From the Archives: 365,000 Words, A Project 365

A few years ago, while I was living in the Boston area, I decided to try and take a picture every day for a whole year.   I started on my birthday and successfully completed my Project 365 on my following birthday.  I used my smartphone for a majority of my photos, since I always had it with me.  I found the experience so much fun!  I loved going back and comparing pictures of things and seeing how much they had changed in that year.

If you would like to check it out please click here!

Be well,

Amanda

Smartphone Photography and Apps

Let's be honest.  I can't carry my Nikon DSLR with me at all times.  There are definitely moments where I stumble upon the perfect shot while at work, or going to the grocery store, or out running errands, and the only option is the camera on my smartphone.  We all have them!  While many professionals kind of dismiss smartphone photography, I think it's fantastic!  The camera on my iPhone5 has more megapixels than my first digital camera.  And with all the applications you can download these days, you have your own mobile editing lab.  Most of the photography from the Day to Day section was taken with my smartphone.

There are hundreds of apps out there that you can purchase or download for free.   I only have experience with iPhone apps, but I thought I'd share a few that I really like.

Apps for Editing

Camera+

Camera+ is the app I use the most.  It has many awesome features such as: touch to focus/exposure, different shooting modes including a timer and stabilizer, and a digital zoom.  But the best part of this app is the editing suite that comes with it!  Camera+ has all the standards when it comes to editing (cropping, straightening, white balance, red eye, rotate), but where it really shines is in the effects it offers.  There are so many different filters that you can select that give your photo that extra pop you were hoping for, including the ability to layer different filters to truly make it a unique image. Camera+ is available for iPhone ($1.99) and the iPad ($4.99).

Mill Colour

Need to add a quick bit of flair to your photo?  Mill Colour App is perfect for just that.  While it may seem a little barebones compared to other photography apps (no cropping, rotating, or flipping), it's true purpose is to change the color values of your image.  It has a lot of great ready made filters to chose from, and it's simplicity makes for fast edits.  Mill Colour is available for iPhones, and is a free app on the App Store.

Adobe Photoshop Express

Adobe Photoshop Express puts the most useful editing functions of Photoshop in the palm of your hand.  This app has all the standards (cropping, rotating, straightening, red eye removal, color adjustment, etc), and even offers you the option to send directly to Walgreens to print.  While this app offers color filters, there isn't as much of a variety as Camera+, which is why I use that one more.  PS Express is a free app available for both Mac and Windows phones and tablets.

Novelty Apps

Over

Over is a neat little app that lets you add text or artwork to your photos.  In addition to cropping and tinting your image, you can add, edit, resize, nudge, fade and stretch text in various fun looking fonts included in the app.  The image at the top of the post was created with Over. You can find it in the App Store for $1.99

ShakeItPhoto

ShakeItPhoto turns your photographs into Polaroids. You can import images you've already taken, or use the built camera.  After snapping your photo, a Polaroid frame drops down, and you can either "shake it like a polaroid picture" or wait for the image to appear. $1.99 in the App Store.

What are some of your favorite photography apps?

Be well,

Amanda