SharePoint Saturday Philly @ Malvern PA Microsoft Technology Center MTC

While not directly related to Windows Phone photography, I want to share with you my experience covering the SharePoint Saturday Philly event this weekend.

SharePoint Saturday is a national organization which brings like-minded SharePoint lovers together on Saturdays throughout the country. This weekend, the Microsoft Malvern team is honored to host SharePoint Saturday for the Philly meet-up, at the Microsoft’s Technology Center (MTC) in Malvern, PA.

On of my job for the day was to capture the spirit of the event. I did bring out my full-sized DSLRs for it (my regular gears), but several of these photos are shot with my Lumia 920. Can you tell the difference?

There were over 350 registrants for the event, with about 250 who actually attended (we figured in the drop-off). SharePoint enthusiasts spent the whole Saturday (8 until 5) with us attending SharePoint 2013 sessions with titles like “Fun with Power Shell for SharePoint 2013“. Hmm. Afterwards, many went to the traditional “SharePint” (get it?) and had a wonderful time bonding with fellow propeller heads, I mean, architects.

SharePoint Philly event information here.

Pictures are posted here: http://bit.ly/ZACLPm

Another Gizmodo: Nokia Lumia 720 Hands On: Cheap Phones Can Have Good Cameras Too

Looks like Gizmodo has many good things to say about Nokia Windows Phones lately!! A few days ago it crowned the Lumia 920 as having the best camera on current smartphones, and today it has an article on Nokia 720’s flash-tuned camera which purposely turned down the flash power in order to properly expose the surrounding area with longer exposures. Interesting concept – certainly nothing new in the world of DSLRs (flash exposure compensation) but new especially in this low-priced Windows Phone.

Read the article on Gizmodo here.

Nokia Lumia 920 – best smartphone camera? According to Gizmodo – yes!

Gizmodo tested the Nokia Lumia 920’s (my primary cell phone at this moment) acclaimed camera against cameras on the iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S3, Nexus 4, and the new Blackberry Z10. Guess who won!! 🙂

The 920 didn’t just win on its low-light capability alone, even though we all know that the 920 has a kick-butt BSI sensor (more on a separate article soon).

I took the night picture above during my last trip to Seattle.

(Disclaimer: I work for Microsoft which makes the Windows Phone 8 OS that 920 uses. About me.)

Read more on Gizmodo…

Seattle Space Needle Skyline HDR

For a recent conference, I had the opportunity to stay at the top of Westin Seattle’s north tower and had an amazing view of the Seattle Skyline that includes the Space Needle.

I made this pseudo-HDR with my Nokia Lumia 920, plus a little editing help from Thumba Photo Editor for Windows Phone 8, all in-phone. Here is how I did it.

Read More…

Happy Chinese New Year!

For the two Chinese New Year celebration events, my team shot:

• 4,276 CR2 raw picture files with 97.4 GB from 5 cameras and 3 photographers
• 40 GB of MTS AVCHD video from 2 cameras / videographers

Shooting this type of stage performances is a workload that a smartphone can’t do well! 🙂

But I’ve seen some great candid shots on my Facebook feed from parents posting LIVE from these events. THAT is a great use of a smartphone!

Update:

2/20/2013 Finally I’ve finished the photos last week! Link here: http://bit.ly/DCAAChineseNewYear2013 and http://bit.ly/CACCChineseNewYear2013

My standard workflow: Canon CR2 raw files > Copy to 1TB working drive > Import into Lightroom 4.1 > Bulk Select > Edit > Export > Post

7 Lessons You Can Learn from Shooting with a Camera Phone

Gizmodo published an article from Light Stalker titled “7 Lessons You Can Learn from Shooting with a Camera Phone“.

I put my commentaries after the 7 lessons:

1. Seeing – always keep your eyes open for potential interesting scenes: dramatic cloud formations in the sky, interesting geometric lines form by roads and buildings, delicious-looking flowers, etc. Opportunities are always there to make photographs!

2. Using your feet – the zoom feature on almost all smartphones, including all Windows Phones to date, are digital. By digitally enlarging your photos, it will cause loss of image quality. If possible, walk closer to your subject.

3. Finding the light – the phone image sensors and the lenses are smaller than even the point-and-shoot cameras. To get acceptable images, you’ll need good light. A BSI (backside illuminated) sensor camera are generally better in low-light. The Nokia Lumia 920, for example, does great in low-light indoors.

4. Composing the shot – this is probably the most important of all lessons. Look at your phone screen as if it were displaying the final image – do you like it? Are there distracting elements (like overhead wires in the picture on right) in the picture? Moving the camera even a few inches can completely change the perspective and give you better composition.

5. Companionship – you can’t take pictures with your camera if you don’t have it with you. This is less of a problem with a phone – you’ll probably discover it within a mile of leaving your house.

6. Maintenance – it’s important to keep your camera lens clean. This is especially true on a smartphone because you’re always touching it all-over with your greasy fingers. Wipe it once in a while. If you notice that all your photos are coming out blurry, it’s time to clean your lens. Additionally, using your smartphone can drain your battery quickly. I sometimes carry a USB battery to make sure I have juice when I need it.

7. Appreciation – image-quality wise, smartphone cameras will probably never be as good as a DSLR. But so what – I guarantee you will make more memorable images with your phone than your DSLR. So appreciate it for what it can do for you.

Bill T.

(Picture of the sunflowers shot with Samsung Galaxy Note)

[Article Link]

Pike Street Market, 2/2013

Each year, Microsoft’s technical employees (as opposed to sales and marketing) get to attend a technical training event in Seattle called TechReady. In 2013, TechReady happened in early February.

This year marks my 10th TechReady (and its predecessor). Each year, I visit the world famous Pike Street market at least once during break. Sometimes my friends and I grab lunch there; this year I went there alone, with the idea of doing some street photography with my Nokia.

If you’ve been to Seattle during the winter before, you’ll know that sky is usually gray. Fortunately the sun came out one of the days, so I took a stroll down Pike Street to get some shots in.

These pictures have gone through my standard workflow – Nokia camera > Edit > Nokia Creative Studio.

 

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Welcome to Windows Phone Photographer

Welcome. I love my Windows Phone, and I love photography. So it’s only natural that I started this blog to share photography ideas with other Windows Phone photographers. For more information about me and the equipment I use, see the About Me page.