Cell Phone Pics

I realized, in reading Jean's New Year's post,

that I've been remiss in posting about the special qualities of

cell phone pics,

not just for graphic design purposes,

but also for surveillence ;-)

In this one, I captured a moment that could have been

snatched at any point in a 60 year span.

My cell was ready, the timing was perfect, and 1 second later

(fishing for my camera) would have dated the pic.

As Bonbon commented, [when I originally posted it

over a year ago,] it has an Edward Hopper quality to it.

A couple of months later, we re-used it for a varmint diorama.

It was a community project, and the diner pic made the perfect backdrop.

Here's another classic, taken at a TGIF's.

The camera would have totally blown my cover on this one.

To make sure the cell phone was still, I balanced it on the table,

framed it perfectly, & looked elsewhere when I clicked.

My advice to anyone interested

in catching great cell phone pics:

Don't be afraid to shoot! Shoot risky, and shoot often.

In a similar example, below,

the lighting was seemingly too dark to shoot without a flash,

but was completely salvageable by playing with

the brightness & contrast in Photoshop, later.

The other thing I'd like to say is that there's

nothing like the pure convenience of emailing your pic

straight to your computer, instead of going through

the motions of hooking it up to the usb, downloading, etc.

I was inspired by this view of my home office,

and again, the lower quality here gave it more mood.

The pic was snapped by phone,

sent up through space, and beamed back down

right into that computer, over there.

I also usually have the cell out & ready

on the train, which enabled me to snap this one:

In these next examples,

the ability to capture a varmental moment is key.

And in these, the natural light at that very moment screamed

PORTRAIT!!!!

So when you see light like this,

don't waste time running for the professional camera.

Who cares if it's not perfectly focused?

In a matter of seconds, the subject might be gone...

Just shoot!