Tag Archives: black and white

Hipstamatic adds Infrared effect filters through Bucktown Hipstapak

Hipstamatic, the film and lens filters app, is making the sharp black-and-white impact of Infrared photography to a new combo Hipstapak. Called “Bucktown“, the pack includes a film and lens which can be mixed with other films and lens you may already have in your Histamatic grab bag for even more impactful photography.

Previously, when a new HipstaPak was introduced, the lens/film would appear in the oggl social app, included at no extra charge above the social service subscription. This appears to no longer be the case. To use the lens/film in oggl, you must purchase in Hipstamatic, then import into oggl.

The lens in the Bucktown bundle is the ‘Scott S’, named after Scott Strazzante. I have not run this lens against other films to see the difference that it makes on a photos, watch for an update here.

The film is the BlacKeys IR film, which is the backbone to the sharp black-and-white results of photos using this film filter.

While called Infrared, most people will see a resulting image and relate it more to a monochrome print of yesteryear.

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.

Presidential Black And White Photography For The iPhone

The Hipstamatic folks keep at it… introducing a new HipstaPak called The District. If you enjoy black and white photography, this will be a nice add to your iPhone camera options. As usual, if your a Oggl social share subscriber, you have access to this film/lens at no extra charge (within Oggl, the Hipstamatic version is still 99 cents when purchased within the app).

One of the example shots for The District lens/film HipstaPak (all are toward US Historical sites, but there is a lot of fun posts on Oggl showing the Pak being put to good use):

As the Pak appears on Oggl

As I promised, here is a shot I took using The District film/lens bundle (defaults to 2448×2448):

Fotor HDR is starting to see more action for iPhone HDR Photography

As promised, an update on the Fotor HDR post I did earlier (Fotor HDR wants to replace… ).

The first pass at anything new is usually, ‘how does it stack up against what I already use’. Which can be good if your current solution is your only path. In my case, I have always experimented with different types of photography. This means I have to continue to use a technique even if I wash it out initially since it may open my eyes to new things.

While Fotor HDR matched up pretty well to my current add-on HDR app selections, it needed to find it’s specialty to start to shine. Over the last week+, I have used it for quick snap shots, occasionally adding one of the built in filters, but trying not to edit outside of the app. Two areas I have found Fotor HDR really kicks things up a notch is in the area of Nature Photography and Black and White. With that in mind, the app was moved up the list in my sort order of camera apps to grab. Having the right apps to choose from to reflect the mood of the moment is the beauty of digital photography. It keeps a level of fun in the fine tuning of shooting without having to carry a big bag of lenses around like I did for years for film.

Long Island HipstaPak No Longer Free, But Adds A Lens To The Film Bundle

Towards the end of August this year, I mentioned stumbling upon a Free Pak available in the Hipstamatic iPhone Camera app. The ‘free’ Long Island HipstaPak offered a camera body (art) and BlacKeys Extra Fine Film (black and white). Now, the Long Island Pak has been re-introduced for 99 cents, with the addition of Florence Lens.

As I mentioned above, the Long Island HipstaPak still has the BlacKeys Extra Fine film and Old Sport Camera Case, with the addition of the Florence lens (Hipstamatic doesn’t go into what effect the lens creates, but basically it’s a 99 cent lens if you already have the earlier Free Long Island HipstaPak).

Pictures provided by Hipstamatic taken with the Long Island Pak.

As promised when there is a lens, filter or film released that I mention, here are a few photos taken with the Long Island HipstaPak. For reference, here is the earlier post on the original (lensless) Long Island Pak.

Hey… did anyone every get the iOS7 Pak for free from Hipstamatic? Right after iOS7 was released, the Hipstamatic app showed a color gel and a couple flat design cases as free. I never saw how to download then and now the Pak is 99 cents.

Shooting with BlacKeys Extra Fine Black and White Film on the iPhone

Last week I discovered a nice surprise, a free film pack in Hipstamatic!

Normally, there will all kinds of news from the Hipstamatic team about a new film, lens and flash pack. This time though, a new pack called “Long Island FreePak” went under my radar. As the name implies, this ‘Pak’ is free. Included is a film and a fun camera body, no lens or flash. But, that is fine as the film is a nice extra fine black and white so it matches up nicely to my currently installed lenses.

Nothing special about getting the free offer, just go to the Hipstamatic retro camera app on your iPhone, choose the cart and find/download. Then head out and shoot! As promised in my last post about add on film, lens, filters and effects, here are a few photos I took the afternoon I installed the update so you can see a real world results.

New Black and White iPhone photography fun with release of Tintype SnapPak update

The iPhone camera app Hipstamatic has received a new film and flash updated called Tintype. The additional two vintage films and single lens are available via a 99 cent in-app purchase as a new SnapPak. The group offer a new take on black and white photography for the iPhone. One film leans towards the look found in a police mug shot while the other gives the effect of early photography colorization prior to color film photography.

The new Tintype SnapPak should prove popular with folks using the Hipstamatic app on their iPhone where more than just a lack of color is required in a photograph. The films and flash are all about setting a mood for the photo’s viewer similar to what was found in an old Kodak Brownie camera.

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.

MPro, the highly adjustable Black and White iPhone Camera

Over last weekend at the park I was playing with the Black and White camera apps I covered earlier. The limitation is only the lack of color, which means a different kind of creative, not ‘more’ creative. When talking with others about shooting black and white, I get a lot of folks saying they need to research what they have to do differently. Depth, contrast… important things to think about when playing. The beauty of digital is we get to play a lot. And of course we know right away what an adjustment did, no waiting for film to be developed.

A new app in my Black and White iPhone camera collection is MPro. This is not a filter or image enhancement app. Your iPhone viewfinder shows what the resulting image will be. MPro offers a lot of options for how the iPhone camera will take the photo. Tap the ‘M’ button to access the many setting options.

The MPro app likes being used in the landscape view, but portrait is also supported. Your setting choices are shown on the screen as a reminder of what your shooting. Talking a picture is quick, but MPro crunches on the photo for a while before dropping it into your iPhone’s photo library.

The first time you launch MPro, a ‘How To’ manual pops up. I of course closed it right away to get to the camera fun time. Then found I needed more info about the many setting options. To get back to the ‘manual’, tap the ‘M’ button where the settings are, down in the corner is the ‘Help’ button. Below are the important highlights of the manual that you will want to review for better image results.

The simple interface allows the act of taking the pictures uninterrupted.

As you scroll down through the help file, you will see more details for all of the adjustment options MPro offers. The information is a lot of help when looking at a image and trying to understand what tuning you may want to do to get the impact you where hoping for.

The ‘color’ choice options make a lot more sense with a bit of help about how they relate to wavelengths into the iPhone camera. MPro has the kind of options that need to be tried to really understand the impact of each.

A nice quick reference resolution chart is included for the latest Touch and three most recent iPhones.

iPhone Black and White Photography has gotten better with Hueless

Show of hands, how many readers remember my mentioning an app I have been using (reviewed) for Black and White photography with the iPhone. The important part to the joy of taking the Black and White photos was that the shots are done from the start without color rather than running filters later.

A downside I mentioned was that the ‘viewfinder’ on the iPhone screen showed the subject in color, with the resulting image being Black and White. So, your not seeing what you will get, must like looking through a film camera’s physical view finder.

A iPhone Camera app I just found that solves my request for ‘see what you will get’ viewing is Hueless. The app has it’s positives and negatives, but as a app for seeing and taking Black and White photos with my iPhone, it’s a winner!

When you launch Hueless, your ready to start snapping shots. Tapping the screen will give you a focus ring. Around the outer edge of the screen (works in portrait and landscape views) is some tuning options, which can be hidden if you want a clean viewfinder screen. The screen shot below is all of the tuning options showing. The ‘half circle’ can be tapped to run through colors like yellow and green filters, this helps when dealing with a color item you want parts to show strong or week. Next is the ‘show grid’, front/back camera chooser and flash control. Down the left is a slider for tuning the exposure. The only complaint is that front/back camera choose, why wasn’t the iPhone’s standard icon art get used?

When you snap a photo, they are saved to the ‘camera’ roll graphic along the bottom of the page. Tapping the image, opens a new page, the app thinks a bit then your given a screen with three icons: A camera icon to return to photo taking, a Photo Library link to see the images to choose, and a share button to share images with friends on Instagram, Twitter and attach to an email.

The need to step through the iPhone’s photo library confuses me, but the process of taking the picture from the start makes Hueless a fun app I will be using a lot.

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