Archive | iPhone RSS feed for this section

Amazing Photo of The Moon with iPhone

By on August 10, 2009



[UPDATE: Martin has chimed in with more details and original photos...all info after the jump].

After reading the headline of this post and looking at the image, you’re probably waiting for the other shoe to drop. What’s the catch? Well, there isn’t one. Yes, my pal Martin Gisborne used only an iPhone 3Gs and a telescope to get this shot. He did some slight tweaking in Aperture, but no crazy-fancy space cameras, no Photoshop, no compositing, no gimmicks. Pretty impressive. The best camera is the one that’s with you.

[By contrast, last spring I was dorking around and also shot an image thru a telescope. My results were, er... let's say, less interesting. That image after the jump...]
–

Here’s my laughable shot:

Not nearly as powerful a telescope…

[And here's Martin's addendum, just cut and pasted from his email to me...Thanks Martin!]
…Here’s the scoop:

1) Exposure was simply controlled using tap to focus/expose.
2) The telescope was a modest 80mm William Optics Zenithstar II… only 545mm focal length. I used a 20mm Plossl eyepiece in a 2″ diagonal.
3) The iPhone was handheld – which was the most challenging part… getting the lens in alignment over the eyepiece without moving the scope.
4) The size of the moon in the frame came from using the 20mm eyepiece on the telescope.

This is the original frame from my iPhone… you can see that it’s not BAD exactly as it is:

This is the image cropped in Aperture:

This is the cropped image with Levels applied:

This is with Definition applied:

And, lastly, this is with Edge Sharpen applied, no external plug ins used:

[Thx again for the play by play, Martin.]

–

Get my every move: Follow Chase Jarvis on Twitter
Get exclusive content: Become a Fan on Facebook

And My iPhone Goes to… (BTW, Check Out This Gallery)

By on June 24, 2009

Omar Shine, for this killer image here. Great composition, color, and story. Points for abstraction. Congrats Omar. Everyone please shower him with praise. Omar is from the great country of Canada, so it’ll be up north that I’m mailing my phone. (Omar, please contact me offline about getting it to you.)

IMPORTANT: in addition to Omar’s winning shot, there were 3500 images submitted in just a couple of days, with some absolutely stunning work therein. Seriously. As such, I have posted a gallery of my favorite one hundred images with photographer names on each. This gallery is REMARKABLE. Please pay a visit. A good chunk of this work stands up to a lot of the work I see in the industry, regardless of the the platform, mobile or otherwise. Pat yourselves on the back. And thanks for the fun.

–

[And btw, a personal aside: I found out my mom and dad entered some spoof images in the contest too. Scroll back thru the whole Facebook gallery of submissions if you want to see images of a strange goat tied to a car and a cactus shaped like a rabbit. my parents are funny and cooler'n hell...]
[Lastly, in case you missed it, this entry is the result of this earlier post.]

Who Wants My iPhone?

By on June 19, 2009

UPDATE: The winner has been chosen, check out the gallery of the top hundred or so entries.

I’m the proud owner of a new iPhone 3Gs. That said, I’ve got my last iPhone, this lovely black 16GB 3G (pictured here), that I’ll no longer be using. Don’t get me wrong…I love this little sucker. I’ve lugged it over 200,000 air miles, literally around the world, and it’s taken all the daily iPhone pics that you’ve seen on my Twitter feed and Facebook fan page. She’s still in tip-top shape. It’s dear to me, but it’s time for me to give it to you.

In exchange, I want to see your photos (in the spirit, we’ll limit it to mobile devices only…iphone or any other camera phone – honor system here…) posted to my Facebook fan page. You’ve got till 12 noon on Tuesday 6/23, my time (GMT -8). On Tuesday the give away will close, I’ll pick my favorite image from all those uploaded and I’ll give that person my beloved iPhone 3G. Announced Wednesday 6/24.

To participate, you’ve got to:
1. ‘Become a fan’ on my Facebook fan page. (NOT my personal page, but the FAN page. Follow that link…)
2. Under the “wall” tab in the ‘what’s on your mind’ window atop the page, write your name and a url if you’d like.
3. In that same window, directly below where you just wrote your name, click on the ‘add photos’ icon.
4. Upload your favorite mobile image. No limit to the number of entries. Anyone can enter, from anywhere in the world.
5. When you win, I’ll send you my iphone in the mail. Easy peasy.

[I'd love to see some community love here. Don't be a miser. Please share this. It's really about pictures and not about the phone. Also, if you've got time, visit the Fan gallery and click 'like' to any images that inspire you. This isn't part of the giveaway, but it seems like a nice way to look at some pretty pictures and maybe make somebody's day.]
[Lastly, images in my iPhone gallery, shot with the iphone in question, are here. Chk 'em.]

–

iPhone 3GS Is The Photographer’s iPhone

By on June 8, 2009

In case you haven’t heard the news, the best camera is the one that’s with you, like in your pocket right now. For yours truly and anybody else who can part with $200-$300, that will on June 19th be the newly announced iPhone 3GS. Looks like this will be an amazing little tool for those of us interested in taking pictures and shooting video when our dSLR’s are outta reach.

In case you missed it, here’s a brief recap of the hot new photo and video specs for the iPhone 3GS:

Photo:
- 3 megapixel camera
- low light capture modes
- autofocus
- autoexposure
- OR tap to focus, allowing focus and white balance adjustment on the fly
- auto macro lens (up to 10cm away)

Video:
- 30 frames per second VGA video
- auto focus
- auto white balance
- auto exposure

Other handy stuff for us photo/video geeks:
- 16 and 32 GB storage
- faster processor
- cut and paste multiple photos into email, etc
- multimedia messaging (send photos via sms/text)

I dunno about you, but I’m pumped. All that in your pocket – always. LOVE to hear your thoughts. For photos highlighting some of these features, plus some additional snazzy chatter hit ‘Continue Reading’ link below…

–

Here’s a highlight photo from the WWDC just moments ago of the “tap to focus” selective focus option:

Here’s a demo image of the auto macro setting in effect (to 10cm):

Here’s a demo image highlighting the low light capabilities:

Here’s a demo shot of video mode:

And here’s a shot of video sharing mode:

Hope all that makes things a little sweeter.

If you haven’t seen my iphone photo gallery before, please check it out here. I also post daily iPhone images to my twitter feed (@chasejarvis) and to my Facebook fan page. Love to see your avatar there and/or get any feedback.

Details on the other non-photo iPhone 3GS stuff here on Gizmodo. Big thanks to the Giz for the screengrabs and their play by play, live blogging the announcement.

iPhone Art Graces Cover of The New Yorker

By on May 25, 2009

So this time last month it was a still from the RED one camera featured on the cover of Esquire Magazine. Now it’s iPhone art on the cover of The New Yorker magazine. Yes, my friends, the future is upon us. The Matrix. And I love it.

Speaking about artist Jorge Colombo, abcnews.com reports:

“Using the Brushes application, one of thousands available for the iPhone and iPod touch, he has digitally painted dozens of New York scenes, including Grand Central Terminal, classic downtown delicatessens and the Empire State Building. This week one of his sketches will assume a spot coveted by artists in New York and all over the world: the cover of The New Yorker magazine.”

A made-for-morning-show-TV interview with Jorge here.

Well…told you it wasn’t getting any less interesting around here. So welcome to The Matrix…Now let’s just hope we’re all brighter than Neo and have a vocabulary beyond “whoa” to discuss what’s happening.

[If you're a noobie to this site, then you should know I've long been enamored with the iphone-as-damn-cool-camera and I send a daily iPhone image out into the world via my Twitter account (follow me) and my Facebook fan page (become a fan). My recently updated iPhone photo gallery is here. Check it. Now, just waiting for The New Yorker to call...and ever jealous of Jorge!]

–

Consequences of Social Media: ADCD Teaser #2

By on May 13, 2009

I’m giving a chat about creativity + social media at the Art Directors Club of Denver annual awards show. This 25-second teaser video highlights the consequences of social media.

This talk is open to the public, please tell your friends. Hope to see you there.

[Ok. So I'm having a little fun with this. In case you missed the earlier teaser video, check it out. In reality this one hurt a little more than the last one...]

Who: You + the Art Directors Club of Denver + the ASMP
What: Chase Jarvis keynote address
When: Friday, June 12, 6pm
Where: Denver, CO (Denver News Auditorium)
Details: www.adcd.com (more info coming soon)

–
[If you get this via RSS or email and can't see the video, click here.]

Consequences of Creativity: ADCD Teaser

By on April 29, 2009

I’m giving a chat about creativity on behalf of the Art Directors Club of Denver‘s annual awards show. This 45-second teaser video highlights the consequences of creativity.

This talk is open to the public, please tell your friends. Hope to see you there.

Who: You + ASMP + the Art Directors Club of Denver
What: Chase Jarvis keynote address
When: Friday, June 12, 6pm
Where: Denver, CO (Denver News Auditorium)
Details: www.adcd.com (more info coming soon)

–
[If you get this via RSS or email and can't see the video, click here.]

Updated iPhone Portfolio

By on April 28, 2009

Thanks to your feedback from this post a couple weeks ago, I updated my iphone photo portfolio today. Please take a spin thru. And in keeping with the spirit of this post, feel free to tell me which ones you like, but be sure to tell me at least one that sucks and how it could be improved.

I’m rotating the content of these portfolios quite frequently now–finally letting go of the drama associated with “a portfolio”–so I’ll continue to keep you posted.

iPhone portfolio is here.

[Get my iPhone photos of the day by following me on Twitter (@chasejarvis). These images also make to my Facebook fan page, occasionally with some commentary. Love to have you join.]
–

iPhone Photo of the Week

By on April 16, 2009

For a couple months now I’ve been posting an iPhone image to my Twitter and Facebook everyday. No photoshop, just in-iPhone-app editing and a mobile post. The exercise originally started for two reasons: 1)to keep the creative/vision mojo flowing; and 2)emphasize the image, not the tools needed to create it. Its been really key in my own creative development lately, and I’ve been jazzed to get a ton of community feedback around how this little endeavor has taken hold in others’day to day as well.

That said, I wanted to bring a piece of this action here to the blog on a semi-regular basis for those of you who are not tweeters or facebookers. Idea is that I’ll post a handful of my iphone images from the previous week or so here and ask for your vote in the comments about your favorite. Any above the belt feedback is always welcome, as would be links to iphone images that you’re creating.

So which is your favorite of the following four images? [first one here, other three after the jump...]


Some hotel lobby lamps…

- click the ‘continue reading’ link below …
–


Light at Frankfurt airport.


Flag on the beach in Dubai.


Fire hydrant by my local coffee shop.


Discarded shopping cart.

Vote for your fav, post a link, or post some feedback in the comments.

Chase Jarvis SOCIAL

By on March 15, 2009

If you’re at all interested in occasionally subverting digital-only communities and you’d wanna gather over a beer or a bite with yours truly and some other like-minded people, I’ve begun holding impromptu social gatherings at random spots around the world, and would love for you to join in.

Participating is simple. Just follow me on Twitter (@chasejarvis) and keep your eyes peeled for an occasional flurry of tweets outlining a place and a time. You’ll have to wade thru my other twitter ramblings and daily iPhone image postings, but at some point, I’ll tweet about getting together for a social at some random bar, restaurant, ice cream parlor, opium den, playgound, etc, and we’ll connect and chat photography, video, art, pop culture, whatever. Doesn’t matter if 2, 20, or 200 people show up – I’m just interested in meeting some people that I’ve historically had virtual-only relationships with, getting people together analog-style, and talking shop. This is not formal in any way, in fact… [click the 'continue reading' link below]
–
…it’s exactly the opposite: my little rebellion against it. This is not me talking. It’s not a seminar. It’s not a photo event or Flickr roundup. Think impromptu beers or coffee with friends. Think casual gathering, with a short lead time, flash-mob style. Think SOCIAL. No host bar/food, just show up and hang out and socialize. And if you’re thinking I only make it to the big cities, think again. My travel schedule puts me in some pretty random places, and I’d like to meet you.

I am on the road a lot–including this week–so if this interests you, tune in to Twitter. Hope we cross paths in real life.

[And, lastly, thanks again for all the feedback on my recently refreshed chasejarvis.com. If you missed the post or haven't ducked outside of your email or RSS reader to check it out, I'd welcome some feedback. Muy bueno and many thanks.]

5 Tips For Making Great iPhone Photos

By on December 28, 2008

My iPhone has been like crack to me since the day one on the market, June 3, 2007. Most of us iPhone users make regular and swift use of the impressive ‘Net, email, and location-based tools, but as a professional creative I’m always using the built-in camera to grab snaps of anything that catches my eye for ideas, inspiration, and such. In fact–in case you didn’t know–I post daily mobile iPhone snaps to my Facebook page and my Twitter account for fun (friend/follow if you’re interested.)

That said, I dunno if it’s been the pile of comments I’ve received from those sources, the numerous ranting requests via email, or the hilarious fact that someone actually started a Facebook group called “Chase Jarvis Shoots Better Pics with His iPhone Than I Could With a Hasselblad”, but I figured–since people have grumbled to me about such challenges and since grabbing snapshots is a part of my daily creative routine for staying fresh and inspired–that it would be good fun to post a quick ‘how to’ checklist for making great iPhone pictures. So here goes:

Tip 1. Hold the camera still, using two hands.
Seriously. Whether shooting vertically (portrait) or horizontally (landscape), day or night, inside or out, use two hands and don’t wiggle until the shutter has entirely closed in the viewer. This is 75% of the battle.

Tip 2. Compose the shot with your finger on the camera button.
The shutter release on this camera goes click when you release your finger from this button, not when you press the button. As such, do all your composing with your finger on the trigger and simply lift your finger when you like what you see in the viewer. This will help you keep the sucker steady (Tip 1) and will help with your timing.

Tip 3. Avoid fast-moving subjects and low light.
Let’s face it, a little phone camera doesn’t have the same smarts as your Nikon D90 (ams)or D3x (pros), so don’t ask it to behave like one. Without dissecting the boring details, this camera just isn’t made to shoot slick action images of skateboarding or sexy images of your significant other on the dance floor at 2am. [Click the 'continue reading' link below for more tips and sample photos after the jump...]
–
Tip 4. Keep it simple.
I’ve never been much of a traditionalist, but my style is typically pretty clean. Take this to heart and we’ll skip the composition lesson, but in the meantime we can boil things down to this: pictures with one or two graphic elements are generally better than busy images with tons of clutter. This concept is amplified with the iPhone camera which lacks the chops to render the subtleties that your dSLR can. So just like Tip 3, don’t ask it to try. Keep your subject matter simple and your pictures will be better.

Tip 5. Buy two applications for your iPhone: Camera Bag and Pano.
Camera Bag ($2.99) has a series of pre-selected aesthetics, including “Ansel” and “1962″ (black & white), “Instant” (polaroid), “Helga” and “Lolo” (vignetted, toy camera), “1974″ (funky muted colors), “Fisheye” and “Infrared” (self-explanatory), and “Cinema” (cinematic 16X9 aspect ratio) that takes your vanilla iPhone snap and spits out something more interesting. Pano ($2.99), another great app, lets you take series of pictures and sew them together seamlessly in-camera to make one giant horizontal by following a series of simple prompts. Goodbye Photoshop. Both these apps allow you to save the final “new” picture directly to the Camera Roll in your iPhone, and will really help bring your snapshots to life.


Gasworks Park, Seattle. “1962″ Theme from Camera Bag.


Gasworks Park, Seattle. 3-photo panorama from Pano.

That’s it. Seriously. So, whether you’re a pro shooter using the gadget of the century to help fuel your creative inspiration, or a you’re just looking for a way to take a picture of your girlfriend that doesn’t suck, I hope these tips help demystify the great iPhone snap.

[In case you're interested in following these low-brow snapshots, or any of this 'creative discovery/means of inspiration' stuff that doesn't always make it to my blog, it usually goes down on my Twitter feed or my Facebook page, so I'd love to have your 'friend' and 'follow' accordingly. In contrast, if you're visiting here via Facebook or Twitter, the more comprehensive behind-the-scenes highlights (videos and pithy topics, spectacles and disasters) always filter there way here to my blog, so I'd encourage you to subscribe to this beast via email or RSS if you don't already.]

5 Reasons Why It’s Good To Always Carry A Camera

By on July 23, 2008

Last week I was reminded no less that 5 times why it’s important to carry a camera with you everywhere you go. I’d never have been able to grab a snap of any of these things had I not been packin’ heat (G9, iPhone, D3, whatever)…

1. The Google Earth 3D, street level, photo recorder thingie was mapping the area and I caught it. Very cool, despite the fact that fellow drivers were freaking out, as if it was about to launch a rocket or something. Have you seen this thing in your neighborhood?:

Reasons 2 – 5 after the jump. Click the ‘continue reading’ link below …
–
2. The giant, new, not-seen-before-by-me Airbus 380, double decker plane (I know, I’m a nerd who travels too much – I get excited about such things). Snagged this shot from the airport lounge:

3. Grabbing a sunset you don’t see everyday (no photoshop enhancement – real colors). I’m got a preference for aisles myself, but occasionally the window seat on the old Boeing jet is good for something:

4. Seeing the new Mini Cooper wagon for the first time. (And it’s no surprise to me that it’s owned by the coolest vodka brand in the world, 42 Below :)

5. And finally, hows about catching yours truly in the act of celebrating his BIRTHDAY with a little shredding of the dance floor head-over-heels tripping and falling. Like any good second assistant with a point-and-shoot, Mario caught me upside-down in action only a half second after my forehead caught the corner of the table (left). Model Lindsey was kind enough to grab the follow-up shot (right) after our resident EMT, Stephan, cleaned up my gushing forehead. Doh!

While the nuts and bolts of this post are tongue-in-cheek, the gist not. There’s unquestionably something wonderful about carrying a camera with you everywhere you go. Just like a writer carries a notepad, you should carry a camera. Consider trying it for a week. Seriously. You’ll begin to see more pictures than you’d ever have dreamed.

Whether they’re quirky and (un)lucky moments like these, or the unique and beautiful moments you see in books, magazines, and fine art everywhere, you’ll suddenly find yourself in a position to grab them.

The iPhone Report Card – A Resource

By on June 30, 2007


I overheard someone at the LAX airport yesterday saying how cliche it was to blog about the iPhone. Blasphemy! That struck me as really obtuse, since one of the things blogs do best is address popular culture events quickly, relevantly, and with an unfiltered punch. So in your face, airport guy. I say it’s not cliche to blog about it, it’s probably more of a faux pas (keeping with the French…) for me NOT to, especially given how excited most of the people I associate with are about this little gadget.

Okay, question: Do I have an iPhone? Yes. We procured them yesterday, the release day, for everyone on our staff. BUT, get this: I don’t have mine in hand yet – its back at the studio, sitting, waiting for me. I haven’t touched it, smelled it, coddled it, made a call, nothing, because Scott, Mario, and I are 10,000 miles away on a job in New Zealand for two weeks. It’s an exercise in patience, I assure you.

So the purpose of this post is two-fold:
1)it’s mildly selfish in that I want to hear your opinions of this new gadget so I can live vicariously through you; but
2) it’s really more about putting together a quick forum/reference for the iPhone havers AND those who don’t but are curious and need info.

Just like my earlier post about buying a point-and-shoot camera that–thanks to your numerous and robust entries to the comments section–turned into a killer resource, let’s do something similar here for the iPhone. If you have opinions, experiences, questions, links, or reviews you’d like to share, please leave comments. Remember you can do so with your name/login OR anonymously.

I’ll kick it off. Here’s some stuff I read.
-Boingboing’s got a dissected iPhone, along with numerous reviews and links.
-TEDBlog highlights NY Times Tech columnist David Pogue’s humorous take on it.
-Someone from CNNMoney is clearly not happy with their iPhone.
-Technorati obviously has plenty of info too.

That should get us started. But while news stories and reviews are nice, don’t forget there’s nothing that can replace a personal story or helpful insight from you. Do share. I want to return to the States (and my iPhone) completely prepared. Thanks in advance for your help.

[BTW, Dartanyon and Cody--aka 'the new guy' at our office whose video interview is coming soon to the staff page--shot a one minute ambient video clip just walking down the line of people many hundreds deep at the Seattle Apple store if for some reason you'd like to see how ridiculous it was there...]

← Older posts Newer posts →
Highslide for Wordpress Plugin