Scott Fillmer » photography

Top iPhone Camera Apps for Mobile Photography

Scott Fillmer — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 21:32:05 +0000

Every since the very first iPhone came out I have been trying to find ways to make the camera on the iPhone a viable photography choice when a DSLR was just too big, bulky, and basically unavailable. Most photographers would have scoffed at the thought of using a cell phone for any kind of serious photography, but as has happened with the field of photography over the years, things change.

I took my first photo with an iPhone on December 15th, 2008 at 9:23am, and from that point I have since taken a little more than 7,000 images with an iPhone in one version or another. With the release of the iPhone 4 Apple made realistic photography an option. The screen resolution and the over abundance of really cool camera and photography apps has made mobile photography legit (most posts on this blog that have iPhone photos are tagged iPhone).

Being a photographer that actually was around when we were shooting 35mm and transparency film, I have been a little slow to jump totally on the mobile photography platform, but with so many great apps out now it’s made iPhone photography fun. My top three of all those apps on the app store are listed below. You can click the image just below to see a full size screen shot of all three apps in an example progression.

With all these apps I would highly recommend shooting an original and working with a copy to preserve the original image. Many if not most of these apps will completely alter the image forever and you can’t go back, so be sure to have that original image saved.

Best iPhone Camera Apps

Camera+ – Great all around photography editing app

Camera+ is probably the most versatile app available. It has been around quite a while and has a very large number of adjustment-post editing possibilities. It has several shooting options for focus, a grid (standard on DSLR’s), a better zoom than the basic iPhone app has, and several ways to adjust the image before you shoot. The image editing features are more flexible than any app I have tried. It allows for the most filters, and gives you a large number of “effects” which are basically overlays on the image.

One of the best features of this app has nothing to do with the way it edits photos but with the fact that it doesn’t “require” a square crop to be taken. That allows the full 5mp camera depth to be used. It allows for sharing on Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. Cost $.99 (at this posting it’s on sale). Download Camera+ on iTunes

PicFx – Best app for filters, and textures

The PicFx app is basically an app you can apply cool filters and textures to your images. The biggest drawback to this app is the fact that you must use a square crop on the image which reduces the image size significantly. The best part about this app is the textures. It has a large number of choices and it gives you an easy to use opacity meter allowing for even more unique looks. Will allow you to share on Twitter and Facebook. Cost $.99. Download PicFx on iTunes

Instagram – Best social networking photo sharing app

This app has exploded in popularity like many things that have an element of social networking attached to it. The cool thing about Instagram is it’s quick and easy ability to share quick and quirky edits with friends. The negative aspects of this app is that it’s limited to basically people with an iPhone.

It has no web application, which means it has no way to see a full stream of photos, no url to give to someone, no profile, no rss feed, or any of the things we take for granted with most other applications (like Flickr). It is also quirky to add new friends, but all info and sharing take place within the app. You can share to Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Foursquare, or email.

This app would be fantastic if it had an app available for Android and a web presence. I have read that both are on the way but with the main focus of this app being a social networking app it needs to be available outside the iPhone. Cost: Free. Download Instagram on iTunes

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Jimi Hendrix and the Red Wall of Art in Opelika

Tumble — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 22:37:59 +0000

Photo of the day today comes from a shot I took a while back from a cool little place in Opelika called 8th and Rail. This night was an art and music night provided by some local artists.

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Local Paintings and Artwork of Auburn via iPhone at Publix

Tumble — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 21:18:28 +0000

The photo of the day today is paintings by a local artist (although I have yet to figure out who) and was actually taken with my iPhone. I am finding more and more true photography opportunities with my iPhone camera than I every would have thought possible by a phone camera. This shot was taken of local artwork that hangs in the entrance to a new Publix store in town.

I actually love taking photos of other photos, or of other artwork (see a good example from the Atlanta airport in 50mm). The light fades slightly as it moves across the image, but it’s still not bad at all for a phone.

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I Love the Smell of Kodak BW400cn in the Morning

Scott Fillmer — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:00:16 +0000

I had such a great time shooting with some photographers in Birmingham on Wednesday (Amelia Strauss, Paul Bryant, and Stephen DeVries) and I am sure DeVries could have guessed, he inspired me to look beyond my digital obsession and go back and re-examine my photographic roots in film. Of course I shot film for years and years before I picked up a digital SLR, mostly shooting Fuji Velvia 50, but since then (around 2001 when I purchased my first Nikon D100) I have taken less than a roll of film.

I dug around and found an older Nikon film camera, picked up some Kodak BW400cn film and BOOM, 35mm B&W possibilities abound. For those who already shoot a lot of 35 or 120 B&W, I would love to hear what your favorite emulsion is out there. Recommended to me was the Ilford XP2, Ilford HP5, Kodak Tri-x, and the Kodak BW400cn (shown above). I just happen to find some of the BW400cn, which is probably expired, no way to know.

Actually, I have some family background in photography (see Son of a Son of a Photographer?). My grandfather was a photographer of sorts back in the 70′s, and so was his son, my uncle (Les), so who better to ask. I contacted my uncle to see if he knew of or had any of the 120 medium format stuff laying around, and was thrilled to find out he did. Turns out he had a 3 1/4 x 4 1/4 Speed Graphic made by Graflex that my grandfather got for him when he was in sixth grade! It uses sheet film or 120 roll film (perfect) so any of you out there that love the older 120 Graflex, Rolleiflex, or Mamiya’s, looks like I could have some to post here in the coming months.

There were so many things I loved about shooting 35/120 film that I had totally forgotten what it was like to hold a roll of film in my hands. I hate that in the box thinking I trap myself into at various times, digital (for me) is one of those boxes. Thanks, Stephen.

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Light Painting with Sparklers and Some Low Light Photography

Scott Fillmer — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:00:53 +0000

I love expanding my photographic abilities and learning new ways to be creative, it just isn’t as easy as it sounds some time. Light painting photography seems to be all the rage now but it is something I tried when I shot my first photos of fireworks back in 1997. It just looked so neat that I had to try it again and again before I finally figured out what was going on photographically.

What is really interesting is if you look at the definition of photography, it needs no other word (like “light”) in front of it to give it meaning.

pho·tog·ra·phy [fuh-tog-ruh-fee] noun
the process or art of producing images of objects on sensitized surfaces by the chemical action of light or of other forms of radiant energy, as x-rays, gamma rays, or cosmic rays.

In other words, photography is “painting with light”. Without light in pure darkness photography actually isn’t possible, but add any light to anything, and you can record what that light does on a specific medium or surface.

Light Painting Photography

Light paint photography (more accurately called low light photography), or just “light painting” to use the trendy phase at the moment, uses just about the same techniques as lightning photography, or fireworks photography (see a few examples at How to Successfully Photograph Lightning // Equipment and Techniques, Auburn 4th of July Fireworks Celebration // Photos, or Do it Yourself Low Light Fireworks Photography). Coming up I might write a how-to do light painting photography just for the few differences it has over the above posts, so stay tuned.

A recent photo shoot with b/ turned out to produce a whole lot of duds for the intended purpose, but it was loads of fun trying. Below are two of my favorites from that particular night. I have several other “favorites” but will save them for later. This is really one of the easiest forms of photography, for me, since you can control most all the variables and bring the technique down to just holding a button down for the “painting”.

One thing I mentioned above is to try something new and get creative. I don’t know about other “creative” types (and I don’t really consider myself all that creative) but I need to have the right atmosphere and surroundings to get my brain thinking outside the box. This was something we tried that didn’t work all that well for what we were doing, but taking the time to try keeps you thinking.

Catalyst08 – The Catalyst Conference in Atlanta

One other way to get creative, go to where the creative people go and learn from them. In this case, this week, that will be the Catalyst Conference (see their really cool blog here) in Atlanta for me (and gotroot). Catalyst is a leadership conference for what is the Church of tomorrow (see about), something I have been looking forward to for quite a while.

Tomorrow I will update this information in more detail and how to follow along. I will be spending a good bit of my time photographing the event as well (sorry in advance to those going with me) and will post event photos here on Thrusday and Friday as soon as I can get them uploaded. In the mean time, I leave you with some light painting.