Thursday, January 26, 2012

Photo Sync is The #1 Transfer App


Okay iPhoneographers, yesterday I posted about 2 of my favorite transfer apps. I closed the post with that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. However today is a new day, and I am changing my story, after hearing from the PhotoSync folks that their app also works via Bluetooth. So I tried it and I'm now happy to report that PhotoSync rocks over bluetooth! It is blazing fast and is now my only go-to transfer app. (Sorry, Photo Transfer. It was lovely while it lasted.)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Transferring Photos From iPhone to iPad to Computer


One of the questions I am most often asked is "What's the best app for transferring photos back and forth?" Working on the iPhone itself can be a fast track to eyestrain especially if you are using a painting app, such as my fave Pixel Blend. Ideally, we'd rather "app" our photos on our iPad or optimize them on our computer. So we need a reliable and quick way to transfer our art.

Of all the apps I've tried, (and as an appaholic, I've tried a bunch), the one that gets my overall vote is PhotoSync. For $1.99, you can install it on both your iPhone and iPad. The computer version is free (of course, you have to have it installed on one of your other devices for it to work.)

It is unbelievably fast - I've never had it crash or had any problems with it. I use it everyday. There is only one caveat: you must have wifi access.

And, traveling around to photograph, there may be times - gulp - when there is no access (eg. in the Galapagos, or Yosemite or camping.)

For those situations, I depend on my previous favorite transfer app:  Photo Transfer. ($2.99 in the app store.) Because (drumroll please), it also works with bluetooth. Just turn on bluetooth on both devices, open Photo Transfer on both, and voila, you are on your way. Go have a cup of coffee or chimp on your big boy/big girl camera for a bit, because bluetooth is a lot slower than wifi. But it's still magic.

The above image was transferred to my iPad or I'd never have been able to process it - the iPhone, much as I love it, is just too tiny for accurate brush strokes. This heliconia blossom was "painted" in Ghostbird Software's Photoforge app using the smudge tool, (way harder than Pixel Blend, but it wasn't available when I worked this) then combined with a sketch of the same image from Jixi Pix Artista Sketch app. The combining and blend mode was done using IRIS Photo Suite app.

So iphoneographers, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. The two best and most versatile transfer apps for less than the cost of a latte. You can't afford not to have them!

Friday, January 20, 2012

No iPhone Yet But You Have an iPad? No Problem!

Photographer Carol Robinson has begun the foray into "apping" by bringing her big girl camera pix into her new iPad and the rest, as they say, is history. I predict an iPhone in her future as well - after all, the best camera is..wait for it... the one you have with you!

Apps she has been using so far include Picture Suite for the Star Magnolia,  PhotoArtista Haiku and Blender. Me thinks I see a little pic grunger too.  So no iPhone, only an iPad? No problem.

As Carol says: "Addicted is the word for sure..I feel a lot more free to play with these images.
I like the Artista Haiku [the middle photo] the best of the three.   There are so many Apps , like so many colored pens. Hard to figure out what to do first."

Amen. Creativity to the max!




Friday, January 6, 2012

iPhone Art Around The World: Guest Gallery

Favorite contributor Rik Cooke shares a unique iPhone view of Rodeo Drive during the holidays. Leave it to a National Geographic photographer to put the "best camera" to photojournalistic use.  He used Pro HDR app and cleaned up the images in Lightroom and Snapseed.




And a new artist has offered her fresh and inspiring iPhone artwork: Vye Young.  Like so many of us, she can't remember the apps that she worked on her phone and iPad. We just get carried away sometimes.

Photo 1 is a detail of the George Hotel - Lviv, Ukraine

 About Photo 2, Vye shares: "Here is another app laden photo that turned from drab to pow with iPad apps.  This photo taken at a Park near us on Vancouver Island.  ps that is not snow!"