What learning curve?

As opposed to Photoshop, and even simpler solutions like Photoshop Express or Pixelmator, Snapseed has little to no learning curve. It keeps editing options grouped intelligently and doesn’t overwhelm a user with toolbars and menus. Instead, you have three types of Basic Adjustments, and seven varieties of Creative Adjustments to work with. Within each of these, you get more fine-grained control, but even then, Snapseed makes sure to walk you through the basics, and all changes you make are instantly previewed on your full, working image in real-time.

For family albums and the average user, I’d be willing to bet that quick use of the Basic Adjustments alone would be enough to satisfy most needs. You can likely accomplish the same changes in Photoshop Express and Pixelmator, too, but Snapseed will save you a step or two and that can add up if you’re churning through a backlog of accumulated photos.

Easy effects without the cookie-cutter look

For people who want to share their photos on social networks or use them on personal and professional websites, the Creative Adjustments can really help simplify getting unique and interesting effects. Because each is infinitely tweakable, and because effects can be stacked, you also should be able to create images that don’t look like they came off a filter effect assembly line — something I find can happen far too often with apps like Instagram.

Just be careful when you’re stacking filters; I had one isolated incident where a photo developed some kind of digital noise as a result of combining effects. Luckily, Snapseed uses non-destructive editing techniques, so my original was preserved, but picky users might want to wait for a bug-busting update that addresses this small issue.

Lots of control, but not as fine-grained as the big boys

The lack of dedicated toolbars and brushes in Snapseed means it can’t achieve the level of specific manipulation possible with Photoshop and Pixelmator. You won’t find a blemish brush here, for instance, and while you can add control points that provide impressive control over specific parts of images, there’s no lasso to let you painstakingly stake out an exact, finite area to apply your effects.

This is, I think, both a blessing and a curse. For the average hobbyist user, the lack of fine controls merely means Snapseed’s interface is less cluttered and confusing. It also makes working with Snapseed feel less like work and more like fun, in my opinion. If there’s a blemish or a speck of dust you’d just love to zap away, however, it’ll be frustrating to have to do without.

A tool for photographers, not a profession all its own

The bottom line is that Snapseed, like its iOS predecessor, is a fun, useful tool that should help those who take photos for fun get even more enjoyment out of them. Unlike more full-featured editing suites, it won’t require you to dedicate time and effort to becoming not only a good photographer, but an expert on editing software as well.

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For our second edition of the series (which is a bit late thanks to last week’s U.S. Thanksgiving holiday), we’ll be looking at gear and software to make your iPhone the best camera it can be. Apple already helped out quite a bit by improving camera-related hardware with the iPhone 4S, and software with iOS 5, but these add-ons will definitely up your game.

Best iPhone tripod mount: The Glif. iPhone photography is a challenge at night, and if you want to snap shots of yourself that don’t look like Myspace profile pics, it can be tricky. The Glif is an elegant solution to this problem that has no moving parts, works exactly as advertised, and takes up virtually no space in your kit bag. Plus, Studio Neat, which created the Glif, now also offers two accessories that make your Glif keychain-compatible, and also keep a tighter grip on the iPhone should you be using the device in acrobatic circumstances. If you’ve got an iPhone 4 or 4S, the $20 Glif or $30 combo pack including all its accessories is a great deal.

Best iPhone camera app: Camera+. This app manages to keep upping its game, staying ahead of the redundancy Apple’s improvements to its own software have inflicted upon other third-party software. Camera+ consistently adds new filters and features, and its ability to stabilize shots and use the iPhone 4 and 4S LED flash as a fill light are amazingly useful. Camera+ is $0.99 on sale in the App Store now.

Best remote monitor solution: Camera for iPad. This is an old app designed for use with the iPad before the iPad 2 gained a camera of its own, and lets you remotely control an iPhone’s camera from your device. It’s still really useful if you’re trying to take studio shots with the iPhone however, since you can use it as a remote viewfinder while doing self-portraits or adjusting lighting, for instance. $0.99 in the App Store.

Most anticipated accessory: Belkin LiveAction remote. Belkin has a series of accessories coming out under the LiveAction brand, but the remote shutter control is easily the best. It works over Bluetooth and will let you snap photos from a distance, meaning less camera shake, and easier shots with you in them. It also lets you switch from photo to video mode with a dedicated on-device button. Coming in mid-December, for $49.99.

Best add-on for DSLR video/photographers: iPhone Hot Shoe Holder. If you don’t take photos that often with your iPhone, but you do use your DSLR for snapping pics and shooting video, this iPhone hot shoe adapter can be a welcome companion. Like the Glif, it’s a simple, one-piece design that hugs your iPhone and lets it slide in the hot shoe on top of your camera used for flashes and other accessories. You can then use it to display teleprompter text when shooting video, or use it in tandem with a light meter app. It’s $25 for one in either black or clear plastic.

That’s our list, but feel free to argue our picks or chime in with your own suggestions in the comments.

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Taking photos

You’ll encounter the biggest change when you go to take a photo. You can now use your volume up button to take a photo, making it a more natural and steady experience. You can also put an overlay grid on the screen to make sure your photo is straight (yes, I know, my sample isn’t straight).

With iOS 5, you can now access the camera app directly from the lock screen. This is a fantastic time-saver. Previously, in the couple of seconds it took to unlock the iPhone and launch the Camera app, the moment had often passed. Now, I’ve dramatically increased the number of photos of my cat that actually come out well.

Editing photos

All edits take place in the Photos app. To edit a photo, choose it from the Camera Roll, and press Edit in the upper right-hand corner. The rudimentary editing tools (rotate, auto enhance, red-eye, and crop) will appear on the bottom.

Rotating photos is a little weird. The tool on the far left will rotate the photo in 90-degree increments. However, if you want to rotate the image any other degree, you need to go into the Crop tool and rotate it using a two-finger twist. To me, it seems like all the rotate tools should be in one area.

Most of the pictures you’re likely to take with your iPhone are in sub-optimal conditions. A bar, outside in direct sunlight, outside at night, etc. Auto enhance is iOS’s best guess as to what the photo should look like if the conditions were better. In my limited tests, it works well enough, though it’s not nearly as good as using a tool like Aperture, but for something you want to quickly enhance before you post it on Twitter, it’s fine.

Left is before auto enhance; right is after

Final thoughts

I’m happy with the Camera and Photos enhancements. While I don’t tend to post many photos on Facebook or Twitter, now that Twitter is integrated into OS, I might start using it more. Giving a photo a quick edit or auto enhance before I post will be nice. The ability to access the camera from the lock screen and using the volume button to capture images are the most significant changes, and should please any mobile photog.

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Collecting GPS information

Two important pieces of info are required for adding GPS data to your photos. The first is the latitude and longitude where the photo was taken. The second, equally critical piece of information, is the date and time the camera was at that location. This is the key to automatically matching up the GPS data with photos.

When it comes to figuring out where a shot was taken, there are three main sources that myTracks can use:

1. GPS data logger. One way to collect this information is to invest in a GPS data logger. There are several Mac-friendly GPS data loggers on the market to choose from. These standalone units will keep track of where you and your camera have been without draining your other device batteries. myTracks can then import the location information directly from the logger itself, or indirectly through GPX or KML files. Under the hood, myTracks uses the open-source library LoadMyTracks to support a wide range of GPS devices. If you find that your device is not supported, you may need to use a utility like HoudahGPS to convert the data to a format that myTracks supports.

2. iPhone sync. If you have an iPhone, then you already have a basic GPS logger. In fact, I’ve found the tracking capabilities of the iOS version of myTracks to be great, and it offers a built-in sync feature that will allow you to transfer location information directly from your iPhone to the Mac version of myTracks. If you prefer using a different GPS tracking app, then you’ll need to export the data and import it into myTracks using either the GPX or KML file format.

3. Track from photos. The simplest way to collect the location information you need is to take a series of reference photos along the way with the default camera app that came with your iPhone. Provided you are adding location information to your photos on your iPhone, myTracks can create a track from your iPhone’s library. From the Tools menu in myTracks, select “Create track from photos…” and select the photos you want to create a track from.

Adding GPS Information to your photos

Now that you have your track loaded into myTracks, the first thing you will want to do is ensure that your camera’s clock is in sync with your GPS data, as well as any of the other cameras you may use. Once you’ve made any time adjustments to your photos, you’re ready to add the GPS info. MyTracks supports adding GPS location information to photos in iPhoto, Aperture and Adobe Lightroom as well as any folder of images on your Mac. The following steps are for iPhoto ’11, since that’s the program most will likely use:

1. After importing tracks into myTracks, select the track that has the GPS information you want to sync.
2. Open iPhoto and select the photos you want to add the GPS information to.
3. Drag the photos from iPhoto onto myTracks.
4. Make any final adjustments in myTracks’s Pool of Photos to align the GPS track info with the photo time stamp.
5. Click Start in myTracks Pool of Photos and select the GeoTag option.
6. In iPhoto, select the photos you tagged, and from the Photo menu, “Rescan for Location.”

Reviewing and sharing your mapped photos

Once you have added the GPS information, using it to help illustrate your life’s adventures is much easier. You can sync your track and photos to the iPad version of myTracks, or post the images to one of the many online photo sharing sites that support geotagged photos, including Flickr.

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Let’s go over how to import your iPhone photos to the two programs that come with the Mac, Image Capture and iPhoto. I’ll be covering using your iPhone with Aperture and Adobe Lightroom in a later post.

Determining what program, if any, opens when you connect your iPhone

Some people like having an application open when you connect your iPhone; others hate it. Regardless of which camp you fall into, it’s easy to set what program (if any) launches when you connect your iPhone.

1. With your iPhone connected, open Image Capture (it should be pre-installed in your Applications folder by default).
2. You will see your iPhone under devices. Click the iPhone icon.
3. Down at the bottom, you will see “Connecting this iPhone opens…” with a pull-down menu under it.
   
4. Select what application you want to open. Choosing “No Application” will naturally open no applications.

Image Capture

Image Capture is a hidden gem. For iPhone users, Image Capture lets you do two things very easily: mass-delete unwanted photos, or import them to a folder of your choosing. This eliminates the need to store them in a program like iPhoto.

Connect your iPhone to your Mac and open up Image Capture. You’ll see a screen similar to the one below:

From here, simply select the photos you want to do something with. If you want to delete them, select them and choose the delete icon; it’s the red circular icon on the bottom to the left of “Import To.” If you want to import them, select the pull-down to the right of “Import To” and choose a location. Also, if you want to both delete images and import them to a program like iPhoto or Aperture, you can do that here.

Image Capture is my preferred way of deciding which iPhoto images I get rid of. In the end, I keep very few. They could either be shots that totally failed, or a reference photo from a store, or a photo that was a one-time “wish you were here” photo. The ability to delete unwanted photos, and send ones you do like to iPhoto or Aperture is great. Unfortunately, if you use Lightroom it won’t show up in the import list.

iPhoto

Since iPhoto comes with every Mac sold by Apple, it’s a logical favorite for sorting and storing photos. Even though Lightroom is my post-processing tool of choice, I still use iPhoto to sync images to my iOS devices as well as store general images — all my desktop wallpapers, images used in presentations, and images grabbed off the web.

To import photos into iPhoto, connect your iPhone and open iPhoto. You will be greeted with a screen similar to this one:

Select the photos you want to import and click on Import, or Import All if you want to just take everything. Fair Warning about iPhoto: if you keep “Split Events” checked, it will auto-create Events based on the preference you set in iPhoto. If you have a lot of pictures spread over a long period of time, make sure you uncheck that, since it will split your photos into a huge number of separate events Naturally, if you do have an Event’s worth of photos (two weddings, for example), feel free to split the events. Based on my usage, I take one or two photos at a time and forget to import them, so it isn’t useful to have iPhoto automatically divide them based on dates.

Using your iPhone for geotagging

One nice benefit of taking photos with your iPhone is by default, it tags all photos with your location. My DSLR does not have a GPS, but I’ve gotten in the habit of taking one or two photos my iPhone during a shoot. After I import both the DSLR and iPhoto images and merge the Events, it’s a simple two-step process to copy the GPS tag to all of the photos.

1. Select the photo with the GPS info, right-click and choose Copy.
2. select all the photos you want the GPS tag applied to, go to the Edit menu and choose “Paste Location.”

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1. Know and accept the camera’s limits

I love minor league baseball. Whenever I go see my local club, I’ve gotten into the habit of sending out a photo of my view to friends. The iPhone is great at this, general photos of the ballpark. However, the iPhone is not going to capture a close-up of the slide into second. Unless you’re the second baseman.

While the iPhone has gotten much better at low-light photography, it’s still not all that great so make sure you’ve got good light on your subject. I also recommend keeping the flash off all the time (not on auto) and manually turning it on when you think you need it.

That said, sometimes the only way to capture a memory is to take the darn photo anyway, regardless of quality. Don’t let subpar conditions get you down.

2. Keep the camera steady

Lock your elbows to your body. Hold the iPhone with both hands about 12 inches from your face. I usually twist my hips slightly, bend my knees a little and put my weight slightly on my back leg. Making sure the camera doesn’t jiggle is key to a good photo. Take the photo with your thumb; don’t stab at it with your finger. This will be slightly easier in iOS 5 when you can use the volume buttons to snap a picture. If possible, rest your elbows on a firm object like a railing.

Speaking of railings, a good accessory to have is the Gorilla Mobile for iPhone. This flexible tripod is great to wrap around railings, plop on car hoods, your buddy’s head or just about any object. If you’re using an app that supports self-timers, you can use this to get in the photo, too.

I also recommend getting the Apple bumper case to help you get a grip. A naked iPhone is damn slippery. Ignoring this advice myself, I almost subjected my iPhone to a fall from a roof taking a picture when it jumped from my hand.

3. Get their heads together

The iPhone is great for taking candid shots. The problem is, most people aren’t good at having their pictures taken. When taking pictures of a happy couple, make sure their heads are touching. If you don’t it’ll look there’s a space between their heads you can drive a truck through. If you’re taking pictures of an unhappy couple, make sure you goad them and really get them going. You’ll get a much better picture when they’re swinging at each other.

Basically, just do your best to get your subjects closer together than you think you need to in any situation.

4. Your feet are the best zoom

You know that slider that lets you set the zoom level on your iPhone? Forget it exists. If you need to get closer to your target, walk. Ok, if you’re at the ball park you’ll need to stop at the railing. The digital zoom is a zoom of last resort. Because it’s a digital zoom and not an optical zoom, you’re going to get some pixelation. Like I said earlier, if you’re trying to capture a quick memory, work with what you’ve got and don’t sweat it. But if you have an extra couple of seconds, just put one foot in front of the other until you’re close enough.

5. Free yourself of the default camera app

The stock camera app is great for zomg the cat is doing some cute and I need to take a picture right, right NOW. I have no hate for the default app; it occupies the place of honor in my upper left-hand corner. It’s not, however, always the best tool for the job. There are three apps I recommend to help you take better pictures.

1. Camera + ($1.99) If you’re at all serious about taking better iPhone pictures, I can’t recommend Camera + enough. It has a grid for framing your shots, a timer, and the ability to stabilize and take burst shots. There are also a slew of filters you can apply after you’ve snapped your shot. Depending on your viewpoint, the fact that images are stored in Camera+’s own lightroom-style sandbox until you export is either good or bad. Bad if you keep forgetting to export it. Good if you’re a congressman still getting the hang of Twitter, and want yet another chance to review your shots before sending them anywhere.
2. Synthcam (free) I first heard about this from Andy Ihnatko when it was his pick on MacBreak Weekly. It’s an interesting idea: instead of using the high-resolution still camera, Synthcam uses the lower-resolution video camera to take a long-exposure shot (you can choose how long). It then determines what moved during the exposure and what didn’t, and performs some kind of magic to make a crisp image of the static components. What this does is give you the ability to take pictures in low light without a lot of noise. I haven’t tested it much, but for free you can’t go wrong.
3. just.SelfTimer (free) If you read the title of this app and thought it would be a self-timer camera app… well, you’d be correct. This app isn’t going to necessarily help you take better pictures, but it will help make sure you’re in more of them. The app will take a picture on 3, 5, or 10 second countdown. One benefit to using an app like this is when you hand your iPhone to someone to take a picture of you. Instead of explaining where to press (and have them jiggle the camera), you can set the timer, hand it to them, and strike your pose.

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The aluminum case itself features a tripod mount and hooks for a pro camera strap, so you can wear it around your neck and take night shots like a true pro. Just think of how jealous your Instagram followers will be when you snap some quality wildlife pics with your $3,000 telephoto lens. You might doubt the ability of the iPhone 4′s 5-megapixel camera to deliver the goods, even with your expensive SLR lens collection attached, but the Photojojo demo pics are actually pretty impressive.

As with previous prototypes, this solution runs up against the fact that you can’t replicate an internal mirror system with the iPhone’s built-in camera. However, it should be better than just your iPhone 4 acting on its own, especially when you’re trying to use digital zoom to capture a far-away subject. You could probably also shoot some pretty cool HD video with this lens adapter.

As of this writing, the check-out process is down but a fix is in the works, according to a Photojojo.com service rep. Maybe it couldn’t keep up with overwhelming demand for the iPhone 4 SLR mount. Anyone thinking about a purchase? I have a bag full of seldom used Canon-mount lenses that suggest it might be worth considering.

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Welcome to another instalment of Tips and Tricks, the series of articles aiming to teach you something you didn’t know about your Apple products. Let’s continue by looking at iPhoto, and some ways of speeding up your workflow.

Quickly Change the Thumbnail for Events and Faces

When you first open either the Events view or the Faces view, you are presented with a series of thumbnails, called the Key Photo, for each event or person. You can change which photo is the Key Photo by viewing the Event or the photo series for a person, right-clicking the photo you want to use and choosing Make Key Photo. There is also a quicker way; without clicking, move your mouse over the current thumbnail in the Events or Faces view. As you move around, you’ll see all the photos in the event. When you see the one you want to use as the Key Photo, just hit the spacebar. When you move your mouse away, you’ll see that photo has been set as the Key Photo.

Rotate a Photo in the Opposite Direction

In the Edit view, there is a button which rotates a photo and does so in a counterclockwise direction by default. There is a setting in iPhoto’s preferences to make the icon rotate a photo clockwise instead, but you can also swap the direction on the fly. To temporarily switch the direction of the rotation, hold the Option key before you click Rotate. The icon of the button will change to let you know what’s happening, and your photo will be rotated the opposite way.

Unmount a Connected Device

Since iPhoto can import photos directly from a device, there is a list in the iPhoto sidebar of all the devices you have connected. It’s possible to unmount these devices from within iPhoto, rather than ejecting them from the Finder. To do so, right-click the device’s name and choose Unmount. This has the same effect as unmounting from Finder. You can also drag the device’s name to the Trash item in the Recent list of iPhoto’s sidebar. As you drag the name, the Trash icon will change into an eject symbol with the label Unmount. Just drop the device’s name onto the Unmount item and it’ll be ejected for you.

Confirm or Reject Multiple Faces Matches at Once

Often, iPhoto will recognize faces in newly imported photos and ask you to confirm that it guessed the identify of those faces correctly. When you open the ‘Confirm Faces’ view, it can get tedious clicking each one in turn. If there are a lot of photos which are all correct (or all incorrect), you can, instead of clicking the photos individually, drag a selection over all of them. This will mark all the photos you selected as confirmed, and if you do the same again, they’ll all be marked as rejected.

Assign Keywords Without Typing

Keywords are iPhoto’s equivalent to tags, and are useful when searching for specific photos in your library. Normally to add keywords, you select one or more photos, then type the keywords into the Keywords section of the Info panel. However, it’s possible to add keywords using just the mouse and keyboard shortcuts. Under the Window menu is an option to Manage My Keywords. If you choose this option, a window will open with a list of all the keywords you have used in your library. If you now select some photos, you can then click on a keyword in this list to add it to the photos without typing.

If you have a keyword you use a lot, you can also assign it a keyboard shortcut. In the Manage My Keywords window, click Edit Keywords. You can now select a word from the list and click Shortcut. You can’t use shortcut modifiers such as Command or Option, but you can use single letters or short sequences of characters. Now you can apply this keyword to photos by selecting them and typing the shortcut. You don’t even need to have the Info panel open.

I hope you’ve learned something new, and as always, leave your own additional tips in the comments!

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A good camera app these days should not only take pictures, but allow the photographer to immediately edit and share them. Trying seven camera apps for the iPhone, I found all but one capable of taking decent pictures. That’s not too surprising, since all of them use the same hardware, but software still makes the difference. Most apps had more photo-capturing functionality than Apple’s Camera app, but not all had video. All apps but Camera had editing tools, and most had more sharing options than Apple’s own offering, but the best camera app is built around capturing, editing, and sharing as a unified process.

Apple Camera (Free)

Capture: HDR
Edit: None
Share: Email, MobileMe, MMS

Camera from Apple compares poorly to other photo apps in terms of features, with the big exception of HDR. High dynamic range photography automatically combines exposure levels from three captured images. In the above photo, Camera bested other apps in overcoming high contrast from outside the window, and consistently produced decent photos without the need for editing. That’s good, because Camera has no editing options, and almost no sharing options, only MobileMe’s Gallery. That makes Camera best only for the editing-adverse who share only through MobileMe.

Adobe Photoshop Express (Free)

Capture: No video
Edit: Editing tools, filters, effects, and borders
Share: Facebook, TwitPic, Photoshop.com, but no email

Adobe Photoshop Express is the most popular camera app in the App Store, possibly because of the associated name, probably because it’s free. Image capturing is similar to Camera, minus video capturing. Editing is minimalistic, but capable, with four menu icons providing well-chosen, basic options, as well as multiple undo. There are also filters, effects, and borders, though fewer than in other apps. Sharing follows editing, but the options are less impressive. There’s no email, and clearly Adobe is pushing their own photo-sharing service. Besides the price, the simple, easy-to-use photo editing is what’s best about Adobe Photoshop Express.

Best Camera ($2.99)

Capture: No video
Edit: Filters, cropping, but no manual editing
Share: Email, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, thebestcamera.com

Best Camera redefined the photo app concept in 2009, and still best represents the new photography workflow. Each picture taken is immediately previewed, and if not discarded and retaken, moved on to editing. Editing and effect icons are selected from a sliding dock, and any change can be undone. Having said that, what can be done is constrained, including a predetermined cropping size and only a single border. Sharing is accessed from editing, and can be done with multiple services simultaneously, including thebestcamera.com, which is a kind of MobileMe Gallery for Best Camera users. While the guided workflow is great, Best Camera badly needs updating with either more filters and effects, or some manual control over editing.

Camera Genius ($0.99)

Capture: Big button, anti-shake, burst mode, timer
Edit: Many adjustment options, effects, filters, borders, crop presets
Share: Email, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Picasa, MobileMe (Pictures folder), Tumblr

With its many editing and sharing features, Camera Genius should be the best camera app, but it’s not, at least not for me. I found image quality poorer than in the other apps, with focus and exposure being the main issues. Moving through the workflow requires a lot of bouncing back and forth between capturing, editing, and sharing. I did like the selection of filters and effects. Camera Genius also supports batch uploads and has the most sharing options for photos, and $0.99 makes it the least-expensive paid app.

Camera Plus Pro ($1.99)

Capture: Big button, anti-shake, burst mode, timer, video filters, time lapse
Edit: Lots of adjustment options, filters, and effects, video trim
Share: Wi-Fi, FTP, email, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, Picasa, YouTube

Even more than Camera Genius, Camera Plus Pro offers a multitude of tweaking options, and in my opinion, it also takes better pictures. It’s also the only camera app that includes capture, editing, and sharing options for video. Again, like Camera Genius, the workflow could be better. It feels like separate programs, though within those “programs,” editing tools are well-organized. Batch uploading to photo sites is nice, as is sharing over Wi-Fi via a web browser. Unfortunately, the workflow suffers again as Camera Plus Pro keeps its own photo library, requiring manual syncing with Apple’s own Photo Library on the iPhone.

Camera+ ($1.99)

Capture: Focus and exposure control, anti-shake, burst mode, timer, continuous flash, no video
Edit: Many adjustment options, filters, effects and borders, no multiple undos
Share: Email, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter

Camera+ uses a two-finger tap for accessing focus and exposure controls separately during image capture, but personally I found the feature more trouble than the it was worth. Like Camera Plus Pro, Camera+ requires manually saving photos to the iPhone library, and it’s not particularly quick about it. Camera+ does offer many adjustment options and filters, including ones available as in-app purchases, but not multiple undos during editing. Having said all that, the workflow is geared toward moving from photo taking to editing to sharing, yet the interface still felt very awkward to me.

ProCamera ($2.99)

Capture: Focus and exposure control, anti-shake, timer
Edit: Many filters and effects, partial multiple undos
Share: Email

I especially liked the way the all elements of the capture interface adjusted to the iPhone’s orientation, and the general interface of the app is a great example of good, thoughtful use of icons and sliding bars as tools. ProCamera also allows for separate focus and exposure control, but again, I found it slowed me down. Editing also slowed me down, divided into three sections, required, a lot of back and forth, and multiple undos only apply to filters. However, the biggest problem is sharing, as there isn’t any beyond basic email.

The Best Camera App

Chase Jarvis is probably best know among mobile phone photographers for his trademarked observation that “the best camera is the one that’s with you.” With camera apps, that means you can have them all, and that’s what I recommend. Try each app that meets your minimum requirements, and keep the one that works best for you. However, in terms of capturing, editing, and sharing as a total package, Best Camera remains the best camera app, even if it’s the one that’s also most in need of updating.

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For my setup, I use an older Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT paired with an EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM Standard Zoom Lens and a monopod. I also use a MacBook Pro to handle image processing and file uploading (though you don’t necessarily need that much power). The software I use is a simple mix of the stock Canon EOS Utility (PDF), Apple’s built-in Automator, and the Dropbox Client for Mac.

Through Canon’s EOS Utility, the naming convention used for saving the images in the transferred to the folder on the Mac is configurable.

This technique saves considerable time, considering the alternative would be syncing the images at pre-determined intervals and manually moving files around on my file system. Even though I share a Dropbox photo folder, I typically don’t specify that location as the “Destination Folder” that Canon’s EOS Utility uses to save files to. Instead, I save files from the camera to another folder that I set up in Automator as an Action Folder. This intermediary Action Folder resizes the images and copies them to the Dropbox folder for instant upload to a shared folder in my Dropbox account. When Canon’s EOS Utility offloads the images from the camera to this folder, the workflow I created (detailed below) will execute.

To create this Folder Action, from the Applications folder in the Finder, launch Automator and select the “Folder Action” template. Folder actions are workflows that are associated with a folder. Any items dropped into that folder will cause the workflow to run. Once the folder action has been created, set the “Folder Action receives files and folders added to” as the location that the Canon EOS Utility is offloading the images to. This will start the process.

Next, add the following Actions to the Folder Action:

1. From the Library, select a “Copy Finder Items” action located within Files & Folders.
2. Set the “To” to some temporary location that images will be resized within. Do not use the Dropbox folder location in this step, as the full size images will be copied and then resized.
3. From the Library, select a “Scale Images” action located within Photos.
4. Set the “To Size (pixels)” to 1024.
5. From the Library, select the ”Add Text to Finder Item names” action located within Photos.
6. Set “Add Text” to _1024x682 “after name.” This will add a suffix to the end of the file name indicating that the file has been resized.
7. From the Library, select another “Copy Finder Items” action located within Files & Folders.
8. Set the “To” to the local Dropbox location that images will be uploaded from.

Each time you press the silver shutter release on the Digital SLR, the resulting image file will automatically be transferred to the Mac, resized, renamed and uploaded to the Internet!

In this TechUniversity Aperture 101 screencast (subscription required), we’ll take a look at a number of areas of the application to help you get up and running right away.

Topics that we’ll cover:

• Importing photos
• Organizing photos
• Editing photos
• Sharing photos
• Exporting photos

Below is a sample of the video. The full screencast clocks in at just under 17 minutes.

This is the ultimate roundup of essential apps for your iPhone from 2009.

Best Game: Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid

The sequel to 2008′s Rolando expands on the tilt ‘n’ swipe platforming action of the original. This time round, we’re brought an entire troupe of colorful Rolando characters to protect, alongside a tropical island inhabited by new baddies and a lost Rolando tribe. The artwork is gorgeous, the gameplay is excellent and, thanks to NGMoco’s Plus+ awards system, it’s got bags of replay value too.

Runners-Up Best Game: Gangstar: West Coast Hustle, Doodle Jump

Best Social & Communications App: Tweetie 2

Having formed his own development studio after working at the Cupertino campus, Loren Brichter has established himself as one of the premier App Store developers. Brichter’s skill is feeding his experience at Apple into his apps, Twitter client Tweetie 2 is an impressive showcase of his ability to distill a feature-rich experience into an app with a clear user interface. The app also rolls in a few unexpected new features including video tweeting, profile management and improved location-based searches.

Runners-Up Best Social Communications App: Skype, foursquare

Best Use of Push Notifications: Boxcar

Despite the arrival of push notifications on iPhone earlier this year, it’s still taking many developers time to implement these handy pop-up notifiers in their apps. There’s no push for most Twitter clients, no Facebook push and not even native email push from Apple. Boxcar is the missing push notifier for your favorite apps. The app includes push for Twitter, email, Facebook, RSS and even Growl.

Runners-Up Best Use of Push Notifications: NotifyMe, Ping!

Best News App: Byline

Under the hood, the app updates with the latest news in seconds, syncing happily with Google Reader. Unlike other news readers, while Byline is updating with the latest news, you’re able to keep browsing articles without suffering from any lag. It’s certainly not the most feature-rich news reader, but Byline brings together a clean interface with a robust RSS reader.

Runners-Up Best News App: The Guardian, Newstand

Best Use of Content: NFB Films

The National Film Board of Canada have brought a vast quantity of their video content to the iPhone, all of it wrapped in an easy-to-use free app. There are over a thousand videos available to browse, soak up and send to friends: from documentaries and animations to shorts and trailers for forthcoming releases.

Runners-Up Best Use of Content: McSweeney’s, Panelfly

Best Video App: ReelDirector

Apple may be stalling on bringing iMovie to the iPhone, but that’s nothing to worry about thanks to ReelDirector. With it’s powerful features, the app enables you to edit video footage into your own shorts before sending your latest amateur epic to your friends. In particular, the selection of high quality video transitions really add to the wow effect.

Runners-Up Best Video App: UStream Live Broadcaster, iTimeLapse

Best Photography App: Photoforge

Just like ReelDirector brings video editing to the iPhone, PhotoForge does the same for your photography. First-time users will be drawn to the impressive array of filters on offer, including Blur, Tilt Shift, Simulated HDR and Lomo. Once you’ve got to grips with the filters, there’s also a selection of Photoshop-style tools, including smudge, clone and brushes in a variety of shapes.

Runners-Up Best Photography App: Flickr, QuadCamera

Best Sound App: I Am T-Pain

The year’s most over-used and perhaps abused audio-effect, the auto-tune, has landed on iPhone as Smule’s I Am T-Pain. The app essentially makes even the most cat-screechingly awful singer sound as perfectly tuned as Kanye West. Most importantly, you’ll need absolutely no musical ability to have fun with this brilliant sound toy.

Runners-Up Best Sound App: Mujik, Touch DJ

Best Productivity Tool: NotifyMe

If you’re all about organization and productivity, NotifyMe will keep up-to-date with your task list. Thanks to a sleek user interface and ultra-fast startup time, there’s very little friction between you and the app, meaning you can be entering tasks and then getting back to work in moments. When it’s time to get a task done, the app will send you a push notification, plus there’s even a snooze option (perfect for habitual procrastinators).

Runners-Up Best Productivity Tool: Quickoffice, Pastebot

Best Lifestyle App: Jamie Oliver’s 20 Minute Meals

Jamie Oliver brings cooking to the iPhone and true to his style, the entire app is friendly, fun and approachable. There are currently 55 delicious recipes in the app, each one can be whipped up in 20 minutes. To help you along the way, in addition to a range of quick kitchen tutorials recorded by Jamie himself, there’s an interactive shopping list tool and portion calculator.

Runners-Up Best Lifestyle App: Couch to 5K, I Am Safe

Best Utility: Dropbox

The Dropbox service brought off-site backup to the masses. On the desktop, it runs in the background, securing your files and even letting you share them with friends, colleagues and clients with a couple of quick clicks. Although long-awaited, the iPhone app didn’t disappoint. You can browse your Dropbox using the app, plus share files and even save specific content to your iPhone for quick access.

Runners-Up Best Utility: OpenMaps, TimeTuner

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With Black Friday rapidly approaching, the time of the year for spending is upon us. Although I’m sure all of us Mac lovers are considering which Apple product we’ll be blowing our budget on (mine will be a Magic Mouse), there are also the other gadgets in our lives to consider.

One of the most important gadgets for Mac users is often the digital camera, what with all those wonderful iLife tools we can use to manipulate and share the photos and videos we take with our digital cameras. As such, here’s a quick guide on picking the right digital camera for you.

Rules to Remember

1) The inverse law of megapixels
Despite what the guy at the Best Buy tells you, more megapixels does not mean better photos. In fact, in this day and age the opposite is true. This is because the more megapixels you pack onto a camera sensor, especially the tiny sensors found on most point and shoot cameras, the worst they become at picking up light. Nowadays you can’t buy a camera with fewer than six or seven megapixels, which is more than enough for most, and you will actually hurt your picture quality if you buy small cameras with more than 10 or 12 megapixels.

2) Think about where you shoot
Most people don’t stop and think about the type of photos they take before they buy, not realizing that there are tradeoffs to be made. For example if you take a lot of photos in low light conditions, buying a camera with a larger sensor and whose lens can open up wider to pick up more light, like the Canon S90 or Panasonic LX3, makes a lot of sense, but such cameras also mean giving up zoom range. The opposite is true if you like to get close to your subjects. You can pick up a pocketable point and shoot with a 12x zoom like the Panasonic DMC-ZS3, but you’re going to give up low light capabilities. If you want the best quality in all conditions you’re going to have to give up portability and carry around a large DSLR.

3) Don’t forget the accessories
Even if you’re not spending a ton of money, a few simple accessories can improve your photography experience. I almost always recommend picking up an extra battery. There’s nothing more annoying than having your camera die on you in the middle of a trip or family event. Another useful accessory is a tripod, which doesn’t necessarily need to be a gigantic. Picking up something like a Gorrilla pod, which is both cheap and small, can let you stabilize the camera when taking shots with a long exposure, like a night scenery shot, and also lets you set up the camera better for self-portraits.

4) Decide how serious you are about photography
If you’re truly a point and shoot photographer, then it’s important for you to pick up a camera with a good automatic mode and wide selection of usable scene modes. If you’re more advanced, or want to learn how to take more control of your camera, then expect to pay more for a camera with full manual controls. If you’re a serious photographer or if you’re ready to take the leap to the highest level of photography, then it may be time to invest in a DSLR, which allows you to swap lenses for various photographic situations.

5) Don’t cheap out
We’re Mac users for a reason. We recognize quality and are willing to pay more in order to get the best. The same is true with digital cameras. The universe of cameras under $150 is enormous, and they’re all almost the same. By paying a bit more, I’d say more than $200 for a point and shoot, you’ll find a significant increase in photo quality and features. That’s not to say that every camera under $150 is poor and every one over $200 is good, you’ll still need to do research, but there’s less chaff to sift through at higher price points and a better chance of picking up something you’ll be happy with.

Cameras to Consider

The cameras below are widely seen as solid performers in their class. If you’re still bewildered by the options out there, these are a good place to start your research.

Canon PowerShot SD780 IS

Price: $199

This is a good fit for anyone who wants a reasonably adept camera in a small and slim package. The price is reasonable too, but don’t expect wonders from the tiny sensor in this camera. Expect to use the flash in even slightly dim conditions. On the plus side, you do get face detection, HD video recording and image stabilization.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS3

Price: $270

Stepping up a bit in price over entry-level point and shoot cameras, the ZS3 is still a very good value considering what you get. That is an extremely impressive zoom range, from wide angle for scenery shots all the way up to a 300mm zoom for getting close to subjects far away. HD video is also a big plus here, with the ability to zoom while recording, something that not all cameras can do. Not all is perfect, however, as the ZS3′s sensor is tiny, which combined with a less than impressive maximum aperture means that this camera struggles in low light situations. If you’re looking for small and versatile, however, the ZS3 hits the sweet spot in a lot of places.

Canon S90

Price: $430

Canon’s newest addition to their high-end point and shoot lineup offers quite a few features that will get advanced amateurs excited. First up is a significantly larger sensor than that found in most point and shoot cameras. Combined with a lens that sports an f/2 aperture at the wide end, this means the camera struggles much less than typical point and shoots in low light situations. You also get a full range of manual controls and an interesting click wheel around the lens that can be assigned to a variety of functions. The S90 doesn’t come cheap, however, and it is missing some features like HD video that you can find on much less expensive cameras.

Nikon D60

Price: $640

DSLR’s like the D60 combine a huge sensor for even better low light photography, with the option to switch lenses to match your particular situation. Be ready to continue spending, however, as in this world it’s the quality of your glass (lenses) more than the camera itself that will dictate the quality of your photos, and lenses don’t come cheap. The D60 is a good choice for those just entering the world of interchangeable lenses as it’s available at a reasonable price and it offers a more gradual learning curve than other more advanced DSLRs. That said, it does lack one of the new sexy features that you are beginning to see on DSLRs: video recording. If that’s a must for you check out the Canon T1i.

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This week I’ve given our picks a creative vibe, selecting four different apps that let you engage with your artistic and cultural side. My top pick for the week is Xewton Music Studio, plus I’ve been looking at Snapture, GraffitiGeo and McSweeney’s.

Xewton Music Studio ($19.99)

Armed with an iPhone, there’s never been so much choice for making music on the move. Despite all the choice, the recording app I keep coming back to is FourTrack. It’s a fully-featured 4 track recorder, complete with bouncing, panning, metronome and Wi-Fi sharing.

When it comes to full on audio sequencing and sketching out bigger ideas, I head for Intua’s BeatMaker. The app costs twenty bucks, but for producers it’s definitely worth it: this is about as close to Ableton Live as you’ll get on your iPhone.

Now it looks like I might be adding Xewton Music Studio to my iPhone audio app lineup. Rather than put the focus on electronica, like Beatmaker, Music Studio is essentially a sequencer designed with traditional composers and songwriters in mind.

Xewton Music Studio includes 21 instruments, a 128-track sequencer, piano-roll note editor, real-time effects and lots more. Although the app may well take some time to learn, it’s powerful enough to potentially become a useful composition tool for many musicians.

Snapture ($1.99)

With Flickr, QuadCamera and PhotoForge handling all of the photo processing on my iPhone, I wasn’t sure if there was room for another camera app. Arriving at the App Store by way of Cydia, Snapture is a very tempting and feature-packed photo processing tool. Tempting as it is for my 3GS, this recommendation is for 3G users only.

The app rolls in a raft of useful functions, such as High Speed Multishot and Level Aid. Plus, once you’ve taken your photos, you can stay within the app to browse and manage your library.

It’s worth noting that the app currently doesn’t make use of the 3GS iPhone’s tap-to-focus functionality. While Snapture works well enough on Apple’s latest device, I would urge 3GS owners to hold out until the app integrates this much requested feature.

GraffitiGeo (Free)

Last Summer I signed a two-year contract with Sonera and received a white iPhone 3G. After arriving home and spending far too long trying to decide if I should film the unboxing (I didn’t), I tore away the packing, activated my iPhone and headed for the App Store.

One of the first apps that I downloaded was Graffitio, an old-school bulletin board that included geo-location support. After tagging various locations and adding a few messages, I got a little bored. The app’s long lists of tiny text felt too plain for my iPhone.

Released this Summer, GraffitiGeo takes the location tagging concept even further. The app feels like a fun version of Dopplr — as a tool, GraffitiGeo is useful for finding food, events and places of interest. And it’s surprisingly compelling as a toy too, as you’re able to form gangs and earn achievements. Definitely one to check out for iPhone owners in big cities.

McSweeney’s (99 cents)

McSweeney’s has always been a reliable destination for deliciously absurd, charming, silly, classy and fun literary offerings. While there are longer pieces to delve into, my favorite is a very short piece by Mike Ward called, E-mail Addresses It Would Be Really Annoying To Give Out Over The Phone.

Regular readers of McSweeney’s monochromatic online offering will be used to getting their fix for free. Although the iPhone app isn’t free, it includes access to a weekly fix of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

The most promising aspect of McSweeney’s iPhone app is that it includes a six month subscription to the Small Chair. Every single week for the next six months you’ll receive scrummy multimedia blips — songs, videos, stories and such — from clever creative folk like Spike Jonze, Chris Ware and Jonathan Ames.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

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The Beatles may not have arrived in the iTunes Music Store just yet, but it’s not all disappointing news: the App Store has been updated with a new look and a stack of new iPhone apps have been released. As ever, here are my picks from the latest additions.

My top pick for this week is Hitchcock, plus I’ve also checked out Newsstand, Blades of Fury and Rhapsody.

Hitchcock ($19.99)
There’s a fantastic range of apps on offer to budding iPhone-based photographers at the moment. Tools such as QuadCamera and ColorSplash make for fun and effective photo-enhancing toys, and, once you’re done touching up your latest masterpiece, you can share your photography on Flickr via their official app. For folk who want to take their photography a step further and start dabbling in film, Hitchcock has arrived. Don’t let the messy interface fool you, this is a powerful app that’s packed with seriously useful features. Essentially a storyboarding tool, the app allows you to drop in photos as panels, outline camera movement, set shot durations and even add audio notes. Once you’ve laid out your latest shoot, you can export as a PDF too. Possibly a tad pricey but potentially an indispensable tool for indie film directors.

Newsstand ($4.99)
Byline might have been the most useful RSS reader on the block, but there’s a new news-gathering app in town and it’s got a great feature-set and good looks too. Newsstand incorporates a gorgeous newspaper rack style interface, fusing traditional with modern, allowing you to skim the latest headlines in style. Alongside Google Reader syncing, Instapaper support and sharing via Twitter, Newsstand also incorporates two essential RSS features: offline browsing and an embedded browser. I like to be able to open the app up and sync the latest news and happenings across the web for reading later. And for when I’m connected, an embedded browser is essential for those moments when I want to explore a story a little further.

Blades of Fury ($6.99)
There are two interesting things about this app. First up, this game is effectively classic Japanese coin-op and console beat-em-up Soul Calibur, shrunk on to the iPhone. It’s 10 medieval fantasy characters, each brandishing a different sort of pointy stick and an array of special moves. And secondly, Gameloft has seriously upped its quality on the iPhone. It’s heavily leaning on the ideas of other more-successful gaming franchise, like Gangstar‘s GTA-style gameplay and Modern Combat‘s Battlefield vibe, but it’s releasing good games nonetheless. Just like it’s predecessors, Blades of Fury is derivative, but that’s only noticeable because it does such a stunning job of re-creating Soul Calibur. The artwork and graphics are a true achievement, I’m surprised to see that the iPhone can be pushed so far and while the control scheme isn’t perfect, it certainly works well enough to make for a fun hack ‘n’ slash fighter.

Rhapsody (free)
The joys of Spotify might not have reached the U.S. just yet, but that doesn’t mean that those of you who are stateside can’t enjoy the benefits of all-you-can-eat music streaming. Real Networks, the folks behind the wonderfully bloated ad-touting Real Player, launched its own iPhone app this week. Rhapsody hooks into Real’s music network, giving you wireless access to their gargantuan library, apparently touting more than 8 million songs. There are some neat music browsing features, like Rhapsody Radio and Charts, however, as our own Darrell Etherington noted, the sound quality isn’t so hot. It’s worth checking out though as, although you’ll need to be a paying subscriber to use the app on a regular basis, Real is currently offering a seven-day free trial of the service.

That’s all the picks for this week. I’ll be back in seven days with a fresh selection of App Store recommendations.

In the meantime, what apps have you been using this week?

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I’m talking about Adobe’s Bridge utility, a photo file browser bundled with CS3 and CS4, and in a slightly feature-reduced version, with Photoshop Elements 6 (PSE). I prefer Bridge’s more manual control and configuration options to iPhoto’s automation of how you browse, organize, delete, search, view, edit, and apply metadata to your image files.

Photoshop is too expensive for most, but its consumer version, Photoshop Elements, retains much of the power and functionality of the full version at a relatively low price. The Bridge version Mac PSE users get lacks only a few esoteric bits, like the “meetings” feature that supports project collaboration and the ability to apply camera RAW settings to groups of photos or to access the RAW converter directly.

When you access the Bridge from PSE (File Menu — “Browse With Bridge”), the Elements interface hides and the Bridge interface appears, allowing you to display folder icons or content thumbnails. Six interface layouts are available, with several panels — called Workspaces — that help you find and preview photos, review associated metadata, and so on. You can use the predefined panels, or create your own custom Workspace.

Another Bridge feature, “Stacks,” organizes your photos into stacks of images. It lets you keep each series of photos in a single spot in Bridge, making it easier and faster to find the ones you want. Bridge also lets you apply keywords to help organize photos in growing photo libraries. In the Keywords panel you can create and assign terms to photos, allowing you to instantly filter your library.

There’s also Collections, which allows you to save groups of photos for quick access, or to gather shots you want to use in a project. For example, if you have several cameras, you can segregate your library based on the camera used by organizing the photos from each into different collections.

Note that, unlike in iPhoto, when you move or delete a file in Bridge, you’re editing or disposing of the original copy. Bridge doesn’t keep backups, as it is purely a browser for finding and organizing files — one of the reasons I, being manual control-oriented, prefer it. Bridge is not a busybody app that second-guesses you.

Recently, a reader with a photography business asked my advice on a good Mac-based photo management system. His requirements included the ability to add the files’ EXIF to his contact info, details on where and why the picture was taken, copyright info, and keywords searchable by various image galleries he uses. He also wanted a tool that would leave his directory structure intact. Sounded like a job for Bridge.

The reader said he’d owned almost every version of Photoshop, from 5 to CS3, and checked out Bridge when it was first introduced, finding it slow and clunky, but would give it another try. He reported back that the current version is much better, adding that my suggestion might have just saved him hours of tedious organizing.

If you already have Photoshop CS3 or Elements 6, it’s worth taking a look at Bridge. If you don’t have one of those apps, Photoshop Elements at $89.95 has to be one of the greatest-ever software bargains, and inclusion of Bridge in version 6 is the icing on the cake.

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