Category Blog

My favorite iPhone apps for pro photographers

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There is no end to “top ten” lists when it comes to iPhone app recommendations.  But since it seems like everyone is releasing a new one these days (my grandmother’s working on one right now, I think), it isn’t long before any of these published recommendations becomes out-of-date.  Besides, I’m actually curious what other photographers who own iPhones use to make their business and creative lives easier, more productive or just plain fun.   My list features some obvious, photo-related choices and many other apps that have nothing ostensibly to do with photography–but are nevertheless quite useful.

Here is my list with reasons why.  I hope it’s helpful, and I’d love to hear feedback if you hate/love my choices or have others of your own. Out of more than 300,000 apps I might have missed something cool, right?

Photography
Strobox

 What it does: I’m a geek at heart, and I like to keep recipe cards for many of my shoots–especially those that have great results I’d like to repeat. This app allows me to sketch my lighting/subject setup easily and, since I draw like a kindergartner, allow me to actually understand it when I look at it later.

What I like: Easy to use, nice looking icons. I can save them.

What I don’t: Doesn’t have icons (like a sun) suitable for showing location shoots, which is much of what I do. That’s what my pen is for, however.

Cost: Free
Photographer’s Contract Maker

 What it does: Great little app for customizing and presenting a variety of documents online. I use mine for model releases. It allows you to upload your logo, take a shot of the subject, and get their signature by having them ‘sign’ with their finger on the iPhone screen. It emails a pdf to you (and to your subject if needed), saving you the time it takes to scan your physical releases. Very customizable and useful.

I like: Customizable and flexible. I can create any number of documents that need signatures. Great online help videos, too.

I don’t like: that you can’t take a picture of your subject to append to the release. But, I wasn’t doing that with the physical releases, either.

Cost: $2.99
Light Trac

 What it does: For outdoor and location shooters, this one is a gem. Pop in any potential shoot locale and it’ll pop it up on a Google satellite map overlaid with lines showing of the sun’s rays during sunrise, sunset and any selected time. Just put in the location, the date, the time, and see how sunlight will work with your scene.

I like: Can reference future dates/times, and you can save locations.

I don’t like: Still in the honeymoon phase. It’s darn near perfect.

Cost: $4.99
Pocket Scout

 What it does: Records interesting potential photo locations for future use, complete with photos and detailed notes. This is great for a location photographer who is always on the lookout for good places in which to shoot.

I like: Allows you to take multiple photos for reference. Uses GPS to automatically enter the address of the location you’re at (no typing!) Allows tagging and sharing of locations.

I don’t like: Doesn’t work well on 3G phones (and not at all on 2G phones). It does work with iPads, though.

Cost: $2.99

Productivity Apps
Dragon Dictation

Dragon Dictation
 ReQall

ReQall
What they do: Both apps allow you to record audio and provide real-time transcription. Both make some hilarious translations from time to time. Otherwise, there are differences that–for me–are pushing me to keep both apps on my phone, for different purposes.

I like (Dragon): Lightning fast and a slight edge in quality of transcription. Can push to Twitter and Facebook, email, SMS. Ability to edit the transcription. Free.

I don’t like: No way to categorize or store notes.

Best Used For: To post sms, twitter and facebook items quickly when all you have is an iPhone.

Cost: Free

I like (ReQall): Can categorize, tag transcriptions or have ReQall decide for you. Can set up email so that it automatically emails you transcript without having to enter an email address. Can handle events and dates/times. Stores the audio so you can listen to it, and includes audio in emails so that even if transcription is garbled you can listen to the audio.

I don’t like: Can be very slow. Transcription seems a bit weaker than DD but still very good.

Best Used For: Great for to do lists; a productivity tool. Great for storing and organizing info that you record on the fly, such as blog post ideas, location shoot ideas, etc.

Cost: Free

How I use them: ReQall for quick hit ideas, events to be scheduled and notes to myself when on the go. Also as an organizational tool, to remind me about events and tasks. Dragon for dictating social media posts or messages without needing a keyboard and sending them on the go.
Milog
 What it does: Records your mileage and travel-related expenses such as tolls, parking fees, etc.

I like: It’s easy to use, saves locations and tags, and it emails me a swanky spreadsheet perfect for tax purposes.

I don’t like: Sometimes the odometer resets while I’m noting mileage and I have to reenter it. Once entered, though, it stays saved.

Cost: $3.99
Bento

 What it does: Personal (FileMakerPro) database that syncs up with your desktop version of the same software and can be used for everything from contact management to equipment inventories. I also love Japanese food.

I like: It allows me to carry a lot of my business information on the road with me. It syncs as long as I’m near my computer without having to be plugged in.

I don’t like: Shouldn’t it be free, since you need to have the desktop version of the software, which you have to pay for? Yes. It should.

Cost: $4.99
AroundMe

 What it does: Quickly finds information about your surroundings, wherever you happen to be. In a new city and need coffee? AroundMe will get you to the closest one.

I like: It’s free, easy, and allows you to search outside of the provided handy categories. Did I mention it finds coffee?

I don’t like: It can’t actually apparate coffee, hot and accompanied by a bagel, out of thin air. But it gets darned close.

Cost: Free
Square

 What it does: Allows you to accept credit cards on your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.

I like: It’s free–no monthly fees or contracts–and the per-transaction fee is reasonable provided you have the accessory card swiper thingamabob (also free, from Square). It’s fast and very slick.

I don’t like: I use it only on occasion, but it would be nice if there were a merchant account level that required a monthly fee but took a smaller per-transaction fee.

Cost: Free

So….that’s what’s on my iPhone.  What’s on yours?

–30–

Now that’s a cool Christmas gift!

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It’s the end of the year, which means that it’s time for gifts!  I think I’ve mentioned I have the best clients…ever.  I got a good reminder of this when Jondi from the Maine Eye Center knocked on our studio door last Wednesday.   She was bearing a cool hand-made wooden box with a sliding top that, when opened, revealed a bunch of holiday goodies…all Maine-made, of course (see above for my hasty iPhone capture of the loot).   First was a monthly calendar featuring the work of local artist Erin Flett of studio e flett design.   My wife Beth loves her design work and recognized it immediately.   I immediately went to the peanut brittle, made by Sugar Hill Baking Company.  I was about to go monkey on the large plate of brittle, but noticed at the last minute the small wooden mallet and accompanying safety goggles.   Turns out there was a method to this madness.  I put on the safety gear, readied the mallet, and let ‘er fly.   After enjoying way too much of the treat I noticed that the box and mallet were made by Mainer Richard Holman.    Kind of a nice icing on the cake to see that everything was made locally.

Thanks, Jondi and Maine Eye Center!   Not only were these guys a treat to work with throughout 2010, but they are a class act, too.    Of course, now that ups the ante for me for next year…how do you top homemade peanut brittle and a hammer?

–30–

Aurora’s pics of the month

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This is kind of cool.   Every month, the picture agency Aurora Photos publishes a roundup of their favorite member image.  These images are featured in a regular Aurora newsletter sent out to contributing members in order to foster community among the close-knit group.   One of my photos, of senior citizens practicing yoga, was chosen for the month of November.    Given how difficult yoga is, I’m amazed at how effortless these seniors make it look.   Check out Aurora Photos to see more great work from their member photographers!

Happy Halloween from the worker bees

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No one can deny that we have a fun bunch here at the Fitzgerald studios.   Since Halloween is Sunday, we decided to make Friday a dress-up day.  There’s Lady Gaga (AKA Ayla Kelley), Lucille Ball (Stepheney Collins) and drones no. 5,568 and 17,321 (we’re worker bees…it’s definitely appropriate).   So, enjoy the slideshow…and happy holidays, everyone!

[photoshelter-gallery g_id=’G0000XoQevkhjBXE’ g_name=’Halloween-2010′ f_show_caption=’t’ f_show_slidenum=’t’ img_title=’casc’ pho_credit=’iptc’ f_link=’t’ f_send_to_friend_btn=’t’ f_fullscreen=’t’ f_topbar=’t’ f_bbar=’t’ f_htmllinks=’t’ f_mtrx=’t’ fsvis=’f’ width=’560′ height=’500′ bgcolor=’#AAAAAA’ crop=’f’ twoup=’t’ trans=’xfade’ tbs=’5000′ bgtrans=’f’ linkdest=’c’ f_constrain=’f’ f_bbarbig=” f_enable_embed_btn=’f’ f_show_watermark=’f’ f_smooth=’f’ f_ap=’f’ f_up=’f’ target=’_self’ wmds=’llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.Z9sNmliu3owDNs7Rroktg48NZO.O6MQpsrxBU9JXInuJQEstogw–‘ ]

Expand your mind (and your Mac) with hard drive enclosures

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A present to ourselves: the indestructible Burly Box from MacGurus (click image to view larger photo)

I’ve written before about the need to have a 3-2-1 backup system for your important image files. Now here’s a great tool that makes automating backups, cloning and file transfers a snap: a multiple-bay hard drive enclosure. Whether you have a multiple-drive war horse or are using an iMac or laptop, if you’re a photographer you probably should look into one of these. This particular unit is sold by the knowledgeable folks at MacGurus.  When I called, the guy who helped was Rick, the owner.

I chose a four-bay unit so that my primary copies of my archive as well as backups and system clones could happen in one place. The unit is extremely tough and comes with robust power and cooling systems, so it’s meant to be run–as you might expect–all the time. This “always-on” approach solves the issue many photographers face who have a good backup system in place that may not get consistently applied because hard drives aren’t always plugged in and attached to the computer.

Ours arrived this week, and so it was fun to just light it and open it the opposite way that I opened presents as a kid: sloooowly.  More on software recommendations for handling automatic processes soon.

Can’t wait for Halloween

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Our daughter, Maggie, is just three…so Halloween is a big deal. She has been planning what to wear for months, starting off as Rapunzel with short hair, eventually wanting to go as a green ghost (why not?), and finally to a….ladybug. I think the wings pushed her over the edge on this one. That, and the fact that black and red are (currently) her two most favorite colors. Since we got the costume she’s been trying to wear it to practice, which is how we ended up in the studio for an impromptu photo session over the weekend. I may be biased, but she looks great.

Kind words and fun spaces…

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Commercial photographers operate in a world without a lot of immediate positive feedback. When a client likes what you’ve done, they’re less apt to say anything than if you’ve not met expectations. It’s hard to talk about your work as well, since you may have to wait until the images are used or published by the client. That’s why it’s been a fun week at Fitzgerald Photo HQ.

A couple of our images were published in the current, October issue of Portland Magazine (that’s the space formerly occupied by Via Marketing, above, plus an image of the LEDA (Leslie Evans Design) space in Portland. Nice reproduction! I also got a great recommendation from Pelland Advertising, a firm that is doing work for a client of mine who I really enjoy. It’s lengthy, but I’ll include the entire recommendation. I think it speaks to why an experienced professional photographer is still relevant even in this age of inexpensive digital cameras and cheap (but generic) stock photography:

“Pelland Advertising produces websites and print advertising for small business clients in the travel and tourism industries. Having retired from providing on-location photography as one of our service offerings, I have a demanding eye and extremely high standards. Unfortunately, in these days of Photoshop and forgiving Web resolution standards, when we rely on clients to provide their own photos, we are almost inevitably handed the project’s weakest link.

When a new client in Maine needed on-location photos and waited to beyond the last minute, I helped to review portfolios of local photographers, in an attempt to assist the client in making the right choice. Brian’s portfolio spoke for itself. We downloaded the results of his shoot late last week, and I immediately assured the client that she had made the right choice.

Brian’s work is simply excellent. Each shot is skillfully composed, properly exposed, crisp, and engaging. There is no middle ground when it comes to photography. I frequently hear wannabe photographers describing themselves as “semi-pros”. Brian’s work makes it clear that there is no such standard. There are pros and there are hacks, and Brian is a pro by every standard of measurement. If you need a photographer in Northern New England, I would encourage you to engage Brian’s services. If you are outside of the region, try to persuade him to take on the assignment and cheerfully pay his travel expenses. His work is that good!”

I love it when my clients get more than they expected…and I really love it when I can work with other professionals to provide a complete solution to help solve my clients’ issues.

Shop Talk: Using Adjustment Layers

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With Photoshop, it’s easy to go overboard and end up with the equivalent of what we used to call the Hand of God effect.    Any change made to an image alters the bits that make up the file and cannot be reversed once done.

That’s why I love Photoshop’s nondestructive imaging capability using Adjustment Layers.  The idea is that when you make changes to an image, you do so on a separate layer.  This means you don’t make changes to the underlying image file (the background layer) at all, and thus don’t damage the original.  Once you’ve got the file where you want it, you flatten it and make all the changes all at once.

Adjustment layers are a great idea, and are easy to use.  With an image open, go to Layers–> Adjustment Layers.   You’ll have the option to choose tools such as  curves, levels, exposure etc.  When you select a tool and name the layer, you can make changes with the tool that appear to change your image (below).


The change is really only being applied to the adjustment layer, which you can see in your Layers palette.  If one portion of the photo is too bright and I want to darken it, as in my example below, I make the entire photo darker using Curves.

Then I make sure the black square at the bottom of the tool box is set as foreground color (click the two-headed arrow to move the black box above the white one as shown below), and I select the paintbrush tool .  Now when I paint areas of the photo with the brush, I’m actually telling it to remove the darkness I’ve just added to that portion of the image.  In my example, I only want the sky and background to be darker–not the girl.  So I carefully paint around her, varying the brush size and opacity to feather in the changes so they look natural.

If you mistakenly take away too much with the paintbrush, or wander over areas of the image you don’t intend to, you can use the Undo (command + Z) tool to undo the change, or–and this is why I like Adjustment Layers so much–you can add the change back.  You do this by going to the bottom of the toolbar and making the white box set as the foreground color.  This now means that whichever area you paint, you are adding back the changes you made to the adjustment layer (in this case, adding the darkness I applied in step one).  So by alternating the additive (white) and subtractive (black) versions of the paintbrush, I can really craft my adjustments.

There’s no limit to the number of Adjustment Layers you can layer, one on top of the other.  If you don’t like what’s going on with one of your layers, you can always drag that layer (in the layers dialog box) into the trash can and deleting it.

When you’re all done, it’s a good idea to save the entire file as a “master” version of the image–either as a .psd or a .tiff–preserving all the individual layers as they are.   Then, flatten the whole thing to produce your final usable file.  Once you incorporate Adjustment Layers into your workflow, you’ll save time and have better results.

Original image, left and final image after flattening.

Portland commercial photographers present at PUG

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This coming Wednesday evening, you’re invited to a presentation/panel discussion featuring myself and several other Portland-area commercial photographers.   Originally set for July, this month’s meeting of PUG (Pictage User Groups) happens September 15 from 7 to 10 pm 7-10p at emilie inc. photography, 227 Congress St., Portland.   PUGs are comprised mainly of wedding and portrait photographers. Most attendees are customers of Pictage (hence the name), a well-known photo lab and photo products company.

Local PUG organizer Emilie of Emilie Inc. invited us to show some of our work, discuss questions on things like licensing, etc. and generally have a good time talking shop.

Also on deck for tomorrow night: Darren Setlow, Zack Bowen, Jeff Stevensen and Trent Bell.  All are very talented shooters in the areas of advertising, architecture and food imagery.   Looking forward to it!