Using your iPhone for photography

 They say that the best camera to use is the one you have with you. Most of the time, I am not lugging around my big Canon cameras, but I always have my iPhone 4S. Even when I do have my Canons, I will often snap a shot with my phone as it can be shared so quickly. You can also have fun with the photos like with these first two. There are so many apps for editing, sharing....you name it. You can create so many things right there on your phone and then post it to a social network or share it in an email.

 I take a lot of nature shots and scenery, so with those, if you want a crisp shot, you need to be holding the phone still when you take your finger off. That is when it actually takes the shot. Some apps allow you to touch the screen anywhere to take the photo, which can come in handy. These are spring plants popping their heads up that I saw while out on a walk this week.

 One good thing about digital is that you can delete them, so take as many as you want until you get a shot you think you will like.

 Take photos of friends and use them on your contact list. It always makes me happy to see a familiar face come up on my phone when I get a call! Last weekend, I met my friend, Kathy (a regular card sender, so you have seen a lot of her work on my blog) in South Carolina and we did a little shopping. We laughed at Hobby Lobby because she matched this display so I snapped her photo. I then entered it on my contact list.

 We also went to AC Moore where she showed me this new yarn that she said was all the rage. Now I do knit, somewhat, and I did see my friend Yunetta, wearing one of these, but I had no hope of it being something I could actually do! Well, I decided to try it (called a cascading scarf) and I sent a photo to Kathy to show her that I actually finished it! (It doesn't always happen that way!) It is so much easier to do this on my phone rather than take a real photo and then download it and send it.

 As I try to explain to my husband, my photos are my friends and they make me happy! These spring photos make me happy! I have over 2.000 photos on my phone and it is like a memory book/scrapbook I always have with me.

 Right now, I am using the crocus shot below as the wallpaper on my iPhone and iPads. I did have the ice photo at the bottom and it was time for a little color! I really enjoy seeing my photos on the screen when I open up my devices. It is such an easy thing to do!

 I also play with frames and special effects. Unfortunately, this photo is blurred, but it still makes me happy.

 I must have deleted the original to this photo after I played with it on Photo Genie, and as you can see, the shadows are blue....I should not have deleted the original.

 Just before I took this photo, Jackson was wearing his Papa's cowboy hat but I missed getting the shot. Not sure if I remembered the short cut to get to your camera (pushing the home button twice...to avoid having to put in the password) quickly or if having the touch anywhere app available would have helped, but it is still a nice shot.

One thing that I have not been successful at yet is taking a pano with my iPhone....it is not for lack of apps. I did try one on top of Stone Mountain, but the bright sun made the reflection too hard to line up the photos. Something I need to try on a cloudy day I guess.

There are lots of books out now on iPhone photography and more apps than I can count. There is a lot of discussion on whether to use the actual camera app or one of the many others to take the photo. I just downloaded a new one this week, that has filters you can use. Of course, there are also filters you can purchase, which is true of many of the apps that are free.....they get you by selling you stuff once you are hooked!

I have printed photos taken with phones and it is suprising how well they come out, if it was a good photo to begin with.

I use my phone camera a lot of time just as reminders to myself of things I want to remember. If I am doing a project that needs approval, sometimes I will snap a photo and email it from my phone, promising a "real" photo later.

 Often, I use my iPhone camera to take photos of flowers that I think are pretty. I will then use them as wallpaper on my phone and they just make me happy when I look at them!

I also use the video to record things like Clayton screaming (it is quite impressive) or Jackson learning to walk or playing at the playground. Just little snippets of those things that we think we will always remember but we do forget.

I want one of the new mirror less cameras that have come out in the last couple of years as they are smaller than my DSLRs. Jim says, but you have your iPhone, which I do use all the time. The new Samsung cameras even have wifi so you can use your iPhone in conjunction with the camera...how cool is that? I will keep you posted :-)