Hi Gang. I'm back from extended leave and am raring to go with fresh ideas, tutorials and help for you to get the hang of your cameras!!

Hands up those of you with a smart phone?? Whether its an iPhone, a Samsung Galaxy or any other touch screen device. Even the iPad2. Then this tutorial is right up your alley.

Have you found yourself in a situation that you are without your camera until you think of your phone/iPad camera.??? The cameras in the latest devices are nothing short of amazing when you think about it. The amount of detail it can capture from macro distance to landscapes is stunning.



They still struggle in low light situations and personally I’d rather not use the inbuilt flash on my iphone4s.

I use my iPhone a lot for simple snaps, often people on location,









selfies or for quick reference shots when I’m scouting for different landscape locations.



If there’s awesome cloud activity in the sky and I don’t have my big Canon with me, I whip out my phone and snap a shot. Bearing in mind that these are snaps mostly for myself or to share on Facebook, not to hang on a wall

The ease of sharing a shot on Social Media is another big incentive as well. And in the ‘Age of Now’ you can take a shot, play with it, upload it onto Facebook within a minute.

There are some fantastic iPhone and Android Apps out there for your devices. My personal photography favorites are Camera+ ($1.99c from AppStore) and PanoStitcher (free from AppStore). There are heaps and heaps and heaps. Check out what your friends are using and if you like what you see, download it. Many of them are free.

Camera+ has great enhancements, framing (the instant is my favorite) and has different functions including 5 second delay timer, stabilizer, grids for lining up your shots, and can upload directly to your Social Media of choice.

PanoStitch takes those long panorama shots of landscapes. (I haven't found a direct link so search the AppStore via your phone) This one crops it to size as well. I usually save what I’ve created, and move it into Camera+ to frame/add text and upload from there.

I’ve an album on my Facebook Wall that’s just all iphone photos that I’ve taken from my Great Ocean Road Trip, that I’ve just come home from. Most of these are candid shots of our group and on location. I prefer the Polaroid look (Instant Frame) in Camera+ as I can add a small amount of txt to the frame.

My working tool on my phone for photography is TPE – The Photographers Ephemeris. (again use your phone to search the App store) This is brilliant tool that you can discover the angle of sunrise/sunset, moonrise/moonset, and many many other features. It has google maps of locations in real time and it can pinpoint where you are by the inbuilt GPS of the phone. It’s less than $10 from AppStore and I wouldn’t be without it. Ever.

Using the camera on iphone is in so many ways the same as using your camera, just much more simplified. You still need to compose the shot, so thinking of the rule of thirds, or clustering odd number of elements together (1,3,5), keep the horizon straight, esp in landscape shots.

Can you see the similarities in photography and scrapbooking ;O)

Most important of all – think of the lighting. Is the subject lit up enough? Can you move it to a better location? Is the lighting complimentary to the subject? You need to keep the camera steady while taking your shot, whether static or panning, and you still need to press the shutter button.

Don’t expect to capture images that will enlarge beyond 6x4 inch shots. You’ll be disappointed. If you like smaller photos on your layouts, then this will be just perfect. Another reason for my Polaroid preference at the moment is my future scrapping in mind.

So using any of the previous tutorials I’ve written; Landscape, Portraiture, Action, Macro, Bokeh, Sunflare, Black and White, grab your phone, plan your shot and how you want the end result to look so you can scrap it, get out there and shoot it.

Load up your best 3 shots in the Tiff's March Photo Challenge album for the chance to win a $25 Scrap Therapy Voucher that’s valid for a month upon receipt of the voucher code.

The winner will be announced in April on Saturday after the announcement of the new Man of the Month which is the first Friday of the month.

keep those phones in your pocket/handbag so its always handy!!!!

tiff

wow thats so fabulous Tiff!!

I got so sidetracked reading all this I am a little late tonight with all my other j0bs - great tut Tiff - thanks muchly

Oh and thanks for the photo of me with the G45 team - I will be able to scrap that one now

Tiff, love all your photos!!

this looks like lots of fun ... looking forward to having a play..

Great idea Tiff - thanks for the tips!

Hey Tiff

Fabulous photography as per normal hun, looks like you had a great time:) Thanks for sharing your inspiring photo's and knowledge in the tuitorials. I will hope to get some uploaded soon for this challenge.

Cheers Angie xx

wow thats awesome Tiff, love your photos..

thanks gang!!!! I'm finding myself reaching for the phone to snap a shot for the convenience of sharing on FB and I hoped this would make a great photog tute!!!

and thanks for the encouragement!!

t

Do we just upload the photos or do we scrap them?
sorry bit unsure

Just the photos for the photography challenge, gis. Later in the month, Tiff has a "shoot it, scrap it" challenge which is the scrapbooking part of the photos.

Deb's spot on Gis.... shoot some pics, keeping in mind that we will be scrapping with them when I upload the SHOOT IT, SCRAP IT challenge that goes live on the last Friday of the Month.

Thanks Deb!!


t

thanks. oh and can we do digital scrapbooking?

Will we scrap the 3 photos together on the same page?

No to the digital scrapping as far as I know Gis - all the other challenges have always had to be a paper layout.

Sarah I'm not sure if you will have to scrap all three pics or just your favourite - Tiff will upload the scrapping challenge later.

And welcome

Thanks Christine.... you are quite correct. No to digi scrapping so we can support the Scrap Therapy business.
And to Sarah's question... that is completely up to you. If all 3 images are of similar theme, go for it, or you can scrap your one best of. You have the total freedom of choice.

cheers.
tiff

If you like you can upload pics in this thread and if asked I will critique them for you. It's all very helpful and you will have the other shuttersisters giving support too. Sometimes it takes a fresh eye or an idea to turn a shot into a GREAT shot. And usually its something that can so be done so easily.



My son was totally stuffed after a looooong 15 hour day trip to Adelaide for medical tests. It was just past his usual bedtime, and he just fell asleep within a minute as soon as we boarded our flight.

Tip....... always keep your phone in your pocket so you can rip it out in an instant... like the yawn!!
cheers.
tiff