I’ve found that having a decent camera with me all of the time, my iPhone camera, has really opened my eyes to a whole new world of photo opportunities. I’m now shooting images of things that I never dreamed of shooting before. Plus, with all of the great photo apps available on the iPhone, my creativity has really blossomed and many of my images have taken on a whole new artistic feel.

Here is a small sample of what you’ll find on Everyday Beauty.

So click on the link below to head on over a check out the new site. I try to update it everyday. I’ve also begun adding quotations to the images and, once in awhile, a little something of my own.

Everyday Beauty: The beauty of our everyday world as seen through the lens of my iPhone.

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One of the things I love most about shooting with my iPhone is it’s ability, using the right apps, to shoot HDR images. This shot of the Kenosha Marina is a good example. Though it wouldn’t have been impossible to get this result without HDR, it would have required a lot of post processing work in Photoshop. The sky and ground were very different exposures. By shooting two images, one exposed for the brights, one for the darks, and combining them with HDR, I was able to get a photo that looked very similar to what my eyes saw.

For this image I used the Pro HDR app. I also use TrueHDR at times.

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Lake Michigan stretched out before me like a painting,
it’s beauty was so inspiring I felt compelled to paint it with my phone…

Shot and Processed with my iPhone

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One of Kenosh’s colorful trolleys that run a loop through downtown and the harbor area.
I decided to play around and make this look like a post card by adding the text to it.
This was all done on my iPhone.

Just out of curiosity, last night I made an 8×8 print of this photo. It turned out very nice.  I’m so blown away by the quality of photos I’m getting from my iPhone 4 camera and the quality of the editing and filter apps that I’m using.  In the future, I’ll have to do a post about these apps.

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Click the image to see the larger version.

For anyone wondering what app I used to create this, it’s the AutoStich, the same thing I’ve used for years to create my panos on the computer. The iPhone app works just like the Windows one and does just as good of a job.

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This dark backdrop makes for some great lighting at the end of the day, so I headed out to Racine this afternoon hoping to catch some of that light. Unfortunately there were to many clouds to the west and even though the sun would break through now and then, it only lit up pieces of the landscape each time.

For this image I really wanted the sun to light up the foreground and the lighthouse, but all it hit was the foreground. I was a little disappointed and came home thinking I didn’t get a decent shot. Once I saw this image on the computer though, I really liked it. I love the dark, bluish color of the sky, and the snow and ice shelf really stand out with the light hitting them. Even though the lighthouse is a little dark, it still shows up well enough for me.

All in all, it’s a nice Like Michigan winter scene.

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]]> http://sbdigitalarts.com/lake-michigan-winter-scene/feed/ 0 http://sbdigitalarts.com/top-10-photos-of-2010/ http://sbdigitalarts.com/top-10-photos-of-2010/#comments Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:46:42 +0000 Steven http://sbdigitalarts.com/?p=988 Here we go, it’s top 10 photos of the year time again. I’m running late on the project this year, mostly because I was trying to decide whether or not I wanted to do it. This morning I decided to go for it.

This year’s photos really show how my photography has changed in the last few years. Believe it or not, there’s only one true nature image in the batch! This from a guy who use to shoot nature images exclusively. Wow! I realize that these changes have happened as I’ve ventured away from the natural, mountain and desert world I use to live in, and wondered into a place  filled with more human activities here in Wisconsin. It’s not a bad thing at all. My photography has grown in ways that I never imagined and the beautiful photos I now take are just as fulfilling as any in the past.

These photos also show how I’ve grown as a digital artist over the last year. I still love straight photography, but now my artistic vision has expanded and the computer has become an important tool in the creation of my art.

As usual, these aren’t necessarily my best photos of the year, though most of them are, but the photos that are most memorable to me. I hope you enjoy them.

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#10: Humpback Covered Bridge, Covington VA, Shot 3-21-2010

Back in March Lynne and I took a trip to Norfolk, VA. While planning the trip we saw this covered bridge online and decided to check it out since we would be driving near it. Truthfully, I was a little disappointed with the bridge at the time. It hasn’t been kept in the greatest shape and could use some cleaning up. It wasn’t until we got home and I started playing with this image that I began to really like it. Now it’s my favorite photo from the trip and I consider it one of my best covered bridge shots.

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#9: Grand Island East Channel Lighthouse, Lake Superior, Grand Island MI, Shot 10-8-2010

Our fall photo vacation took us to Michigan last year. We drove completely around Lake Michigan and ventured into the Upper Peninsula and Lake Superior.  While many awesome photos were captured on that trip, this image of the Grand Island Lighthouse is my most memorable. It was taken while we were on a sunset cruise of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior. I love how this old wooden lighthouse is framed by the beautiful fall colors. It was truly a special day.

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#8: Swallowtail Butterfly, Cox Arboretum, Dayton OH, Shot on 6-13-2010

I’ve never had good luck shooting butterflies. I’ve tried many times and only have one or two good shots to show for it. On this day though, our first wedding anniversary, I got lucky. Lynne spotted this swallowtail and pointed it out to me. All three of us did a dance around this bush, Lynne and I photographing, and the butterfly just trying to get a drink. We each ended up getting what we wanted.

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#7: Brown Bear Lounging in it’s Hammock, Milwaukee County Zoo, Milwaukee WI, Shot on 11-6-2010

This is the most humorous photo I’ve ever taken. Hundreds of captions come to mind when I look at this very comfortable brown bear.

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#6:Wind Point Lighthouse, Racine WI, Shot on 2-24-2010

This is the best photo I’ve taken of Wind Point Lighthouse. It’s a vertical pano with 3 photos stitched together. The coolest thing about this shot is that I had envisioned it weeks ahead of time. I knew that I wanted some high clouds in the sky and when that day came I was able to get the shot I saw in my mind. One thing I hadn’t envisioned was how great it would look as a black and white. That vision happened after I saw the image on my monitor for the first time.

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#5 Fantastikal “Bubbles”, 2010 Bristol Renaissance Faire, Bristol WI, Shot on 8-1-2010

Those of you who follow my photography and websites already know how the Fantastikals at the Bristol Renaissance Faire enchanted my life last summer. For those who are new, you can read about it here: The Fantastikals, Bristol Renaissance Faire This image is of Bubbles. I didn’t get a chance to photograph her until my third time at the faire and then only because Lynne was feeling sick and had to lie down on a bench to rest. While she was resting Bubbles came along and I was able to get many great shots of her. This one of her sharing a bubble with a child is the best.

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#4: HMS Bounty, Green Bay Tall Ship Festival, Parade of Sail, Sturgeon Bay, WI, Shot on 8-12-2010

What can I say about the HMS Bounty that I haven’t already said. She came into my life on this day and my love for her began. Over the next month I would photograph her two more times and get a chance to walk her decks and photograph her up close. Having The Bounty sail into my heart was one of the fondest memories of last summer.

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#3: Fantastikal, “Autumn” with a young friend, Bristol Renaissance Faire, Bristol WI, Shot on 7-17-2010

What a magical day this was. I spent four hours photographing the Fantastikals at Bristol, and though many of the images I shot that day are more beautiful than this one, I chose it as #3 because it best shows the true magic of these creatures. The look on this child’s face and in her eyes says it all. True magic! Even as an adult, when you spend time amongst the fairies in Shakespeare’s Meadow you become a child again and a child like innocence returns to you soul.

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#2: Big Waves at Kenosha’s Pierhead Lighthouse, Kenosha, WI, Shot on 1-8-2010

It was 18 degrees with a wind chill near zero. Lake Michigan was stormy and very angry. Big waves were smashing into the ice shelf along her shore, sending up frozen explosions of spray 40 feet into the air. Truly one of the most awesome displays of wild nature I’ve ever seen. I’m so thankful that I was there to photograph and shoot video of it all.

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#1: The HMS Bounty and Kenosha Pierhead Lighthouse, Lake Michigan, Kenosha, WI, Shot on 9-1-2010

I mentioned above that I had three chances to photograph The Bounty last summer. The last chance came on September 1st when she anchored outside of Kenosha’s harbor. What made this so special was that it was a total surprise. We didn’t know anything about this until Lynne saw the ship as she was driving to work. She called and woke me up to tell me about it. I got dressed, drove down to the harbor and spent two amazing hours photographing The Bounty and five other tall ships in the fog.

I chose this image as number one because it means so much to me. Three weeks earlier the Bounty had sailed into my life, in this image she’s sailing out of it. The three times I got to photograph her were the highlight of my year. She’s a magnificent ship and I hope that some day I’ll get to photograph her again.

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Well that’s it, my top 10 images for 2010. Though I didn’t shoot nearly as many photos as past years, the photos I shot are very personal and special. It was a great year for my photography.

This month’s photo comes from a chilly morning in the Eastern Sierra back on January 7, 2006. I ventured out to Round Valley to shoot the sunrise after a heavy snowfall had blanketed the foothills of the Eastern Sierra. Low clouds from the storm still hung on the mountains, but the sky to the east was clear, a perfect scenario for a beautiful sunrise. Mother Nature didn’t disappoint that morning as soft pink and purple light bathed the clouds and reflected in the snow on the valley floor.

I love when heavy snow falls in the foothills of the Eastern Sierra. The sagebrush and rabbit brush become covered and the cool looking humps you see in this photo are formed. The humps make great foreground material for photos of the mountains.

I shot many great images that magical morning, this one has always been my favorite though.

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]]> http://sbdigitalarts.com/photo-of-the-month-for-january-2011/feed/ 0 http://sbdigitalarts.com/merry-christmas/ http://sbdigitalarts.com/merry-christmas/#comments Fri, 24 Dec 2010 18:04:49 +0000 Steven http://sbdigitalarts.com/?p=979

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When the  temperature drops into the single digits, magical things start to happen on the north facing windows of the house. Ice formations begin growing into beautiful mosaics and abstracts. You never know how the ice will form or the shapes it will take. Every day is full of new surprises.

Earlier this week we had overnight temps near zero and daytime highs in the low teens, this is perfect ice forming weather. Up until yesterday afternoon our kitchen windows have been a photographers delight. This lovely ice tree showed on up on Tuesday morning. By Wednesday morning it became embedded in a larger formation and Wednesday night it was all gone, melted away by warmer temps. The ice should return in a couple of days as the temps dip down again and new wonders will appear on our kitchen windows. As always, my camera will be ready.