In my last post I talked about not wanting to use my camera even when I've brought it with me. Today is the flip side of that coin: wishing I had brought my camera with me! I was regretting my forgetfulness during recent walks in Discovery Park and Edmond's Yost Park.
This is of course an object lesson in Chase Jarvis's photographic philosophy, because I still had my phone on me and was able to take photos.
Lately I've been doing more extensive editing in Lightroom. These shots were good practice, especially for selective color correction and using masks to highlight the subject. I really enjoy the masking part, it reminds me of my days dodging and burning prints in the darkroom. That said, I find working with cell phone snaps a little frustrating in general. By design they're already post-processed by the phone's camera software, and in such a way that it can be tricky to pull out colors in the way that I'd like. Whites and highlights, in particular, tend to get muddled if I push them too far. One trick I've found to help with that is to neutralize the blues, as long as the sky isn't showing (or I can mask it out).
June 27 and July 1, 2025 | Google Pixel 8 Pro XL
