10 Quick iPhone Photography Tips

Before I got my iPhone I had a Nokia phone with a pretty good camera on it… apparently… but I never really used it much because it had such a long lag on it from clicking the shutter to the picture making it to the phone that it irritated the willies out of me… talk about a way to make you not inspired to shoot with a phone!

Since I moved into the world of Apple though, a whole new world of photography opened up to me… my photos in the beginning with it were pretty dire… now I am right in the swing of it and loving the results.

First of all the best thing about phone photos over fancy DSLR shots is quite purely and simply, ease, accessibility and weight. In my world with 3 kiddos and generally being busy a lot of the time, I don’t have time, although I must say I certainly have the inclination, to get out my big camera, start fiddling around with what lens to use, start playing around with the settings, yadda, yadda, yadda… it’s heavy and bulky and means that I have to have an ugly camera bag with me.

Phone cameras change all that – and having that little baby in my pocket has taken me on another journey with photography, one I certainly did not see coming or expect and one I am enjoying immensely.

Phone photography for me means freedom and capturing moments with my family and things about Australia that I am inspired by that otherwise I would miss.

It was tricky at first to get a good shot though.

Here’s what I have learnt over the last few months:

The Beach Cottage Top 10 Tips to Phone Photos

1. Hold the phone like you would a camera

When I first got my iPhone and discovered the camera I was holding it with just one hand and almost gliding it around… now I hold the ‘camera’ in two hands and with my right hand I ‘click’ the shutter as you would a regular camera…

I also imagine my camera screen as the viewfinder on my big camera – when I first started iPhoneology I was holding the phone out in front of me at a ridiculous angle and doing some strange straight-armed, head back movement, robot style. Now I hold the phone in front of me with both hands and ‘look’ through the screen to what I am taking a photo of as I would with the other camera rather than kinda looking past the phone… I hope that makes sense?

2. Don’t zoom in with the zoom on the camera, zoom in with your feet

If you want to take something close up actually walk up to it, get close and click. Mmy iPhone loses heaps of quality even with a tiny bit of zooming and it becomes really grainy and pizelated. So I never move the zoom in. Moving from a telephoto lens on a Canon 50D to no zoom on a phone is a big difference and has been great for teaching me about light and my composition comfort zone has been seriously jolted… ahem, still learning here!

3. Shoot the same thing a few times

The great thing about digital photography is it allows for a lot of attempts and a lot of mistakes. Add to that benefit, the speed and ease of a camera phone and you have the opportunity to take a few shots so one of them will be good. You can just take multiple shots of the same thing and one of them will be vastly better than the others.

I love shooting at the beach with my phone, as you might have gathered and I will sit, with a coffee or on a walk and take a bundle of shots, upload ‘em when I get home and poof delete them right off. Too easy!

But don’t delete those shots you think are no good when you are out and about because often when you get home the things you think looked rubbish on your phone screen actually turn into interesting things on your computer monitor. The first time I got sun flare on my iPhone I was on the ferry to the city and shooting like mad with my iPhone. Checking the images I was a bit disappointed on the quality – they looked really over-exposed, too bright and patchy. When I got them uploaded to the computer later I realised that the elusive fingers of God were all over my pictures.

4. Light

Light with camera phones is important – the lower the light the more grainy and bad quality it becomes – unless you are taking photos of the sun and the sea  keep the light behind you and your subject well lit.

But don’t lose those dark and night time opportunities. Shoot with your phone at night and dusk and see what it produces. I am doing this all the time lately and learning a lot along the way. I love shooting the sky at night – results have been a real mixed bag but are inspiring me to get out there with my real camera and have a go like a big girl.

5. Check out the resolution and picture quality settings – and set them on high

6. Keep the camera as still as you can because the jitters will make your picture blurred. To keep it still look for something to lean your arm/hand/camera on – this makes a big difference to camera jitters and my phone photos. Keep your hand there for a second after you ‘click’ too just to make sure, in case your phone has a big shutter lag.

7. Move around and get in different positions

The thing I love about my phone is that it is small and easy and you can get get down low and dirty with it or you can point it up and high really easily. Tou can move right on in to a shell or a flower and you can get it into awkward places and positions that a regular camera it would be more tricky with. So move it in bundles of different angles to see what you get – it doesn’t cost a penny.

Also move the angle of the phone as you take the pictur – I have experimented with this a lot with the horizon and the sea… haven’t posted any of the images yet ‘cos it actually looks like I was drunk when I took the photos, ahem maybe there was the odd Limoncello involved in some of them actually… but the shots are really interesting in my own personal photo-taking journey.

8. Clean the lens… duh!

I didn’t do this for ages and I don’t do it enough now still. My phone is in my bag, in my pocket, floating about in the car and ultimately has grubby little kiddo fingers all over tit so cleaning it makes a difference to the resulting shot.

9.  Process!

All of my phone pictures are processed. I think that is the beauty of phonology, you have the ability to whip that baby out and capture something amazing you see, even though the quality and look might not be what you wanted. Then wham bam thank you mam, technology and a lil bit of foofing gives you a pretty nice shot…

I usually use Windows Live to tweak the contrast, light and saturation etc. It’s normally the light that makes the big difference in shots. I turn the highlights and brightness and often exposure right up. A real photographer would probably shudder at my processing, but the look I like, and hey that’s who I’m doing this for, is overly bright photos.

I also nearly always turn the temperature down. I like my photos on the err of blue and you would never have guessed but I like ‘em pretty white too. You can also do this with an app if you have an iPhone. Qhen I first got mine I went on a serious iPhone frenzy and got a lot of phone camera apps but really none have them have honestly floated my boat that much. Nowadays I just take the photo with the regular phone camera and do the foofing later.

There are a few apps for processing too but I find it fiddly and too small to try and see what’s going on on the small screen of my phone, I much prefer getting them uploaded and doing it on the big screen.

10. Clutter

Don’t have too much going on in your photo. One of the reasons, in my humble little opinion, some of my phone photos are still fairly good even though they are pretty grainy and not even in the same league in sharpness and quality as my DSLR camera shots is that there is not too much going on in the photos. This allows you to get away with a lot.

Keeping one main subject and a scene where you want all/most of it in focus are best. As you can see in the photo above, the quality is average to poor and pretty grainy (when viewed at full size) but hey I LOVE the pink sunflare, I love the clouds, I love the sea and baby I captured it… bingo… and that’s what photography is all about for me!

That’s how I take photos with my iPhone, hope these ten tips for phone photography might help you too… main thing though… just shoot ‘em up baby!

Sarah is a busy mum blogging from the beaches of Sydney about her sea-change from the grey skies of London to Australia, she logs the renovation of an old cottage and life by the sea, since picking up an old Powershot that had seen better days when she first started her blog, she began on an unexpected journey with, and new found love for, photography…slowly moving up the camera ranks, she replaced the Powershot with a Canon G10 and soon moved onto a Canon 50d…and nowadays also uses her iPhone when she’s down the beach to capture it all….

source: http://digital-photography-school.com/10-quick-iphone-photography-tips/

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Keeping Your Personal Data Safe Online

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – Online marketplace EBay is the latest website to report a possible security breach. 22News is working for you with information you need to know about keeping your personal data private on the Internet.

When you type in your password to check your e-mail, bank account and messages on social media, how secure is your information? Experts recommend using a different password for every website you visit and changing your password every

three months.

However, many people admit, that just creates more problems.

Bill McKinstry of Chicopee told 22News, “You kind of get confused what they are any more, and half the time you get kicked out because you’re using the wrong one.”

Now there’s something else you can do to protect your information. Companies, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft offer a two-step verification feature. If you or someone else try to log on to your account for a new device, they will send you a text message with a security code. You’ll then need to type in that security code to access your account on that new device. Think of it as a double password log in.

Zach Joslyn of Chicopee told 22News, “It’s kind of cool. Just in case, keeping everything a little more private. At least you know somebody else used it if you don’t know anything about that, so yeah, that’s pretty cool.”

Other safety tips include always using a combination of upper case, lower case and numbers to create a complex password and installing an anti-virus program on your computer.

source: http://wwlp.com/2014/05/23/keeping-your-personal-data-safe-online/

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Better Keynote Presentations

For many people, presentations are overwhelming. They struggle with the delivery or design of the slides, and the result is a mess that bores audiences. Taking cues from Apple's iconic production introductions, we can learn a lot about how to showcase your important slides. In this tutorial I'll share five tips, to use with Apple's Keynote, software for better presentations.

1. Theme Presets

The base for any Key

note is the Theme. To select a Theme and get started on crafting your Keynote, open the Keynote application and go to File > New or press the Command+N keys. Apple provides dozens of ready-made presets for use.

When choosing a theme I recommend sticking to the simple ones, that will showcase your content without distractions, such as the black or white themes.

Another quick way to create a clean background of your own is to start with the White Theme. Then go into the Inspector and use the “Color Fill” option to customize your background. To open Inspector, go to View > Show Inspector. Go to the Slide tab (second from left), and then click on the Appearance tab. At the bottom of Inspector, there will be a “Color Fill” option. By clicking on the color box, you will open the Color window and will be able to customize the color of your slide.

A solid custom-color background will serve as a great Theme for your Keynote.

Why these themes? They all share some common traits, including modern fonts, simplistic layout, and the lack of textured backgrounds (except for Blueprint). These themes also steer away from shadows, cheesy graphic elements, and bordered photos. Overall, they set the stage for great content rather than distract the audience from what you as a presenter are trying to say.

Another important detail to notice as you select a Theme is the “Slide Size” dropdown button in the lower right hand corner of the Theme chooser. If you know you will be presenting on an old 4:3 projector, go with the 800x600 resolution. If you’re presenting on a widescreen HD projector, use the 1920x1080 size. Going the extra mile to tailor your canvas to the screen you’ll be using is a great way to put your Keynote on the next level.

Notice the "Slide Size" dropdown menu in the bottom right hand corner.

2. Use and Format Text Carefully

Text in a Keynote is a double edge sword. It is essential, in some respects, but it must be used sparingly. Presentation experts recommend only four or five words per bullet point, and only four or five bullet points per slide. Others say to use a maximum of 30 words per slide.

Ultimately, you'll want to use as few words as possible to present your information. Keynotes loaded with text will bore and overwhelm your audience. Your speaking should give your audience the most information. The Keynote is simply there to reinforce your main ideas and your structure, and also to communicate visually when needed. Bullet points are prompts for concepts or ideas on which you can expand.

Picking one or two great fonts to use throughout your presentation is key. While subjective, there are some general things to do when choosing fonts. Don't use handwriting fonts or elaborate fonts. Sans-serif fonts tend to work really well in Keynotes as well, so choose something classic like Helvetica or Arial.

Consistency, in font use, is also very important. This means that you pick one or two fonts and stick with those throughout. Use consistent font sizes in certain places throughout the Keynote, etc.

Color (or often times, the lack thereof) is key to presenting text well. Generally speaking, you should use black or dark grey for most of your text. For lines or headers that you want to accent, use a color that fits with your theme. But only use color as an accent, not as the rule of thumb.

3. Present Data With Graphs and Charts

Keynote has some incredible three-dimensional charts and graphs. Whenever you have data sets to communicate, don’t hesitate to dive into these tools and create a beautiful visual. Generally, pie charts are used to show percentages, bar graphs show comparison, and line charts show trends over time.

Charts are essential to carefully presenting data. Instead of overwhelming your audience with lists and numbers, charts provide a visual look at information.

To create one of these visuals in Keynote, go to Insert > Chart and select the appropriate chart for your use. The chart will appear on your background, along with the Chart Inspector window, 3D Chart position editor, and the Chart Data Editor. These three windows contain all the tools you need to design and fill your charts with beautiful data.

A chart is a beautiful and simple way to display data.

4. Use Transitions and Animations Wisely

There are two categories of transitions to be aware of: “slide” transitions and “build” transitions. Slide transitions refer to the transition between entire slides of layout. For this transition, you are usually best off using a quick dissolve, or even, no transition at all.

Build transitions refer to the entrance/exit of individual elements on one particular slide. For build transitions, there are several great options depending on how much attention you want to draw to an element. Convergence, Dissolve, Move In, Drift, and Pop are all great options for build transitions. Just make sure to use them sparingly, and keep the “transition time” to a minimum. Also, only use the more movement-based transitions for elements that you really want to accent.

Slide and build transitions can be previewed and edited from the Inspector window. To add a transition to a slide, simply select the slide you want to transition from and add a slide transition. To add a build transition, click on the element you want to build in, and then go into the Build tab in Inspector and add a transition.

Transitions are managed from the Inspector window. Use them sparingly to provide a good effect.

Another great way to use transitions is bullet points. You can quickly and easily add transitions to a text box containing bullet points. Craft your box of text, select the box, and then go into the Build tab in Inspector. Choose a transition, and then under the “Delivery” section, select “By Bullet.” This will bring in your bullet points individually with minimal setup on your part.

Bullet point transitions are very easy to add to your presentation.

5. Plan for Presentation

Keynote includes some great functionality to improve your speaking during your presentation. Apple sells the “Keynote Remote” app for iPhone for $0.99. This app connects to the Keynote software on your mac and allows you to wirelessly control your presentation. This really cleans up your speaking, as you are free to move around and are not tied to looking at/staying at your Mac during the presentation.

Keynote also includes a “Presenter Notes” section. Basically, for each slide, you can add detailed notes about how and what you are going to speak during that slide to coincide with what is on the screen. This could include your outline, facts, statistics, key words, etc. To view and edit presenter notes, just go to View > Show Presenter Notes. The coolest part? The Keynote Remote app shows you these notes on your iPhone screen, keeping you free from your Mac for even the most detailed presentations.

Presenter Notes are a great way to improve your speaking.

Conclusion

With these five tips, putting together memorable presentations in Keynote is a breeze. Ultimately, remember to make your presentation something that you would want to watch and remember that a Keynote is designed to reinforce your delivery instead of substituting for it.

source: http://computers.tutsplus.com/tutorials/5-tips-for-better-keynote-presentations--mac-53474

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Hidden Tricks Inside Samsung’s Galaxy S5

When the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer updates its top model, you expect something special, and the Samsung Galaxy S5 does not disappoint. It has all the features and functionality you could possibly want, and a little more. To help you get to grips with it without having to experiment or read a manual, we’ve prepared some useful Samsung Galaxy S5 tips. Hit us up if you have suggestions for more tips.

How to keep the screen on when you’re looking at it

If you get annoyed at the screen timing out and shutting off on you, head into Settings > Display and change the Screen timeout setting and/or tick the box next to Smart stay. It will check if you’re looking at the screen before it turns it off and keep it on if it can determine that you are. Bear in mind this won’t work in the dark because the S5 can’t see you; it doesn’t have a night-vision camera.

How to use My Magazine

GS5 has Flipboard integrated into it.

Flipboard is so good that manufacturers are copying and building upon it to create built-in apps. Swipe left to right from the home screen on your Galaxy S5 and you’ll see My Magazine (it looks a bit like HTC’s Blinkfeed). You have to tap the menu icon at the top right and head into Settings in order to personalize it for the topics you want, and to add in your social media feeds. You can set it to auto-update when you open it and swiping down from the top will refresh the content.

How to use the fingerprint scanner

Biometric security is all the rage and Samsung’s fingerprint scanner is a versatile security solution that you can use to unlock the phone, make purchases, and lock personal files. To set it up go into Settings > Finger Scanner > Fingerprint Manager and follow the instructions. You can decide exactly what you want to use it for under Features in Finger Scanner.

When you do use it, you’ll see a trail at the bottom of the screen and you have to swipe your finger down all the way over the Home button to use it, but without pressing it. Sometimes it will take a couple of swipes to get it to register. You have to swipe a finger eight times to record the print. Try swiping it at slightly different angles when you set it up and there’s a better chance it will work well for you in future.

How to hide personal files

The Finger Scanner is a handy way to unlock the Galaxy S5 and purchases via your Samsung account or PayPal, but you can also use it to lock sensitive files. In Settings you’ll find a Private Mode option which allows you to hide personal content. You can choose photos, videos, music, voice recordings, and other files. Now those files can only be accessed by your finger, so there’s no danger of prying eyes stumbling upon them. You can turn Private Mode on and off by dragging two fingers down from the notification bar to open the Quick settings menu. When it’s off the files you chose will not appear anywhere.

How to use the touchscreen with a stylus or gloves

If you’re somewhere cold and want to use your Samsung Galaxy S5 with gloves on, or maybe you like to use a stylus, then there’s a great touchscreen sensitivity option just for you. Go to Settings > Display and check the box next to Increase touch sensitivity.

How to save battery power the Ultimate way

Galaxy S5′s Ultra Power Saving Mode

You’ll find Power saving mode in the Settings and it should help you extend your battery life. You can decide if you want to shut off background data and restrict performance. If you really need your S5 to last then try Ultra power saving mode instead, it gives you a simplified home screen with limited app and function access. You can select the apps you want access to and also switch to greyscale, so no power is wasted on the color display.

How to use Kids Mode

There are a few good apps in the Play Store for parents looking to limit device functionality and access to apps for kids, but Samsung has pre-installed a Kids Mode app on the Galaxy S5 and it’s really good.

Ideal for children under 10, the Kids Mode app offers a simplified camera app with fun editing options, like silly moustaches and googly eyes. There’s also a decent art app where they can draw, color, and stamp to their heart’s content. The voice recorder lets them talk or sing and has a choice of characters who’ll speak voice recordings back to them. There’s also a separate gallery for their artwork and photos, and a video app where you can specify which videos they can view.

Enable a PIN in the options and your child won’t be able to access the rest of your phone, so you can fire up Kids Mode and hand it to them without worrying. The parental controls also allow you to set daily time limits, specify other apps that it’s okay for them to access, and review their activity.

How to use the heart rate monitor

Samsung Galaxy S5 sensor back

The heart rate scanner is on the back of the Galaxy S5 just below the camera. It shines a red light into your finger and measures your pulse, but don’t expect it to be perfectly accurate. You can access it via the pre-installed S Health app; simply choose the Heart rate option and follow the onscreen instructions. For best results, try not to move or talk while it records your heart rate.

How to download stuff really fast

You’ll find the Download booster toggle in your Quick settings and you can tap it to turn it on, or you can slide it on in the full Settings menu. You’ll need to have Wi-Fi and Mobile data turned on for it to work. It will basically use your Wi-Fi and LTE together to download files as fast as possible. Bear in mind that it will use part of your data allowance. (AT&T has disabled this feature.)

How to use floating Toolbox menu

If you head into Settings > Device then you’ll find Toolbox listed under Sound and display. It allows you to create a wee floating circle that can be dragged anywhere on the screen. Tap on the circle and you get a quick shortcut to your five favorite apps. You can set them to be whatever you like. This is handy for launching apps one-handed, and it fades away if you don’t use it for a while.

How to share content with other devicesSamsung-Galaxy-S5-quick-connect

This is one of the best features in the Galaxy S5. Drag down your notification bar at any time and you’ll see a Quick Connect option just under the Quick settings icons. Tap on it and you get a list of nearby devices that you can connect with to share content, regardless of whether you connect via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or another method.

How to use two apps at the same time

This isn’t a new feature for the S5, but it’s really handy. Hold down on the Back button and you’ll see a tab pop up on the left hand side of the screen. Tap it and a list of apps will pop out. Tap and drag any app you want to open onto the screen. If you’ve turned Multi-window on in the Quick settings then you’ll be able to drag two apps onto the screen and work with both of them at once. You can resize them and if you can switch to landscape mode they’ll sit side by side.

 source:  http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/galaxy-s5-helpful-tips-and-tricks/#!P2lSu

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