photography | July 01, 2010 | things i saw

Image Title: Sync In Progress
Time Stamp: 7:35pm
Location: West Bolton, Vermont
Photographer: Michael McKennedy
Project: Things I Saw Photo Galleries – A 365 Project
Consecutive Day Count: 908

Description: Finally got my iPhone to sync with my computer. I tried several times to sync with my Windows machine but failed everytime. Once I plugged it into my new Macbook Pro the update process was seemless. Bye, bye Windows….I will not miss you!

photography | sept 22, 2009 | mmckennedy

Photo Title: The Rainbow
Location: Viewed from my back porch, West Bolton, Vermont
Photographer: Michael McKennedy

Description: This morning my son said, “Check out the rainbow!” and there it was, one of the biggest rainbows I had ever seen right off my back porch!  This photo was taken with my iphone using Pano – it’s actually three photos merged (which also explains the quality).  The colors were drawn out, and the border was applied using GMIP.

About the project: The ‘Things I Saw’ photography project began January 7, 2008.  Since then I have shot, edited and posted one photograph per day – every day.  As of August 31, 2009 I had taken a total of 20,834 images, 604 of them made it to the Things I Saw photo gallery.  Take a look at all of Things I Saw photo galleries here.

Review |  iPhone Apps | July 2009 | MMcKenney

The iPhone…..I am guessing that you have probably heard of this ground-breaking, do-it-all, phone/iPod/everything else.  Back in April I posted an article called ‘Check Out These iPhone Web Apps‘.  Here we are a few months later and I have found some incredible apps.  Some of them cost money (up to a whopping $2.99!) and others are completely free.  Here are my most used iPhone apps.

The iPhone apps below are listed by order of use/coolness (as in the most used/cool app is number one):

Pano

Panoramic photographs on the iPhone? why the hell not? Pano is so slick that I wrote this blog article a while back.  The last time I checked Pano cost a mere $2.99!  This is certainlly one that is not going to break the bank!  This app is simple to use (I mean ridiculously simple to use!) and creates amazing panoramic photographs.  Check out a few of my panoramic photos in my panoramic photograph gallery (keep in mind that some of the older images were NOT created with Pano). More info on Pano for iPhone here. Cost: $2.99

TweetDeck

TweetDeck

The popular desktop Twitter application on the iPhone? Uh-huh!  This app is both functional and cool!  It has a multi-column layout (friends updates/mentions/direct message) and allows a user to keep up to date on all their social media followers.  Now you too can answer the question ‘What are you doing?’ right from your phone.  The one thing the iPhone app is lacking is the ability to update both Facebook and Twitter in one post (the desktop app has this functionality).  Check out TweetDeck for iPhone here. Cost: free

Facebook

Facebook

Yes, now all of you Facebook/social media addicts can tell all of your friends what you had for dinner right from your phone!  See what your friends are up to, upload pictures, check your Inbox, chat with friends, view your profile, update your status, etc… all from the palm of your hand!  Just do us all a favor and don’t update your status while you are driving! More on the Facebook app here. Cost: free

Google

Google Mobile App For iPhone

Google is there anything you don’t/can’t do?  If you are like me you are probably logged into some Google app every waking moment of your life (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration)!  Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Google Talk, Tasks, Reader, GOOG-411, News, Book Reader, Notebook, Photos, orkut, Translate, Maps, YouTube, and finally Google Earth all right under this tiny blue icon on your iphone!  Whew!  That’s a whole lot of Google!  Which reminds me, how did I function in life before Google came along? For this link for more about Google Mobile App for your iPhone. Cost: free

Compass Go

Compass Go

Maybe I don’t use this one daily but it’s still a great app!  Do you find yourself getting lost often? Maybe you stroll aimlessly into the forest on a regular basis? Maybe you visit unfamiliar cities often? Do you have and iPhone and a spare $1.99?  Compass Go allows you to set a starting point (but don’t forget to set it) and then find your way back to that point (assuming that your iPhone gets reception the entire time – if you are in the deep woods surrounded by mountains this could be an issue).  This app is easy to use and works accurately when there is reception.  Learn more about Compass Go here. Cost: $1.99

Lose It!

I don’t usually go on diets, or try to concern myself with the foods I consume but I do have this odd habit of tracking things.  I generally try to eat a healty diet but when I found Lose It! I began looking at food in a whole new light – numbers!  Who knew that counting calories could be so informative? (Obviously not me)  Lose It!  allows you to set a weight loss goal and to then keep a daily log of all the calories you consume and burn off.  It has a searchable database (by brand as well as food names) of foods and exercises.  If you are looking for an app that can help you count calories this one works great and the cost to you? absolutely free!  What could it hurt, go check it out at www.loseit.com.  Cost: free

What iPhone apps do you use daily?  Add your comments below.

Tutorial | iPhone Screenshot | July 2009 | MMcKennedy

Take A Screenshot With An iPhone (click for larger view)

So, you want to know how to take screenshots from an iPhone? It’s incredibly simple and you don’t even need any additional apps to do it!  Read on for a step-by-step tutorial on how to capture the current state of your iPhone in image form.

First of all, what is a screenshot? It’s an image of the current view, so what ever is on the screen gets captured in an image.  The image to the right is a screenshot.

Secondly, is screenshot one word or two…screen shot or screenshot?  Ahh…whatever, you get the point!

Thirdly, why would one want to capture a screenshot?  Say you wanted to post a blog article about how to capture a screenshot from your iPhone (hmmm….sounds familure doesn’t it?) and you wanted to include an example image of the screen capture, or, if you wanted to capture an image of your favorite iPhone apps to email to your friends (as opposed to typing out the names of the apps and emailing them).  You could even use this as a way to ‘crop’ an existing image on the iPhone.  Just open the image – zoom to the view you want and capture it.  Or you could use it to capture a still image from a video on YouTube.   The process is so simple and here it is.

Step 1: Get the iPhone to display the view you wish to capture.

Step 2: Hold down the ‘Home’ button (you know, the only physical button on front face of the iPhone)

Step 3: While continuing to hold the home button click the ‘Power’ button (the one on the top of the iPhone)

Step 4: There isn’t one – that’s it! 3 steps and you are done!

How do you find the iPhone screenshot?  They automatically get saved in your ‘Photos’ folder as .png files.  I know what you are thinking….’Wow! that is simple!’  My response to that….’Yup, is sure is!’

Photography | June 2009 | MMcKennedy

Panoramic photos, you know how cool they look!  Gone are the days where you need a tripod and PhotoShop to get some sweet panoramic shots!  Now all you need is an iPhone and Pano and the panoramic world is your oyster!  Take a look at my panoramic photo gallery as I have added new photographs to the collection.

Here are a few examples of what you will see:

Other panoramic subjects include – views from Libby’s Look in West Bolton (winter and summer), “The Stream”, Perkin’s Peer in Burlington, Vermont,  more views of Country Club Condos, Green River Reservoir State Park and more.   Check out all of my photo galleries here – enjoy!

If you want to learn about how to take incredible panoramic photos on your iPhone take a look at my article “How To Shoot Panoramic Photographs On An iPhone“.

Tutorial | June 2009 | M.McKennedy

Do you have a iPhone? Check.  Do you have $2.99? Check.  Do you have a desire to take panoramic photographs with your iPhone? Check. Do you have a least one finger to use to push a button on your iPhone? Check!  Do you have an iTunes account? Check! Then all you need to do is finish reading this article and you will be on your way to creating eye-catching panoramic photographs.

A panoramic photograph is an picture or series of images that offers a wide view of a scene.  Sure you could take a series of photographs by using a tripod and lining up each shot perfecting using photo editing software such as PhotoShop but there is a much simpler way.

There is an app for the iPhone called ‘Pano’, created by Debacle Software and costs a mere $2.99!  Yes, you must shell out the money for the iPhone but if you are reading this you are most likely either a current iPhone owner or someone who is considering purchasing an iPhone (I say do it! unless it will put you in debt).  Install the app on the iPhone and click the icon to get started.

So far we have two ingredients, well three really.

1) iPhone

2) ‘Pano’ installed on the iPhone

3) someone to press the iPhone button

Step 1: Select mode – portrait or landscape…that is the question (portrait being vertically long, and landscape meaning horizontally long).

Step 2: Take the first picture – that’s right! it’s as easy as clicking the button…go ahead, snap that first photo!

Step 3: Line up the overlay from the last image with the same location in the photo you are about to shoot and then….take the pic (don’t worry, I won’t describe taking every single pic.  I think that you can use up to thirty images with Pano, which should be plenty!) .

Step 4: Take successive photographs – keep rotating the camera bit by bit, lining up each previous image overlay with the photo next in the series.

Step 5: Finish it up – Click the little “gear” and choose ‘Make My Panorama Now!” – the screen will show a status bar while it processes the images.

That’s all there is to it.  Panoramic images made easy on the iPhone!

Here are a few more example panoramic photographs for your viewing pleasure.  Click on any image to view a larger instance of the photo.