Joby iPhone stand for still photography

I have played with a variety of grips for the iPhone in an attempt to produce better shots where the camera needs to avoid movement. The most popular ones are either cases that must stay on the iPhone or a edge mount that wont work with my iPhone since I have a thin vinyl protection sticker on the back. So, I set out with a friend to do our own with the help of our million friends on Kickstarter. About the time we were doing the video, the Joby GripTight was found. The expandable frame that will work with about any iPhone is really close to what we thought we would be cool, so we bought a couple Joby unites.

For this weekend, if your thinking you may need a mount for your iPad, Joby is offering 20% off!

There are three different versions of the GripTight kit available. All of them use the same ‘grip’ feature, but each have their own stand to best suite your needs. The little fold up tripod fits in about any bag so it’s handy when the need pops up.

A lot of others call these flexible three legged stands, Guerrillas. Great for those times you need to hold your iPhone to a pole or tree. The legs are much longer than on the solid tripod above.

If you already have a favorite tripod you may have for other equipment, GripTight is available with a standard mount on the bottom without being attached to an included tripod.

Composing the perfect photograph on the iPhone

Most smartphone photography these days are the result of Spray and Pray shooting. Folks are taking a ton of photos and either hope or are just plain lucky to get a ‘perfect’ shot. Few mobile photographers take the time to work through their photos to find the one with an eye pleasing composition, rather they share all their photos with a few getting a lot of likes and comments. The high level of notoriety for a shared image is due to the image being striking, rather on a subject that is hot at the moment.

There is nothing wrong with this, until so many so-so shots cloud systems with clutter that lessen the enjoyment and thus return visits to a sharing location. I have a tendency to hunt out the ‘recognized correct way’ for anything I take on. I find that by having the knowledge, many times the information will be referenced without taking a lot of time to think about it. Photography is supposed to be fun after all, no reason to have so much set up involved that the moment was lost.

Most of the iPhone photography eBooks on the market cover how the Camera works, then dives right into specialty apps to use for the tuning of photos. They cover filters, enhancements and cropping options, but shy away from composition. “Big World, Little Lens” is one that has covers many apps, but took the time to include a nice group of inspirational examples. There isn’t much on why the photos look so nice as it relates to composition, but they do a nice job of showing what is possible via the camera on our iPhone. Included with the eBook is a series of videos showing how to use a handful of enhancement apps.

A bit better for what I was looking for had little to do with the iPhone per the title. “The Digital Photographer’s Guide to the Square Format” carried much more information in the area of getting an impact out of a area of a photo. As it happens, a few of the most popular photo share services and iPhone photo apps are in the square format so I found it matched up nicely to the real world.

I found a few nice articles along the way that explained and showed examples of how the rules work that have been followed since the earliest days of film photography. A glance at the photos shows how the rules work, whether they be in the area of Thirds, Golden, Fibonacci Spiral, try applying the rules to a few photos when walking around and they become more natural and less of a burden when needing to take a quick snap. While rules are made to be broken, know the rules first then add your personalized twist. A recent find on the eBook side of solutions is “Composing the Photo” by Trey Ratcliff. The book is much more about ‘seeing’ the composition of a photo through the viewfinder than adding a filter to make thing brighter or vintage.

An iPhone app that brought this to the fore front for me this last weekend is Sense Cam. The app has little to do with editing, rather it is for helping get the best composition shot from the start. Sliding the shutter button up, provides access to the popular accepted photography rules. Also, there is a few fine tuning options like Bracketing and Timer.

When your taking the actual photo, the rules are overlaid on the viewfinder screen. There is also a ’tilt’ indicator down the left and a horizon through the middle. Both handy if you need to hold your iPhone at arms length for a shot and not used to framing things up by eye. These can be turned on/off to keep the screen clear. All of the ‘rules’ can be individually or as a group used. In the case of the Spiral, Sense Cam provides a button in the upper corner to spin it to match the angle the subject it as so you don’t have to twist your physical iPhone to use the rule.

When shooting out in the ‘wild’, everything is ready to go on the screen to frame up the shot. There is separate focus and exposure and you can lock the settings by swiping to the side of the screen. I know, the photo below is not well done for composition, I was just showing that the guide lines that Sense Cam provides can be difficult to see in bright lit photos where this a lot of contrasting colors. Still, the tool is great way to start on the road to photos worth sharing!

Creating those cool Clone photos using only the iPhone

A year ago, I was involved in a fun movie, “People in Motion“. The movie follows several very talented folks as they Parkour their way around the US. That is to say, they leap and jump their way around city obstacles while making it look so easy. When I first decided to get involved in Producing the movie, I was taken by a single photo where a person is doing a summersault in air. The single photo had the artist at several spots in the action like they where frozen in time at different stages of the leap. A special photography technique was used for the shots, which is now available to do with an iPhone!

The above photo was done using the iPhone app Clone Camera. A full feature, yet amazingly easy to use app. While there are a few tuning options, the app is ready to use right upon launching. You take 2 to 4 images, either manually or let the app auto snap for you. Then, trace the part of each photo that you want to carry forward to the final image. Clone Camera then uses the single background and pastes in the parts you chose into a single final output.

The ‘camera shake correction’ is a nice feature. Just because everyone else does, Clone Camera also includes 27 filters to apply to the output image. When done, save to the iPhone photo library in high-resolution or share out through Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Flickr.

Advanced Monochrome Photo Editing on the iPhone

I have covered my fondness of the challenges of black and white photography before. There is some fun in taking color photographs and converting to black and white since not all images work in both worlds. Generally though, like using non-color film, I prefer using an app that ‘shoots’ without colors from the start.

When managing monochrome photos, I recently found an app that allows a lot of precision tuning to adjust photos for maximum effect. MonoPhix is not a filter app. It offers editing of full resolution photos on the iPhone (separate version for the iPad). I wont cover how each of the slider option impact a photo, that would make for a very long post.

You can do a lot of fine tuning with the Processing option. Changes happen to the photo in real time as you make adjustments with the sliders. Sadly, I have yet to find a way to view the image without the tuning options over the top of the image. MonoPhix has so much to offer in getting the most out of a photo though, I’m willing to work around the view shortcoming.

The Vignette effect option is on/off, then a bit of fine turning. I have mixed luck with this feature, it really depends on the photo being edited. MonoPhix seems to glow or pixelate the outer edges on some photos. Particularly if the photo already had a bit of a natural vignette effect.

For Coloring, choose the overall color from the three buttons: B&W, Sepia or Antique. Notice the box to the right of the button shows in color which option was chosen since the buttons do not show the state they are in. After choosing the overall ‘color’, use the MonoPhix sliders to fine tune further.

“Sharing” for your photos edited in MonoPhix is either saving the updated image to your iPhone photo library or out to Muzy.

The finished image is still the full size and resolution you started with.

Yes, MonoPhix has a settings area where you can decide on using high quality versus faster turn around, if you have a Retina device for previewing the edited photos, here you can turn on/off the cute tack pins that virtually hold your photo in place while editing and the overlay’s transparency.

A word of warning about MonoPhix, it has no ‘back’ or ‘escape’ when you enter a new window. If you choose the share button from the upper bar, you are going to share. Until you choose how you will share the photo in progress, you can’t escape out of the page. The only way I have found is the leave the app, double tap the Home hardware button, and remove the app from the Multitask bar. Be aware that sometime that will remove the image you have been working on too so before you go there, know how you have edited your photo so far. Otherwise, the app is proving a nice tool to get just a bit more out my iPhone black and white shots.

Multi Image Photography on the iPhone using the updated Hipstamatic camera app

Oh, here I am with Hipstamatic again. I hope you saw the Rock The Vote contest I just posted. In that same update was a big win for me via the ability to take multi image photographs. The feature is a 99 cent in-app purchase upgrade, which is the price of some stand alone apps. I’m happier to have fewer apps and more features so if the feature works well it could mean the clearing of a few other multi shot photo apps.

When the feature is installed, a new slider appears on the Hipstamatic camera in the upper left corner. When it is to the right, the camera works as it normally does. Slide it to the right to ‘disengage’ the film advance function.

When your Hipstamatic camera is in multi shot state, the slider shows the overlapping image icon in yellow. Just snap the first photo like you would normally.

The Multi Exposure slider moves across a bit to show that you are about to take a second shot over the first. If you did this double exposure by accident, you can slide it to ‘advance’ the film to a new image. I took a few shots around the house and the results where nice. I will update this post after I have spent the day around town shooting a few real life multi exposure shots. Like any Hipstamatic photography, the usability of the photo has a lot to do with the film/lens and subject combination.

Also in this update, the flash slider has grown a bit. This allows for the choice of flash styles depending on if you move it left or right.

iPhone photography Rock The Vote photo contest

The Hipstamatic iPhone camera app folks want you to get out and VOTE. So, to bring the message home, they have a new photo contest: Theme:: We Will. Now through Nov 7th, turn in your photos for a chance to win…

Top voted submission: Hipstamatic Grab Pak filled with all sorts of goodies.

Featured Submission: Selecting the most imprssive shots for a piece in the November issue of SNAPMagazine.

In support of the contest is a Free Film Pak!

Access to the film is in the usual spot within the iPhone Hipstamatic cart area, just go there and download at no charge.

ROCK THE VOTE FREEPAK INCLUDES::
RtV: this border looks like you grabbed a marker off the table at a local election rally to make a perfect DIY-looking frame for your photos

RtV SHOUT: this film has the same rad DIY feel of the first, and then cranks up the volume. Rock the Vote phrases are splashed across your image, reminding you of the power you hold as a voter in every election.

Here is a stream of the Hipstamatic Rock The Vote submissions:

Fun 2×2 Print Pics created on the iPhone

There is a variety of apps I use for printing my iPhone photos onto products and merchandise. Always a hit for holidays. One free solution on my iPhone, PostalPix, first became popular with their print-to-metal service they offered. Along with paper prints, there is the option to have my iPhone photos printed onto metal, which offers a whole different impact of photos. Very nice sitting in the Business Card holder on my desk.

An update to PostalPix today now offers the ability to assemble a 3 x 3 grid of 2″ square photos.

Choosing 2×2 Grid Print results in the grid view. Tap each square to insert a image from your iPhone’s photo library. There is an option to resize/crop prior to inserting. Other than that, PostalPix doesn’t offer any editing or enhancements. Once the 9 photos (they can be all the same if you place them, no limitations there) are as you like, tap ‘Save’ to go to the pay screen. Ship them to yourself or to someone as a nice gift. Better than a postcard if you place 9 photos of a vacation trip.

 

Wide Angle and FishEye lenses for the iPhone 5

I tend to lean towards physical enhancements rather than software when possible. While there are many nice fisheye lens enhancement apps for the iPhone, I prefer using the Olloclip lens on my 4s to get the look I’m going for. The clip on lens is actually three lenses in one little package, that fit snuggly over the corner of the iPhone’s corner and camera. I actually stopped using the set up for a while as it’s tight tolerances didn’t allow it to fit over my iPhone that had a thin vinyl protective back on it. So, when I heard that the iPhone 5 was thinner, I set out to find a way to pick up the looseness as the Olloclip was now going to be too big.

What I hadn’t planned on was that the iPhone 5 camera isn’t placed symmetrically in the corner of the iPhone’s corner. This means that the lens doesn’t line up, and flipping it over to use the lens on the other side is just as bad. Just a millimeter off, but that is enough to effect a photo.

Luckily, someone jumped onto the 3D printing service, Shapeways, and created a lens holding clip to fit the iPhone 5 body and camera alignment.  This does mean someone else could come up with similar on their own and print the clip with their personal home 3D printer, but the price is so low it might not be worth a person’s time. I wonder if they might someday do a threaded insert so my Olloclip lenses will work with this holder… hmmm… doesn’t hurt to ask…

You may have noticed the different colors in the image above. There is the option to choose between a few colors 3D printed pieces. Which makes it fun to match your personality.

The clips (only one needed, holds two lenses for quick changing) hold the high quality iPro lenses (not included). iPro offers several lens options that will snap right into the ring; Wide Angle, Fisheye and 2X Telephoto. I have had mixed luck with telephoto add on iPhone lenses, but the wide Angle and Fisheye lenses are very nice. I own the set from a previous purchase so as soon as the clip from Shapeways shows up I’m set to start shooting. On a personal note, before you go looking at the iPro lens – if you already own a Olloclip, the price might surprise you. iPro gets about double what you paid for your Olloclip. I have never had a complaint about the quality of the iPro lenses though, they are a very nice quality product. I hope they come out with a close up lens soon.