Tag: Photogene

Mapleton Road and Carnegie Lake

Before I left home this morning I packed my camera bag with my AF-S DX Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 VR. We had a lot of snow yesterday but the ploughs came late to my neighbourhood. Driving along slick snow-packed roads wasn't a good idea so I stayed home. But this morning, with the roads cleared, I wanted to capture a winter scene.

I took a different route this morning. Usually, I take Blue Spring Road west to 206 South. That's normally the fastest route. But [my navigation system] suggested I go east on Blue Spring toward River Road through Kingston. Perhaps this was faster since the schools had a delayed opening and the roads had no school buses at this time.

I pulled onto Blue Spring Road and I was hit by the beauty of that scene. The golden light of the early morning sun was reflecting off the snow on this tree-lined road and it was just wonderful. I stopped to snap a photo with my iPhone but before I could focus and compose my shot I had three cars waiting for me to move. So I moved on; disappointed. The scene on Blue Spring Road was better than what came later. I could have just let those cars wait.

My commute this morning took along the Plainsboro side of Carnegie Lake along Mapleton Road. There were no cars behind me so I was able to stop and take this shot from the car using vividHR on my iPhone. Not my Nikon D5100. My iPhone.

By the time I composed my shot I saw a few cars coming up the road behind me. The next photograph was taken on the corner of Mapleton Road just before it connects to Route 1 South. I had to pull over onto a side road near an apartment building.

Both photos were post-processed in Photogene. I have a scratch on my iPhone 5 lens that shows up as a purple dot on all my images. I used the healing tool in Photogene4 to remove it.

Sunrise over Princeton's Battlefield Park

[exif id="27375"]

I don't like winter and I'm not a fan of snow. However, I do enjoy snow-covered landscapes. The open fields near Princeton's Battlefield Park looked lovely this morning. The orange sky reflected nicely off the smooth white glass surface of the snow-covered park. I had to stop and snap a photo. I left my Nikon at home. I normally leave it in the car for easy access when inspiration strikes me. However, the cold weather had me concerned about damage to the camera electronics, especially the LCD I(liquid crystals freeze). I had my iPhone 5. You know the best camera blah.

I pulled the image into Aviary and applied the Sedona effect from the Wanderlust pack. This added a much warmer tone to the overall image. Perhaps I was subconsciously thinking about beaches and pretending that the snow as sand and this was the Grenadines.

I have never used a cover with my iPhone 5. I just love looking at the sleek metal and glass body. Of course, it has some dings. The worse though is a scratch in the upper middle section of the camera lens. It's clearly visible in photos with a lot of smooth surfaces, like clouds, heads etc. It shows up as a purple dot on my images. Luckily I have an app, Photogene 2 that has a "heal" feature. I removed the dot and salvaged the image.