As a photographer I was really impressed with with Photogene on the iPhone. It allowed me to take quick photographs “on the fly” with my phone which I always carry with me. I could then make quite dramatic changes to the images using Photogene and then upload them to Facebook or the many other options for getting photographs online via mobile uploads. Here is an example of a photograph tweaked with Photogene that was taken, edited and uploaded during an early morning walk last year.
Well now there is the iPad version! With all that extra screen area available on the iPad and the vast array of tools in this application, editing photographs is a real joy. Have a look at the video from uTube and you will see what I mean.
Of course the iPad doesn’t have a built in camera so you need to get your image files across to the iPad first. There are so many ways to do this and I will cover that in a separate post. Many critics bemoan the lack of a built in camera but the iPad isn’t meant to be lugged around to take photographs now is it?
That would not be a very viable option at all!
I can see how a web cam would be useful but not a stills camera ….
There is an app that allows you to take photographs remotely, controlling the iPhone camera from the iPad which is pretty cool. I can see a few creative opportunities there which again I will cover in another post.
There are new applications appearing every day for the iPad and some really interesting ones for photographers and other visual artists … I will keep you posted on the best ones I find.
If anyone else has found a great app post a comment and share it.
The iPad isn’t a laptop or desk based PC or even a MAC. We use it in an entirely different way to how we would use a traditional computer. There is no mouse or trackball. No five minute wait to actually start using it.
It’s use is instictive and people who haven’t used a computer before – not many I know – but think older generation or even three year old children, they will pick it up and start playing with it in no time at all. You touch and interact with it. iPhone owners will already be aware of how this feels more natural than pushing a mouse around to get to the content they want.
The iPad is all about content not computer files in the traditional sense. Like the iPhone and even the iPod before it the iPad’s about the content, not what lies behind the content; i.e it is about music, video, photos or images ….. not mp3 files, jpeg files etc .. you don’t even need to know that stuff, PCs try to hide it but not very effectively.
It is a brand new way to make content more natural and easy to use …. that’s the whole point of it. Many people especially the critics haven’t seen this yet. It loads in seconds, you just press the button as you would on an iPhone, no waiting around for your PC to “boot up” and load it’s operating system and a dozen and one other utilities and virus checkers as well … no waiting , it’s easy to use, it’s all about usability !!
The built in Ipad Photo App is incredibly simple and intuitive to use.
Steve Jobs said “it is the best device I’ve ever seen for enjoying and sharing photography.” Of course he is slightly biased ….
But there are truely some really nice features such as the ability to display albums of photographs as stacks of smaller thumbnail versions.
You can “pinch” and expand the stacks to see more before opening them completely and once opened each image will rotate to landscape or portrait format as you turn the device in your hand.
A bar of the thumbnails appears at the bottom of the screen and you can rapidly browse through these to locate a particular photograph.
Meta data from your PC or Mac will transfer across with your images allowing them to be sorted and if you use iPhoto on the Mac there is the option to sort by Event, Faces & Places as well.
With the iPad dock you can also use the iPad as a photo frame ( Portrait style only ). The slideshow options are also incredibly simple to use complete with background music added if you so desire.
The iPad is set to turn the publishing world upside down with the possibilty to publish and sell, books, magazines and all manner of content rich publications through iTunes.
Just think how iTunes has changed the distribution of music over the last few years, through the ubiquitous iPod, iTouch and more recently the iPhone.
