Blended Paths

My friend, JR, took some random photos of me the other day with his iPhone 4. Of course, I got his phone and mms'd them to myself and played with them and made them prettier. The whole series of photos was based on me getting this great hat and sporting it for hours, even after we got home...even after night had fallen and Jeremy and I had gotten into our pj's. Alas, it was so much fun that I thought, "why not share them in a blog?!"

Visit JR's blog for more fun photos and videos. He always has something creative to post!

All of these versions were edited using my iPhone 4 and the Camera+, PS Express, and Impression (watermark) apps. All the photos were taken with the iPhone 4's built in camera/factory camera app.

A few weeks ago Jeremy's iPhone kicked the bucket. Actually, it wasn't completely dead - it was merely flakey enough that it was totally undependable, therefore totally useless to him. The solution was simple: I got a new 32GB iPhone 4 and handed my mint condition 32GB 3Gs down to him. Let's hope he doesn't kill it, too (I have a suspicion that part of the reason the phone went life-phobic on him is related to the amount of time he used the phone, which was ALL the time!).

Alas, getting the new phone meant that I got new camera capabilities. Getting new camera capabilities meant that I needed apps to fully test them out. At least, that's my excuse! So, I've gotten some new photography apps (a few of them prior to getting the phone, actually) and as the list is getting longer, it's time to go ahead and do an app blog!

Here's the list (I'll discuss the apps below):

• PerfectPhoto
  
• PhotoStudio
  
• SlowShutter
  
• ShakeItPhoto
  
• WordFoto
  

PerfectPhoto

PerfectPhoto is VERY similar to the PS Express app. The main difference between the two is PerfectPhoto's pretty and user-targeted interface versus PS Express's straightforward approach to the UI. While PS Express has one of my favorite tools (the best noise removal tool I've used on the iPhone), PerfectPhoto is a close contender to replacing PS Express as my favorite touch-up app for the iPhone. It does pretty much everything PS Express allows and MORE!

PerfectPhoto offers the ability to meticulously touch-up photos with the following very user-friendly and judicious tools: crop, rotate/flip, alignment, brightness/contrast, gamma, exposure, shadows, highlights, levels, hue/saturation/lightness, color balance, color temperature, sharpen, denoise, red eye reduction, and spot healing. While PS Express is missing several of these options, even if only in the lack of precision control when editing, PerfectPhoto does not lack the effects offered by PS Express (which is not saying much for PS Express - the list of these is short in PS Express and these tools are "tap and go" without allowing for adjustment of the special effects (opacity or intensity level). But, that's not too important - PerfectPhoto's goal is not to provide filters (although it does provide a few more choices than PS Express) or bling for your photos - it's about making your original photo better!

There are NUMEROUS apps out there for special effects and the like, but there's only one PerfectPhoto. I haven't personally used any touch-up app that truly compares to what PerfectPhoto offers. And, one of my new favorite "bling" apps was developed by the same team as PerfectPhoto (below). PerfectPhoto is well worth it's $0.99 price tag!

PhotoStudio

PhotoStudio is a "bling" app for the iPhone that offers numerous filters and effects to really make your photos pop and become anything you want them to be. From the app store description:

"Now with 187 effects and filters, the possibilities are endless when it comes to editing your photos. For those of you looking to keep it simple, you can also, crop brighten, flip and make other basic changes for quick modification of your photos.

Variety of Lo-Fi effects, plus Sketches, Vintage, Bizarre, TiltShift, Sepia, Night Vision, Glow, Grunge, Blur, Textures – FX Photo Studio features them all and MORE.

MIX, MATCH AND ADJUST FOR THE PERFECT EFFECTS

Combine any of the 187 effects to create the perfect look. A completely customizable interface allows you to label your most often used effects and combinations as favorites, giving you instant access to preferred presets.

TONS OF WAYS TO SHARE YOUR CREATIONS

You can easily share your photos with friends and family via E-Mail, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or Flickr directly from the application! You can even generate codes for customized presets as well as use codes provided by others, to create a pool of unique iPhoneography art tools for everyone to tap into.

CONVENIENTLY MANAGE ALL OF YOUR PHOTOS

Save creations to the in app photo album, copy to the Clipboard, and even save to a document folder for convenient sharing between the iOS device and computer. You can print your photos directly from the app too!

If that's not enough, you can upgrade up to even more effects via in-app purchases!"

That about covers it. Again, well worth the money ($2.99). Also available from the Mac app store for laptop/desktop use (pro verson, $29.99).

SlowShutter

SlowShutter turns your iPhone into a virtual dSLR by allowing the user to work with a simulation of slow shutter speeds ranging from 1/15 through 1/30 of a second. It also provides a built in exposure compensation function. This app features (from the app store description):

- Shutter speed range : 1/15, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, 15, 30(sec)
- Exposure control : Manual, Auto, HDR, Light Trail
- Exposure compensation : +/- 2 EV ( 1, 1/2, 1/4 steps )
- Output size : You can select High or Low resolution in the Setting app.
The resolution with each device is as follows.
-> iPhone4 720x960(High), 360x480(Low)
-> iPhone3GS 480x640(High), 360x480(Low)
-> iPhone3G 304x400(High/Low)
- Other : Shutter-timer, Twitter uploader, Tap to focus

The latest version of this app is V2.3 (4th, Jun 2011). This update provided:

- Added support for the "Light Trail" effect.
- The shutter will also sound in manner mode.
- Several minor changes to the user interface.
- Minor bug fix.

This app goes for $0.99.

ShakeItPhoto

The slogan: "Perfect Polaroid Photos From Your iPhone." The accuracy of the slogan: right on! This app is not only the best Polaroid simulation I've tried with my iPhone. To top if off, you get to (have to) shake the phone to process the photo just like you would if you were holding and actual Polaroid photo in your hand, which means this app is tons of fun!

The price tag is a little steep (imho) considering the fact that what you shoot is what you get. The app costs $1.99 and for that you literally get the functionality of taking the photo and having the phone process it as is. Personally, I think this app is easily worth no more than $0.99. But, even having said that, I do not regret the extra buck I paid. The only other "good" Polaroid simulating app I've tried that worked well in the past was Polarize, which at least offered the ability to import photos from your camera roll to be turned into fauxlaroids, but this app is no longer supported and no longer works on my phone (if anyone else is still able to use this app or has any idea or suggestion why mine may be lacking functionality, I'd appreciate a heads up!).

WordFoto

WordFoto is truly a unique app and is a lot of fun to use. This app allows photos to be turned into typographic art by overlaying words or phrases of the user's choice (or some pre-stored ones) on a photo. The UI allows changes in fonts, transparencies, colors, and sizes of the text and randomizes text size "throughout" the image based on the largest font size selected. From the WordFoto website:

"You've probably heard the tired cliche about a picture being worth a thousand words. We've taken this phrase quite literally and created WordFoto, an app that turns your photos and words into amazing typographic works of art."

You can get WordFoto for $1.99.

Video

Because the iPhone 4 comes with much more enhanced video capabilities, I've decided to share some of the apps I use and have recently downloaded for video editing. In the near future I will do an independent blog describing these apps but I'll share the list here:

• Qik Video Pro
• iMovie
• iTimeLapse
  
• Slowmo
• Splice
  
• Super 8
  
• VideoPix
• Viddy

I recently posted a poll at deviantART to ask my watchers if they'd like to see more iPhone/mobile photography posted at my site. I wanted to know what their interests were - and at what level their interest in mobile photography had stabilized, if you will.

The three choices were:

• Not really, I don't care about mobile photography.
• I don't have an iPhone - it's about the shots, so yes!
• I have an iPhone and I'm interested in seeing your images and what you use to take them, so yes!

The reason I mentioned the iPhone specifically is because that's what I have and that's what my "mobile photography" is shot with.

Alas, I get this comment from a friend there that really knocked me off my feet yet made me jump right up on to my high horse about the issue of photographic quality. I'd like to share with you the comment and my response:

Comment: "don't really like iPhone photos 'cause they lack quality.

I have an iPhone 4 and I really don't like how the photos come out."

Response: "For me, the point isn't the quality of the image - it's going back to the old days of analog photography. No mobile device takes photography of the quality of an SLR or even today's point and shoot and it's a little ridiculous to expect one to, even if it has higher mp (5.0 or such). For the photo, it's about the content, just like all photography should be when we get to the bottom line.

I don't take or post mobile photos based on their technical "quality," it's about what is in the image and learning how to go back to that time when there were limited options to creating the quality of today's SLR images unless you were able to afford to process your own photos via your own darkroom, as well as to a time when incredibly sharp and "perfect" technical quality weren't as important as the message a photographer wanted to convey with their image. Some of the greatest images of the past century have been grainy, low quality, analog shots - like the Earth Rise image from the Apollo 8 mission, or the famous shots from WWII and Vietnam as well as that whole period that was the late 60's and early 70's.

Personally, I am fairly satisfied with the quality of the images I get from my iPhone 3Gs, which is many mp lower than your iPhone 4. Have you changed the settings of your camera or apps to save at the highest quality possible? I hear the iPhone 4 is a piece of crap, anyway (which is why I haven't gotten one) - so maybe that has something to do with it. I really do like what I get from my 3Gs, but that's because I don't expect it to pop out shots that are comparable to my SLR.

For that matter, I don't expect anything from any of my cameras because my true feeling is that the camera is not creating the image or the moment, it's simply saving it."

Why is it that so many people who call themselves photographers (some who have great and some who have wonderful - this person has really good portraits - shots) so EASILY forget that there IS NO perfect shot, and that photography in the sense of art is NOT as much about TECHNICALITY as it is about sharing an expression of yourself? "Oh, but if it's not a really sharp, deeply colored or perfectly toned black and white, high MP image, it's a shitty shot."

OK. Fine. Have it your way, but the shots I see winning contests all around me are NOT those shots. They are often random, often VERY low quality, sometimes even really poorly framed and composed shots - BUT THEY SAY SOMETHING that gets to people and they make a statement that makes people think or at least see something differently - and THAT, to me, is the point of ANY art form.

Another friend commented and my response to her was: "Mobile photography in general is up and coming - I only focus on the iPhone because that's what I have, and that's what got me involved and exposed to mobile photography as an art form. You should check out Chase Jarvis' book "The Best Camera is the One That's With You." The images are iPhone images, but the point of the book is that you don't have to lug around an SLR all the time - you can capture amazing moments with whatever camera you have with you. I think I'll post some more links about it in a blog soon (I may have to link back to my site just because I don't have time to do it twice or three times with Jesse here LOL). I like how you refer to it as a device of spontaneity. That's exactly what mobile photography and mobile devices boil down to."

And that's exactly how I feel about it!

This topic sometimes makes me want to throw my SLR against the wall and stop using it completely, and go buy a 60's era Hassleblad and start posting some really "shitty quality shots," like those HORRIBLE /sarcasm/  shots from the Apollo missions.