Sketches From Acadia, Maine

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During my recent Fall Foliage / Acadia Maine Workshop we explored many of the highlights of Acadia National Park; Cadillac Mountain, Sand Beach, Thunder Hole, Monument Beach, Sieur de Monts, Wonderland and more …  including an overnight stay on the Schoodic Peninsula at The Schoodic Institute).
We had great color, great weather, and great light. Great weather means a little bit of everything; clear sunny days with direct light, overcast days with soft indirect light, fog and mist, even a little rain (perfectly timed, mostly over night). It was an almost perfect study of weather, the many lights it brings, and the many moods it creates. We oscillated between two powerfully magnetic poles, the colorful forests and dramatic seacoast.
People ask me if it’s challenging to make images in a place I’ve visited so many times. I tell them its like reconnecting with an old friend; the relationship gets deeper. What’s most challenging is that many of the subjects don’t complement and even challenge key aspects of my life’s work, so I take a lighter more personal approach and rather than rushing to finished professional results I engage in deep play, asking many questions and trying many things, both new and old, to find more clarity in my creative life.
Here are a few of the sketches I produced on sight with my iPhone.
You can enjoy many more images on Google+.
Find out about my next Fall Foliage / Acadia Maine Workshop here.
Email info@johnpaulcaponigro.com to receive advance notice on our next Acadia Maine Fall Foliage Workshop.
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iPhone 6 – DXO’s Best Rated Smart Phone Camera

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The iPhone 6 is a significant upgrade for smartphone photographers.
Bottom line …
Auto-focus is faster.
Noise is improved.
Dynamic range is better.
Low light performance is dramatically better.
Slow-mo video is new.
New image stabilization is available for Plus models only.
DXO rated the iPhone 6 the best smartphone camera they’ve ever tested.
Read the details here.
The illustration on Forbes of the same image on all iPhone models is revealing – as are their 3 reviews.
Comparisons
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Images Of Amalfi, Italy

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We made many memories during our recent boutique (limited to 6) workshop in Amalfi, Italy. The coastal towns of Amalfi and Positano (famous for making world class ceramics, paper and limoncello), the international concert series in Ravello, the sunny Isle of Capri, the Greek ruins of Paestum, and the ruins of Pompeii once buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius are a few of the places we visited. Of course, the food and wine was fantastic!
You can enjoy my images of from our recent adventure on Google+. They’re an assortment of spontaneous sketches, rather than a collection of fully finished pieces that develop a cohesive theme. They’re not likely to become a body of work, but a few of them will influence other bodies of work.
Find out more about our recent Amalfi workshop here.
Email info@johnpaulcaponigro.com to receive advance notice on our next Amalfi workshop.

Resurrect Shadow Detail In Your Photographs With the App InstaFlash

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“Are the shadows in many of your images so dark it’s hard to see detail in them? Would you like to see more detail in shadows without making highlights overly bright? Who doesn’t have this problem? There’s a quick and easy cure. Use InstaFlash to bring shadow detail out into the open.
Of all the flash simulation apps, InstaFlash can produce the strongest results and unlike many of its competitors it generates results that are surprisingly free of digital artifacts, like haloing …”
I consider InstaFlash a must have app.
Read the rest on The Huffington Post.

3 Ways To iPhone HDR

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If you’d like to use HDR techniques for your mobile photographs you’ve got choices. Moving from simple and limited to more complex and robust, consider these three: first, the iPhone Camera app’s built in HDR function; second, the app Pro HDR; and third the app TrueHDR. I use all three, moving from one to another as the contrast of the scene increases.
The strength of HDR renderings and the artifacts they tend to produce can be varied to suit individual tastes. Regardless of whether you favor a light touch or a heavy hand, if you photograph, with or without a smart phone, sooner or later you’ll need HDR. It’s an essential technique …
Read more on The Huffington Post.
Learn more in my digital photography and digital printing workshops.

The Ins & Outs Of Making Panoramas With Your iPhone

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Here’s an excerpt from my latest post on The Huffington Post.
Think Outside The Frame
“No one needs to learn to “think outside the box” more than photographers. The frame, literally a box, is often our greatest ally. Learning to see photographically is in part learning to see within the limits of this box and use them creatively. But there are times when this limits our vision unnecessarily. Once we’ve learned to see within the box, we then need to learn to see outside the box — and start extending the frame to perfect select compositions. There are three ways to do this; crop (after exposure), sweep (make extended format exposures in camera), or stitch (blend separate exposures together); or combine all three. Extending format techniques aren’t just for panoramic image formats. They can be used to give you the extra inch that can make all the difference in the world for your compositions.
Stitching has multiple functions, making it an essential skill for today’s photographer. Regardless of whether you use panoramic aspect ratios, the practice of extending format through photo merges can help you perfect many compositions in ways that are often challenging and in some cases impossible to do otherwise. It can help you choose a better angle of view without eliminating essential information or include essential information when you either can’t or don’t have time to change angle of view. When this skill becomes second nature, you’ll find that you’ve become visually more versatile, flexible, productive, and accomplished. Extended format techniques offer new ways of seeing.”
Find out about the iPhone apps that will help you make the best panoramic images …
Read the full post on The Huffington Post.
Find more iPhone photography resources here.

Contact Sheet – Italy, Acquasanta

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I enjoy seeing the flow of thought that becomes visible in contact sheets. One idea builds on (or diverges from) another. Some moves are repetitive; some moves introduce one or more significant variations. As I work, I ask questions like, “On what level does an image work?”, “What is a significant variation?”. “When do two or more images reinforce each other?”.

Will these images make the cut? It’s unlikely. But themes within them will resurface in future finished work. In fact they already have. These themes have been with me ever since I began photographing; they look very similar to two images I made for my first exhibit and are related to images in several existing series like Illumination, Refraction, and Resonance.
Even if these images and what I learned from making them bears no fruit, it was time well spent. I truly enjoyed the better part of an hour savoring and playing with light.
View more Contact Sheets here.
View finished images here.

Mobile Masters eBook – The Art Of iPhoneography

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Mobile Masters, an iPad eBook by Dan Marcolina features 50 of the worlds most notable iPhoneographers. (Caponigro, Eismann, Hollingsworth, Kost, Marcolina and many more.)
Priced at $2.99 this iPad eBook features…
– Over 50 varied Artists from around the world are represented
– Many step-by-step “app-stacking” secrets revealed with a swipe of the figure
– Personal video interviews from 30 artist discussing how iPhoneography has changed them and photography
– Many image tutorial video
– Over an hour of video included
– In-depth text descriptions with direct links to each app mentioned
– Hand selected portfolio of additional work from each artist
– Direct links to each artist websites, blogs, and even email address
Find it here.

Strengthen Your Creativity With Smart Phone Photography

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I love the spontaneity inherent in smart phone photography. Having a cell phone camera constantly at your side changes the way you see the world. You become more aware of the world around you, taking notice of people, places, things and events that might pass you by unconsidered. You tune in – creatively. If you want to live a more considered life I highly recommend trying cell phone photography. You can quickly and easily capture the moments in between moments. Smartl phone photography offers an invitation to celebrate the ‘smaller’ events in between the ‘larger’ events of your life. There may be a little Zen spirit at work here sometimes it is first shot best shot.
These accumulated moments add up. Over time the products of these stolen moments build something larger. Unintended bodies of work may materialize unexpectedly. The constant pull of brief episodes of creativity may even prepare the way for extended bursts of creativity.
Exercising creativity is like exercising a muscle; the more you practice the stronger you get.
Find more than a dozen images all made in the space of 45 minutes spent wandering the decks of the Russian research vessel Akademik Sergey Vavilov during an arctic cruise from Svalbard to Greenland and Iceland.
View them on The Huffington Post.
Read more iPhone resources here.