Tag Archives: free app

The Free iPhone Photo Editor Inside of Google+ App

Google+, the social sharing service from Google, has its lovers and haters. Google has tweaked it from time to time to get it to match a plan they have. While I post there and enjoy viewing many photographers work, it has never caught on as my first social solution when I want to get the word out. That is just me, your milage will vary.

Many updates appear to be to tie Google+ more directly into Google’s other services, and in some cases for enhancements to replace the need of  those other services. One area of enhancements has been the improvements to the photo editing features. There is still the ‘quick filters’ for effect, but now there are other enhancements in the area of pinpointing photo turning.

The photo editing features are available on either the iPhone or iPad via the free Google+ app. It does require you have a Google+ account, but you are not forced to ever post any of your images to Google+. That said, inside of Google+ is the feature to auto sync all of your photos to the Google online storage if you would rather use another service than the iCloud/iPhoto builtin option.

Starting off, the app lets you take a photo or edit one you took previously. Across the top is a Cancel (exit without saving any edits), an undo, a mirror flip and ‘Done’. After you complete your edits, the photo can be saved to the iPhone’s photo library or shared for others to see on Google+.  Across the bottom of the first screen is Google’s Auto Enhancement too (it does allow a slight bit of control over the amount of ‘auto’ applied), then the Crop and Rotate tools. I’m amazed at how few photo editing apps do not include a ‘rotate’. A quick win for Google+ photo editor.

02 google photo editing

Swipe across the bottom of the screen’s menu to go to the pre-configured filters.

03 google photo editing

Choosing a Google+ photo editor effect filter opens to a group of finer detailed options in that area of filters. Generally, these can be selected to fine tune the amount of the effect applied too.

04 google photo editing

Thumbnail

The pinpoint editing option allows for taping a location, adjusting the size of the area to be impacted, then swipe left/right for the amount of the effect. A swipe up/down offers more options for the tuning. The app allows for multiple points to be selected and tuned (individually) without having to exit and return to the photo like other pinpoint solutions do.

05 google photo editing

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.

01 types of projects
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.
02 list of projects with filters
Search and viewing Projects by the Field of work is a surprising long list.
03 project categories
This is the view narrowed to Photography projects posted to Behance.
04 photography category
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.
05 single photo project view
Behance allows the favoriting of projects and creators. Along with the creation of Curated lists of both so others can see your interesting finds.
06 curated groups

EyeEm Updated With Tools For More Fun Through Sharing

EyeEm lives in the world of photo sharing, amongst the well publicized Instagram, with it’s own unique thoughts on what sharing is. In the case of EyeEm, photographers can be followed, but mostly people follow tags that photos are arranged by.
If you are a fan about EyeEm or a new users, you may want to look at the first issue of FLTR (covered here:iPhone Photographer Magazine To Read On The iPhone), where there is a nice interview covering the path foreword for the app and supporting service.
The free iPhone EyeEm app was recently updated. If you have an iPad, the UX is customized for the larger screen. In the case of the iPhone, the text on each photo has been resized for easier reading.
01 EyeEm update
I’m happy to see the quick like (Heart in the case of EyeEm) feature. From about any photo view, double tap to let the photographer know you enjoyed their photo. Must quicker than always having to go to the photo’s detail view (above). When someone marks one of your photos with a comment, heart or follows, the number in the upper right corner of the screen changes to Red and shows the quantity of new influences. Tap to view and clear.
02 EyeEm update
Three new filters have been added to EyeEm as well. Below is each of the filters applied to the same photo to see the filter’s impact. Leonie (popular right now as a ‘mission’ tag contest), Eva and Don.
03 EyeEm update 04 EyeEm update 05 EyeEm update

Instagram Pics Become Contact Cards And Party Invites

When photos on Instagram escape, they become fridge magnets, wall size frame pictures, photo books, stickers and even calendars. Printstagram is adding Business Cards to that list.

Using the free PrintStudio app, choose one or several photos from your Instagram, add text to the back side and they will print the batch for you. While many folks say “gone are the days of Business cards”, having ones that are square and present a message through a photograph might bring the paper social sharing back. At least, for the circles Instagram posting folks run in. This could be handy for photographers, but thinking beyond that, imagine a tour guide, sporting person, maker, etc… photos on contact cards don’t have to be just marketing photography skills.

01 Printstagram

Since these are square pieces of paper with a photo on one side and text on the other, why not use for party invites or company announcements. Basically, anything that would normally go out on a small flyer could get added depth by printing a photo on the other side. Of course I have a set on order and will report back here about quality and speed of service.

02 Printstagram

iPhone Photos Become Printed And Shipped Products All Using The iPhone

I have mentioned using Zazzle before as a great way to bring my iPhone photographs into the physical world. Generally, this means photos printed to mousepads, notebooks, iPhone cases and tshirts… the usual. Most, I post up for others to buy, netting me a little unmanaged profit.

Zazzle has moved the creation of the products (and ordering for those not needing to create anything new) and shipping all to the iPhone. Even, drop shipping, meaning a fun gifting option. No one needs to know I created, posted, ordered and shipped while sitting in a business lobby waiting for attendees to arrive. All via a wheel picker interface I pointed out earlier that I liked on other apps. The picker’s options are obvious if you have a ‘buyer’ using it in mind.

The free Zazzle app lets a person search for products created by others by buyer type, pricing and product type to quickly narrow in on what you need to buy.

It appears though that I can not create a product via the app to put up on my store. Perhaps that will be added later… or, I could just be missing the option. You can get to Your Products via the left side pull out if you need to order an item you created via the desktop interface.

Today (11/25/2013) only, Zazzle is offering 20% everything using CODE: BLKFRIDAY301

001 zazzle iphone

First, the Zazzle app is for people to use to shop what others have created. Secondary is the creation side using your own iPhone photos.

002 zazzle iphone

After you upload a photo, sweep through a few options to add the image too, then customize.

003 zazzle iphone

Of course, ornaments of a wide variety of designs.

004 zazzle iphone

You can even create wrapping paper (several patters available) through the Zazzle app.

005 zazzle iphone

The Fun Of Creating And Sharing Printed 6 Inch Photo Booklets With The iPhone

The list of companies offering to print photos taken with the iPhone continues to grow. Many have different offerings to set them apart from the others. Cards, iPhone cases, TShirts, mugs, photo books, magnets and postcards. The latest, from Kindred, is a print and mail service for a booklet of a dozen photos. The images are full bleed to the edge and each can have a bit of text added over the top of them.
Kindred’s free app lets you choose photos from any of your iPhone’s photo libraries, your social sites… or you can have the app auto choose photos that you have taken over the last week. After photos are chosen, a larger view is presented to assign a cover, sort, delete and add more.
01a KindRed iPhone
Kindred offers the page inside the front cover for extended text. From this thumbnails view, just drag/drop to adjust the order the images will appear in the booklet. No actual photo editing is available.
01b KindRed iPhone
There is also a view options to see individual photos and how the photos will flow next to each other when printed. Deleting and adding text per photo is offered in this view.
03 KindRed iPhone
When the photos are arranged as you like, enter an address to send the booklet to. Kindred would like you to subscribe to a monthly (free month if you sign up for the subscription service) photo booklet. If you don’t think you will have a couple minutes to put the booklet together each month, don’t forget the ‘auto’ create feature. The monthly booklet is $5, plus the monthly $4.95 subscription.
04 KindRed iPhone
If you would rather not jump right in with a Kindred subscription, single booklets can be created, printed and mailed for $11.95 each. When you checkout, the app offers to let you take a picture of your credit card to remove the need to enter the info. If you do it, you still have to enter the expiration date and card’s code, so it is only saving the time to type in the card number.
05 KindRed iPhone

EyeEm Social Share Updates With More Tags, Captions and Friends

EyeEm iPhone photo sharing service is up to their old tricks… adding more features and helping it’s users find others to view and share with. Kidding aside, the updates to the latest version of EyeEm isn’t about enhancing the actual photos. Instead, the service is looking for more ways people can relate through their photos. The service is one I enjoy visiting to see photos from around the world. Posts are all across the scale with street photography from a small village somewhere few of us have heard of, through to high school lunch snaps. The latest updates will help me find just what I’m interested in viewing, no matter my mood swings between visits.

After you snap a photo with the EyeEm app or import one from your iPhone’s photo library, enhance with the editing tools. Next, you can add your location with the name of the company location your at or city your in. New in this update is a step to add a caption to the photo and tagging friends to the photo.

01 eyeem upload update

The original EyeEm had you set your location then add a tag. I noticed that some folks seem to have more than one tag. The trick to add more than one tag had been to post the photo, then ‘edit’ it, adding more tags. Now, by default, EyeEm lets you add up to four tags along with your caption. Just tap the ‘add’ and start typing, a list of tags others have used will appear to choose. Or, add your own so others can start posting to that tag too.

02 eyeem upload update

Extract a single image from a movie on the iPhone, Using the Free app Photo Extractor

It’s a simple request, which I honestly thought was built into iOS5 on my iPhone. The ability to grab a single frame from a video I recorded with my iPhone and save it as a image. While I found the feature wasn’t built in as hoped, it can be done via the free app Photo Extractor.

Sit down, this is going to go fast! Upon launching Photo Extractor, choose a movie from the app’s library or from your iPhone’s ‘photo’ library (the app will only show videos in the library so you don’t have to sort through all the photos).

Slide your way through the video via moving the yellow box in the lower video stream image. The main window shows you what that image will be when extracted. Tap the screen or magnify glass button to have everything else disappear and the image go to full screen to be sure you have what your looking for. Then, just tap Photo Exposure’s lower right ‘Save’ button. The image is saved to your iPhone’s photo library. The screen doesn’t change so you can continue and pull out as many images as you would like without having to start over every export. The video remains intact as it was prior to starting this process.

I used a video I shot by accident (thought I had it in camera mode) in this post. Imagine if you had a party or event that you shot video at, now you can pull out photos from the video to keep. No need to watch the whole video to catch a glimpse of someone or a place. Remember that you are slicing a image out of a video though so it isn’t as high as resolution as if you had take it as a photo with your iPhone. Photo Extractor gives you a 1920 x 1080 image to work with… huge by yesteryear’s limitations.

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.

Sketch Maker, the Free iPhone photo to sketch converter

Several of the all-in-one apps I have covered have a ‘convert to black and white’ or convert to Ansel. Either way, they pull the colors down to the basics. Sometimes, you may want more of a sketch or charcoal effect to the image, and that is what Sketch Maker does. Either photos you take with your iPhone through the app or import from your iPhone’s photo library, they are converted to a variety of sketched looks.

Tapping the yellow box in Sketch Maker brings up a row of buttons for starting over with a new image, saving, sharing, delete the  current effect back to default and access to Settings.

Choose the Settings icon to adjust the ‘Sketch’ mode as well the background Texture. These tuning options can be changed for a image your working on without having to reload the image.

This is another one of the sketch types chosen, and the background Texture set to non. No need for me to go into all of the looks available, Sketch Maker is free so you can grab a copy and play with the variety of effects that might best match the impact your looking for.