Tag Archives: easy to use

Layering up your iPhone photos via Camera+ update

While there are powerful photo tuning apps available on the iPhone, talking with the tools folks around me us, they generally keep it simple. When time allows, a features of the advanced tools are great. I’m usually on the go so I hit the quick adjustment apps to bring out the message of the photo, share, and move on.

Camera+ is one of those quick go-to apps to do a few touchups without having to take a lot of time. It has a handful of full image filters and enhancements with a pre-view available to speed up choosing a path forward. While there are a few workflow adjustments I would like to make the app more efficient, it does what it promises very nicely.

This week, an update to Camera+ was introduced. There is a large enhancement to image processing flow via the addition of Enhancement Layering as well a few for-pay additions in filters and frames.

The ‘for-pay’ updates are wrapped in a new option called Hollywood. The package includes new Enhancement Filters and Frames to add the look and feel of yesteryear movies.

02a camera+ layers

02b camera+ layers

In the more robust photo editing apps, there is the option to layer effects over each other. With Camera+, until now, layering meant saving a photo with it’s enhancements, then re-importing to add another. Layers is now built into Camera+’s workflow. Allowing multiple effects to be added and adjusted quickly and easily. Well, easily when you understand where the feature is. After handing my iPhone off to several people to have them try the new feature and their stumbling around a bit, I thought I should cover the feature with a quick ‘how to’.

Like the earlier versions of Camera+, you can preview a thumbnail of any filter effect on the photo your working on (either taken with the app or imported from your iPhone photo library). Selecting a filter opens your photo in a larger view to see more detail. From this view, you can choose another option along the bottom of the screen to add ‘Scenes’ tuning, rotating, cropping and borders… or select Cancel to go back to no edits on the photo or Done to go to Save/Share screen.

03 camera+ layers

After adding an Camera+ enhancement Effect, choose the ‘Advanced’ button in the lower right corner. Along with the slider to adjust the percent of the filter being added is a new button “Add Effect”. Tap this button to be taken back to the Effects selector to choose another ‘layer’ of filter to be included with one already chosen. Buttons along the top are to through away the changes being made on the left and ‘save’ check on the right.

04 camera+ layers

Each effect chosen to be used, stacks on the previous one in the list. The tuning adjustment bar is for each effect individually, changing the photo in real time.

05 camera+ layers

Oops, that additional enhancement isn’t getting what you want? No worries, if you use the right grabber and drag the filter up to the Add Effect button, the button changes to “Drag Here to Remove Effect”, just drop it there and the filter effect is removed. I found that after I used the new Camera+ layers and the adjusters on each filter, I may want to go back and rethink some of my earlier edits. Layering is now part of the workflow since Camera+ makes it easy and quick.

06 camera+ layers

Tumblr 3.0 for the iPhone, now upload posts with high resolution images

When sharing your iPhone images, why not add a bit of text and start your own blog? Tumblr is a popular free blog service that I had one of my first technology blogs on. The service is quick to set up and easy to update directly from the iPhone. The free app, to post from the iPhone to the free service has been handy, but not that intuitive for the new user.

Happy news today with the release of Tumblr 3.0. Still free, but now much more user friendly. Launching the app takes you right to the different types of posts you can create, all with the iPhone while on the go. Photos are no long reduced by Tumblr, the 3.0 version of the iPhone app will post high resolution photos for maximum visitor impact.

After you choose an image, add post content text. The ‘Options’ button lets you choose the blog to post to, handy if you have multiple Tumblr blogs. You can also choose to hold the post for more edits before pushing to your site. Interesting is that you can also customize the URL the post will appear within your site… tuning to meet the needs of the search engine.

After you post, your taken to the blog in ‘mobile’ view. Tumblr does offer a few extra options across the bottom of the screen to view and search for Tags on posts/images on other people’s Blogs. And, if you want to follow other peoples blogs or see who is following yours, access that information from the little ‘profile’ looking button. The bottom right corner is your ‘new’ post button.

More graphics and less text, 500px Stackr for the iPhone updated

You may remember my earlier mention of 500px Stackr. It is not only for viewing photos but the app also lets you upload to your 500px account directly from your iPhone. The uploading feature cut a few steps out of my busy day, yea!

The app popped up as being updated so I took a quick end to end pass through the new version. The developers have taken a app dealing with visually impacting images and made it’s self visually pleasing. Gone are the screens of lists of text. Gone is the multi taps to get to the ‘Upload’ option. Launching 500px Stackr takes you right to an overview of top images in the different group as well to easy to use buttons for actions you may also need to perform. The options are the same (except Upload being easier to get to) as the previous version’s text list, now though the options are divided into boxes/buttons with images even before you dive into the different areas.

Also changes in the overview of an individual’s image area. 500px Stackr still has their name across the top and the quick overview thumbnails down the side. Now the options have moved from thin text lines, challenging for big fingers, to larger buttons, much easier to read and touch.