Blogging from my iPhone

PicStitch – easy photo montages

bigusfickes — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 02:57:29 +0000

Ever see those single pictures made up of several different pictures? That is what PicStitch does. I don’t know if photo montage is the correct term, but stitching is something I do to piece together panoramic shots. This app “stitches” multiple pictures together in several different predefined layouts.

In addition to piecing multiple photos into one, you have an array of effects available. Color filters, image manipulation, lots of export options including Twitter & Instagram, not to mention Aviary is integrated in. This free version is plenty good for me at the moment. The paid pro version must be awesome.

Here are some screenshots and a few sample pictures I made. I recommend getting this app.

HDR Fusion, just get it

bigusfickes — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 01:34:32 +0000

I really don’t know much about HDR photography so this review will be very simple.

Free iPhone photography app HDR Fusion is totally worth a download. HF is free and a really simple way to take *single* HDR pictures on your iPhone.

App usage is even easier than the built in camera.

1. Open HF
2. Point and shoot
3. Keep your phone still until you hear two camera shutter clicks
4. HF merges images
5. Save or Retake your photo.

HF takes two photos then auto merges the two into a single HDR photo.

There are a few manual controls like manual focal points and self timer, but overall this is a point and shoot affair.

Below are some screenshots. The actual HF interface looks almost identical to iPhone’s camera so no shot for that.

Take note of the last 3 pictures of the slip on. Picture 1 was taken with HF, and the last two were taken with iPhone’s camera in HDR mode. Kind of splitting hairs with this pic, in general I always prefer HF’s output.

HF isn’t mind blowing, but it’s really simple and I love the auto image fuse. HF has found it’s way into my Instagram workflow. Really fantastic if I’m snapping a stationary photo. Use HF to get a really rich shot, then run through Instagram filters.

Enjoy, and I would love to hear about any free iPhone photo apps I haven’t covered yet.

4th of July 2011

bigusfickes — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:55:27 +0000

Happy 4 th

Pixelate your photos with DotCamera

bigusfickes — Fri, 20 May 2011 02:06:11 +0000

DotCamera is a snappy free camera app for pixelating your photos. Really simple :

1. Select photo from Camera Roll or your camera

2. Select square or line

3. Slide to control color depth

4. Push OK.

Play around with DotCamera, it’s fast and free.

Sweet Japanese photo app

bigusfickes — Fri, 20 May 2011 01:30:29 +0000

I stumbled across a really sweet free camera app, but it’s 100% in Japanese so I have no clue what anything says. What I do know is this app is pretty awesome and has tons of photo effects, filters, borders and more.

This will be my first all screenshot app review. App usage is mostly straight forward as it has what you’d expect from a camera app :
- Snap new photo or select from your Camera Roll
- TiltShift
- color controls
- background frames
- loads of photo filters and effects
- share social or save locally

If you’re adventurous and into photo apps, give this one a try. I think the AppStore’s Genius feature is how I found this one, or maybe Appbzr. Either way, this is an amazing free camera app.

Squareup with iPhone 3G

bigusfickes — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 04:51:05 +0000

Here’s a quick tip for iPhone users looking to accept credit cards using Square ( http://squareup.com/ ). Use an iPhone 3G.

My wife ran a silent auction recently, and the Square credit card reader wouldn’t work with her iPhone4. I did a quick Google and found out the reader doesn’t really work with iPhone4 right now.

So I broke out my old iPhone 3G, got on wifi, plugged in the reader and BOOM! I’m accepting credit cards!

Make easy photo collages with MoloPixFree

bigusfickes — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 03:12:46 +0000

Just came across a handy photo app called MoloPixFree. In a nutshell this app snaps multpile pictures and then puts them together in a grid. The free version has two main options :

- grid size ( 2 or 6 pictures )

- shutter speed ( slow, medium, and fast ).

Usage is extremely simple. Pick grid size, snap photo. The camera automatically snaps 2 or 6 photos after you hit the take picture button. Shutter speed determines how much delay between pictures.

There is also a sharing feature, but you have to register with molo.com to use it. I haven’t tried to share, but it looks like their own sharing service vs the standard social sharing options.

I don’t forsee myself using this a lot, but it is useful and not polluted with banner ads. Here are some screenshots of MoloPixFree.

Photos + sweet filters + social + free = Instagram

bigusfickes — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 02:40:58 +0000

My new favorite free photo app for iPhone is Instagram. A new social photo sharing service with some sweet filters.

What you get with Instagram
- free photo app
- 10 or so image filters
- social connections and photo feed
- geotagging photos

It’s totally straight forward. Sign up, install the app, start shooting and sharing your photos. Here are some screenshots from various screens in the app.

Friend me up after you install the app, I’m ericfickes.

Nightime in the garden with iPhone4

bigusfickes — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 05:58:19 +0000

It’s official, this blog is now published from an iPhone 4. I had hoped it would have changed the game, but it seems like the game is just faster and shinier. That’s cool, the new iPhone is a huge upgrade from the 3G.

Something new on iPhone4 is an eye tazer. Marketing might tell you it’s a flash, but my pupils and my pets will tell you otherwise. Let’s just say it’s wicked gnar gnar bright.

So I’ve been bummed about the new flash until tonight. It’s too bright to use on people or pets, but iPhone4 can take great night photos. I snapped a few garden shots while out with the doggies. These were all taken around midnight, so all I could do was aim.

I wouldn’t enter any of these into a contest, but I am shocked how good these came out.

LEGO your iPhone pictures

bigusfickes — Sun, 09 May 2010 02:42:22 +0000

LEGO Photo is another free iPhone photography app. Probably the most fun of the free apps, LEGO Photo let’s you apply a Lego block filter to photos from the camera, or existing photos from you camera library.

There isn’t much else to explain. Choose a photo, wait for LEGO Photo to process, then tap the screen to apply random filters. Once you find one you like, save the photo.

Here are some shots of LEGO Photo.