panorama with Ferris Wheel

I was actually amazed at the quality of this 2-shot panorama, considering it came from the camera phone.  So again the question:  Was all the money spent on the D850 with lenses worth it, considering what we see above?  Depends on who you ask - wife, "no"; me, "yes".  Even though my vote is a Yes, this sure beats anything that could've been coaxed out of my earlier Fuji point-and-shoots.

And looking at the Ferris wheel, another question:  Am I going to get on the thing as soon as we're close enough?  Of course I am.  Do you see the little blue things at the base of it?  Those are umbrellas at a restaurant, to be posted tomorrow from a much different perspective.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Gum on Wall

Is this the grossest thing you've ever seen?  Yes, this is the absolute grossest thing you've ever seen...

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Graffiti

Caught this in passing while on a walk somewhere.  Always enjoyed graffiti, so long as there're no cuss words or gang insignia.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Reflection from Street

Another reflection shot, this time at street level.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Another Balcony View

What a sight to see by simply stepping through your patio door...the fruits of perseverance and diligent work ethic.

Placed a layer of the entire building on the left against a black background just for the fun of it:

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Building Reflection

Naturally I couldn't resist a reflection shot such as this from the balcony...

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, View from Apartment with Needle

It was fortunate that I was able to move so that the needle fit squarely between the two neighboring buildings.  This and the next two posts were taken from our nephew's balcony.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Apartment Cat

So here we are starting a new travel series, this time to Seattle.  And because it was just the two of us (Chenjean and I), I went out on a limb and DID NOT bring the Bigger Cahoona, entrusting all photographic opportunities to the iPhone for the first time on a trip.  It was a move I did not regret.  These first dozen or so posts are JPEG's pretty much in the order they were captured.  Then later on we'll see those from the RAW files that I was taught to shoot.

The primary purpose of the trip was to connect with our nephew Scott and his fiancée Ru, and our newly-married niece Jennifer and her husband Mario, who'd lived there since getting married.  Thus we paid a visit to both couples during our stay.

Scott's place was a short walking distance down the street from our hotel, so we headed there first.  We were very impressed with his apartment, which was on the 21st floor of a nice new-ish building.  The views were spectacular, as will be seen in the next couple of posts.  This is the sight that greeted us as we walked into the door, so didn't hesitate to capture this first impression of their awesome abode.

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Colorful Pens (last in series)

We were shopping in Zhuqi one day and entered a store that sold stationery, art, and school supplies.  Near the front there was a display of pens of all colors.  Of course I wanted some pictures due to all this color in one place.  However, raising up the Bigger Cahoona in such an establishment would not have been appropriate...the proprietors were a bit grumpy anyway.  So this is where the handy, quiet iPhone comes in.  While the grumpy souls behind the counter were distracted with other things, I snuck in a couple of shots that I knew would be fun to work with.

And here we are:  the pic above makes use of the crosshatch effect in Photoshop.  The pics that follow are in original form or feature the glowing/found edges.

And this finally marks the LAST POST OF THE TAIWAN 2024 SERIES!  My gosh, all the way from July 20th, 2024 until today; 448 pictures in 264 posts!  This is getting crazy.

Think we'll go to Seattle next, when I learn a little more about how to work with Lightroom...

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Tropical Drink

This was a drink that our daughter ordered at the restaurant featured in this post some time ago.  The pic is formatted in the dimensions for a bookmark, and I plan to get an image of a chain to make it appear as though it were hanging by the hook from above.  Then who knows what else for the background to replace the 50% gray...

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Roadside Alishan Sculpture

Going to insert a couple here that are unfinished, but, in my opinion, already interesting as they are.  This is the roadside sculpture that represents the Alishan Administrative District, just outside the administrative building with its built-in museum located about a mile from Chenjean's house.  Just have it against a 50% gray right now, but probably will put a subtle gradient behind it someday when I have more time to dabble with it.

Taiwan 2024 - Post Office Art

This was a huge art installation on the exterior of one of the main post offices in Taipei City.  The green here was so even and distinct that I decided to play with the color, and these are the result:

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Red and White Flower

Another striking flower.  Naturally I had to play a little with gradient backgrounds, and settled for this one:

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Buddhist Memorial Service

I've always very much enjoyed witnessing, and even sometimes participating in, the cultural practices of faraway societies.  Of course in Mexico there was a lot of that, plus a few missed opportunities.  For example, we were loaded in the back of a pickup one day going to church when I spied a platform someone built about 20 yards off to the side of this dirt road way out in the boonies.  I asked what it was, and they explained that there was a group that mixed their Catholicism with rituals from ancient days before the Catholics took over the place (this would have been before 1500 AD).  These rituals included wild dances with machetes slicing the sky to bring rain.  Would love to have seen that, but only as a fly on the wall with all those machetes swinging around in such a remote area.

Another time we drove down to Nueva Rosita to visit a friend that just had a baby.  She was still in the traditional 40-day bedridden phase, and had a red circle made of ochre placed on the middle of her forehead.  I asked the meaning of such a symbol, and was told what amounted to some superstition that was involved.  Knowing of my interest in all things cultural, they also spoke of a ritual ceremony south of town that was played out by an indigenous tribe in the area.  It took place at night and involved a bonfire and eating of dog meat.  I really wanted to see something like that, but they told me that Mexicans weren't even invited, much less a white guy from the United States.

But with lots of family in Taiwan I have the opportunity to do more than just hear about those things.  In 2001 I was very much a part of my mother-in-law's funeral...very, very interesting.  And here we are in 2024, memorializing her in a yearly Buddhist ceremony.  There were about 150 of us in the crowd under this big tent, who watched and responded to what the monks were doing in the temple on the other side of that wall.  Though I am not a Buddhist by any stretch, I had no problem following the program to honor her memory as the mother of my bride and with respect for her culture.

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Elementary School Pickup Line

Ever see those long lines of cars streaming into an elementary school to pick up their kids at the end of the day?  Well, this is the Taiwan version of exactly the same thing.

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Twin Flowers

Used a method on this one that I hadn't tried before.  First a black background was created.  Then the original picture was overlaid on top of it.  Just the flowers were selected out to be a layer of their own on top of the two other layers.  Since the effect was to darken the background foliage (plus brightened just the flowers), all I had to do was increase the transparency of the original until it was dark enough to satisfy taste.  Always learning something in Photoshop...

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Reflected Beauty

Is this the perfect reflection shot?  A one-in-a-million that certainly could not have been captured with the Bigger Cahoona.

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Rock Pile

Got this at another store in the massive Taipei train station mall.  Obviously the color is what drew my attention, but even so I saturated another 20%.  Applied a stroke effect in Photoshop below:

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Toy Pile

One area in which using a camera phone excels is sneakiness.  The ability to surreptitiously grab a shot before anyone knows it happened.  Certainly couldn't do that with a big, clanky DSLR pulled up to your face.  This is especially important in retail establishments.

Found Edges effect is below, and Glowing Edges at bottom.  Think I like the Glowing Edges a little better on this one:

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Advertising Stairway

Thought I already had a pic of this posted before, but maybe not.  A very clever advertisement, making each step into a mosaic for a much larger advertisement.  If memory serves, this was located in one of the subway stations.  Original picture below:

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Photoshop Effects in Scene from 101

I have at various times posted pictures already from the top of Taipei 101, one of the tallest buildings in the world - see here, here and here for just a few.  Since those are already pretty much played out, decided to feature just the Found Edges (above) and Glowing Edges (below) today as captured with the iPhone on our latest trip.

The original picture is below, but, as you can see, the technical quality is not nearly as good as the one posted with a DSLR for the near-identical scene back in 2016 (reposted here at bottom).

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Coded Restroom Occupancy Lights

Now THIS is a great idea!  Just like parking lots in some places here in the U.S....

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Wavy Leaves with Found Edges Effect

Don't remember just where I got this one, but it would be easy to find using the Lat-Long coordinates saved as metadata with the iPhone.  That's one advantage of using the phone to take pictures.  At times when I'm using the Bigger Cahoona I'll snap one at the same place with the phone just so I'll have those coordinates.  Reason being the D850 doesn't come with integrated GPS capability...something that most newer DSLR's no doubt have nowadays.

Found Edges effect below:

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Arc Pattern on Ceiling

We had just crested the top of an escalator somewhere when I looked up and saw this on the ceiling.  With its distinct sharp edges and pattern of arcs, I decided to try the Found Edges effects in Photoshop.  Think it turned out OK; might artfully add some color one day:

Taiwan 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, Pink Leaves with Small White Flowers

Saw these flowers along a wall during a walk one day.  As can be seen in the original below, some repair work was done to a leaf in the middle of the frame: