Inner Solace

So far this year for 365 (366) I’ve been using photos taken on my iPhone.  This is pretty much because I’m lazy.

That and my usual workflow for getting photos off my cameras has been bottle-necked at Lightroom because I fail at efficient post-proc, and am in the middle of four days and counting worth of post-proc for photos taken at a Burlesque High Tea event we had in December.  If I go into Lightroom it’ll be to finish sorting out those pictures for upload.  And after those, then I’ll go on to all the other batches, and maybe I won’t have a backlog of photos going back at least a year. -_-

(Or maybe I could just get better at taking photos so they don’t need post-proc. -_-)

Anyway, self-flagellation aside, these are the apps I’ve been using for 365 on the iPhone.

Camera+ (link)

I use this app as a replacement for the built in camera app on the iPhone and for some light processing.

I started using it when I had my 3GS because the lack of flash and poor performance in low-light meant that I had need of the image stabilisation feature, and the filters that compensated for various lighting conditions.  When I upgraded, I saw no reason to go back to the built-in camera app.

The basic editing tools for rotation and crop are very useful.  And there are some pretty shiny filters.  The only problem I have with them is that they seem to enhance any graininess/noise in the original photo.  Not always a good look.

Extra features I’d like to see in this app include a noise reduction filter, and maybe the ability to adjust brightness/contrast.

Phonto (link)

For adding the text to the photo, I use Phonto.  Lots of fonts to choose from, and lets me change the font colour, size and position.  Pretty much all I need to label these photos.  Easy to use and free.

Flickr (link)

I upload the photo with the Flickr app.  It’s not the greatest app, but it does the job.  I also know that you can upload from the various other camera/photo apps, but I find doing it through a dedicated Flickr app gives me more control.

Instagram (link)

The photo then gets uploaded to Instagram.  I may even add another filter on top if the mood strikes.  I was uploading them square at first, but that kind of means it messes up the fact that I composed the photo a specific way in Camera+ and now have to crop it square.  Doesn’t always work.  So I’ve given up on the square crop and have left photos in their original aspect ratio so it now looks letterboxed on Instagram.

After all that, I go to the Flickr photo in my photostream and Share on Tumblr.  I do that instead of posting straight from my Photo Roll so that it links to Flickr, and also because I can’t stand the iOS Tumblr app. Drives me batty.  If the app has improved in the last few months, let me know, because it was still terrible when I last used it in September.