There's Never Been a Better Time to be a Photographer!

Blue Umbrella-Before

There's never been a better time to be a photographer! Well, maybe not for those trying to earn a living from it. Almost everyone has a camera these days, many of which are capable of producing high-quality images. And the fact that high-quality cameras are built into the iPhone and other smartphones means that people carry their cameras around with them to capture images as the inspiration hits them. Finally, editing digital photos is now much easier thanks to a variety of apps available to PC, Mac, and of course, iOS users.


A blue umbrella caught my fancy


Blue Umbrella-After

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Shown here are two images of a blue umbrella that caught my fancy. The first is the original photo I took with the iPhone 4's 5-megapixel camera using Camera Plus Pro ($1.99, app2.me/316). Once I had a photo I was satisfied with, I processed it on the iPhone with third party apps and uploaded the final version to my photo sharing sites. Here are the steps I followed:


  1. I cropped the original image square using PhotoForge (iPhone/iPod touch: $0.99, app2.me/328; iPad: $1.99, app2.me/3826).
  2. Still using PhotoForge, I applied a number of curve adjustment layers and then a layer of Unsharpen Mask before saving it in the largest resolution possible.
  3. At this point, I opened the image in PhotoWizard-Editor ($0.99, app2.me/3827; iPad version: $1.99, app2.me/3828) where I added the Dream effect and then saved it again.
  4. Finally, I opened the image in CameraGenius ($0.99, app2.me/3829) where I added the border before saving it one last time.

  5. Having taken the photo through the above paces, I upload it to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and the Best Camera website using BestCamera ($2.99, app2.me/315).

Sit back and celebrate


The final step was to sit back, celebrate the wonder of my iPhone and the renewed enthusiasm I have for the art of photography… and then start to think about my next creation! The possibilities are virtually boundless, limited only by your imagination and the time you want to spend creating them with literally hundreds of brilliant photography apps available for the iPhone for free or a minimal cost.


Though some professionals may disagree, there's truly never been a better time to be a photographer.

Issue: 
September-October 2011
Department/Section: 
Apps
TOC Weight: 
12