I haven’t been a fan of the idea of camera applications on the iPhone: the ones that take over, or replace, the regular camera. They just seemed unnecessary to me. Then there was Hipstamatic, which you know I love. Now, Lisa Bettany and Tap Tap Tap have come out with Camera+. Lisa is pretty au fait with all things photography and iPhone, and she said how much she has enjoyed testing and using the new app: that it’s helped her step back from her perfectionism and just enjoy photography again. So I figured, what the heck? And I bought it.
I used it a bit this weekend and while I was surprised that you can’t “stack” colour effects like you can with The Best Camera (not necessarily a bad thing, I don’t know if I’d really want to stack them, I was just surprised), I found it very intuitive and fun to use.
In some ways using this app is almost like seeing things as they aren’t: it’s like feeling the scene, rather than trying to capture exactly what your eyes can see. David duChemin was interviewed on This Week in Photography recently and I think he made a ripping point.
“People are always saying, ‘Did it really look like that?’ and it drives me insane, because I think, well, what does that mean? Do you say that to someone who shot with a wide-angle lens? Do you say it to someone who shot with a telephoto? Are polariser filters out? I mean, yeah, I was wearing my Serengeti sunglasses when I shot that, so yes, it looked warm and they happen to be prescription sunglasses, so it was sharp. What if I’d taken my glasses off? I don’t see quite as clearly as I’d like to; do I have to defocus everything so that it’s an accurate representation of what I saw?
“Photography: we’ve bought for so long this notion that the camera doesn’t lie, so as a result we’re chained to this really manufactured ethic. I’m not a photojournalist, so really this has nothing to do with photojournalism… I think really at the end of the day, the onus is on the story-teller to be a story-teller with integrity, and I’m not trying in my photographs to make something that really looked like that, I’m trying to make something that really felt like that.”
So, here’s some of my Camera+ shots (or edits) from the weekend.
Agreed it’s good.
Like you I didn’t much fancy iphone camera apps but there’s enough in this one to make it worth while. Even if its just adding some neat borders!
lol – I love that you put “costume” in parentheses after Jimi Hendrix! Not sure if that was intentional, but there is something whimsically funny about that.
Great pics! Interesting how all these new-fangled devices are so concerned with producing old-timey photos. You really went with the theme here though, and got some stunning results, I think. I like the bush path especially — makes me think of what Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds-land might look like away from the river…
Interesting quote too — boiled down, I guess it essentially says “(make the camera) lie with integrity”.
That’s what storytelling is, isn’t it? A license to lie? But I think that integrity is essential if you are going to connect with — and keep — your audience. (Which is why, I suppose, people hate “it was all a dream” endings, for example. Such a betrayal of trust! And ultimately a waste of time experiencing a story that wasn’t real, even in the fictional sense.)
You’ve done some great storytelling here though. Stunning and cohesive.
~Graham
The thing that gets me about most phone cameras is the noise… so any time you can edit the image and add these types of effects, it works better. Give the image an older feel, and the camera noise suddenly feels like film grain, and it works.
May need to check this out… though I have to replace my iPhone because I dropped it in the sink. It works… mostly… but no backlight, so I need bright light to perceive what is happening on the screen. 🙁
So, do you recommend it if you already have Hipstamatic? I have a couple of photo apps that I don’t use often, then I have Hipstamatic, which I use pretty often. I’d be curious to know if you use it very often after the initial tryout session.
Peter — Indeed! Thanks for the link on your blog!
Graham — Yeah, I wrote the “(costume)” bit, I wanted to include the fact that it was fancy dress & wasn’t quite sure the best way to say it, that’s what came out!
Yes, I guess “lie with integrity” is one way to put it! Not all lies are bad (the Bible doesn’t say “Thou shalt not lie.”, it says “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”). Story-telling is in part truth and part creative license. Glad you think I’ve achieved that. Thanks!
James — Yes, camera phones can be very noisy, although given the size of the sensor I’m not remotely surprised. Even my dSLR seriously struggled in the amount of ambient light where the photos of those two guys were taken (however the noise from the iPhone is slightly less elegant than the noise from my dSLR).
I was a bit disappointed by the iPhone 4 announcement when they were talking about the camera: they said they’ve gone up to 5MP and that the sensor pixel sizes are the same size, i.e., 1.75µm each. It’s good that they’re the same size and not smaller because the light sensitivity will be at least as good as the 3GS, but it might have been good to increase the pixel size and decrease MP, perhaps increasing to 2.1µm and only having 4MP. I don’t know if that’s very difficult to do in terms of manufacturing. Hopefully the “backside illumination sensor” technology means the light sensitivity is increased beyond just making it possible to include more pixels.
Are you going to hold out for the iPhone 4 or are you locked into a contract and have to get some other temporary replacement?
Jim — Yeah, I would recommend it along with Hipstamatic. They fulfil two quite different purposes. Even though some of the end results can look similar Camera+ is a lot more precise: it’s got a grid to help with composition, 5x digital zoom, and a very flexible crop feature. Hipstamatic is a bit more freeform; you’re not 100% sure what you’re going to get in the end. Both are fun and both have their place, I think. Haven’t used it since the weekend, but I’ve mostly been cooped up at home. Feel free to ask me again later if I’ve used it more!
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Hey, KRISTARELLA, nice photography! but can you give some description with the photo that you captured! Especially the people you chosen!