Tag Archives: multi image

Quick High Resolution HDR With Editing Through Lightroom Mobile

Adobe has updated their Lightroom Mobile app with a few features that will be improving my workflow:

  • Authentic HDR taking through the app
  • Exporting original raw images to camera roll
  • Improved rating for images
  • Improved cloud syng

The addition of HDR photography to the app has the customization tuning that I would expect from a Adobe app. Rather than one-size-fits-all, a bit of tuning helps set the app to my HDR style:

A winning feature of using Lightroom Mobile app for HDR is it’s option to have it in the quick apps area of the iPhone. When access is turned on, a HDR snap is just a right swipe on the screen away.

Once a moment is captured, the Lightroom Mobile app takes a little while to save to it’s own editing library. Once there, the HDR photo has all the fine turning options that any photo edited in the app gets:

I enjoy the apps handling of editing a selected area. Most apps let you set a dot or crosshairs where the edit will happen, while Lightroom Mobile uses a circle solution so the editing area is truly known:

Raw image saving is handled via a picker to choose the image between JPG and DNG

The improved rating solution is within the photo detail view… select as many or few stars as the picture deserves.

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.

Creating fun moving GIFs on the iPhone is back with the free Jittergram

“Oh, that is so fun, how did you do that?”

Years ago, everyone knew about moving GIFs. At the time, they either had to be tiny because of sending them to people or they were annoying because people used them all over Web sites. Then came photo sharing and high resolution video via our iPhones. Finally, what is old will be new, moving GIFs are back to be shared with friends and family.

It might be due to the vintage photos being popular right now that the less smooth stop motion effect of GIFs are also a bit vintage in feel.

Unlike the previous moving GIF app I covered (Create and Share moving GIFS on the iPhone – easy as 1, 2, 3, now with 2.5 option!), Jittergram has no special photo effects to age or filter the images. Instead, it offers onion skinning which makes the animations much easier to create. Previously, you have to hold the camera very still and remember about where the previous photo had been taken. With onion skinning, Jittergram shows a light version of the photo just taken so you can see how to align the next image. Take a couple, or many to build the little movie, er… moving GIF. Jittergram does 2 image jittering too if you see a need for that effect.

When done, share your Jittergram creations with friends via Twitter or in a email. You can also save to your iPhone’s photo library where it won’t show as moving (Apple limited) but can be moved to or used with your other iPhone apps. I found a 17 frame GIF was 400 pixels wide and about 2 megapixels in size. The moving GIF below was downsized to 300 pixels and is now 500k. OK… I need to get back to my iPhone, Jittergram and a car that needs to buzz around my desk more…

 

InFrame Foto – the iPhone multi photo framed image builder – with enhancements

I know, I know… another iPhone app that lets you put multiple photos into individual boxes on a big frame that you can then create a single image from. True, InFrame Foto is that, but it offers just enough extra included features that I thought it was worth a mention. That, and it’s today’s Free iPhone app.

The first thing to notice in InFrame Foto is that there four screens of nine options each for frame layouts. Only the first page is what I would think of as ‘standard’ layouts, the rest are much more creative.

Frames in InFrame Foto can be adjusted for line width, roundness of corners and coloring.

Tap a box to be taken to your iPhone’s photo library, choose and image and it is brought into that part of the frame. The photos can be pinch/expanded and moved around to best match the area chosen. Tap again to choose a different picture for that area if you change your mind.

A tap and hold on a photo in InFrame Foto opens the image into a photo editor. A nice enhancement to the multi image framing apps as now it is possible to get the photos closer to each other in brightness and contrast where with others you can easily get photos conflicting with each other.

The photo enhancement area continues via a swipe,  offering more ways to clean up and customize each of the photos in the frames.

‘Effects’ in the editing area is InFrame Foto’s filter group. While not very large compared to other app that specialize in filters, the ones that are available are so much more than other multi image framing apps offer.

Adjustments are made through dials and sliders. Everything is temporary till you select the ‘Apply’.

I was actually pretty excited about the Text feature in InFrame Foto. Not only is the color adjustable, you can also resize and twist with the white do in the corner. Until you select the ‘Apply’ button, you can tap on the text and edit it too.

Saving to your iPhone photo library and sharing the last option on the work area screen. The image can be exported in two sizes, with the ultra-res producing an image that is 1350 x 1800. InFrame Foto also supports sharing through Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter… and there is a ‘more’ button too.

 

Create and Share moving GIFS on the iPhone – easy as 1, 2, 3, now with 2.5 option!

There has been a few moving GIF apps for the iPhone. I have played with them but pushed them aside as they required the result be shared via their site or they put their logo on the end product. This morning I found Gifmator which is proving to be a bit of fun!

The app has a rather extensive What a Moving GIF is and How-To book built in, handy if you want to jump right in then have a question.

Gifmator allows you to build moving images, think of them as flip cards in a single image file, with 2 to 30 images. You can use photos or videos you take through the app or tap/hold on the ‘+’ to use images from your iPhone’s photo library. There is no re-ordering of the photos, cropping or sizing, but there is film and lens filters that you can apply to alter the images and impact of your GIF. This enhancement to the images is my ‘2.5’ step that other options do not provide.

When you have the images as you like, tap the check and Gifmator assembles the images into a single GIF, ready for you to view, send via email or share through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or even attach to a text message. Your finished result can be as fun or serious as you make it. I’m thinking about all of the little stop-motion shorts that I can do.

 

The Science of Taking Low Light Photos with the iPhone

there are mixed opinions on if the latest iPhones are better in low light than previous models. The higher resolution, faster action and more capabilities to focus has gotten us to notice when our images are less than perfect. So, whether it’s a iPhone 3 or iPhone 4, photos taken in low light appear grainy at best.

One solution is to hold the shutter open longer to get as much of the available light into the iPhone’s camera. A new solution offers a different line of thinking… taking multiple pictures and merging them together. Both paths work best with the iPhone on a tripod or at a minimum on a solid surface. The solution, Average Camera Pro does as it’s name states, takes multiple images and averages them. Giving a brighter finished photo with stronger colors. Length of time and number of photos taken is adjustable.

Taking that a step further, when a iPhone camera is assembled, there are a few irregularities that show up in photos that are challenging. Average Camera Pro offers a solution to this problem too. Telling the app where the issues are, the app uses the info to correct those areas. “Telling the app” is as simple as taking a picture of a white piece of paper.

Multiple iPhone Photos used to create a single image

A fun app I have been using was just updated yesterday, I thought it was worth a quick mention. Diptic is a universal app (buy once, use it on both your iPhone and iPad) that provides many templates of multi image boxes. You choose one, then tap each box to insert an image from your iPhone’s library, take a new image or import from a social network. The image in the box can be rotated and resized.

The first of the new features is the ability to move the bars that frame each image so that you can adjust how much of the total image each photo will take up. No longer are you locked to a set size of each image… yea!

The second feature addition is the ability to round the corners on the over all image or of each picture within it. The Diptic developers even provided a slider so you can adjust how much of a rounded corner you need to get the right effect.

When done, export to your iPhone’s area, to an email or even directly to many different social network and photo sharing services.