Posts tagged Photography
CameraBag Desktop
Oct 11th
A couple of months ago I wrote about how photos taken with the iPhone 3G can be much improved with camera applications such as CameraBag and ShakeItPhoto. These apps can add much character to an otherwise washed out and often bland offering.
Several weeks ago, the developer behind CameraBag for iPhone announced CameraBag Desktop, for Mac OS X. At the time of the release, there was no trial before buying which was a little disappointing, but because I had enjoyed the speedy way to enhance a photo on the iPhone I decided to jump right on in and plump up the $19 asking price. This was done mostly with the intention of checking it out so I could write an honest review here and let you, my dear readers, know whether it was worth parting with your money.
The application is extremely easy to use. Drag a photo onto the app window and you have all of your filters along the bottom as you can see. There’s plenty to choose from: Helga, Lolo, Mono, 1962, 1974, Instant, Magazine, Cinema and Colorcross – a filter that is not yet in the iPhone app. Aside from applying one filter, you also have a multi-filter option.
Let’s have a look at some before and after photos. First up is a photo I took today of my Nintendo DS…
And here is that same photo, with the Colorcross filter applied, along with a medium border…
In just one click, it has made a boring photo look really quite interesting. Here’s another of a sign post I took last year…
And here with the Colorcross filter, once again…
And finally this photo of the Millennium Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne…
And now with the Instant filter applied…
CameraBag Desktop is a great way to make your photos look interesting in one click without spending time in your usual photo editor. I can’t say I will be using CameraBag Desktop as often as I will Pixelmator for photo editing, but when a photo calls for more than just a little contrast and vignette then it will be very useful.
I’m going to give CameraBag Desktop a rating of 3 stars. It would have received more had the 15-day trial been available when released, to avoid blindly buying.
Rating: 
You can download a 15-day trial of CameraBag Desktop, here. Saving is disabled and images contain a watermark in the trial version.
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...The iPhone rules Flickr
Aug 18th
From The Next Web, regarding the iPhone now being the most popular camera on Flickr…
The iPhone is now showing us what it means when we combine technology. The camera isn’t ‘just’ a lens stuck to an iPhone. The fact that you always carry your iPhone, it is always connected to the web and always knows where you are makes it far more effective and efficient than ordinary digital camera’s that is isn’t surprising that it is quickly becoming the most popular camera.
I was just discussing this with a friend recently. I’ve been spoiled with the ease of uploading a photo to the internet in seconds with the iPhone without the nuisance of wires or docking that I rarely take my digital camera out with me now. I had recently considered buying a digital camcorder but wouldn’t the ultimate all-in-one device be the iPhone 3GS? Why take two bottles into the shower? Indeed.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Shake it like a Polaroid picture
Oct 26th
I found a fun little app for the Mac today which turns your digital photos into Polaroid-like pictures, called Poladroid. Here’s one I made earlier from one of my photos of my favourite bookstore in Newcastle upon Tyne…
Once you’ve downloaded the application you simply drag your photo onto the polaroid camera icon where it will make all those realistic noises, then spit out your photo and you can either wait a few minutes for the it to develop or you can even shake it as you would a real polaroid.
Poladroid have a Flickr group where you can upload your creations to.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Lightbox on a budget
Sep 4th
Sometimes when I photograph objects, particularly something like my iPod touch which is very shiny, it’s difficult to get the exact results you want without seeing tons of reflections which can easily ruin a shot. I don’t want to buy anything professional like a lightbox for the amount of photography I do, but I’d still like to take some shots and have that plain white background which you see in magazine ads and catalogues.
I happened upon some photography on Flickr which looked like it was taken in a professional studio, when infact the apparatus to help create that shot was just over £5. Today I purchased that apparatus from IKEA, placed a few objects in and took photos. Here are a some of the results.
So, how was this achieved and what exactly are IKEA doing selling photography products, I hear you ask? Well, they don’t. It’s a pop-up laundry bag which acts like a photography tent. It’s perfect and it’s called SKUBB which costs £5.29. I haven’t positioned any lights on it for the above photos, I was just allowing natural daylight coming in through the windows. For the shiny floor I simply placed an A4 sheet of glossy photo paper into the laundry bag, then hooked my digital camera up to my JOBY Gorillapod tripod, set the camera to Super Macro and had fun experimenting. Very pleased with the results which will make photographing small and shiny objects so much easier in future, especially the shiny metal behind of the iPod touch!
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Six gadgets in Six months
Jun 1st
Since we’re now halfway through the year, I’d like to reflect on the gadgets that have entered my lair over the past 6 months and more importantly discover whether some were just novelties or worth every penny…and perhaps it’ll help others make a decision on whether they should buy.
Apple PowerBook G4 – I bought this from eBay for less than £300 in January. This was bought to take to the studio with me a few times a week, aswell as a ‘bed browsing’ machine. I have used it pretty much everyday since I bought it and it hasn’t let me down. Well worth the (low) price, runs Leopard fine and still such an attractive machine.
Fuji S5700 7MP Digital Camera – Superb camera. It’s easy to use, lots of functions and still lots to learn which is just the way I like it. I paid £104 for this and it’s been worth every penny – using just about every single day. I also bought a couple of extra lenses from eBay for it – a wide angle and a macro.
Aiptek AHD200 High Definition Digital Camcorder – I don’t use this everyday but I guess nobody would expect me to. For a high definition camera the price was amazing, at less than £110. Fantastic video quality as you can see over at my Vimeo page. I still want to create some ‘creative’ videos and now that summer is here (well, on a day like today you wouldn’t think so) I should be able to capture some more.
LOMO Fisheye Camera – I bought this (£22) with the absolute intention of it being a novelty, so it has totally lived up to that. I have taken one roll of film with it which didn’t turn out great, but since I took random shots in 3 days then I didn’t really expect them to. I have used about half a roll of the second film so I suppose I should use up the other half of the film and get it developed to see if there’s much improvement. I don’t regret buying it as I didn’t have huge expectations and film/developing is dirt cheap.
Wacom Bamboo Graphics Tablet – After doing some graphics work and photo-editing/touching up which was proving fiddly with my Mighty Mouse, I decided to buy the Wacom Bamboo (£59). I wasn’t sure whether this would replace my MM altogether but after a few days it felt completely natural and I used it solid in place of my mouse for 3 weeks. Then one day I just felt like giving my hand a rest so I plugged my mouse back in and have used this eversince. I haven’t had any fiddly graphics work to do in recent weeks but that doesn’t mean I won’t have in the coming ones. It’s on the other desk beside me and can easily be plugged into my USB hub when I need to use it. After the first day of using the pen on the graphics tablet my underarm and arm muscles felt quite tense and sore. That’s because my arm was getting more of a workout than it does with the mouse as my hand was moving around a lot more. After a couple of days I got used to it and had no more tense muscles.
Elgato EyeTV – I’ve had this for a couple of weeks and have found myself recording far more TV shows than I ordinarily would. It’s great to be able to watch live TV at the computer and record my favourite shows, then burn to disc. I have only burned about 5 DVD’s so far as it does take rather a long time for the export process, then burning in iDVD…and that’s just a 30 minute show. If I had Apple TV then I wouldn’t need to use DVD’s, I’d just pop them into my iTunes library and view on my TV screen. I can also stream my recordings via wi-fi to my iPod touch which is very cool.
So, what for the next 6 months? I have a back catalogue in my head, hopefully I’ll get around to buying them.
I’d like Apple TV, for the reason mentioned above but also for the upcoming iTunes Movie Rentals in the UK. Definitely keeping one eye on that.
Time Capsule. Not something I want/need immediately, but it would be nice for TC to handle all my Time Machine backups and I could then use my LaCie 320GB external hard drive exclusively for additional storage space…especially when I start stuffing up my internal HD with the things I record via EyeTV 
Of the people I know who have Time Capsule they absolutely swear by it.
Apple Cinema Display…as long as it’s refreshed and brought up to date with a similar look to the iMac – built-in iSight, black rim, alu and glass with the choice of Matte or Glossy screen. I’d go for the glossy to be in keeping with my iMac as I prefer glossy. Oh and it also needs to be reduced in price…significantly
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Photo Fetish
Apr 26th
I’ve been admiring photographs taken with Lomo cameras for a while on Flickr and this week I bought my first Lomo – the Fisheye. I’d seen it a couple of weeks ago at the Baltic Contemporary Arts Centre shop in Gateshead, priced at £40. I got mine for just over £22 on Amazon (store/seller: gadgetepoint) on Sunday night. It arrived Tuesday morning sharp.
I bought a pack of two FUJICOLOR C200 (36 exp) 35mm film for around £3 and popped a roll in. This week I have been a bit pushed with other things so hadn’t really planned on going anywhere special to take some photos. I did manage to pop out on Thursday afternoon for a couple of hours. I must admit it all feels a bit strange to take a photo and not have immediate playback on an LCD screen to see how it turned out. Plus having to wind the film on after I’ve taken a photo is something I’m having to remember. And there was also the weird self-conscious feeling of using a camera which looks and feels a little like a Fisher Price toy!
I popped the film into ASDA Walmart yesterday lunchtime and had a few options. I didn’t necessarily want the photos printing as to be honest I had few expectations of these photos, given it was my first time with something quite different – and I’ve learned positioning is rather important for a camera with a 170 degree field of vision!! A few photos had my sleeve in, knee in and even my hair in! So, I was given the option to have the photos scanned to disc, no printouts. This suits me as it’s just going onto my Flickr stream anyway and if there was anything worth printing I have a couple of photo-printers at home. There were, as expected, some ropey shots – but a few did turn out okay. Best part is it only cost 97p to have the photos developed/scanned to disc in 1 hour.
You can check out six of my Lomo Fisheye photos, here. Those were the best out of the lot. I had to take some random shots to use up the last of the film as clearly I didn’t take many when I was out, but was keen to get it developed. This isn’t a camera I will use a whole lot, but I do like the way it really enhances the clouds in the sky. I will be taking this on some of my photo walks as it takes quite interesting shots.
If my Fuji S5700 Digital Camera was feeling out in the cold after the arrival of the Lomo Fisheye then it needn’t have. Yesterday it got some attention with a new wide angle lens.
I bought it last week for around £10.50, plus £13 shipping from Hong Kong, through eBay. It’s good to have a wide angle – really liking it’s effect. Hoping for a dry and sunny day next week to go and experiment with it.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Joby Gorillapod
Apr 14th
Today I bought a Joby Gorillapod tripod for my digital camera and HD digital camcorder. Gone are the days when I shove a bunch of books under my camera to get a little more height when taking shots on a flat surface.
I bought it from PC World (I know, sorry!) for £19-99. The maximum weight load for this particular Joby is 275g. I searched through my digital camera manual and discovered the total weight of my Fuji S5700 is 400g. My camera is a bridge, so physically it’s more like a DSLR – but the Joby Gorillapod SLR (max weight load 800g) is more expensive and I didn’t want to pay too much for something that is only for occasional light useage. It takes the weight of my Aiptek High Definition digital camcorder no problem and it will be very useful for that as that won’t happily stand or balance on any surface.
You can check out the Gorillapod range, here.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...
Recent Comments