Android L, the next major release of Android will allow apps to get raw data from the camera. This lets photographers extract more information and develop photos a lot more than they could with simple Jpeg files. They’ll be able to “push” the image further to recover blown out highlights and recover detail from shadows.
At least that’s the theory. You’re still working with the relatively small lenses and sensors in camera phones so they’re not going to compare to a DSLR or dedicated camera but images will get closer in quality.
This thread on r/Android has some samples of DNG files you can work on in Lightroom or whatever your RAW processor of choice is. The photos were taken with lcamera as the official Google camera app only records to Jpeg images. I took a stab at the “auto exposure” image here and came up with this:
That’s pretty good for a photo taken by a Nexus 5 at ISO 1635. Lightroom settings were as follows:
Settings:
Temp: -1.65
Tint: +59
Exposure: -1.65
Highlights: -100
Shadows: 100
Whites: +2
Blacks: -29
Clarity: +22
Detail
Sharpening
Amount: 67
Radius: 1.0
Detail: 10
Masking: 70
Noise Reduction
Luminance: 20
Detail: 50
Contrast: 0
I’m really excited to see what Android L will bring to camera apps once it’s officially out in the wild and more phones have it installed!
Yesterday evening Bruce Springsteen played in Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork City. It was a glorious summer evening and with gates due to open at 5pm I headed down there early with my wife. We had to queue along the Marina for more than an hour but we had the shade of the trees and brought along a fold up chair too. Unfortunately when we eventually got to security they told us the chair couldn’t be brought in and we hid it in the bushes hoping it would be there later. Bags were searched too so I’m glad I didn’t bring my DSLR!
While we waited we heard Bruce singing for a sound check. I’m not that familiar with all his music but they were some beautiful melodic songs I need to try and find and listen to again. We were probably among the first few hundred in so we got to within about 3m of the pit barrier. Beyond that were the early birds who had camped the previous night and VIPS (I presume) who were right up next to the stage. Pretty close eh?
We were really close but right in front of us were 3 tall gentlemen who blocked my view almost entirely. I had to lift the camera in the air or squint in between heads to see the stage at all unfortunately.
Bruce Springsteen puts so much energy into his performance it’s amazing. He collected placards from the audience, got 2 kids up on stage to sing, went shaking hands with the front row, encouraging everyone to sing along. He knows how to work a crowd!
It was of course really crowded so after 40 minutes we decided to retreat. Apologies to those in our way but thank you for being so kind as to move out of our way. I don’t think I’ve ever said “Excuse me, sorry, excuse me, sorry” so many times. The crowd just went on for ever and ever!
Near the other end of the pitch there was a lot more room and we met up with some friends there.
We left early to avoid the crowds and found quite a crowd outside. Local residents and others had gathered on the Marina, in boats and across the river to hear Bruce play! We looked for that fold up chair we left outside earlier but someone had taken it.
We walked around the Atlantic Pond and up that narrow path/road at the other end. It was so nice to see people sitting or lying on the ground just listening to the sound coming from the stadium. Perfect evening for it.
Shortly after, we got into a taxi in Ballintemple, headed into town where we relaxed for a bit before heading home.
A great night, if he plays in Cork again I’ll go but I’ll want to be more familiar with his back catalogue next time!
Photos are from my Samsung Galaxy S4 and a now ancient Panasonic Lumix FZ5 that was small enough to fit in my pocket, even with a 12x zoom! Please leave a comment if you’d like to use these photos.
Edit: I recorded a 24 second clip of the band playing “Wild Thing” but here’s a longer clip!
I spent the last few days in Dungarvan, staying in the Park Hotel with my family. It’s a really nice town, small enough that you can walk around it in half an hour but plenty of places to eat and drink.
I took my camera of course and almost always shot in b/w mode with my Canon f1.8 50mm lens. I cheated a little as I used RAW+Jpeg mode but I’m happy with the results. RAW lets me recover the colour information while the Jpeg records a useful b/w image I can check against during post processing.
I love that 50mm lens but rarely use it so a whole holiday was a challenge. With such a short depth of field it’s really important getting the focus point right. I usually used the center point or a side point rather than trust the matrix to pick out the right one!
Here are a few photos from last Sunday’s Take That concert in Croke Park, Dublin. It was an amazing concert that started way too slowly. The Alice in Wonderland theme was great but the show really picked up once Robbie Williams came on stage. The guy is a master show man. If Freddie Mercury were alive he’d give him a run for his money!
Pet Shop Boys played support and I would gladly pay money to go see them again!
I would venture to say the crowd was 95% women. I bet they were happy to see the guy who half-stripped above the stage. Yes, yes, photo of him below! Over 76,000 people went to see them on Sunday night and it was amazing. We had no problem leaving after the concert and thankfully stayed in a nearby hotel which was just a walk away.
The fans enjoyed the show but so did Robbie Williams if this post is to be believed! (oh dear, the cynic in me!)
Quoting the full post below, just because I know that blog will disappear when some PR guy decides to revamp that site..
HOLY SHIT!
I CAN HONESTLY SAY EVERY SHOW WE’VE DONE SO FAR
HAS BEEN REALLY SPECIAL…..
FROM THE LOVE WE RECEIVED FROM THE GENTLE FOLK
IN THE NORTH EAST…. WHERE WE LEARNT TO BE A BAND AGAIN
….TO THE GRIT AND PERSEVERANCE
OF THE MANCHESTER CROWD THAT GOT PEE’D ON MOST NIGHTS…..
I’D KINDA FOUND MY PERFORMING FEET IN MANNY’
MOST NIGHTS WATCHING YOU ALL BOUNCE UP AND DOWN
IN LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU WAS A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE
AND THEN THERE WAS THE WELSH CROWD THAT OUT SUNG THEM ALL…..
WE WON’T FIND OURSELVES IN A BETTER VENUE ON THIS TOUR…..
SO HUGE BUT SO INTIMATE AND I/WE FELT THE LOVE
BUT OH MY LORD….IRELAND !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME ON SUNDAY NIGHT…..?
I GAVE EVERYTHING I HAD ON SATURDAY AND AS EXPECTED
YOUR PERFORMANCE WAS BETTER THAN MINE…..(ONLY JUST ; )
SO MUCH SO THAT IT WAS WITH A BIT OF TREPIDATION
THAT I MADE MY WAY BACK TO CROKE PARK THE NEXT DAY
FEELING A LITTLE JADED AND DRAINED FROM THE NIGHT BEFORE….
(SUCH HIGH HIGHS THERE HAS TO BE A COME DOWN….)
BUT I WASN’T EXPECTING WHAT CAME NEXT…..
I PROPER LOST MY SHIT……
THE OVERWHELMING GOOD WILL…LOVE…SMILES
HAPPINESS,APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE
BEAMING STRAIGHT TO THE STAGE
TRANSFORMED ME FROM PREENING PEACOCK
PRIMA DONNA SHOWMAN
TO A BALL OF MUSH WITHIN SECONDS…..
IT WAS SO POWERFUL THAT I DIDN’T
KNOW IF I WAS GOING TO BE ABLE TO COLLECT
MYSELF ….
PROPER FLOORED ..THERE’S A TEAR IN MY EYE THINKING
ABOUT IT NOW….
YES, THE GIGS HAVE RANGED FROM BRILLIANT TO RELIGIOUS
EVERY NIGHT ………BUT SUNDAY NIGHT CROKE PARK
WAS LIFE DEFINING …….IT WILL STAY WITH ME FOR AS LONG AS I LIVE….
IRELAND I BOW TO YOU….
UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN XXXXXXXXXXXXX
The best of these photos will eventually land on my photoblog as more polished images but I wanted to give everyone a flavour of the night’s festivities and atmosphere. Yes, I did sneak my Canon DSLR and a 70-300mm telephoto lens in and I’m glad I did because I was at the other end of the stadium. BUT, Take That recognised that they can’t stop people taking photos and even recreated their first album cover on-stage. They gave everyone a count down to get their cameras out. I unfortunately only got a blurry shot as they weren’t standing in a spotlight.
If you know me well, you may know I love the music of Queen. I never had the pleasure of seeing them live unfortunately but I’ve been to a number of Queen inspired events, Flash Harry played in Cobh a few years ago and there was Queen at the Ballet too. (Thanks Ken, Aisling, Proinnsias, Sinead!)
So I jumped at the chance to see Queen tribute band, Killer Queen when they played in the Opera House recently. They were good, some parts were great, and Brighton Rock was absolutely amazing even if I got the feeling some people in the audience didn’t know that song.
Killer Queen are a blast. The crowd loved them. Of the three performances I thought Flash Harry was the best but you’ll have a great time at Killer Queen too.
