Here's a shot that I took with my iPhone as we left Port Canaveral on the inaugural Atlantic crossing of Symphony of the Seas. Not bad for a two-and-a-half-year-old iPhone. I was up on the top deck without my camera as we pulled out of port. I wished I had my Sony because there was a lot of hoopla surrounding the first U.S. docking of the world's largest ship. But, as the old saying goes, the best camera in the world is the one you have with you. In my case, that means the iPhone 7 plus. I think it did a pretty good job. Nevertheless, I processed it a little in Skylum's Luminar, and this is how it turned out. I like this perpendicular perspective of the beach. It's a minimalist landscape shot, but not too shabby. One of these days I'll get around to upgrading my iPhone to a new model and get even better pictures.
Here's a common pigeon from Plaça de Catalunya in the heart of Barcelona. It's a fun place to watch the craziness in all directions. It had just rained, and that's when the reflections are best. I used the Platypod to get a low perspective and shot this at f2.0 which creates big colorful bokeh balls in the background. It's a technique generally used in portraits, so I guess this we could consider this a bird portrait. The pigeons are used to people feeding them they'll come right up. They have almost no fear of humans. A little boy next to me caught one in his hands and then released it. I only had the desire to capture one with my camera. I got several shots, but I think this is my favorite.
We walked down the road looking for a place to chill and found a quiet little beach bar with tropical beverages. It was our third stop, and it was a charm. It's called the Blue Angel, and it's about a mile south of central Cozumel. If you're in the area, you can't go wrong. It's a resort and dive shop, and from what I could see, very laid back. There were half dozen cruise ships in port, so this is a spot to get away from crowds. We've had a problem with red tide in Florida, so it was refreshing to see so many fish in the clear turquoise water. There were divers and snorkeling which we lazily watched all afternoon. It's the kind of place I could waste away in Margaritaville. I can envision myself napping in one of these hammocks half the day and the other half looking for my lost jigger of salt.
