Tag Archives: Alcatraz

Realme Chroma Boost Guide + Showcase Of US West Coast!

One of the new photography features of the Realme 3 and Realme 3 Pro smartphones is Chroma Boost – an advanced HDR photography feature!

Find out what Chroma Boost does, and how you can use it to take better photos.

We will also share with you the many Chroma Boost photos we took across the US West Coast!

 

Realme Chroma Boost Primer

Realme introduced two new photography features in their Realme 3 and Realme 3 Pro smartphones – a Nightscape mode, and Chroma Boost.

Chroma Boost is an advanced HDR feature that goes beyond HDR, which involves taking and combining multiple photos with different exposures.

On top of increasing the photo’s dynamic range, it will also correct and boost colour, while keeping control of noise.

 

Turning On Chroma Boost

Chroma Boost is so important that Realme made it the second icon at the top of the Camera app.

  1. To turn it on, just open the camera app, and tap on the second icon at the top.
  2. The Chroma Boost Is ON message will appear, and the Chroma Boost icon will appear in colour.

Until you turn it off, every photo your Realme 3 / Realme 3 Pro takes from now on will use Chroma Boost.

 

Turning Off Chroma Boost

  1. To turn it off, just open the camera app, and tap on the second icon at the top.
  2. The Chroma Boost Is OFF message will appear, and the Chroma Boost icon will turn black and show grey mountains.

 

When To Use Chroma Boost

Chroma Boost takes a considerable amount of time to take and process each shot – about 3 to 5 seconds.

So it is best used for planned shots of subjects that are not moving much. In fact, that’s the reason why it is turned off by default.

For most candid shots, or occasions where you want to take multiple shots quickly, you will probably want to disable Chroma Boost.

In the next part, we will show you the kind of shots Chroma Boost can deliver with our showcase of the Realme 3 in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

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Chroma Boost Sample Of Pier 39

This is the famous dock at the end of Pier 39, home to a number of California sea lions. It’s dusk – a really tricky time where the light isn’t great, but it’s not quite the time for using the Nightscape mode.

Surprisingly, it turned out much brighter than in real life, without getting washed out. You can see the sea lions in the foreground, as well as the bright lights of downtown San Francisco at the back.

 

Chroma Boost Samples Of Lombard Street

No tourist worth his or her name will visit San Francisco without going to the winding Lombard Street, even though it is really NOT the most crooked street in San Francisco.

That title really belongs to Vermont Street, near South of Market, although Lombard Street is definitely more picturesque. Plus, the Powell-Hyde cable car stops at the top!

As it so happened, we were there when the Zoox team decided to test their autonomous vehicle going down Lombard Street!

Next Page > Chroma Boost Samples of Alcatraz Island + Downtown San Francisco

 

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Chroma Boost Samples Of Alcatraz Island

A short (but expensive) hop off San Francisco is the infamous Alcatraz Island.

It’s ironic how so many people are clamouring to get into Alcatraz when quite a few prisoners (and guards) lost their lives during several escape attempts…

One thing we like about Chroma Boost is how well it keeps control of the highlights, while lifting out details from the shadows.

This picture was taken in very bright sunlight. Yet you can see the blue sky, and even the clouds!

In this example, the former residential apartments are in the shadow, and would normally look dark. But the doors and windows are clearly visible.

It also work great indoors. Especially if you are taking shots of static objects.

Take a close look at this picture. Not only does it have great dynamic range, it managed to capture the bird flying and the Oakland Bay Bridge in the distance.

In fact, you can even see the sloping streets of San Francisco!

It was not easy to get this shot, but well worth the many tries!

The only problem with using Chroma Boost – it limits the number of photos you can take in a certain amount of time. Not very suitable if you are on a fast moving boat!

In this shot of the Alcatraz Cruises pier, with the Transamerica Pyramid and Coit Tower in the background, note the shadows which show the direction of the sun.

Even though it was very bright, and the shadows much darker in real life, Chroma Boost managed to bring the details out of the shadows. And yet, the sky remained blue and not overblown.

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Chroma Boost Samples Of Downtown San Francisco

Residential buildings in San Francisco are generally not very unique or interesting architecturally. The slopes of San Francisco are what’s truly interesting and unique.

Only when you get to the San Francisco Chinatown do you see more interesting building designs…

Next Page > Chroma Boost Samples of The Golden Gate Bridge + Muir Woods

 

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Chroma Boost Samples Of The Golden Gate Bridge

No tourist to San Francisco will ever skip going to the Golden Gate Bridge.

Featured in countless movies, and even torn apart by the likes of Godzilla, a Kaiju, earthquakes, a tsunami and Magneto, it is the very symbol of San Francisco!

But instead of just heading to the Visitor Center, we trekked to Golden Gate Bridge from the south side on a cold misty morning.

Chroma Boost helped to bring out the colour of the foreground, but the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge and the Marin headlands remained enveloped in mist.

Here is a closer view of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Welcome Center. You can see the bridge trusses clearly detailed, even on its underside.

We then drove over the Golden Gate Bridge to the North Vista Point.

Right next to it is Horseshoe Bay, home to the US Coast Guard Golden Gate Station, and the Presidio Yacht Club.

You can even see Alcatraz Island in the background on the right, and Treasure Island on the far right.

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Chroma Boost Samples Of Muir Woods

To the north of San Francisco is the Muir Woods National Monument. Home to giant California redwood trees (Sequoia sempervirens), it is a very beautiful and peaceful place.

Even though these redwoods grow very tall, lighting is not a severe problem for taking photos at the bottom of these giants.

However, if you are attempting to take pictures of them from the bottom up, sunlight could make it really difficult to get a well-exposed shot.

Try using Chroma Boost, or a similar HDR feature, to capture the sunlight shining through the treetops while capturing the intricate bark details that would normally be shrouded in the shadow.

See how well it worked out in these two samples.

Next Page > Chroma Boost Samples of Hollywood, Rodeo Drive + The Griffith Observatory

 

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Chroma Boost Samples Of Hollywood + Rodeo Drive

We only had a short stay in Los Angeles, so we hit the usual tourist spots in Hollywood and Rodeo Drive.

First up is the TCL Chinese Theatre, located oh the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Many still know it as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

As it so happened, they barricaded it for the premiere of Catch-22. But this made it a great opportunity to use Chroma Boost – there was no one running across to spoil the shot!

While famous for its luxury boutique stores, Rodeo Drive isn’t very picturesque.

Arguably, the most picturesque spot is this internal street of the Two Rodeo shopping mall, which I believe is known as Via Rodeo Drive?

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Chroma Boost Samples Of The Griffith Observatory

Sitting on the top of Mount Hollywood is the Griffith Observatory. It’s an awesome spot to look out at downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood and the Pacific Ocean.

Unfortunately, it was a downcast day when we arrived. But Chroma Boost helped to boost exposure, and give the colours a little more pep.

View of downtown Los Angeles from the Griffith Observatory at 2X digital zoom with the Realme 3.

Despite the downcast skies, Chroma Boost brightened the sky and visibly increased the colour of the houses in the foreground.

It is actually possible to use Chroma Boost with moving indoor objects like this Foucault’s Pendulum. Look at the colour.

You just have to time it so that movement is minimal. In this case, it took us several tries to catch the pendulum at the end of the swing.

Next Page > Chroma Boost Samples of Santa Monica, Where To Buy Realme 3 + Realme 3 Pro

 

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Chroma Boost Samples Of Santa Monica

What’s a trip to Los Angeles without a trip to the world famous Santa Monica Pier?

Over a hundred years old, it is a large, double-jointed pier that juts out of the end of Colorado Avenue into the Pacific Ocean.

It is more than just a pier, of course. It is home to Pacific Park, an amusement park, shops, pubs and restaurants.

Right at the very end is also a very popular angling spot.

Chroma Boost can really bring out the colours that are usually hidden in the shadows, like the pillars of the Santa Monica pier.

Despite being almost dusk, using Chroma Boost can increase the brightness of the scene.

Opened in 1996, Pacific Park is a 2-acre amusement park that is open to public on the Santa Monica Pier.

It was really getting pretty dark, so Chroma Boost came in handy in boosting the exposure of the scene, while keeping the colours looking pretty pep.

On the way back, we stopped by the Santa Monica 3rd Promenade, home of this Triceratops water fountain sculpture.

Despite the low light (it was dusk!), Chroma Boost helped to keep the Triceratops sculpture well-exposed, without overblowing the brightly-lit cafe in the background.

Any darker, we would definitely have to use the Nightscape mode!

 

Realme Smartphone Price + Availability

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These are the latest Realme smartphones that are currently available for sale :

 

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > First PageMobile Devices | Photography | Home

 

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If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!


The Realme Selfie Guide + Showcase Of US West Coast!

Realme smartphones are not known for the selfies, which is a shame. We took the Realme 3 on a trip across the US West Coast, and here is our Realme selfie guide and showcase!

Find out what settings you should use on Realme smartphones, and check out the selfies we took from the Grand Canyon to Las Vegas, San Francisco and Los Angeles!

Don’t forget to also check out our Realme Nightscape Guide For Awesome Night Shots!

 

The Realme 3 Selfie Camera

The Realme 3 selfie camera has a higher-resolution 13 MP sensor with a brighter f/2.0 lens. The Realme 2, you may recall, has an 8 MP front camera with f/2.2 lens.

Its f/2.0 aperture puts its front camera on par with many flagship-class smartphones like the HUAWEI Mate 20, the Samsung Galaxy A9 2018, the HONOR 20, and the OPPO R17 Pro.

Its higher-end brother, the Realme 3 Pro, also has a front camera with a wide f/2.0 aperture. The only difference is it has a higher-resolution 25 MP sensor, instead of a 13 MP sensor.

 

The Realme Selfie Camera Guide

We highly recommend that you enable these settings before you start shooting – Location, Flip Selfie, and Auto HDR. These are the common settings you find in other Realme smartphones, like the Realme 2 Pro and the Realme 3 Pro.

Location

While travelling in the US, we do not always have time to note the exact location (building, street address, etc.) where we take these photos.

Enabling Location lets the Realme 3 add the GPS coordinates to every photo, so you can always look up the location when you get back.

Flip Selfie

We highly recommend turning on the Flip Selfie option, which basically gives you a mirror image of the selfie. This is important because it makes sure any text in the background will be readable.

This was not enabled by default, which led to some of our selfies not turning out right. Make sure you enable this option before you start taking your selfies!

Auto HDR

Selfies are often impromptu… spontaneous… There’s very little time to set-up a selfie, unless you’re an influencer and you would have a buddy or two, with LED lighting, etc (you get the idea).

This is why you should make sure Auto HDR is enabled. It lets the Realme 3 automatically decide when is the best time to take HDR shots (combining multiple shots with different exposures).

HDR will bring out the details in both dark and overexposed areas of a photo, while increasing the picture’s dynamic range. Take a look at this example :

Without Auto HDR, both faces in this selfie shot would be too dark because of the overly bright background.

It may not be obvious in the picture above, but it was CRAZY HOT and BRIGHT at the Grand Canyon when I took that photo in the shade. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out!

Recommended Reading : The Realme Nightscape Guide For Awesome Night Shots!

 

Realme Smartphone Price + Availability

These are the latest Realme smartphones that are currently available for sale :

Next Page > Realme 3 Selfie Samples (Boulder City, Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas)

 

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If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!


Realme 3 Selfie Samples From Boulder City

After landing in Las Vegas, we headed straight for Boulder City, which is a small town about 30 minutes away.

You will pass it on the way to the Grand Canyon, or Hoover Dam. So it’s a great place to stop for the night, especially if you plan to visit Hoover Dam.

But first, we had some burger and chicken fingers at The Chicken Shack. The folks here are extremely friendly! 😄

Here is Nick with the Double Shack burger, with double beef patties and cheese. Only$9.79 before taxes, , with a side of fries and a drink!

And here are Steve and Justin with my order of chicken fingers! 😄

The chicken tenders here are large strips of chicken breast meat. I prefer dark meat, but they were juicy and tender. Only $7.99 for 5 of “em!

This is Allyson from the Boulder Pit Stop, serving our Pit Burger and Turkey Burger. Seriously great burgers even without adding cheese, bacon or mushrooms.


The Pit Burger with a 1/3 lb patty is only $5.75 before taxes, and the Turkey Burger only $4.50 before taxes. If you’re ever going to Boulder City, make sure you try them out!

 

Realme 3 Selfie Samples From Hoover Dam

The best view of Hoover Dam is actually midway across the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

Just turn off about a mile after the security check point, and walk up to the Memorial Plaza, which leads to the pedestrian walkway of the bridge.

There’s no need to walk all the way to the end. Just walk until you get a picture you like, or to the mid-point, so you can have one foot in Nevada, and another foot in Arizona! 😀

The lifts were undergoing maintenance so there were no tours that day. However, Hoover Dam tour guides like Alan gave us a presentation on the Hoover Dam instead.

You can feel the pride and love they have for this American engineering marvel!

 

Realme 3 Selfie Samples From The Grand Canyon

Being short on time, we took a short plane + helicopter ride to the Grand Canyon at a Boulder City airport.

Scott here took us on a short cruise down the Colorado river, through the Grand Canyon West Rim.

The bulk of the Grand Canyon West Rim (seen behind us) belongs to the US National Park, while the opposing side is part of the Hualapai Indian Reservation.

It was CRAZY HOT and really bright at the Grand Canyon that day, but thanks to its Auto HDR capability, this selfie taken at Guano Point turned out much better than I expected!

Since it was so bright, I expected harsh shadows on our faces, and a terribly blown-out background. Yet, the shadows were surprisingly soft, and you can clearly see the Grand Canyon in the back, and even the clouds and the blue sky!

 

Realme 3 Selfie Samples From Las Vegas

It’s been years since my last visit to Las Vegas, and while much has remained the same, a lot has changed!

Here is the venerable Las Vegas landmark – the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas signboard!

While it has not changed, it has been upgraded with a special parking lot built into the median, so tourists can park and not get hit by traffic on both sides of the Las Vegas Boulevard! 😅

I then spent three days at Dell Technologies World 2019, where I met really nice people like Stephanie Silva from McLaren…

And Ben Driscoll and Kendall Peters, who ran the always-busy Press and Analyst Room!

We also had the opportunity to meet and take selfies with the incredibly funny and entertaining Penn & Teller!

These guys are AWESOME! If you can only catch one magic show in Las Vegas, you MUST catch Penn & Teller.

Next Page > Realme 3 Selfie Samples (San Francisco, Los Angeles)

 

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Realme 3 Selfie Samples From San Francisco

After so many days in Sin City, we flew ourselves to San Francisco, and checked ourselves into the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary!

Located just 1.25 miles or just over 2 km from the San Francisco, it served as a federal prison for 29 years. during which 36 prisoners tried to escape.

Ironically, hundreds of tourists now pay good money to visit Alcatraz every day! 😅

Welcoming us was Ray Hood, a volunteer with the US National Parks Service.

He commutes from Sacramento to help US Park Rangers like Wendy Solis here educate visitors on the rich history of Alcatraz, and to warn us about being “painted white” by the current avian occupants of Alcatraz…

Prison chow at Alcatraz did not agree with us, so we escaped on a boat and headed to the Fisherman’s Wharf, where Ernesto served us Boudin’s new crab chowder in a sourdough bowl!

I met Rodrigo “Roy” Gutierrez outside of Pier 33. He spray painted that piece for me in just 5 minutes! 🤩

Again, Auto HDR kicked in for a nicely exposed photo, even though it was a dastardly bright day.

While I was in San Francisco, I had my MacBook Pro checked out by Brennan Duong at Apple Store Union Square.

Finally, we had to stop by The Baked Bear for their humungous and really delicious ice-cream sandwiches! This is Sam with my 🐻tastic ice-cream sandwich!

That’s a 🐻 of an ice-cream sandwich! Not a 🐨 or a 🐼 but an actual 🐻… 😁

We originally planned to have one each, but it was so big – we had to share!

 

Realme 3 Selfie Samples From Los Angeles

We only had a short time in LA, but I had the opportunity to chat with Officer Raviol of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Joshua thinks he looks like Nicholas Cage. I think he looks like Arnold Vosloo. What do YOU think? 😁

 

Realme Smartphone Price + Availability

These are the latest Realme smartphones that are currently available for sale :

 

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > First PageMobile Devices | Photography | Home

 

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support our work by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!