Tag Archives: iPhone Photography

Fine Tuning Now For Tiny Planet Creations

If it has been a while since you took a look at Tiny Planet, you may want to update and get in to play a bit. The latest update has brought a slew of new fine tuning options. All of these are considered as ‘Live Editing’ tool as you can see what you will get as you make the changes. The tuning options include: Edge Alignment, Latitude, Longitude, Zoom, Horizontal Offset, Vertical Offset, and Duration of the Video if you choose to share the creating of your Tiny Planet.

Improvements to previously available tools is also included for the Edge Blur and Rotation.

Using either a photo from your iPhone’s library or taking a new, choose if you want the wrap to globe or tunnel effect. You can change your mind if you don’t like the direction a picture is going. During this process is when you can also choose the video options.

Following the globe or tunnel effect application, a row of fine tuning adjustments appear. Each of these can be selected, then a dial like slider is provided below to tune the image.

All of these options allow for a less random final Tiny Planet photo.

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):

Your iPhone Camera Loves When The USA Is Winning At Soccer

To help celebrate the USA still being in the World Cup, Hipstamatic has their Sao Paulo HipstaPak discounted to FREE. Yes, as long as the USA stays in the World Cup, you can open your iPhone Hipstamatic app and download the film and lens pack at no charge.

If your new to the vintage camera packs of Hipstamatic, this is a nice one for the full retro photography effect. Indoor photography will appear as expired film, outdoor photography with the pack has a box camera appearance. I have high hopes for the U.S., but to be safe you may want to grab this pack now while it’s free.

The example photo provided by Hipstamatic:

And, as usual, a photo I took with my iPhone 5s using the Sao Paulo HipstaPak:

iPhone Photo Booth Prints Without The iPhone

I’ve talked about the many print services that work from apps on the iPhone. Today I received an email from one of those services, Printstagram. Instead of a slightly different size print or a print on a special material, they where introducing a Photo Booth looking prints service. Like their other offerings, prints are chosen via the Web site from my Instagram posts.

Printstagram has the offering available through the site’s Products drop down. But, reading about the service, it is mentioned that may or may not be a long term offering. All of the printing is being done out of the San Francisco office… I wonder if they mind I drop by to say ‘hi’.

The particulars:
– Each package contains a set of 9 strips, with 36 photos (like a roll of film!)
– The photostrip is 1.75″ x 7″
– Each photo is 1.5″ x 1.5″

Once I logged in and chose the service, Printstagram presented me with thumbnails for my Instagram photos, offering the opportunity to choose 36 to have printed. I quickly saw I need to upload a few photos that look more like people squeezed into a small booth in the bowling alley.

Yearly Hipstamatic RetroPak Released For Holiday – Discounted

Is this the fourth year Hipstamatic has done the RetroPak grab bag of film and lenses? Just announced is a discounted RetroPak Four with lenses and film that are normally only available through other groupings. “Discounted” is 99 cents for the whole Pak, where normally 99 cents would get you one or two films with a single lens.

Here is the RetroPak Four list, available within the app (7 films and 5 lenses):

Each lens and film detail can be reviewed. It is a Pak though so you get all or nothing, even if you own a few of these Hipstamatic add-ons.

New 3 in 1 Lens Pack from OlloClip for Serious Macro Photography

OlloClip is well known for their double sided 3 in 1 lens accessory for the iPhone 4/4s and 5/5s. The units are different between the two due to the camera on the 5/5s being slightly off center from the round of the iPhone’s outer edge. The 3 in 1 that OlloClip has been shipping has 10x multiplier Macro, Fish Eye and Wide Angle lenses. I see that there has just been the release of the same trio for the iPhone 5c now too.

The news here is for the iPhone photographer that wants more power to do their Macro photography. Stepping beyond the 3 in 1 that OlloClip has been shipping which had one Macro lens, the new addition to the product line is a clip that contains 3 different Macro lenses! Now there is the option of 7x Macro, 14x Macro, and 21x Macro all built into one clip. Included with the clip is snap on shades to help avoid reflected light glare.

Shipping is soon so when one gets here I’ll post up examples of how the world around me looks really close up.

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.

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.

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.

There Is A New GLIF, Now An Adjustable Stand For The iPhone

The team over at Studio Neat are at it again. You may remember them as the folks that brought us the GLIF via Kickstarter. The small bit of plastic that held our iPhones at any angle on a desk and served as a way to mount the iPhone on a tripod. Later, came a GLIF for the iPhone 5. The reason for needing a new GLIF for the iPhone 4 vs iPhone 5 was that the solid plastic was exactly machined to the edge of an iPhone. The GLIFs wouldn’t work with any kind of case or other smartphone.

Yesterday, I learned that Studio Neat is introducing a new version of the GLIF, this time it is adjustable. With the included allen wrench, just twist open/close the clamp to match the outside edge of whatever smartphone is being used. The newer GLIF still makes it fast to mount an iPhone onto a tripod for long shots and videos. As well, it comes with a keychain ring to securely fasten the GLIF when not in use (in a bag or your pocket). Lost is the super simplicity perfection of the original GLIF, found is a usable tool for anything I may be tossing at it in one device. When mine shows up, I will post if the new GLIF lives up the hype I have built up in my head.

Mixing slow motion and regular speed videos into one movie

It all started with a simple single piece plastic wrap around iPhone stand. The stand was available through Kickstarter, making it easy to mount the iPhone to a tripod for those low light or self shots. The mount, The Glif, was created by Studio Neat. Since then, the team has introduced updates to the month, an big hands stylus, and even square ice cubes. Finally, iOS software.

The first app was a stop motion photography app, Frameographer. Today, I received an email to enable more creative movie creation on the iPhone. Slow Fast Slow starts off by recording video at 120 fps on the 5s, and 60 fps on the rest of the newer iOS devices. Playback can be slowed down to 1/8 speed, which is twice as slow as the 5s built in slo-mo.

Well, I know I personally have played with other slow motion apps, so that just slowing down my video isn’t that ‘new’. But, further investigation explains the name, Slow Fast Slow. Which references the apps unique power to have full control of every part of a video’s speed across any portion. When viewing a video (forward or backward), any part of the video can be slowed down a little or a lot. Imagine a video of a car zooming by, normally you have either a car streak by or take forever to get to the closest view in slow motion. Now, just choose the part when the car is closest and show down at an increasing rate till you can see the driver and car details, then speed up to zoom off.

As an added bonus in Slow Fast Slow, the audio of the slowed down portion of the video doesn’t get highly destroyed like found in normal slow motion movies. There is Pitch control to level out the fast and slow bits of the video.

If I’m going to use a flash with my iPhone, it has to be cool, but still have warm light too

Alright, having a ‘must be seen with’, cool, flash isn’t really on my checklist. In fact, a little less cool on the light end and more towards ‘warm’ light would be nice.

What would this flash have to have?

Mobile – it has to be small enough to carry with me. I don’t carry a bag when buzzing around town and that is usually when a dark subject matter could use some fill in light.

Less wires – best would be wireless, at the minimum I need manageable wires that I don’t have to wind up and unwind constantly. The flash needs to be able to get away from the iPhone.

Warm light – not just a big bunch of dumb LEDs that blast the subject with white white light. A warmer light is what most of my shots could use. Maybe adjustable would be a bonus since warm isn’t always best, but definitely cold white is not a 100% solution.

Battery life – I don’t mind the iPhone sharing a bit of power if the flash has to be wired, but the flash can’t rob me of hours of iPhone battery time. Best would be the flash has it’s own battery, rechargeable without the need of a special charger/cable.

Price – Affordable. Since I will be traveling around with this flash in my every day life, I really don’t need a flash that is close to the price of my iPhone! I don’t mean ‘cheap’, I mean reasonably priced for the technology, not for the novelty.

It’s a basic list, but the list is a tall order to fill it would appear since I have been challenged to find something that hits the whole list. Which brings me to the reason for this post, I seem to have stumbled on a hardware solution, the Nova. Take my above list and check everything as ‘included’, and towards the wish list side also, not just the minimum required.

Have not heard of the Nova? No, you wont find it at your local Photographers mall store, or even online. It’s one of those Kickstarter projects. Which means – while it’s cool and everything looks like it’s a must have, the earliest one will be in my hands will be early next year.

Mobile, it’s the outside dimensions of a credit card and thinner than a iPhone!

Less wires… it’s Bluetooth 4 wireless, working with iPhones and iPads.

Warm light is available as is cold, the flash is actually adjustable via the free iPhone app. Which means that to use the Nova flash, you have to use a special app. While my first reaction was “how limiting”, a second thought was that it makes sense since the built-in camera app wouldn’t know to tell a Bluetooth device to strobe a light source.

Battery life is a surprise on the little Nova. The folks creating this solutions say that the lithium ion polymer battery is good for weeks of stand by, with up to 150 flashes. Win for me also is charging is done via a USB Micro B connector.

Finally, Price – when I discovered the project, all of the early adapter $49 priced options where used up. The Nova flash is now available for a $54 pledge. I wonder if this will be a stand alone solution or will others ‘see the light’ and start building similar. I’m looking forward to lessening the wish for more light when the subject calls for a bit of fill.

All images in this post are credited to the creators of the Nova wireless iPhone flash

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