Speakers Notes for Iphone-Ography(2015) © Jerry Hug 2015

Speakers Notes for iPhone-ography(2015) © Jerry Hug 2015

iPhoneography – The Best Camera is the One that Is With You 40% of every photo and video taken in the world every day is with cell phones and other mobile devices like the iPad and iPod Touch and similar devices. The iPhone has become the device to copy because of the quality of the camera and the large number of apps available for photographers. Why is the cell phone so popular? It is always with you and it is so easy to take photos and share with others directly from the phone. This one button camera is like the historic Kodak Box Camera that made photography so popular to the masses. Kodak said push the button and we will do the rest. Basics: 1. A cell phone with a good camera(s) and applications (apps). I use an iPhone because of the many photography apps available to edit the photos right in the cell phone. I find that with the apps I can produce art that goes beyond record shots. Recording things that you see is OK. Painters had sketch pads. Now everyone has pocket cameras and cell phones. 2. Learn to shoot, organize, access, backup and share your images. Additional information is available through the references enclosed. 3. Expand your creative shooting and image processing by trying a collection of applications (apps). All apps are downloadable on a Mac or PC. Listed in these notes are some of the important apps to start your processing. Learn how to use a few apps to get results before adding others. 4. Open your eyes and start shooting with your cell phone. Stephanie C. Roberts* suggests that you create secret missions (subjects) and try until you find the subjects that really spark your imagination. Then go in depth with those subjects. DeWitt Jones, is one of America’s top professional photographers and twenty years with National Geographic as one of the world-class photojournalist, states about how to learn and use these wonderful iPhone apps. “The most important thing to remember when using the apps is to simply explore and play. The iPhone is a wonderful place to experiment: to take creative risks. Don’t think too much; push all

1 the buttons; slide all the sliders; PLAY!” Dewitt is the author of iPhone Art in My Life:Volume One

Part I “Most applications for the iPhone cost either $.99 or $1.99. A few are very powerful; most do one or two things well. The simple ones are self-explanatory; most of the powerful ones have good documentation (or videos) on their use. More and more of the apps have an iPad version as well as an iPhone version.” Learn how to take better photos with your iPhone. Here are a few simple steps in capturing better photos. 1. Hold the cell phone as still as possible. Use two hands to hold the phone with your elbows close to your body to eliminate movement when tapping the shutter. Try this technique. 2. Before you take the photo, set the exposure and focus by touching the screen. An outline of a box appears on the screen. That box is where the exposure and focus is locked on. If you do not like the brightness or darkness of the picture viewed on the screen, try touching another area to change the exposure. Where you touch controls the overall exposure. Set the exposure and then snap the photo as outlined in #1. 3. There are other camera apps that allow more control. The advantage of the built in camera is that it is fast and always on the opening screen. Other camera apps that I recommend are Camera Awesome, ProCam and Camera+ by Tap Tap Tap to name just three of many cameras available. These are dedicated cameras compared to the cameras that come within most editing apps. Hipstamatic is another camera that is anything but a straight photo camera but rather where you pick a given lens and a given film for a unique look. This can be useful for a series of photos when developing a portfolio or series of images on a given subject or topic. I use the” Jane” Lens and Blackkeys Supergrain film for older looking black and white images. For color images I choose the John S lens and Kodat film. The best app for large panoramic photos is AutoStitch. Another special camera is SlowShutterCam – it takes multiple exposures that looks like a slow shutter blur. Each camera has unique uses. High end camera is 645Pro. This is not like a simple point and shoot effort. You need to get the 645Pro PDF for instructions. It

2 is well worth the effort and your results is more like a complete adjustable camera. For big sharp images I go to ClearCam app. See this YouTube video for instructions. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ld0_5H75N3s&feature=playe r_detailpage 4. HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography – HDR is where 2 or more exposures are taken at the same time with little or no movement within the scene. This is an attempt to photograph what your eyes can see but cameras cannot record the extreme bright highlights or open up the dark shadows. For a totally Auto mode HDR shooting, I like “TrueHDR” for fast and easy auto setting results. My favorite HDR app is ProHDR in the manual mode. (Manual means you move a box to the bright highlights of the scene and another box to the shadows for details that are important.) ProHDR is by far the strongest app for high contrast light. iPhone 5 does have a built in HDR. The results are not as effective as the 2 apps mentioned. For faster shooting in HDR, use Bracket Mode app. Shoot the images in Bracket Mode and then later place the dark and bright images (that were saved to the camera roll) into ProHDR using the Actions clickpoint. This is my latest shooting technique for HDR. Remember: nothing should be moving when shooting HDR.

Part II Basic – Simple Editing with a traditional photograph 1. Once the photo is automatically saved to the Photo Library within the cell phone, you can begin to edit and make the photos more like what you visualized or wanted to see when taking the picture. Viewing the photos (one at a time) in the Camera Roll, you can open the Edit button and do basic general auto edit and crop the photo. You then save this new version of the photo. The original is like your negative. It remains along with your edited version. This is very fast but with limited editing tools, may not give you the final polished image that you want to use for sharing or printing. 2. The basic app I use to go beyond the Camera Roll editing is Snapseed. Snapseed has been updated and added Shadow brightening and a new single image HDR control for an over detailed look of HDR. It is very effective for old rusty cars etc. Touch/Retouch is also the best app for taking distractions out of an image. Example: Removing a beer can laying on the ground in front of the family photo.

3 3. The old adage is true with photography. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. Sometimes the more advanced we become with our photography we tend to over edit and get a digital look.

Part III - Advanced Editing with more controls available. There are many applications that give the photographer control similar to what one had in the old chemical darkroom with out the mess and aggravation of chemicals and tons of equipment. These advanced editing tools are so easy to use that Photoshop users dream that these applications will become available for their computers. 1. The first editing app that I recommend is Snapseed. This app is also so easy to use that it is difficult to call the app “advanced”. Details needed in almost every digital photo are included like sharpening, straighten and besides the global sliders affecting the entire photo, you have selective adjustments to control limited areas of your photos. Snapseed also has various “artistic” editing controls that go beyond the basic traditional photo. Frames are available to set off finishing the image. Frames are very useful for on-line and e-mail sharing. They set off the images from a white or black page. 2. Touch/Retouch is the best app for removing items from a scene. It is like content aware in Photoshop. I use this app every day. 3. FrontView is for fixing keystone effects of aiming up or down and your vertical lines begin to converge. “Like shooting up at a skyscraper at close range.” 4. Filterstorm – Very powerful app. Filterstorm allows you to create layers and masks for all effects. This is a great app for sizing and preparing photo for sending on line. I use this app on almost every image. If you have had experience with Photoshop or Elements, you will understand some of the layers and masking concepts of editing just part(s) of a photo and not always global edits for the entire image. 5. PhotoForge – Wonderful oil paint and water color effects as well as a smudge/paint tool. This is a great app to add textures and do masking for more controls. 6. Iris Photo Suite (new name Laminar+) – Powerful app. Levels give both input and output controls, Blend Modes to blend layers and Color Balance lets you shift tones in shadows, midtones and highlights which helps to take away color casts.

4 7. Photogene – All majors digital darkroom effects and easy to use. We even have curves. I especially like the Watercolor and Oil Painting effects. 8. PerfectPhoto – Good sharpening tool. Almost every digital photo needs sharpening and PerfectPhoto works. It also has a denoise tool which is useful in low light conditions. 9. FX Photo Studio – Is my go to app for favorite textures. 10. DistressedFX has many textures and effects. I use this app on every artistic rendering that I do. It also has black birds that you can put into a blank sky. (Way too much fun) 11. PhotoFX – Most of Tiffen’s wonderful filters in a single app. 12. PhotoWizard has many tools and is very easy to use. 13. Dynamic Light had HDR effect from a single image and also the Orton effect.

Part IV – “Getting Artistic” is part of the fun of cell phone photography editing without using the computer. Some of the “art apps” are for oil paint effects and frames. Others are for sketching and making app controlled looks of artist from the past. Then in another class of art apps are those that do limited special stylized effects. Some of these apps have few if any user controls and others have presets to select a desired look. Here are 6 of the 20 plus app that I use for effects. 1. Autopainter III – Trying the looks of various French Impressionistic painters? Autopainter III is a good app to start. Some of the effects are astounding. There is a control to bring back some of the original photo when the auto app control goes too far. 2. ArtistaOil – Just like it sounds, oil painting effects. 3. Tangled FX – Adds lines of design into any photo. 4. Painteresque – Very unique artistic presets to try. A very easy app to use for the “detailed look” for HDR like renderings. 5. PowerSketch - Turn any image into a color book or cartoon photo. A fun playful app. 6. MobileMonet – Sometimes an image just need a little more sparkle or punch. This may give you that unique look. 7. Aquarella is one of best app for making watercolor images from photos. Easy to use and many options. My latest favorite watercolor app is Waterlogue. 8. MasterFX is new and a very easy to add parts of nature and

5 man into a photo that just needs a little more help. Light beams, lighting and so many effects that you must see. Part V – Making Panoramas Images the easy way. My favorite app is AutoStitch. Try and think about using this app as a wide angle lens. You are trapped in the corner of a small room and want to photograph a large group of people. Panorama shooting is the answer by taking multi rows of photos with 30% overlapping both side ways and top to bottom.

Part VI – Combining images together. There are different apps for different effects. Juxtaposer works for adding some part of an image from one photo into another photo. (We took a group photo and one person was missing. We take their photo and add them into the main group. Other apps are like blenders or the term we used in the film days is “double exposures”. Blender app and DXP work for this purpose. Another app that is fun to use to make photo collages is Diptic. It offers a whole series of frames and combinations for 2 to 6 photos. Diptic is a favorite for Scrapbookers.

Part VII – Grunge and Vintage looks? If you want these looks, here are my favorites: PicGrunger, Grungetastic, VintageFX, GrungeHD, PhotoToaster, Repix, PhotoCopier and OldPhotoPro (Antique and hand painted effects)

Part VIII - .Other great fun apps: ShockMyPic – Wonderful Van Gogh painterly effect; FocalLab – Great blur effects; Crop’n’Frame – Very powerful framing app; Symmetry – Great mirror effects; PictureEffects – Best swirl effect; WordFoto – puts Words into the texture of photos; . Devices to assist the Photographer with the iPhone (Not necessary for iPhoneography but give extra assistance when needed) 1. Glif+ a way to connect your iPhone to a . - 20 threaded bolt used on every camera and most tripods.The latest connection tool for the iPhone is Joby’s “Grip Tight Mount”. This works with iPhone protectors in place. Cost $20. A higher end unit is the new SideKick360 for $49. 2. Rain Covers: Clear Bags(trademark) – ZipLock type bags. Better - Joy rain covers that are designed to use in the rain and take photos. 3. Extra lens that are low cost? OllOclip which has a wide angle lens, Fish eye lens and a macro lens all for less than $70.

6 There are telephoto and more expensive lens. I advise keeping everything simple and have less to carry around. 4. Battery chargers when out in the field shooting; A. Mophie charger is no larger than a protective iPhone case. B. New Trent Charger can charge to devices at the same time. Larger and more $$. C. There are also cords that plugin to auto cigar lighters receptables. 5. To assist seeing the LED screen when taking photos in bright sunlight – 3 inch Hoodman Loupe or a long brimmed hat. 6. How to steady the iPhone with out a tripod? Use a “SteadePod” connected to my Glif+ connector. This is great when tripods and monopods are not allowed in low light buildings. My latest and cheap fix is a ¼-20 thread on an eyelet from the hardware store. I then tie and 1/8 inch thin rope to the eyelet and stand on the end of the rope or tie it to my belt loop in my pants. Total cost 75 cents. This unit is attached to my Glif+ or my Joby Grip Tight holder.

My latest tool to attach my iPhone to my tripod is a SideKick360 by MeFoTo. Cost about $49. No plate needed for your tripod head if you use a ArcaSwiss type system. It also works for phones with protective covers.

On Line Help: Tony Sweet: http://tonysweet.com/store/instructional-videos/ Great little video tips and how Tony creates his magic. http://tonysweet.com/folios/ (See 47 of Tony’s iPhone images) Dewitt Jones: iPhone Art in My Life: Volume One – Purchase from Amazom.Com Dan Burkholder: iPhone Artistry http://www.danburkholder.com/Pages/misc_pages/Portfolios/iPhone_Artistr y.html Dan is one of the premier photo artist that started the iPhone photography movement. Dan’s book, iPhone Artistry, is my favorite book on iPhoneography. This is my “go to learn book”. At 2 years old the iOS 5 is outdated but his instructional use of apps and how to get results is still one of the best guides available.

Another wonderful reference book I recommend is “The Art of iPhone Photography” by Bob Weil and Nicki Fitz-Gerald. A great reference book with a collection of iPhone art photographers and step by step ideas for neat results. Bob Weil also has videos available on line. Some of the other Books Available: 1. The Art of iPhoneography by Stephanie C. Roberts (I highly

7 recommend this handy small book to help find your direction and development of your creative skills) 2. Create Great iPhone Photos (apps,Tips, tricks and effects) by Allan Hoffman 3. Killer Photos with Your iPhone by Matthew Bambery, Kris Krug, Greg ketchum 4. iPhone Obsessed: Photo editing experiments with Apps by Dan Marcolina 5. iPhone Art in My Life by Dewitt Jones Volume One. (Kindle Edition) (just out) 6. Capturing Better Photos and Video with your iPhone by Thomas (Kindle Edition or Paperback) 7. The Best Camera is the one that’s With You by Chase Jarvis 8. Sixty Tips for Creative iPhone Photography by Martina Holmberg (Outstanding 2012 publication)

Major Questions and Answers 1. Question: How do you get images from your iPhone to your iPad or your main computer? A. e-mail the image to your self. B. Connect your iPhone to your computer or other “I” device with the USB cable. C. Transfer app for iPhone to Mac Computers. D. Instashare app. E. Use a Dropbox on your iDevise and on your computer. They are free. F. Use the Cloud to get the latest 1000 images from iPhone to iPad. (You need to be in a wifi envoronment or have a router to create a local on location network. (The router works just in an area of one or two rooms. Great for where there is no wifi. A new app to move photo from one iDevice to another is PhotoShare+ Pro. This uses Bluetooth on your iPad or iPhone. No WiFi needed. Great fro out in the field. 2. How many images can you put on our iPhone? That depends on the amount of memory you purchased on the phone? 3. How large can you print your images? That depends on the quality of the image. It it was from an iPhone 4S or 5, or 5S they can be 8meg images that work as 11X14 up to 16X20. The iPhone 5 and 5S can produce beautiful 16X21 prints. 4. How do you learn to use some of the apps? Play, Play, Play. Some apps have built in instructions and some have on line help demos. See also the videos available by Tony Sweet and Dan Burkholder later in these notes. 5. How can I print (wireless) from the iPhone, iPad or iPod touch

8 and a quality photo printer like the Epson R3000? Use wifi and the free Epson app. In remote locations with no wifi, I use a $19. Router to set a local network. 6. How do I size the images for DPI (Digital Projected Image Competitions)? Filterstorm has a sizing set-up and there is also a Resize app

How about Videos – Yes there is an iMovie app to edit and combine video clips. When shooting videos remember a few basic facts: 1. Hold the camera horizontal at all times! 2. Think in shots. A shot being about a 10 second clip. 3. Keep these shots about 10 seconds. 4. Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes. 5. Zoom with your feet 6. Stand still ! Stop fidgeting ! No zooming during shots! 7. Keep the light behind you and the camera. 8. Keep your video short. Edit down to 2 or 3 minutes total. 9. Use both hands to hold the iPhone at all time when shooting.

Time Lapse – Taking a series of singe images with a planned interval between shots and then combine these single images into a sequence that closely resembles video. Presently of all the Time-Lapse apps, I am using Lapse It app. This app does everything to including assembling the final video ready to share.

* I now use Vhoto app to extract the best single images from video clips. Vhoto automatically pulls the Best Photos from Video Clips at a higher resolution that using the built-in rapid fire shooting by holding the shutter button down.

Color to Black/White 1. Always shoot the images in Color mode at the highest resolution. 2. Before conversion into B/W push up the color saturation. This is needed to give good separation of highlights, mid-tones and shadows for good B/W tonality. 3. Using Snapseed app – Straighten and Crop if needed. Convert into B/W and check the global changes in the B/W module. In “Details” use the Structure slider for tonal separation and give a slight sharpening boost. Use the global changes in the Tune Image module

9 by adding Ambiance and Contrast if needed. Finally use the Selective Adjust for dodging and burning areas to balance the image. Go back and re-adjust any area that will enhance the image. Find your Focus: Define images by what you like to shoot - finding new ways of looking at the world around us. Keep shooting and develop your subjects.

(Red Ink indicates new developments and updates to my notes) July 2014.

Jerry Hug, APSA • [email protected]

Here are more helpful ways to use “Snapseed”

Snapseed Workflow

(Workflow, is a suggested order of using editing tools to enhance a photograph) Remember – “if it is not broken, don’t fix it”.

1. Straighten – Use when the horizon lines are not level. Example: a lake going up hill. 2. Crop Tool – Always use after you check the horizon. This eliminates double cropping 3. Tune Image – General Global adjusting tools. 4. Selective Adjust – where you can change selected area(s) with a control point(s). See separate handout 5. Details – Sharpening and Structure (mid-tone contrast) Apply these adjustments after each change with the black triangle on the right bottom corner. This does not save the image! Save the image at any time in the

10 editing process. You can always throw away these extra images.

After considering the above tools, save the image and then go on the your creative adjustments for artistic effects.

©Jerry Hug – editing for traditional photos.

Snapseed – Selective Adjustment Module

This tool is like dodge and burn in the old chemical darkroom.

1. Touch the circle with the cross to select the tool. 2. Touch the area you want to change. (Brightness, Contrast, or Saturation) 3. Move your finger/stylus up and down to select one of the three controls. 4. Using 2 fingers on the screen with a spreading motion to control how much of an area can be changed. (The area to be affected is by color and texture.) 5. Then move your finger left or right to change the amount. (This can be done with any of the tree controls one at a time.) 6. You can lock other areas so as not to be effected by touching the circle with the cross and selecting areas that you do not want to be affected. 7. Remember, the circle and cross that is active is the one that is highlighted in Blue. 8. If you are doing a large sky area and spreading your fingers will not cover the entire area (example: a sky), do one area and then: hold down on the circle and cross and release. When the word copy come up, touch the word. Then touch the area you could not reach. It will paste the same setting into that area. ©Jerry Hug 2014

Touch/Retouch July 2014 Touch/Retouch is the best app for removing items from a scene. It is like content aware in Photoshop. I use this app every day. The brush tool is really like the Spot Healing Brush in PS. (It is now available for Andrtoid phones also.)

TouchRetouch is a revolutionary application that lets you remove unwanted content or objects from your photos, using just your finger and iPhone or iPod Touch. Mark the items you want taken out of the snapshot and hit ‘Go’. That’s all there is to it. Retouching photographs has never been so quick, easy and convenient.

Open your TouchRetouch app. Using your finger, select the Brush or Lasso tool to mark what you don’t want in the shot, then hit the ‘Go’ button. Okay, you’re done and it’s now safe to share your picture- perfect memories with everybody. TouchRetouch isn’t just for exotic or wedding photo touch-ups, of course. Use this easy yet ingenious application on any photo, newly snapped on your iDevice or taken from your gallery. Remove those wires that are in the way of an otherwise wonderful view, take banners off of buildings, get rid of people, eliminate spots and other imperfections. All without distorting the final image.

Check out some of the things that you can do with TouchRetouch: * Remove spots from sky or other backgrounds * Remove wires from your picture * Remove banners from the buildings * Remove human- made objects from nature views (bridges, buildings, tents, ships etc.) * Remove your shadow from self-made picture * Remove people from the photo * Remove ghosts and flare * Remove surface breaks * Smoothen and retouch the face *

Create funny pictures: for example, remove parachute and leave the guy flying in the sky This app is just so versatile! It comes loaded with great features and functions that you’re going to love using and appreciate having, especially in an easy-to-use, portable medium that goes everywhere you do.

12 In-app video tutorials * Unlimited Undo\Redo actions * Smart image background recovery techniques * No distortions in final image * Easy to use interface * 1:1 view . Finger move hint Download TouchRetouch now and start creating amazing or funny photos. It’s easy, fun and always ready to edit your images in a tap or two - no matter when, no matter where.

I only use the brush and Lasso tools. The added clone tool is not my favorite but it is there if needed.

Vhoto app – Capture that “Decisive Moment”

You can now get excellent “individual photos” from your videos. Vhoto gives the ability to better capture that decisive moment from pre- recorded videos.

This application now gives everyone the ability to select photos from your video clips. Why do you want this app? Because you can now extract higher quality images from the best of your video clips.

This maybe a better method of getting that special image from a split- second decisive moment when something important happens. The iPhone photos taken from video clips seem to have better quality images than photos from a fast burst of still images.

The Vhoto application has very simple instructions and is almost fool proof. You up load the video clip into Vhoto and it picks the best and sharpest image(s) from the video. You make your selections and save your photos to the Camera Roll.

January 2015 @ Jerry Hug