Life in LoFi: iPhoneography

ClassicTOY – Plastic Toy Camera
Version 1.0

Bottom Line: Very nice! The same great filters as ClassicPAN in a more versatile 3:2 frame.

ClassicTOY

ClassicTOY – Plastic Toy Camera is the latest camera app from misskiwi. Drawing from the filters of ClassicPAN which we’ve previously reviewed and liked very much, ClassicTOY is another app that applies analog and other vintage filter effects to your images. ClassicTOY presents these effects in a standard 3:2 aspect ratio — a common standard for 35mm film and many DSLR cameras.

Overall, I think the presentation and implementation of the filters in ClassicTOY exceeds that of misskiwi’s previous apps. If you like the filter set of ClassicPAN — whether or not you cared for the wide aspect ratio — you will like ClassicTOY.

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Celebrating the creativity of iPhone users

iPhone Photography Awards is accepting submissions for their annual 2010 competition.

All photographers compete for the top award, the IPPA Photographer of the Year. Images will be reviewed on the basis of artistic merit, originality, subject, and style.

This year’s top prize is an 8GB iPod touch. The work of the top winner and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd Place Winners on each category will be publicized on IPPA online gallery and published in the IPPA Annual Winners Book, published at Blurb.

All 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners from each categories will receive an IPPA certificate. Judges will also award several Certificates of Honorable Mention to entries to acknowledge talent.

Copyright and all other rights remain that of the photographer. Any photograph used by IPPA shall carry the photographer’s credit line. Use may include publication in any IPPA media sponsor publication.

Entry fees range from $2.50 to $18.50 and are based on the number of images you submit at that time. Entry fees cover the cost of administration and promotion.

Deadline for submissions is March 31, 2010.

You can also view the 2008 and 2009 winning entries at www.ippawards.com.

Click here for more information or to submit entries.

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Sunlight Tracker

We just ran across this in the U.S. App Store. Sunlight Tracker by RLSP is a new app which displays a whole bunch of information about the sun, allowing you to plan your photo shoot around your light. This is similar to what BlueHour and CityTime do, except Sunlight Tracker seems to provide a lot more information geared specifically towards photographers.

Sunlight Tracker is free in the U.S. App Store for a limited time.

It features sunrise and sunset times, twilight times which are good for shooting in the Blue hours, angle and elevation of the sun and other information. Although we just grabbed it and haven’t tested it yet, it looks really comprehensive and if you find yourself planning around the good light, this is an excellent opportunity to grab this utility while it’s free!

Detailed information on the app’s features and functions can be found on the RLSP website.

App Store link: Sunlight Tracker

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Update Saturday, March 13, 2010. Well, that didn’t last long…. Looks like the limited time has passed. The app is now available for its regular price of $1.99 USD. Still, give it a look if you think you might need a sunlight tracker. For the extra dollar, this app does a lot more than give sunrise/sunset times.

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Related links: BlueHour review |   CityTime (App Store link)

iPhone lens and microfiber cloth

The iPhone camera lens is teeny. The actual lens itself is protected by an external lens casing. While the lens casing is about 4-5 mm, the lens itself is less than 2 mm. Even a small smudge or a fingerprint on your lens can really effect the quality of your images. Fortunately, keeping your lens clean is quick and easy.

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EYE’EM CALLING FOR ENTRIES NOW!

EYE’EM has announced a call for entries for the EYE’EM Mobile Photography Award 2010. Entries from any mobile device are accepted, not just iPhones. Also, you are permitted to use desktop apps such as Photoshop to retouch your images.

Sion Fullana is judging this year’s EYE’EM Award. Sion is a professional photographer, journalist and filmmaker living in New York City. He has been featured in photography blogs and magazines, such as Time Out NY, Photocritic.org, American Photo Magazine and Wink-Magazine. In a very short period of time, he has become a celebrated pioneer in cellphone photography, using his 3G iPhone and experimenting with a select group of iPhone photo apps. He is one of iPhoneography’s most recognized members.

More information and links follow the jump. >>>

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ProCamera
Version 2.7

Bottom Line: Highly recommended!

ProCamera

A while back, I promised a full review of a previous update of ProCamera. I’m glad I waited until now.

In my idea box of articles I want to write is one for a “FrankenCam” app. For a long time, all of the features that I wanted in a camera app were spread out across several camera apps. I wanted to write an article — more like a wish list to developers — of the features that I wanted in one camera app.

I no longer need to write that article. The new 2.7 update of ProCamera by daemgen.net now includes every feature that I want that’s allowed by Apple in an iPhone camera app… and a whole lot more.

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March 6, 2010
Old Texas Highway 183
Fort Worth, Texas

Saturday Night on Belknap 01

Saturday Night on Belknap 02

Saturday Night on Belknap 03

Saturday Night on Belknap 04

Toolbox: MonoPhix, Best Camera, CameraBag (Lolo)

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Monochrome Camera
Version 1.0

Bottom line: Avoid

MonoCam

Monochrome Camera by TouchInside is a new app which saves images in monochrome. It has its own camera function or you can import images from your camera roll. I know it takes a lot of time, effort and coding skills to create any iPhone app, but with all that’s wrong with this one, I wonder how this ever got past beta stage.

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In case you missed this, here’s a cool link from Michael Zelbel at Smoking Strobes.com. It’s his method of organizing images on his computer. He and I have similar issues with our photography — we both take a lot of shots, we both work with multiple or subsequent copies of our production files, and we both don’t want to take much time or thought in organizing our images so they’re quick and easy to find.

I don’t use iPhoto to organize my raw iPhoneography. I prefer to work with my images directly on my Mac. I only add my finished, processed images to my iPhoto. Rarely will I add a raw or production image to iPhoto.

Using a consistent folder hierarchy to organize your images helps to cut down the clutter of your raw images and safety shots, as well as keeping your finished files organized and easy to find. Michael’s hierarchy may be a bit much for iPhoneography, especially since most of us process images before they leave the iPhone, but you can modify his approach to fit your workflow.

In forums I frequently got advice that I should absolutely use this or that photo database or this or that professional software to organize my thousands of files. Believe me dude, I’ve been there, done that. What works best for me is a set of folders that gives me no headaches, no technical glinches and which allows me to spend more time behind the camera than in front of the screen.

Read the entire post at SmokingStrobes.com >>>

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Related links: Smoking Strobes

March 7, 2010
Oscar Night
Dallas, Texas

Diner

Toolbox: Vint B&W, TiltShift Generator

Another image in this series, “Nighthawk“, also appears through March as part of my exclusive Featured iPhontographer series on Pixels at an Exhibition.

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