Though my Nikon D700 is my main workhorse camera these days, my trusty iPhone is always fun for family and quick on the go pictures. One of my favorite photo apps for the iPhone is the Hipstamatic.

The Hipstamatic is an app that simulates old analog cameras. The app comes with several analog films and some lenses. You can also purchase different film and lenses straight from the camera. The app even has the look of an old instant camera.

Once you select your lens and film you are ready to shoot. It does take a few seconds for the image to “develop” which I think is part of the magic of Hipsta. Also your image is final, meaning as of this writing Hipsta saves the “developed” image and does not save the iPhone image. This means you are stuck with the image you shot. If you chose to process further you will have to use another app.

With so many films and lenses you have thousands of combinations of photo styles to create. That being said Hipsta has its own “camera roll” within the app and you can match settings to a previous picture. I use this often.

Hipstamatic also includes many sharing features such as sharing to facebook, Flickr,twitter, email as well as ordering prints. There are also Hipsta contest from within the phone.

Hipsta has been an iPhone top app so I’m sure new features, films and lens will continue to be added to the app.

Hipstamatic Folklore?
The story behind Hipstamatic is somewhat cloudy. The app’s creator says the original Hipstamatic was a real camera invented by his two brothers back in 1982. They wanted to create a cheap 35mm camera anyone could afford. So in late 1982 the brothers began creating small plastic Hipstamatic cameras in a small cabin. In 1984 both brothers were killed by a drunk driver after getting a new building to manufacture Hipstamatics.

There has been some research to the validity of this story. So far no one can find where any of this story actually occurred. Also no one can seem to find any of the 100 or so Hipstamatics built. The family had the that were destroyed in a house fire.

Whether the beginnings of the Hipstamatic was actually in 1982 or created a few years ago with a good back story the Hipstamatic is a great app.

Hipstamatic App 
Hipstamatic Story

Check out some Hipsta prints straight from my iPhone.

Hipstamatic captures the rich colors of the fair.

Hipsta and BW at the fair

The Hipstamatic even goes with me to the beach

I will be the first to admit the iPhone camera is one of the weakest links in the iPhone, other than AT&T, but you can still create some impressive images using the plethora of iPhone photo apps. One of the simplest creative apps is Autostitch. This app lets you create panoramas by stitching several iPhone images together.

While I wouldn’t use the app for high quality print images it works pretty darn good for web or posting images to facebook. In fact it took be about 30 seconds to take four images, open app, and create the image below and post it to facebook.

4 images stitched together in Autostitch - Mt Mansfield in Stowe, VT

The process for creating panoramas is simple. Just use your iPhone camera and take several overlapping images, open Autostitch app, and select the images for stitching. Once selected click on “Stitch” and let the app do its magic. Once done you will see all images stitched together and have the option of cropping to your liking. It will also default to the largest usable cropping of the image. Another nice feature is the program keeps the stitched image at high resolution.

Screenshot of the image selection screen in Autostitch

The ease of use and quality of images make this app a must for anyone with an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

As of this writing the app was only $2.99. You can visit http://www.cloudburstresearch.com/ to see more information.

Enjoy!

Yesterday Google announced Chrome OS, a stand alone operating system. Hooray no more Windows! But wait , before you jump for joy don’t throw out that old PC yet.

The Chrome Operating System (OS) simply runs in the browser, so all of your applications or programs are on the Internet. I can certainly see computers, phones, or gadgets of the future working this way, but we probably have a ways to go before you swap everything to an “Internet only” OS.

My initial thought is, “What if the Internet is down?” Second, certain applications like Adobe Photoshop or Premiere just wouldn’t work. I know there are online photo editing applications but they do not yet possess the horsepower of a program like Photoshop.

I do think though, there is currently a market for an Internet only OS computer. Internet speeds are pretty fast and many Internet applications work fine in the browser. My email is completely web based (Gmail) and I use Google documents for word processing and spreadsheets. I also use Google Calendar to keep my life straight. See updating Gcal with SMS. So an inexpensive laptop computer for those applications would be great.

Anyway, here is a video Google released about Chrome OS. Let me know what you think.

RESOURCES:
Official Google Blog: Introducing the Google Chrome OS
Google Chrome Blog: Google Chrome OS – FAQ

Here’s a quick tech tip for you guys using Google Calendar.

Did you know you can add events to your Google calendar (GCal) via SMS or text messaging? It’s simple and best of all it’s free.

First, you need to have a Google account of course, and use Google Calendar. If you are already using GCal then you probably are familiar with the ease of adding events.
Goto GCal here.

Now you need to set your mobile phone up for GCal.
Click on “Settings” in the top right corner of your browser.
Under Calendar Settings, click on Mobile Settings.
Follow the instructions for validating your phone.
Once validated you are ready to send and receive text messages from your mobile phone.

So how do you Add an Event? Easy.
Simply send a text message to 48368.
In the message type something like “Kids Soccer tomorrow 5pm” or “Marketing meeting Jan 20 9am”
Google Calendar will do the rest!
Google will recognize your text and words such as today, tomorrow, or the date and add them as an event to your Calendar.

GCal Power Tip 1 – Add GCal contacts with the mobile number 48368. When you open your SMS to text you can quickly send via your contacts.
GCal Power Tip 2- I use it for reminders as well. “Don’t forget to call John 5pm“. Setup reminders in GCal and you have your own secretary!

Do you have GCal power tips? Let me know.
Happy GCaling…

Flag drapped over cross after Katrina in Biloxi, MS. Over 2,100 views

As of today the short video below has been seen over 15,000 times. Now I know you can go on YouTube and create some stupid video and get X number of million hits but my point is the way we view images, video, and even art is changing right before our eyes. The Internet has given the ability for everyone to become a broadcaster of their creativity.

15 or even 10 years ago having a picture “seen” by thousands or millions of people was not feasible. Why? One reason was broadband Internet was not widely available and the second is social networking had not taken off. There are advantages and disadvantages to this.

The disadvantage is there is a lot of “noise” or junk out there that you have to sort through. Just sign up for twitter and you’ll see what I mean.

As far as advantages and there are many, one is it gives everyone a chance to show their creativity or work at very little cost. Joe in the middle of nowhere can showcase his work on the Internet just as good or even better than some high-end artist in New York. A level playing field has been created.

I post more on the topic in the coming days. For now take a look at the short clip below. It’s on Flickr which only let’s you create one minute or less videos. For myself, the fact images I created have been seen by thousands of people is amazing, whereas 10 years ago it would have been just a handful of people.

As always I look forward to your comments!

Video with 15,000+ view on Flickr.

See Original Page on Flickr