Category Archives: Taking Pictures

Taking photographs with the iPhone

New Stop Motion iPhone app from Studio Neat, creators of the Glif

Remember the Glif? Have you ever heard of the Glif? It is a tripod mount for the iPhone that started life as a Kickstarter social funded project by a couple guys that make up Studio Neat. The design of the Glif is simple… silly simple, but works great.

Generally there are two things you are doing when having your iPhone mounted to a tripod, both involve not moving the iPhone while taking a lot or long exposures. So, night/movement shots and stop animation shots. Staying with the ‘keep it simple’, Studio Neat has introduced their own Stop Motion app – Frames.

The use of the app doesn’t require you own a Glif, it just makes the process easier since you not worried about moving the iPhone between shots.

Frames offers a self explanatory interface where you snap photos (720p HD) to make up your animation. Focus/exposure can be locked, the speed of playback can be adjusted, and images can be added in between previously taken images if you need a change in detail or changed your story idea. The finished result is saved to your iPhone’s (and iPod Touch) photo library. Yup, not a ton of features in Frames for the pro but a killer app for all of us ‘would be’ stop motion movie lovers that want a inexpensive way of jumping in. Recordings don’t just have to be flip card like animations, imagine recording a sunrise or sunset that you can now share with others.

 

 
 

 

Taking photos faster with the iPhone and iPad2 – Fast Camera Free Today Only!

“Taking photos faster with the iPhone” isn’t a hot tip on how to focus faster or how to tap into a secret power of the iPhone camera. Instead, it’s a camera app for the iPhone that I see is free for the day.

How Fast Camera accomplishes quicker photo taking is by starting to take pictures as soon as the app launches. Tap the app’s icon in the launcher and it starts taking pictures. Tap the stop button when you want the camera stop… pretty simple.

After you have Fast Camera stopped, you can see the number of photos shot in the lower right corner. Tap the ‘Review’ button to see all the images. The bottom of the page offers your next actions. You go return to shooting images into the same set with the ‘Resume’ button… choosing the ‘Done’ button will give you the option to delete the current photos and return to the camera.

Fast Camera’s default camera setting is VGA, but if you have a iPhone4s, you can choose 8 megapixel. The ‘Delay Between Pics’ is adjustable from None, 1/10 second, 1/5 second, 1/4 second, 1/3 seconds, 1/2 seconds, 1 second, 2 seconds and 5 seconds. Set to ‘none’, Fast Camera will shoot 800 pictures in 1 minute!!

 

What do you get and what can be done with a iPhone taken Photograph

“Yea, but that is just a phone camera, I used a real camera”. Living and traveling through tourist areas, I see a lot of cameras swinging from people’s necks. It’s fun to see what technology is actually being used and who is using it. Many times you sit at a lunch area to hear/see the table next to you that has a camera but is still a local. They just watch for the unusual.

I move about more with my iPhone in hand than taking my full size. It isn’t that I believe the images are just as good or that it is handy, mostly it is because it fits in my pocket. Sharing built in and it’s not an additional device is two strong point in the photography area too.

It brings up the question of what a person can do with the photos they take beyond posting to a social photography service.

First, the chart from the Web site Life in Lofi. They have put together a image showing what the  pixel output is across the many iPhone cameras. Below is the graphic but y0u will want to visit the article for more information;

Life in Lofi also has a quick table of the max size per MP a photo can be printed. A more informative graphic is put out by Photohand. The Photohand creation shows a quick reference for megapixel vs print size and also includes handy information on file size. Again, jump to their site to get a deeper dive.

And finally, if you are going to print the photo yourself, it is handy to know information about the paper print sizes. Some programs give a choice to print to A4 or A6 sized paper. A Web site, PaperSizes, presents a very nice post about the different size papers, their identifiers, tolerances, formulas for calculating paper sizes, and even international information. Click to the papersizes site for the full run down.

 

City Walk Photography with a iPhone – Two Free Books to Help!

Oops… started this post over the weekend and didn’t wrap it up… sorry for the delay! Guess you will have it ready for this weekend’s shooting fun.

I have my iPhone in hand… ProCamera at the ready (sometimes jump to Top Camera too), and many city streets to walk. While I had hoped to get into San Francisco today, the traffic slowed my progress as a major bridge is having work being done on it. So, I hit a few smaller ‘towns’ to see the natural lit buildings and foot traffic. There was a lot of folks out milling around the coffee shops and small markets but not many in the actual stores. So my shots turned to objects like benches, mailboxes, signs, pets and window reflections. My wife, pup and I not getting anywhere fast, just using photography as an excuse to get some fresh air.

Sometimes I come across articles or books that I find gives me a different perspective on things around me. Everyone has their style. It’s fun to try someone else’s eye on a subject, then modify it towards what I enjoy so I end up with a mix that is me. A couple recent finds are actually free eBooks that I thought I would share, hope you find them enjoyable. Both books are using 35mm cameras but there is very little adjusting/tuning with camera settings so they are both very well suited to shoots done with your iPhone.

Street Photography – By Alex Coghe: (A friend had a issue with the ‘download’ link and offered a direct link to the eBook on Eric Kim’s site)

Alex’s view on ‘street photography’:

Rules of Street Photography

Street Photography is a genre that can’t be too constrained because it would limit it. But some
pickets are needed to understand what we’re talking.

– Street Photographs must be taken in the public realm: streets, subways, museums, beaches, parks, events, countryside, nightclubs…

– Photographs may not be staged or posed by models.

– Photographs do not need to include people but should at the very least imply human existence or a human condition.

– Street Photography can be colour or black & white. Partially desatured images can’t be considered street photography.

– Add or remove elements from street photographs is not ethic. Street Photography is a challenge with ourselves and the approach to this kind of photography is raw, like the old straight photography.

– Cropping a photo and perform colour corrections and processing in keeping with a realistic representation of the subject is fine to enhance the image. And naturally also the black and white conversion is allowed but extreme photo manipulation, stitching and combining of images is not for street photography. Also High Dynamic Range (HDR) is considered heavy post production and therefore not suitable for this photographic genre. 

 

Going Candid – by Thomas Leuthard:

Thomas – “What is street photography for me”

Street photography has changed my life in a way that I didn’t expect it would. I suddenly have a plan in my life. I have an activity where I can use my creativi- ty. I get challenged every day. I don’t get bored because it’s always different. I can travel the world for a reason and I can meet a lot of people. And last but not least I wake up in the morning with a smile. Street photography is not just another way of photography. It’s a way of life… 

 

Americana Hipstamatic Pak on the iPhone Gets Two New Films

Earlier this month, during Fashion Week, Hipstamatic offered a lens and camera body called Americana for free. Now, Americana Pak has grown to include two new films. The ‘new’ Americana is available to purchase through the in-app cart inside of Hipstamatic.

The films have a rather light, ‘creative’ description that I thought requires a bit more info if your considering making the purchase. Below, I snapped a couple photos using the Tejas lens with one of the Hipstamatic included films, then the two new films. For examples of the American lens, see the post I did when it first came out (Hipstamatic Americana Lens and Case for Fashion Week).

‘Ina’s 1969‘ – note the border:

Americana Hipstamatic film US1776 with Teja lens:

Americana Blanko Freedom 13 film with Tejas lens (similar to Ina’s, without border, but notice the three color ticks in the lower right corner):

 

Affordable iPhone Pocket Power Supply for On-The-Go Recharge

Since I shoot a lot of pictures with my iPhone, tune those photos and need to move them via WiFi, my iPhone 4S battery really takes a beating. By mid day, depending on how hard the phone has to work to get a strong signal for file transfers, the battery can be down around 40%.

I have played with a lot of options to get the iPhone’s battery charged back up, without having to be tied to a wall socket. A variety of battery hardware, across a variety of both physical and power sizing.

A couple items I have found; the battery doesn’t actually have to be large in physical size to recharge the iPhone. 1900 mAh is good to charge the iPhone twice from 50% power remaining. And, having the battery lock onto the bottom (I am not talking wrap around case styles here) of the iPhone isn’t always a great idea. I have found it isn’t a good idea to use the iPhone with a weighty battery hanging off the bottom… either have a jumper cable or stop a half hour to an hour to get the charge in place.

A recent discovery is the Stitchway Ultrapower. When I first saw them, they were priced in the area of $40, which seemed reasonable. But, they are available on Amazon for less than $10 right now. Actually, if you go down the page a bit there is a Stitchway Ultrapower, an extra charge cable and charger cube for very little more. It make the whole set up rather mobile. The Stitchway Ultrapower does allow for pass through charging.

 

 

Fine tuning how pictures are taken with the iPhone, before worrying about filters

In the film camera days, I spent time learning how to work with light, lenses, and film speed. All to produce an effect I was looking for. It took practice and a lot of film. Now, the default for most iPhone camera users is to snap a photo and apply a filter to get the look for maximum impact. I’m right in there, playing with filters and fine tuning color balance, etc to get just the right feeling.

There are a couple app that actually enhance the action of taking a photo with the iPhone in the first place. One that keeps coming up amongst my iPhone Photo friends is Pro Camera. The app offers filters, sharing and Dropbox storage after the photos is taken like other solutions. What Pro Camera offers that few competing apps do is the pre shutter snap tuning.

For close up shots, Pro Camera offers a enhanced zoom, which used with the app’s Anti Shake creates very clear macro images. I use the app’s ability to separate out the Focus and Exposure spots most often to focus on a point yet keep it from being the dark area of a photo.

SelfTimer, RapidFire burst shooting, Virtual Horizon and QR Code handling are all great ‘other’ features that make Pro Camera stand out from the crowd.

 

Quick and easy panorama photos with the iPhone – Free app for Valentines Day

In the world of panorama photos apps for the iPhone, there are a few to choose from. Some create very high resolution images that require effort to stitch the images together, others require matching each frame up to snap the next picture for the stitching is done for you. Then, DMD Panorama does the shutter and sticking for you, and they tell you when they will snap the image with a pretty creative graphic.

When you launch the app, you can decide on a few settings around quality and sharing. Then, hold your iPhone in portrait view and snap the button to start. You can now turn left or right. As you turn the ying/yang icons at the top of the screen will come together, when they touch the camera will take another image. You can go for a couple frames or all the way around 360 degrees. DMD Panorama then stitches the images together and presents you with a pretty nice resolution image. You can save the image locally or to the DMD Panorama service to share or keep amongst you and your friends. The Web site offers viewing of the panorama on the site so no download needed if you decide to share with others.

A undocumented feature that causes me to use DMD Panorama more often than not is that the camera does a good job at normalizing the light and dark areas so you don’t end up with what looks like one picture in the pano lighter than the rest.

Oh yea, and Free for the now through the end of February 14th makes it a great time to try it out.

 

Wow Camera for iPhone, Pro version is Free for limited time!

An app showing up for free this weekend got my attention first because of their different angle on taking pictures. Rather than depend on filters after the photo has been taken, Wow Camera Pro shows you what the image looks like with the effect they are offering.

These are chosen from the small ‘up’ arrow in the lower right corner of the app, then choosing the effect group. While the flowers I was standing in front of don’t really lend themselves to needing these effect, you get the idea. From the left arrow, Wow Camera Pro offers a pull out menu offers photo taking assistants. Once the photo is taken, there is a series of filters that can be used along with the usual crop and rotate seen on many other camera app.

Adding text (many fonts, size and colors) and text balloons is also supported, a bit of a surprise with what at first appears to be a photo filter app. I will be shooting a few shots to learn the pre-capture effects so I can ‘see’ when a shot will be best suited with one. A bit of new fun, all from a free ‘Pro’ app.

 

Free Hipstamatic Americana Lens and Case for Fashion Week

Now, through the 16th of February, in honor of Fashion Week, Hipstamatic is offering a free pack of the Americana Lens and Case. After the 16th, the pack will be an extra charge through in-app purchase.

For Hipstamatic fans… which I wasn’t till I started playing with lens/film combos and found a few set ups just great for my everyday shooting… the Americana case will be a nice change from the old camera look to a more retro camera.

The Americana lens offers a bit of a softening effect. I found it brings out the brown coloring a bit more than other lens options I have in my iPhone’s Hipstamatic film/lens options.

To grab your copy, just launch Hipstamatic on your iPhone, go to the cart area (via the little shopping cart icon) and you should see the Americana FreePak to click and download. Watch that area after February 16th for two new films to be introduced.