Category Archives: News

Lastest news for iPhone Photography

Google Improves iPhone Photo Management

Google offers the storage of iPhone photos to the Google Cloud solution as a quick way of freeing up memory on the iPhone. The iPhone has this solution built in with Apple’s iCloud, but if Google Photo or Google Drive is being used for other purposes, these app updates makes it easier to keep everything in one place (Google vs iCloud).

Photo syncing to/from the Google Cloud improved 4x faster
A new view to the Assistant Tab cards

Within the Google Photo app, choosing the Assistant option along the bottom of any screen, results in a scrollable list of alerts from Google and quick creation buttons.

The quick create options are available from the Photos area as well, along with album viewing options.

The Google Drive app also provides access to the photos on the iPhone and on the Google Cloud/Drive account to reduce the need to jump between apps.

Quick High Resolution HDR With Editing Through Lightroom Mobile

Adobe has updated their Lightroom Mobile app with a few features that will be improving my workflow:

Authentic HDR taking through the app
Exporting original raw images to camera roll
Improved rating for images
Improved cloud syng

The addition of HDR photography to the app has the customization tuning that I would expect from a Adobe app. Rather than one-size-fits-all, a bit of tuning helps set the app to my HDR style:

A winning feature of using Lightroom Mobile app for HDR is it’s option to have it in the quick apps area of the iPhone. When access is turned on, a HDR snap is just a right swipe on the screen away.

Once a moment is captured, the Lightroom Mobile app takes a little while to save to it’s own editing library. Once there, the HDR photo has all the fine turning options that any photo edited in the app gets:

I enjoy the apps handling of editing a selected area. Most apps let you set a dot or crosshairs where the edit will happen, while Lightroom Mobile uses a circle solution so the editing area is truly known:

Raw image saving is handled via a picker to choose the image between JPG and DNG

The improved rating solution is within the photo detail view… select as many or few stars as the picture deserves.

Instagram App Supporting Multiple Accounts

Do you have a need to post images to two accounts on Instagram? I can see many possibilities where an individual may have to maintain a business account, along with their personal account. Previous to the new feature added in Instagram, this would have meant logging out of one account and into the other. Posting an image to the wrong account is just waiting to happen as well, no image would be a instant moment if not logged into the correct account.

To add or create another account within the Instagram app, go your profile area (person icon on the bottom buttons, furthest to the right), then choose the ‘gear’ icon in the upper right corner. Scrolling down, you will find the option second from the bottom.

This will result in a normal login/add account page to get the account entered an an option within the Instagram app.

While I have you here… I wonder if I am seeing an A:B test or this is happening for everyone in Instagram. If you go to the ‘Explore and Search’ area, second icon from the left along the bottom. Choose a image, then go to the person that posted the image and choose one of their images… can be the same image or another one. [Below image account is not me nor anything I’m recommending, they just happen to have a great example of what I was talking about. I do love Palm Springs Mid Century though!!]

Now scroll down, do you have a whole bunch of other ‘SUGGESTED’ images? They are not from that same person, but seem related beyond simple ‘like tagging’. This area doesn’t appear on all images, and never seems to happen on an image directly in my feed or chosen from the Explore area directly. Only images with hashtags have had the addition suggestions.

In Memory Of Arjan van der Horst – Free Film For Your iPhone

To be honest, Arjan is new to me. I saw the announcement of his passing and the mentions of his impacts on street photography grabbed my attention.

His art was very hipster, so it is no surprise to me to see the folks that create the Hipstamatic iPhone camera app came out with a special roll of film in his memory.

The Arjan ‘film’ can be dowloaded for free via the Hipstamatic app, just launch the app and choose the shopping cart icon. After downloading, don’t forget to choose it from any other ‘films’ you have downloaded. It is a ‘black and white’ roll, depending on the lens you choose in the app to pair with it, produces a very wide variety of effects. The bolder images will best produce what Arjan van der Horst is known for.

Fujifilm now offering wireless pocket instant printer for iPhone

I covered the little wireless printer from LG that I have been carrying (LG Introduces An iPhone Bluetooth Version Of The Polaroid ZINK Pocket Printer). It has proven to work nicely, with the ZINK paper creating nearly indestructible long life ‘little’ prints that have proven nice to share or review how the printed photo will look.

Now, Fuji is jumping in with its Instax technology. If you remember the Polaroid cameras that pushed out the square framed pictures which developed in minutes, same thing, just smaller. Both the ZINK and Instax technologies are from the folks at Polaroid many years ago, but both have been updated and work nicely in today’s connected world.

For the Fujifilm Instax Share SP-1, it is more than just portable wireless printing. The device actually lets multiple people connect to it (via a free app) and print. Great fun at parties and gatherings. Using the app, some tuning can be done to the image prior to printing, then just send it and out pops a photo that literally develops right in your hand. The finished product is about the size of a business card. It’s the same film/printing that comes out of the Fujifilm Instax cameras (love my Mini 90 Neo Classic).

The Fujifilm Instax Share is portable, it is a bit big to put in your front pant pocket. There are colorful carry bag options, sold separately, as is the wall power plug. The printer comes with CR2 batteries (required 2) which Fuji says is good for 100 prints (printers are 10 per pack). The batteries are readily available and will set you back about a couple bucks a piece when needed.

While the device has yet to be delivered, I am familiar with the Instax prints which are pretty clear. The printer shows that it will be available June 1, but Lomography has brought a few over to the US to make available now. Their pricing isn’t much more than what folks are buying directly off the shelf in Japan so it’s nice to see no ‘limited quantity’ price gouging is going on.

I’ll post up some photos of the device and prints when it gets here in a day or two.

With SteamZoo Closing, Where Will You Share Your iPhone Pics

There is a lot of options to share your photos with the public. Many started up long before Instagram but have not had the buy-in from the masses. And, if they did get great quantities of visitors, they were unable to turn eyes into money to pay for servers. SteamZoo is a recent but amongst many, photo sharing sites to close up shop. When a service shuts down, where do you go?

Recently, many of the services I have used for storing and/or editing photos online have been bought up and shortly there after shut down. A person builds relationships and workflows around services only to have it taken away. I don’t believe it is an easy decision for a small shop to shut down, it always feels like the funding gods are just around the corner. For big corporate buyouts though, it’s a shame they can hide behind their big visitor counts and push through the few folks they have caused to rethink how they do things. On the subject, while sharing photos is fun and builds friendships from far away places, the biggest impact to my life has been Task Managers shutting down and causing work successes to slow as a whole new system has to be learned.

OK, back to StreamZoo. Since they did give warning, most folks posted up what their ID was on other services so folks could rejoin. Lost is the groups that StreamZoo encouraged for the building of like photos within a area (like Views of San Francisco, Black and White, HDR, etc…).

I thought I would toss up a couple screen shots of the UI so months from now we don’t forget how we interacted with others via this service. Perhaps, a lessons learned for other services to use when thinking about how their visitors like to interact with each other’s snap shots of life.

iPhone Photo Booth Prints Without The iPhone

I’ve talked about the many print services that work from apps on the iPhone. Today I received an email from one of those services, Printstagram. Instead of a slightly different size print or a print on a special material, they where introducing a Photo Booth looking prints service. Like their other offerings, prints are chosen via the Web site from my Instagram posts.

Printstagram has the offering available through the site’s Products drop down. But, reading about the service, it is mentioned that may or may not be a long term offering. All of the printing is being done out of the San Francisco office… I wonder if they mind I drop by to say ‘hi’.

The particulars:
– Each package contains a set of 9 strips, with 36 photos (like a roll of film!)
– The photostrip is 1.75″ x 7″
– Each photo is 1.5″ x 1.5″

Once I logged in and chose the service, Printstagram presented me with thumbnails for my Instagram photos, offering the opportunity to choose 36 to have printed. I quickly saw I need to upload a few photos that look more like people squeezed into a small booth in the bowling alley.

iPhone Photography For Art And Creative, Grab The Free Behance App For Inspiration

Looking through photography displays created by others can at times help open a person’s mind to new angles or views. Most often, I find people go right out and try to duplicate the photo with the equipment and location they have at hand. While this can be helpful to try new things, I find two extremes happen as a result. The photographer take a similar photo to one in an exhibit and feels it is ‘just as good’ because their brain already has the energy from the original. Or, they fail to match the mood exactly and they move on.

I tend to enjoy photography exhibits but gain creative energy from people’s creative design projects. Looking at what an individual managed to pull together with a few scraps of paper, a pen, glue and patience. Or, the photography of a creation either in the studio or out in the wild. Color combinations and contrasting elements either in a 3D creation or a drawing can expand a view that will help notice similar points to capture through my camera. There is no matching a packaging idea when out taking photos in the park, but the lines and colors of the package opens the mind to seeing trees and grass slightly differently.

One free online tool to see the creative work from people around the world is Behance. Anyone can create an account to show what they are working on or have finished. Allowing others to comment and possibly compliment. I’m sure there are many talented people that have been found and given work due to their posts.

Behance is a very large mix of creative work. There are photograph posts as well as logo designs, product packaging, hair styles and the list goes on, seemingly endlessly. And now, Behance offers a free app to remove the need to only view posts when sitting at the desktop. The app isn’t just for viewing, it also allows commenting and posting to your own account.

Projects, or people’s creative work, can be viewed by the state of the project.

Viewing Projects, note the filter options along the top of the page to narrow the view of the group. Then, sweep top/bottom to see a thumbnail/name/creator for each project.

Search and viewing Projects by the Field of work is a surprising long list.

This is the view narrowed to Photography projects posted to Behance.

Select one to see the individual items within that particular project. There is more details on the person that created the post as well options to share your find out through social networks.

Behance allows the favoriting of projects and creators. Along with the creation of Curated lists of both so others can see your interesting finds.

Google Discontinues ‘Bump to Transfer Photos’

A magical app in the early of the iPhone called Bump gave us the ability to bump two iPhones together and transfer contact information. It was a nifty solution to handle the lack of IR transfer between devices that earlier PDAs had. After a while, the app advanced to more things to bump transfer between phones, the most popular in my circles was photos.

The bump action was basically a moment in time that the app could use to match the two phones together then wirelessly transfer what was being asked of it. Photo transfer didn’t require a Web site, social app, or anything more than two people with their phones, the app, the photo and the desire to share.

The company producing Bump offered methods for other developers to use their technology in their apps to transfer information beyond what the Bump app did. The group also created a social photo sharing service called Flock.

Last September, 2013, Bump announced they had been purchased by Google. No claims where made, but the hope had been that we would find the Bump action in the many other Google offerings. Naturally, Google would want that additional data point of the phones and files transferred. Sadly, they didn’t agree with this thinking and according to the Bump Web site, the app is being taken down and service will be End-of-Lifed on January 31, 2014.

I can imagine the horror a developer that was using that technology in their app is going through right now. Like the many other photo sharing/storing solutions that have gone away over the last year, this just adds to the concern about becoming dependent on any service, if they are not making the cash flow they need to, you loose too.

Oggl Retro Photography Sharing App and Service Updated With A Little From Everyone

Oggl, heard of it? It is one of the iPhone photos sharing service, that seems to have people that don’t know about it or people that use it. Few are between those two extremes.
The photo sharing service comes from the same folks that did Hipstamatic. Rather than just a few filters, Oggl gives the user access to the film and lenses that are available through the retro photography app Hipstamatic. Where Hipstamatic locks the image to the lens/film selected through the app when snapping the photo, Oggl offers the changing of those ‘filters’ to find the look the user was hoping for. Then, share it out to the world of Oggl users. There is a yearly subscription upgrade available.
The original Oggl had a unique workflow and limits on photos, outside of the changing filters after the shot. Now though, the service allows the importing of photos from the iPhone photo library, which is frowned on by the loyal users. Also, the UX has changed this week to be a more Flipboard News Reader type of feel. Will those changes chase away current users or add more new users?

The updated Oggl seems to be less about grouping of photos by the Oggl team around their challenges and lens/films used and more about groups created by users. These aren’t groups that people join, rather the grouping of photos for viewing under a few quick pick rule sets.

A nice addition in this Oggl update is a quick reference indicator showing how many likes and re-shares has occurred to photos uploaded by the account holder. Tapping each photo uploaded will show the quantity of likes, re-shares and who did each.

When a photo is being taken, the current (or last used) film/lens combo impact will be shown for a second then return to the unfiltered view. Choose one of the pre-built, custom combo or saved combo to see the impact again prior to snapping the shot.

Just sweep through the Oggl lenses and film options to see each one’s effect on the photo, save or discard. If a combo is used more often, they can be saved as a quick access. Also, when viewing photos posted by others, the combo they used can be added to the quick access options.