My Three Cameras…

A common theme to this season's OnMouseClick columns has been the evolution of technology, computers and the related devices that all of us use on a regular basis, and one of the most ubiquitous of these devices is the digital camera. Just about everybody has at least one digital camera, and many of us have more than one. I have three, at least three that I use on a regular basis.

I have been an avid photographer since my late teens, even working in the photo department of a magazine after college. Back then I used a 35 mm, single lens reflex camera, shooting primarily in black and white and printing on high contrast, matte paper. Once I began teaching I drifted away from serious photography, for years using a point-and-shoot film camera for family photos. It wasn't until the advent of digital photography in the 1990's that I rediscovered photography as an art form. Today the three cameras that I use are a Nikon D90 DSLR (digital single lens reflex camera), a Panasonic Lumix point-and-shoot, and an iPhone 4. I love shooting with my DSLR and its interchangeable lenses, but when I do not want to carry around a large, heavy camera, I have my smaller cameras to fall back on. Both fit comfortably in a pocket or small purse, and even if I leave the Panasonic at home, I always have my iPhone with me.

One of the main advantages of digital over film photography is the instant feedback. Polaroid cameras were popular because they produced finished photographic prints in a matter of minutes, even if the quality of the prints was less than stellar. With digital photography we don't have instant prints, but we can view our images on the camera's LCD screen, and if we don't like what we see, we can delete.

Another advantage of digital photography is the ease in editing. Instead of using an
enlarger, chemicals, and a darkroom to process photographs, today's photographer uses a computer and photo editing software. In fact, today's photographer doesn't even need to use a traditional computer, but can edit images on smart phones and tablets. As I wrote last week, Adobe had introduced a tablet version of its flagship Photoshop program, Photoshop Touch, for use on the iPad and Android tablets. Last week another popular graphics program made the move from the traditional computer to mobile devices. On March 7, in addition to announcing the newest version of the iPad and a upgrade to the iOS operating system (from 5.01 to 5.1), Apple unveiled a version of iPhoto for both the iPhone and iPad.

Anyone who uses a Mac is familiar with iPhoto, as it comes pre-installed on all Apple computers (a similar application, Picasa, runs on Windows computers). Both programs are image editors, but they also provide a vehicle for cataloging and displaying photos.
With the mobile version of iPhoto, you can edit photos, sort them into albums, and group them by events, locations and themes. Another feature of the app is the ability to "beam" images directly between an iPhone and iPad running on the same WiFi network.

This is a feature I am really going to appreciate, since I like to use my iPhone for picture taking, and my iPad for image editing. Two weeks ago I wrote about DropBox, a cloud computing service, to implement the transfer of photos from iPhone to iPad. While not complicated, it involved uploading an image to DropBox from the iPhone and saving it on the iPad to the built in photo app. Now, with iPhoto, I can make the transfer in one easy step.

The mobile version of iPhoto requires iOS 5.1, the newest version of the iPhone and iPad operating system, and is compatible with the iPhone 4 and 4S, and all iPads except the original iPad 1. It can be purchased from the iTunes Store for $4.99, and once downloaded, it can be installed on both the iPhone and iPad. Click this link for more information.