Life in LoFi: iPhoneography

Just a diversion from this morning….

=M=

sunlines

Toolbox: Hipstamatic (John S lens, Ina’s 1969 film)

~~~~

HipstaMatic

I have much love for Hipstamatic. No other app (or Photoshop plug-in) creates such organic and analog-looking images so easily. The new Hipstamatic 150 update is available now in the App Store. From the list of features, it’s a terrific update to an already amazing app. The update adds a ton of new features and improvements, in-app file sharing to Flickr, as well as addresses several performance issues. Start-up time has been improved significantly. There’s also a new monthly photography contest accessible in-app. We’ll post more details as they become available.

As is the case with the previous Hipstamatic 110 update, there’s a new optional HipstaPak available as an additional in-app purchase, featuring two new films. I can’t wait to shoot with the new BlacKeys SuperGrain B+W Film!

The free update is live now or you can (and should) purchase the updated version if you don’t already own the app.

Here’s a list of what’s new and fixed in Hipstamatic 150:

Read the rest of this entry →

The Hipstamatic iPhone app is creating quite a buzz in the world of iPhoneography. Do you have a hot Hipstamatic shot? Submit your Hipstamatic images for a chance to be one of three featured iPhoneographers on iPhoneography.org.

A call for entries has gone out for a new photo contest from Colin Vincent’s iPhoneography.org blog. Submit your best photos shot with Hipstamatic for iPhone for a chance to be one of three featured photographers. You can submit an unlimited number of HipstaPics. Entries will be accepted through March 2, 2010.

Here’s the contest link for submissions, contest rules, image requirements and more information.

=M=

~~~~

I was recently interviewed by John Meadows for the On the Log podcast. In “Episode 89: Less is More”, we discuss iPhoneography and using the iPhone with some recent apps to capture the look of old analog photography. It was a fun discussion and I think it’s an interesting interview. Plus, you get to find out whether or not this Texan talks with a twang.

Click here for the podcast On the Log, Episode 89: Less is More >>>

iPhoneography by John Meadows

John took the above photo with CameraBag.

Here’s the link to John’s site, On the Log >>>

=M=

~~~~

This updated Camera Bag post will also go in the navbar above. I wanted to share the evolution of my iPhone. You can read my original Camera Bag post here.

Some of my other camera apps. Page 4 on my iPhone

The best camera is the one that’s with you and the one that’s with me nearly all the time is my first generation 8 GB iPhone 2G.

I don’t use one app exclusively to shoot with. I have several and try to match up the image with the app. One of the features that makes the iPhone camera unique is the availability of thousands of photography-related apps. For less than the cost of a DVD, you can basically get a whole new camera experience.

iPhone apps are constantly being created, updated and improved. Since I first wrote my original Camera Bag post, several new apps have been released and several apps have been improved to the point where they have leapfrogged ahead as far as functionality and performance.

I find myself shooting with many different apps than the first time I wrote about my iPhone’s camera bag. Here’s my updated toolbox — the go-to apps I’m currently using.

Read the rest of this entry →

How two brothers from Wisconsin changed iPhoneography

The original Hipstamatic camera (in white and black casings). photo by Master Donut

The case can be made that the hottest camera app in the App Store right now was created in 1982.

Hipstamatic (App Store link • link to Hipstamticapp.com) is one of the most popular photography apps in the App Store at the moment. It’s in the Top 5 in multiple countries. Flickr groups have popped up. The #hipstamatic hashtag is all over Twitter. The app has universally gotten rave reviews, and deservedly so. The environment, the sounds, the photos — it recreates the fun of shooting with an old, plastic, toy camera.

Read Life In LoFi’s full review here.

The original Hipstamatic camera is almost an urban legend. Part of the mystique of the new app is its backstory — that it’s based on the old, plastic camera that few people had heard of, let alone seen.

Read the rest of this entry →

In and around Decatur, Texas
January 2, 2010

Toolbox: HipstaMatic

"When In Rhome"

"A Good Day on US 287 3"

"A Good Day on US 287 2"

"A Good Day on US 287 1"

I love to drive the old Federal highways — the ones with the police badge-shaped highway markers. They’re no longer the best way to get there fast. The routes are usually less direct, but more often I find myself just wanting to stop and photograph the cool relics from past times that still dot the roadsides of the old US highway system — the mom & pop traveler’s hotels, old gas stations, cool signs.

Some of them are remarkably well maintained considering that the world now passes them by one mile to the west. Others are beautiful yet sad in their decay. Especially in this part of Texas, where the towns are spaced about a half a day’s ride by horse, some of the main streets are still alive and preserved. The pace of life is much slower than at the Burger King nearby at the exit off the interstate.

There are lines and curves and color and texture and history in the old architecture. The newer metal-framed, steel-sided buildings by the interstate will be old someday as well, but I doubt they’ll have the charm the old towns still have.

The weather was crisp, but the sky was beautiful. The golden hour brought out the warmth of the often faded colors. It was a good day on old US Highway 287.

=M=

January 1, 2010
Fort Worth, Texas

"Convergence"

Toolbox: HipstaMatic

=M=

December 22, 2009

A portrait of a photographer. I’ve mentioned photographer Greg Woodson on this blog before. He mainly shoots glamour and sports photography, but his personal and artistic photography are excellent. We have a Greg Woodson original hanging in our living room — a gorgeous film noir-like image of a couple embracing at sunset. Timeless. Canon bodies and lenses are his arsenal of choice. His other camera is an iPhone 3G.

I was getting a few shots to show him HipstaMatic 100 and got this photo of him. Woody likes this image. I love how it’s moody, candid and captures the intensity of my very creative friend.

=M=

"Portrait of Woody"

Toolbox: HipstaMatic 100

HipstaMatic

Hipstamatic
Version 100

Bottom Line: Recommend

True lo-fi photography is not an exact art. Primarily because of the nature of the equipment (mainly mass-produced plastic or “toy” cameras), unpredictability is an essential element. Most lo-fi cameras have cheap, plastic lenses; many of them have imprecise cases that don’t completely seal, causing light leaks, vignetting, lens distortions and other imperfections. To the lo-fi photographer, these imperfections are desirable and add to the look of the image. It’s the quest for the happy accident.

There are apps that duplicate the images taken by classic lo-fi cameras such as the Holga and the Lomo — classic cameras widely produced and still easily found. Hipstamatic by Synthetic Corp is the first app to replicate the look of one of the rarest lo-fi cameras, the Hipstamatic 100, a square-frame 35mm camera most of us probably never heard of until now. I think the images this app creates are gorgeous and even though there are flaws in this first release, I love this app!

Read the rest of this entry →