Winter around Alma

[FundyBrian]

Today was a mild & dull day but still nice for a walk on the beach. While the land is still in the grip of deep snow the beach has been wiped clean by the tide. More snow in the forecast but the full strength of winter has been broken.

iPhone 6, Moment wide angle lens, AutoBracket, Pro HDR X processing plus TrueHDR and then Simply HDR.

 

[FundyBrian]

HDR really livened up the dull light at the wharf. You can always count on some striking colour there.
iPhone 6, Moment tele lens, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR.

 

[FundyBrian]

Down river view of the wharf looking towards Alma. The tall frames at the back of the boats are part of the scallop dragging gear. Likewise the wooden strips on the stern of the boat protect it from impact when the lift up the scallop drag.
iPhone 6, Moment tele lens, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR.

 

[RoseCat]

View attachment 63413
Down river view of the wharf looking towards Alma. The tall frames at the back of the boats are part of the scallop dragging gear. Likewise the wooden strips on the stern of the boat protect it from impact when the lift up the scallop drag.
iPhone 6, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR.

Really love this image!

 

[FundyBrian]

Icy fingers still grip the breakwater rocks.

For scale there's Woofie by the rocks. Woofie is part husky and part collie (a good sized dog).
iPhone 6, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and then Simply HDR. (What fun!)

 

[FundyBrian]

Although the river is clear, ice cakes still line the river banks.
iPhone 6, moment tele lens, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR.

 

[FundyBrian]

As the ice cakes melt they begin to take on sculptural shapes. This "duck" is about 2 feet tall.
iPhone 6, Moment tele lens, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR, TaDaa SLR.

 

[FundyBrian]

The salt marsh is still snow covered but areas are melting around objects. This driftwood looks like part of a prop used to keep the boats from tipping over when the tide goes out.
iPhone 6, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR.

 

[RoseCat]

Icy fingers still grip the breakwater rocks.
View attachment 63414
For scale there's Woofie by the rocks. Woofie is part husky and part collie (a good sized dog).
iPhone 6, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and then Simply HDR. (What fun!)

View attachment 63416
Although the river is clear, ice cakes still line the river banks.
iPhone 6, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR.

View attachment 63417
As the ice cakes melt they begin to take on sculptural shapes. This "duck" is about 2 feet tall.
iPhone 6, Moment tele lens, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR, TaDaa SLR.

These are all so great.... and I'm glad Woofie is in the first one because I never would have guessed those rocks were so HUGE!!!

 

[RoseCat]

View attachment 63418
The salt marsh is still snow covered but areas are melting around objects. This driftwood looks like part of a prop used to keep the boats from tipping over when the tide goes out.
iPhone 6, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR.

Just an absolutely perfect composition... the grasses are really lovely.

 

[FundyBrian]

A favourite tree. The salt marsh doesn't have any other trees besides this old Apple tree.
iPhone 6, Moment wide angle lens, AutoBracket plus Pro HDR X processing and Simply HDR.

 

[FundyBrian]

We went for a nice sunny spring walk this afternoon at Waterside beach. Unfortunately the wind was icy cold and it felt more like the depths of winter. Walking on the sand was nice though and Woofie enjoys a walk no matter what the weather.

No more pristine white snow at the top of the beach. Wind-blown sand has coloured the snow and ice cakes and the sun is eating them away.
iPhone 6, Moment wa lens, PureShot 3 shot bracket for HDR processed in Pro HDR X and then Simply HDR.

 

[FundyBrian]

Waterside Beach this nice sunny but cold afternoon.
The cliff rocks are still ice covered except for the bottom where the waves have been eating it at high tide.

iPhone 6, Moment wa lens, PureShot 3 shot bracket for HDR processed in Pro HDR X and then Simply HDR.

 

[FundyBrian]

Winter's icy grip has lessened. Although we still have lots of snow(!) it is gradually lessening in depth. There are still places where the snow is at least 4 feet deep in the yard. Yesterday we saw our first flock of migrating Canada Geese arriving. On our walk along the Upper Salmon River we saw 3 Woodcocks probing the narrow strip of bare ground at the roadside. A sure sign of spring. While standing about 6 feet from our bird feeder a Sharp-shinned Hawk came streaking in to hit the snowy ground practically at my feet. A half second later it had streaked away again. Here's the link to the video I wasn't shooting at the time! I'm sure there were no birds standing by my feet to catch. I wonder what it was doing?
On a dull and rainy day I was entertaining myself indoors trying apps I haven't used for a while and discovered Slit-Scan no longer works. Instead I played with Stripe Me. Maybe this will be my new profile picture?

Stripe Me has fewer options than Slit-Scan but seems to have higher resolution. Or perhaps it is a higher scanning rate but since Slit-Scan no longer works I can't tell.

 

[Nigel]

Some really great shots in your thread Brian - I'm extremely interested to see that you're using Moment lenses as I've been looking into them and considering purchasing. How have you been finding using the lenses? Any feedback for a potential buyer? [emoji4]

 

[FundyBrian]

Some really great shots in your thread Brian - I'm extremely interested to see that you're using Moment lenses as I've been looking into them and considering purchasing. How have you been finding using the lenses? Any feedback for a potential buyer? [emoji4]

I have looked at other lenses for the iPhone but low quality held me back. Having studied many lens test reports I think the Moment lenses are the best available so far.
The Moment wa lens appeals to me especially because it keeps straight lines straight (it is rectilinear). Most other wa lenses for iPhone are of the semi-fisheye variety and cause considerable barrel distortion to the scene, especially unwelcome in creating bulging horizons. I really like shooting with wide angle with other cameras and always felt hampered that the regular iPhone lens was not nearly wide enough for my taste.
I certainly make a lot of shots without the Moment lenses, too, but probably use the Moment lenses for half my shots.
On the other side, the standard iPhone lens is wide angle enough to severely distort portrait faces in a most ugly way. Nobody deserves that sort of facial abuse. The Moment tele lens is very good for people pictures to keep them looking fairly normal and allowing them a more comfortable distance from the camera. I use it a lot for landscape shots, too, and I like the narrower field of view for close-ups but you can't focus nearly as close as without the lens, unless you add a close-up lens to the Moment tele. Really, the tele is not much of a tele, amounting only to the equivalent of a 60mm lens. But it is better than nothing, a step in the right direction.
It is important to understand that the Moment iPhone lenses are conversion lenses stacked on top of the iPhone lens and limited by the optical properties of that lens. It is especially difficult to make a tele conversion lens without edge softness or colour fringing but I think the Moment lens is as good as it can be.
I find the Moment lens mounting system good and solid. It is important to take care mounting the lens adapter plate on your phone to ensure the lenses will be correctly centered. Take time with this to get it right. I made a positioning jig with mat board to help. The mounting plates sticks on the camera and it is slim enough not to interfere with my OtterBox Commuter case. I just had to slightly enlarge the lens opening 1/16" above the lens using a small round file for a completely friction free fit. There is enough spacing at the back of the lens to clear the thickness of the case. However, a thicker case might require some more filing around the lens opening to allow the lens to mount without squeezing the case. I leave my case on all the time except when I use my Motrr robotic head. The Motrr mount for the iPhone 6 was designed to mount the phone without a case.

 

[Nigel]

Brian, thank you so much for the detailed reply - some really fantastic insight into the Moment lenses! From what you say and what I've gleaned elsewhere they do seem to be the best optically so on this fact alone I'm pretty much sold on them [emoji1].
I'm glad you mentioned the mounting system too - the mounting plate did concern me a little but,as you say, needs to be positioned and stuck carefully. I know Moment are about to introduce a case so I may wait to see that before purchasing a lens.

Again, thank you for your valuable feedback - it's much appreciated!

 

[FundyBrian]

Brian, thank you so much for the detailed reply - some really fantastic insight into the Moment lenses! From what you say and what I've gleaned elsewhere they do seem to be the best optically so on this fact alone I'm pretty much sold on them [emoji1].
I'm glad you mentioned the mounting system too - the mounting plate did concern me a little but,as you say, needs to be positioned and stuck carefully. I know Moment are about to introduce a case so I may wait to see that before purchasing a lens.

Again, thank you for your valuable feedback - it's much appreciated!

One thing sorely lacking is lens caps. I seem to remember seeing on their website that lens caps are coming. The lenses have little soft carry bags but lint is an issue. Also coming is some sort of macro lens. I'll want to get that one too.

 

[FundyBrian]

Here is a link to a 360 panorama I shot today at Waterside Beach, NB, Canada.
http://pnr.ma/aTSGJl
If you watch this on your iPhone or iPad try sitting in an office swivel chair, hold your device vertically in front of you, make sure the "gyro" setting in "on" ( top left) and rotate in your chair. This is the best use of an office swivel chair.
Today was unusual because of the great number of ice cakes that were left behind by the receding tide. I can't remember ever seeing so many ice cakes left on the beach before. However, this has been an unusual winter with more than the usual ice accumulation in the rivers. With the milder spring weather the ice in the rivers feeding into the Bay of Fundy has been breaking up and floating out with the tide. Once out in the bay the floating ice cakes follow the current and the wind, washing up on beaches when the wind direction is on-shore.
Dermander DMD panorama app.

 

[RoseCat]

Wow and COOL BEANS!!!! I thought at first you were joking about the swiveling but it really moves when you turn!!

 

[FundyBrian]

I'm getting seriously behind on my winter story. In just a few days the snow and ice have changed a lot. I have been busy at work getting a project ready for the printer.

 

[FundyBrian]

Along our usual dog walking route beside the Upper Salmon River. This is a tidal river so the ice experiences considerable shifting. Often it gets frozen to the bottom at low tide and new ice flows in over it at high tide, eventually stacking together in layers 4 or 6 feet thick.

This picture is April 7th and later on I have another shot a few days later at the same spot. PureShot.
You can see where the ice is beginning to break up.

 

[FundyBrian]

This next sequence of images was made April 9th in Dieppe, just next to Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. It was a glorious spring day, bright & sunny, but the wind was still quite cold. We brought Woofie with us and squeezed in time for a bit of a walk on the waterfront boardwalk trail that follows the bank of the Petitcodiac River. The trail is kept clear in winter and lots of walkers, cyclists, joggers, dog walkers, etc. make use of it year round.

This is right next to the trail viewed from a pedestrian bridge, where a creek enters the river.
The enormous tidal variation in the Bay of Fundy has considerable erosive power, grinding up the soft red sandstone at the upper end of the bay. This results in conspicuous deposits of reddish mud along the river bank. Several feet of it, in fact. In more out of the way places, and in summer, the mud attracts mud sliders - people playing, skating in bare feet on the mud, belly sliding, etc. needless to say this makes a mess of ones swim suit so they are often shed before they get ruined. Once covered in mud you can't tell who it is anyhow. Then you just need to figure out how to wash off the mud before getting back into your car. I digress [emoji6].

 

[FundyBrian]

Looking up river from about the same place as above. The shore is part mud part muddy ice.

A little upstream from here is a place called Bore Park. Sounds boring doesn't it. Actually, it is the best place to sit and observe the passing of the tidal bore in the river. It is fairly famous in fact. Prior the the arrival of the bore you observe the water flowing downstream. Gradually the water rises. As the bore approaches (from the left) you can clearly see an advancing wave, sometimes big enough to attract surfers. As it passes the river current direction reverses and the water gets higher. Eventually a temporary equilibrium is reached and the current stops. Then it starts flowing back out in the normal direction again. This current reversal affects the river over a distance of about 20 km.

 

[FundyBrian]

Another trail side view by the Petitcodiac River. Here it is close to high tide. The snow looks quite dirty and the sun has been eating it noticeably every day.
iPhone 6, Moment wa lens. Hydra.