Photo

Two great apps for taking and sharing photos on the iPhone

You have no doubt noticed lately on my blog that there have been posts with but a single picture and a few words accompanying the image. I am using the now widely used app Instagram, coupled with Posterous. The first allows you to run your image through a few funky filters and then post to various sharing sites (Facebook, twitter, and Posterous). Posterous, in turn, shares to just about everything. Posterous (which, I just found out, is pronounced pos-ter-us, not post-erous) is a free service that you can push your updates to with a simple email.

A twitter and PSU colleague, ScooterNSticks, reminded me of Camera+, an app with great effects that I had purchased ($2) some time ago. The special effects really are superb (see the barn image in a previous post) and it also provides far more control of the iPhone camera than the standard app allows. What I did not realize is that it too had sharing features.

So there you have two apps that are well worth having on your phone if you like to take and share pictures. Remember, the best camera you own is the one that is with you. Here is one more image, enhanced by Camera+ with the “Fashion” filter.

Some days are just like this.

Instagram – Quickly share your photos

May 16th, 2011

by Christian Brady.

No comments yet

Tending goal is a lonely business.

You know me by now, I love photography more than comics. The iPhone does not have the best camera among smart phones, but it isn’t bad, at all. Sharing those images is part of the fun and while flickr is a great storage/sharing service there is no quick way to upload and share from the iPhone. Then came Instagram.

I am late to this party and it isn’t a perfect bash, for sure, but it is a nice free app an service. You take a picture, add one or none of a variety of filters including tilt/shift, and then upload to facebook, twitter, email addresses, etc. So when I took this shot of my son I was able to send it to twitter, facebook, and flickr and also send it to my wife’s email (since she never checks the other sites).

Add to that the new app Postagram (created by an SHC grad) which connects to Instagram and allows you to mail a physical postcard of your image and you have a great travel tool. When in Cali two weeks ago I took and instantly shared images with the fam. Then I sent a postcard to the kids that arrived after I did, but they loved it!

Califor-nigh-a

May 4th, 2011

by Christian Brady.

2 comments

This week I have taken a quick trip out to the west coast to meet with a friend of Penn State and the SHC. I have to say that the more I come out here the more I like California…well, parts of it. Of course I suppose you can say that about any place.

I know myself. I know that I do not like cities, at least, not as places to live. That is much of why I love State College. I drive past horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, experimental crops, and Beaver Stadium in my 4.3 mile commute. Yet in 3-and-a-bit hours I can be in Wash. DC, Philly, Pittsburgh, or NYC. All the benefits with little of the hassle of living in the city itself.

I also know that I enjoy going to my in-laws at Rehoboth Beach, DE (no really, I do). But I have never really enjoyed that whole beach scene, the mass of people, the boardwalk (although I love Fun Land! hasn’t changed in 40 years).

And today I find myself at Torrey Pines, California. Wow. It is stunning. Beautiful flowers, shrubs, and breathtaking bluffs with the surf below. I could really get used to this. San Diego is just 20 miles away. But then I consider the taxes, the earthquakes…

So I will enjoy this day and the morning to get some work done with the balcony door to my hotel room open and the light aroma of the Pacific Ocean blowing through the curtains. And remember, that “all creation declares…”

You can see more of my pictures from Torrey Pines on flickr.

Location:N Torrey Pines Rd,,United States

Why do I like these funky pictures?

Apr 28th, 2011

by Christian Brady.

1 comment

Most of you know that I love photography. There is an old saying that the best camera is the one you have with you and my iPhone is constantly with me. And I have to say that the iPhone 4 has a pretty decent 5MP camera. It is not great, but I have gotten some pretty nice results. There is a little app that is all the rage called Instagram which basically makes your nice iPhone images look like they are old and worn. The reason I use the app is that it allows you to upload the images to several social networking sites at once, flickr, facebook, twitter, all the usual lowercase culprits. What is odd is that the image effects are growing on me. Take a look at a few and let me know what you think.