Blended Paths

I've concentrated most of my energy discussing iPhone photography, photo apps, and tips/tricks/etc. for still photographs when I've posted artsy iPhone-ness to the site. But, lately I've been doing a lot of VIDEO with my phone - in fact, more video than photography, and I really began to think about why I have never shared anything about the iPhone's video capabilities.

Perhaps it's because I started this iPhone thing when I had an iPhone 3Gs and video wasn't an option or was a crappy excuse for a moving picture with that phone. I've had my iPhone 4 for less than a year and I can't even remember whether the 3Gs had video capabilities - I want to say it did, but then I wonder.

Alas, the iPhone 4 (which isn't even the newest or greatest iPhone on the market anymore) DOES have great video tools and I decided that I was going to share a bit about my love of shooting video with the iPhone 4, as well as the apps I love to use to edit my footage in-phone.

I love using my iPhone 4 for shooting video for two reasons: 1) I always have it with me, and 2) just as with photography, there are so many options for in-phone processing and editing of the footage I capture. It's a lot of fun and I have made a few videos that I never would have thought to try to "make happen" because they just played out in front of me and I happened to have my phone (happened? Ha!).

A little about the iPhone 4's video capabilities:

• Video recording, HD (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio
• VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second with the front camera
• The LED flash for still photography can be turned on for filming (indefinitely, turned off when filming stops).

Of course, the newer and better iPhone 4S is going to have quite the jump on these tech specs, what with it's better lens, higher MP rates, etc., but these iPhone 4 tech specs aren't bad for what the equipment actually is - a tiny camera in a slim phone.

So, without wasting any time trying to explain the technical here-to's and where-for's of the camera itself, lets talk about apps! Because, apps are everyone's favorite thing when it comes to the iPhone and it's camera/video accessibility!

Here is a list of my favorite video-related apps:

• iMovie (Surprise!)
• Super 8
• VideoPix
• Slowmo
• Splice
• Viddy

I'll talk about these in detail in separate posts, so for now I'll just decipher for you what each one actually does: iMovie is VERY similar to the iMovie app Mac users are used to on their computers. It allows nearly full control of video editing. You can use themes, add music and text, etc., to your footage. You can even splice. But, sadly, you can't add slides between clips manually. Oh, well. It's my favorite tool for editing my footage in-phone.

Super 8 is an actual "shooting" app - similar to the photo apps that allow you to take pictures from within them. It's an app that was released to promote the movie "Super 8" (great movie, btw), and it is really cool!

VideoPix is an app that allows you to pull still photos from your video footage. Getting a truly clear image is nearly impossible but it's still a great tool when you'd like to get a still from that great party or that crazy accident you happened to be filming.

Slowmo just allows you to slow your footage down (another feature iMovie for iPhone is lacking, as far as I know). You can save the clip and add it to your iMovie project, etc.

Splice is an editing app similar to iMovie, but it doesn't quite have the detailed functions that are available in iMovie. I haven't used this app since the last update so it's possible that could have changed.

Viddy is an app that allows you to create shorts of your footage (complete with themes and music) and share them with other viddy users, very similar to Instagram for iPhoneographers.

I'm so glad I finally got this much done on a post about iPhone video. It's not what I wanted or expected to accomplish, but with a sick kid and feeling a bit run down myself, it being 10:30PM and just getting him to sleep, I'm fairly satisfied with the start! I will soon be posting some individual blogs (with links) about the apps I've mentioned here (as well as some photo apps) and I will also include some links to some of the iPhone videos I've done as of late.

Blessings,

C~