There is a flag flying along Huntington Beach honoring our vets. Been there for several years. On it is a sign that states..

"All gave some.
Some gave all"

How appropriate especially for this special day.

Please don't disparage all veterans, and others, because of a negative experience with a government bureaucracy.

From one vet to another..

Buffalo Jam...

The Maxwell Smart Phone. Ahh, I remember him well.

If you're looking to acquire refocusing software, I would highly recommend that you utilize their trial period "and" read user reviews. In my past, I have used and written deconvolution routines in the field of spectroscopy and understand "only some" of their strengths and weaknesses. I have personally evaluated several deconv software, including Focus Magic, Piccure and some frequency domain (FD) filtering routines, comparing them against sharpening with PS. There is also a portable freeware version (Win) that can be found at portableapps.com. I should also disclose that I'm a pixel peeper, so I may over critical at times.

IMHO, I did not find enough improvement over PS to convinced me to purchase the software. Initially, I thought Piccure was going to be the "holy grail" in deconv SW, based on their generalized approach. However, I was dissappointed with their results. In all fairness to them, I evaluated an earlier version and have since released a newer version, which I have not tried. I recently tried Focus Magic again but was not impressed.

My greatest success has been with FD filtering, but under specific cases. Have you ever scanned a print that had a texture to it and the texture was undesired? I can remove the "periodic" texture using FD filtering better than I can do with PS. FD filtering can remove the periodic (repeating patterns) without degrading the sharpness of the remaining image. Once the photo is texture free texture, it can give the appearance of being sharper. My favorite SW for this type of filtering is Image Analyzer by Meesoft. I wish PS would include this type of filtering into PS (just dreaming).

My last suggestion is to read "all" the user reviews. In their marketing, the companies use images that highlight their best performance. IMO, the users tell you, good and bad, how well the product performs under real world conditions. Watch how well the company responds to users complaints and neg comments.

Just my experiences and hope this helps. I am looking but have not found a magic bullet that's much better than what you can do it PS. If you find one, I would love to hear about your experiences.

National Geographic photographers have used earlier iphones (5s and 7) to create beautiful publication quality photographs for their magazine. If we could only create photos of that caliber, while even using a dlsr (or mirrorless), we'd be mighty proud of ourselves.

Isn't autumn such a lovely time of year. All are beautiful images. I especially like #2. It captures, not oly the fall colors, but a sense of the size of the trees. Very nice captures.

Beautiful photos and series. I love visiting Utah, such scenic variety. My fav is #2. All your photos captures the essense of Utah. As hikers, we would have taken the short cut.

very cool, definitely different.

a6k,

IMHO, you are correct. The cellphone camera is just another photographic tool. Nothing more, nothing less. There is a whole genre of photographic art where the artists use smartphones as their primary photographic tool. They produced some 'very' beautiful art that many photographers, even ones with the most expensive DSLR's and lens, would find difficult or impossible to match.

For example, a good auto mechanic would wonder about the skill of another mechanic that only used the most expensive ratchet set to do all his auto repairs. There is an appropriate tool for any task at hand. A good photographer, like a good mechanic, will use the tool that best meets their needs to accomplish a task.

I personally use a cellphone camera about 80% of the time, since that's what I always have with me and I don't always carry my camera gear with me. First, it allows me to always practice my photography. And it's enabled me to capture many images that, may not be appropriate to be enlarged to a 36"x48" wall print, but has been perfect for a coffee table photography book.

Each tool has an appropriate use. None is the best for all tasks.

Just my opinion.
Mike

Excellent capture. I love the style of this image. Very well done.

Another thought if your trying to recover this particular photo. You should notice a reed red ring around the sun. This ring is the color of the sun just before the sensor saturates. Even though the sun is deep red, there is so much luminosity that it blows out the sensor in all color channels. You can recreate the color in PS by creating a fill layer and filling it with the color of the red ring. You can then brush the color back into the sun. I've done this on occasion and it's lent satisfactory results for me. Be careful not to cover anything in front of the sun such as a cloud, tree branches or a layer of haze.

Just a suggestion
Mike

As always, love your photography and the accompanying stories...

Very nice. I especially like your first image with the ramp leading you down to the docks and the warm tones from the building to the left.

Mike