First Saturday - Murer House Tours

Cheryl reminded us that the Murer House in Folsom has tours on the first Saturday of the month. Right now the gardens are beginning to ... show off. For a "Little Bit of Italy in Folsom" visit the Murer House Foundation website. The location is 1125 Joe Murer Court, Folsom, California 95630 - near Old Town Folsom Light Rail Station. 

Tabletop Photo Shoots

Here are some ideas for playtime. 

Shot on iPhone 12 | Everyday Experiments: Full Bloom | Apple YouTube 

More to come

Add your vision to RS Catalog

Attention photography enthusiasts! Our Fall 2023 Catalog needs engaging photographs. If you would like to submit your work for consideration, contact Lorene Sarne at lorene.sarne@csus.edu or 916.661.6981 for more information. 

Pro and Pro

What are you getting when you buy an iPhone Pro? What can you do with a ProRAW image?

Take a look at the work of Alex Armitage in his YouTube video The First Phone That Could Replace My Camera | iPhone 14 Pro where he compares ProRAW 48MP iPhone 14 Pro 1X images to his mirrorless Canon R5. Alex processes his images in Adobe Lightroom. 

On Alex’s channel you might find other videos of interest, like

• Can They Guess Right? iPhone 14 Pro or $5,000 Camera - compare poster sized prints
• $5,000 Pro Camera VS iPhone 13 Pro | Can You See the Difference? 
• Apple M1 Mac for Photo and Video Editing - A Practical Review 

This is not to say “Run out and buy a new iPhone 14 Pro,” because the 15 Pro is on it’s way soon. But we can expect to see continued improvement is sensor technology and image processing. Budget accordingly. 

Music to your ears

Video is moving images and audio. Here are some articles about adding music to your video projects. 

2020 - How to add any music track to iMovie on your iPhone Touch Technology Review answers DRM questions, included soundtracks and screen recording from streaming service. 

2018 - How to add royalty-free music to iMovie for iOS with iCloud Drive - iMore 

2023 - Explore YouTube Studio - Music Library 

2014 - Is iMovie Music Copyright Free? 

Current - iMovie for iOS in Apple Community with Search 

Current - iMovie resources at Apple 

Hurdles Ahead

Each week I’m taking notes on what hurdles, limitations and goals you have for iMovie projects. Look at the Chat Report page to see responses and suggestions. 

Write up a short description of your video workflow and challenges that can be posted to the Learn As We Go page. Your video sources are not limited to iPhone camera apps. Please discuss iMovie (or alternative & why) for post production. Two examples are there now, from Debra and Melissa. 

Prep for 3/23 Field Trip

Camera Skills Practice and Video Storytelling Start. Could be raining, dress appropriately. Bring a small tripod that can work in tight space or grab a hand rail. In the parking garage, we’ll review some camera moves ... continuing to take some photos and video clips. [ Karen told me the aliens have flown out of town this week. If you have a small gewgaw, consider bring it/them/they along. ] After shooting we will walk to lunch. While waiting for our food we will try the Photos > select pix > Share > Options > All Data > AirDrop method to be sure our Portrait photos and Cinematic videos can be edited by the receiver. 

• Locking AE/AF exposure across multiple photos and clips
• Quick access to camera - on lock screen swipe right-to-left
• Portrait Mode still photos
• Cinematic Mode video clips 
• Audio from iPhone or microphone 
• Rule of thirds composition 
• Subject moving into and out of the frame
• Image stabilization 
• Zooming with our feet 

Prep for 3/16 on Zoom

What have you done with the timelapse footage and flower pictures? Add any text yet? Transitions or music ... What are your questions? 

You can thank Cynthia for talking me off a complex video production ledge and instead suggesting that you continue with any imagined video project at full-speed ahead. Maybe a portfolio iMovie slideshow with music where you wrestle with the Ken Burns effect. Then repeat the portfolio slideshow in Keynote and compare the transitions and controls available. If you don’t yet feel inspired, look at the iMovie Cooking Storyboard and try some shots on your own. 

Cooking: Use a small tripod to hold your iPhone so you can walk into a scene or talk to the back camera. Try Cinematic mode to allow setting focus in post production. Other video modes might help tell your story - Timelapse and Slo-mo. Look at the storyboard and shoot video clips at the same location but not in sequence: [ Walk into a scene where you open the cupboard and grab your recipe book. Cut. Walk into the same scene and place the book back in the cupboard, close the door and walk out of the scene. Cut. Adjust your tripod to get a close up of placing the book on the shelf. Cut. Same location for tripod, to get a close up of removing the book from the shelf. Cut. Etc, with additional scenes and shots. ] This will not be smooth and easy. Actually, having another person to help shoot the scenes would be very helpful! Two heads can brainstorm ideas for angles and quickly go through the shots. After wrapping your shoot, use AirDrop to share the video clips so each person can edit the project.

Your goal is to create a 1 to 5 minute video - a REHEARSAL video. Not the complete-ready-to-enter-competitions video. To get experience with the entire process from familiar choices to storyboard you can use to shooting and then to editing. Afterwards you’ll have a better idea about shooting and scripting a project. Oh an fun. Did I mention you are having fun?  

Where are you on iCloud storage? I’ve heard that several members are at the 2T-$10/month level. Video projects will push us all into more storage and an archive-to-computer workflow. 

Pairing up for shooting on 3/23. Editing Q & A on 3/30 via Zoom. 

Our last meeting, 4/6, is “planned” for visiting Wilton to see the new baby foal, horses, chickens and environ. The plan is to also include shooting macros of flowers using portable light tents. And we need a sandwich-runner. More on all this later. 

PS - Something tells me, shooting a few scenes in my kitchen for interior practice > putting on my coat > grabbing my keys > walking out to my car > getting in the car and starting the engine > driving down the street to 38.65281° N, 121.12368° W seems like more fun. Your destination will vary. 

Troubleshooting - Time to Team Up

This post will get updated over the next couple months. 

Just an idea here. It is good to compare notes, or in the case of iPhone photographers - compare devices. This certainly means compare your iPhone to your iPad, but also find a friend with both devices and compare settings in individual apps and the Settings app. 

Charlene and I are out of sync. That's been true for months. We are in a loop and don't know how to fix the mismash. Today we began a documentation process. While this is not strictly a photographic dilemma, troubleshooting is a universal activity. Here goes: 

The Messages app relies on the Contacts and Phone apps to reach associates, businesses, family and friends. Oh what a tangled web we weave. When our iCloud is working as designed, communication is seamless. When a service that uses iCloud gets confused then seamlessness is lost. 

Maybe the first step is to power off devices and restart. One last step I would want to do is sign out of iCloud and sign back in -- and certainly this is not a quick fix option (think reload Photos Library). 

The Phone app allows us to designate Favorites, the people in our Contacts that we communicate with most often. On iPhone, open Phone app > Favorites > + > search for a contact card > tap the name > choices: Message, Call, Video and Mail ...  

People used to send pictures as email attachments. Now, we can "text" pictures using Apple Messages. Check Settings > Messages > Send & Receive ... 3 addresses > phone number, someone@me.com, someone@icloud.com - with checkmarks. Also designate the accounts to start conversations. Many more settings for review here. 

When Charlene sends me Messages they appear on both my iPhone and iPad (and on Mac computer). When sending as an email, she gets the mail and attachment on both devices. But when I send her Messages, some appear on just one device. Why? 

New troubleshooting practice for me is to include text "sent to your phone number from my iPad/iPhone using XXapp" where sometimes I'm in Photos and sharing an image to Messages while other times my communication begins from the Messages app. Does it make a difference where the communication begins? 

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If you struggle with an Apple device or service for more than 5 minutes, call a friend to commiserate. If the issue is not fixed after discussing for 5 minutes, use the Apple Support app to troubleshoot. If the mystery continues, use the options in the Support app to Chat (text) with Apple team or to get a phone call back from a live person. Troubleshooting sometimes is best done via a genius bar appointment at an Apple Store. When possible take all your devices to the genius - iPhone, iPad and laptop. For computer troubleshooting, use Apple Support online services until you're told to bring in the computer.

Another option for troubleshooting is to read questions and responses under the Apple Community arena. It is a good idea to sign up to participate in this community dialogue. Write questions or, better yet, contribute answers and experiences to posted items. 

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Now for more notes... 

• Does the break in communication happen with more than one friend? 
• Make Screenshots to compare contact details, add Markup notes, save to Photos library 
• Make Screenshots of before changes, add Markup notes, save to Photos library 
• After making changes to app settings, restart devices
• Make Screenshots of after changes, add Markup notes, save to Photos library 
• When iCloud is uncooperative, go to https://icloud.com and confirm you can log on
• Read Support articles 
• Contact Apple Support 

After every iOS and iPadOS update there are many subtle but powerful changes under the hood of Apple apps. Usually I'm interested in updates to Camera and Photos. But the OS touches all apps - Settings, Mail, Messages, Contacts, Calendar, Files, Safari, Watch, Books, Notes and so many more. Then 3rd party developers add new features and rearrange the user interface. All of these changes are what keeps our brains agile. 

Accessibility on iPhone

This is arena of technology is of growing interest to me. There are iOS features that relate to the Camera and general productivity to mention here. Consider using the features and choosing how to add them to your device. 

Review Apple’s Accessibility articles on vision, hearing, mobility and cognitive assistance. 

After recent cataract surgery my eyes focus at distance and I’ve got reading glasses stashed all over the house. Reading the iPhone can be a challenge or while shopping reading labels without readers is impossible. 

• Settings > Accessibility > Accessibility Shortcut > set your preferred menu > Assistive Touch, Classic Invert, Magnifier, Detection Mode, Zoom. Quick access to this menu by triple clicking the side button. 
• Settings > Accessibility > Touch > (Accessibility Shortcuts) > Assistive Touch >  Customize Top Level Menu > tap to choose 6+ actions > Screenshot, Speak Screen, Voice Control, Siri, Apple Watch Mirroring, Accessibility Shortcut. Add to Control Center for easy access with other apps Settings > Control Center > + Accessibility Shortcuts. When AS is turned on a floating dot appears on the screen. The dot attaches to any edge and can be moved out of the way or toggled off by opening the Control Center and tapping the icon. 
• Apple iOS 16.3.1 (and earlier) include the Magnifier app. This is often hidden but available in the Control Center or App Library. Repeatedly unlocking iPhone then swiping to Control Center to tap Magnifier icon takes time and many steps. Solution: Settings > Accessibility > Touch > Back Tap ON > Triple Tap > Magnifier. 

Now to build new muscle memory on these techniques. 

More items will be added to this post. Use the Search box to find “accessibility” to bring you back to this information. 

Image Stabilization for Videos

The hand-held devices we have are remarkable in their image capture technologies, a well kept secret since they are known as “phones.” As we explore video, image stabilization becomes more important. Here are some recent articles covering the topic. 

The Apple article, Exposure to vibrations, like those generated by high-powered motorcycle engines, might impact iPhone cameras includes this hint “…some iPhone models have optical image stabilization (OIS). OIS lets you take sharp photos even if you accidentally move the camera. With OIS, a gyroscope senses that the camera moved. To reduce image motion, and the resulting blur, the lens moves according to the angle of the gyroscope.”  6/27/2022

Ben Lovejoy includes a video showcasing image stabilization in the 9to5 Mac article iPhone 13 Diary: The video stabilization performance is incredibly impressive that gives viewers hints on creating your own test shots. What I noticed, and will try to remember, is to move slowly through a pan or tilt while recording video. Slowing down also allows the camera to acquire a new subject to focus on and on and on as the camera/phone moves. 

SlashDigit covers iPhone 14 in How to Enable and Use Action Mode on iPhone 14/14 Plus/14 Pro/14 Pro Max where “action mode” is Apple Speak for “image stabilization” and “with this mode, your iPhone will default to its Ultrawide camera. This allows the camera to capture as much footage as possible. The phone then takes the ultrawide footage and crops out the video edges to eliminate the areas where there is maximum shakiness and vibrations. Then a series of advanced algorithms kick in to stabilize the footage digitally resulting in gimbal-like stabilized video footage.” The magic of computational photography. 

To preview this crop-to-stabilize effect, go to Photos > Media Types > Live and touch and hold on a Live thumbnail image. It pops to a new crop. Image stabilization often is noticeable on the edges and this crop magically adjusts and aligns each frame in the image. 

Read Kayla Collins’ VideoProc article What's the Size of an iPhone Video and How to Resize It for space-saving tips. This is geek-talk and will take me several re-readings to digest shooting setting suggestions. (The table of iPhone models and video settings revealed that an iPhone 6 Plus could shoot in 4K@30fps! Who knew?) The article acknowledges the trade-off between image capture quality and file size, “when it comes to shoot iPhone video, there is a strong likelihood that we prefer 4K recording. Yet, you can't have your cake and eat it. There is always a downsize that you need to accept. As for iPhone 4K video recording, it comes at the price of large-sized file. So to help you avoid the embarrassing choice, here we suggest you to properly resize your iPhone 4K 60/30/24FPS footages, as well as slo-mo 1080p 120FPS /240FPS video to keep a good balance between quality and file size.”  In the beginning, we will be shooting short video clips for a final project of under 5 minutes in length. But after you catch the video bug, your projects could easily grow longer. Size matters. Quality matters. 

Options - the secret sauce when Sharing

We have talked about slowing down before completing the Share photo or video steps in Apple Photos. Other authors have also taken notice. The latest is Allison Johnson at The Verge in her 3/11/2023 article How to edit ProRAW photos on your iPhone where AirDrop and editing details on Apple Photos are given. Do use Reader View to read the article without distracting ads. 

Play, Struggle then Read

After dipping you toes in the iMovie ecosystem, you know what you don’t know. On the Video Resources page are three of Apple’s user guides to explore: iMovie User Guide on iPad, Keynote User Guide for iPad and the iPad User Guide. 

All pages: Video Resources, Learn As We Go and Chat Report have been updated. 3/10/2023

Are you using Safari Tab Groups yet? This is way beyond bookmarks. Organize your tabs with Tab Groups in Safari on iPad.

Get Organized

Apple Photos continues to challenge us when using other apps to access the Photos Library, albums and search features. 

Suggestion: Open Photos and make a folder to hold albums for this class. The folder and albums will sync from iPhone to iPad (and Mac) easily. For example, Video Prep 2023 is my folder and inside are two albums - 2019 tabletop floral and Stylized. Folders have a 4-box look and as albums are added the boxes are filled with an example image from the album. 

Making albums does not take up extra storage space on devices or in iCloud. 

Make a folder on iPhone: 

1. Open Photos to the Albums view
2. Tap + in top left corner > New Folder > type name > tap Save 
3. Tap new folder to open > "Empty Folder" 
4. Tap Edit in top right corner 
5. Tap + in top left corner > New Album > type name (add emoji for easy ID) > Save
6. Tap photos from library, other albums or from search 
7. Tap Add to finish
8. Go to Library or Search to add additional photos to new album 
9. When viewing thumbnails, tap Select in top right 
10. Tap Share button in bottom left corner 
11. Scroll list > Add to Album 
12. Tap new folder name
13. Tap new album name, view returns to last view

Make a folder on iPad: 

1. Open Photos to My Albums > All Albums in the left sidebar
2. Tap + in top left corner > New Folder > type name > tap Save 
3. Tap new folder to open > "Empty Folder" 
4. Tap + in top left corner > New Album > type name (add emoji for easy ID) > Save
5. Tap photos from library, media types other albums or from search 
6. Watch the Show Selected text reference your taps on photos, browse to other albums or search and continue tapping photos
7. Tap Add to finish
8. Go to Library or Search to add additional photos to new album 
9. When viewing thumbnails, tap Select in top right 
10. Tap Share button in bottom left corner 
11. Scroll list > Add to Album 
12. Tap new folder's name
13. Tap new album's name, view returns to last view 

The Files app is another tool for image workflow. If you are unfamiliar with Files, then take some time to explore it and look at how other apps make folders for their document. Files is also how you can see, import and save to a USB thumb drive on an iPad. USB-C thumb drives do not need an adapter that is required for USB-A thumb drives. 

At some point in this class you will want to export the media assets and final project to a thumb drive. 

Review the online iPad User Guide about the Files app: 

• Connect external devices or servers with Files on iPad
• View and modify files and folders in Files on iPad 
• Organize files and folders in Files on iPad

Video Settings

For our class we will use the following Camera settings (based on iPhone 13 Pro): 

• Settings > Camera > Format > High Efficiency 
• Settings > Camera > Record Video > 1080 HD at 60 fps 
• Settings > Camera > Record Video > HDR Video > ON
• Settings > Camera > Record Video > Auto FPS > Auto 30fps
• Settings > Camera > Record Video > Lock Camera > ON
• Settings > Camera > Record Slo-mo > 1080 at 240 fps
• Settings > Camera > Record Stereo Sound > ON 
• Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings > Camera Mode > ON 
• Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings > Exposure Adjustment > ON
• Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings > Night Mode > ON
• Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings > Portrait Zoom > ON
• Settings > Camera > Preserve Settings > Live Photo > ON 
• Settings > Camera > Use Volume Up for Burst > ON
• Settings > Camera > Grid > ON
• Settings > Camera > Photographic Styles > Standard 
• Settings > Camera > Lens Correction > ON
• Settings > Camera > Macro Control > ON 

If your settings are different than what is suggested, make a screenshot of your settings so you can reset to your preferences after our class project is completed. 

The settings above allow for high quality of video clips that will be exchanged with class members. Your future projects might benefit from recording at 4K and Apple ProRes but storage space will be consumed at alarming rates. Workflow matters. 

There are other cameras you might use to take video clips and include them in an iMovie project. Your DSLR/Mirrorless camera, an action camera like a GoPro and other point-an-shoot cameras. Review the settings on these cameras and match the options for size (1080) and FPS above if possible. The clips will be saved to an SD Card and can be imported to Files app or Photos Library on iPad. 

Notes from more reading and watching: 

• Screen recording on Mac, set display video resolution to 2560x1440 @ 60.0 Hz, “essentially 2K” says David Sparks, so the on-screen text is easy to read - not too small, not fuzzy. 
• iOS Gadget Hacks  This iPhone Setting Instantly Improves Video Quality When Shooting in Low Light offers interesting insights about low-light video shooting:  When taking photos on any iPhone 11, 12, 13, or 14 series model, the Camera app can intelligently detect whenever the scene is too dark and kick in Night mode to help improve image quality. The iPhone 12 Pro, 13 Pro, and 14 Pro models can even do that with portraits. But Night mode won't activate when shooting videos unless it's time-lapse videos on iPhone 12 and newer models. When shooting at 60 frames per second (fps), less light can come in through the shutter since it takes one frame every 16.67 milliseconds. Less light in dark situations contributes to grainier footage with the loss of extended dynamic range. It also means the codec works harder in fast-moving scenes, which increases the file size. The result looks more like a cheap home video instead of a high-quality recording you might expect from an iPhone. 
• More to come  




Compare that to 30 fps, where one frame is captured every 33.33 milliseconds, letting twice as much light through the shutter. With more light coming in, dark scenes will look much better. Drop that to 24 fps, and you get 41.67 milliseconds for light to do its thing, so your darkly lit video will look even clearer. And all of this applies to whether you're shooting in 4K, 1080p, or 720p resolution.

 

Check Your Storage

Photos in heif are optimized. Jpeg images are larger, TIFF and RAW files are huge. Live photos are 6 seconds of motion and sound so they are big. But video takes even more space. Video projects with audio and soundtracks are ... beyond the pale... as in overflowing. 

Time to check your on-board storage for iPhone - where you will make video clips, iPad - where you will edit iMovie projects, and iCloud where the photos and your devices Backups are stored. 

I am at the edge of 200GB in iCloud storage but both devices have plenty of on-board space.

• Settings > General > iPhone Storage 
• Settings > General > iPad Storage 
• Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > iCloud+ > look at GB items for hints of where to archive off-device if needed 

iCloud storage is a monthly subscription - if you want to increase your storage temporarily (maybe when going on a trip) you can go to the next level for the 4 weeks and then manage your photos, files, etc when you get back home. Then drop back to a lower storage subscription, 200GB is $3/ month, 2TB is $10/month. 

Remember that apps, books, podcasts, music that you purchase on-device can be deleted and redownloaded at no cost. 

Show Off Opportunity

Attention iPhone and iPad photographers! Thanks to Cynthia for the heads up about submitting your work to the IPPAWARDS for 2023. The deadline is March 31, 2023. Categories in the 16th Annual iPhone Photography Awards: Abstract, Animals, Architecture, Children, Citylife/Cityscape, Landscape, Lifestyle, Nature, People, Portrait, Series (3 images), Still Life, Travel, Other. 

Checkout the Winners' Galleries since 2007. 

Even if you do not enter this competition, review the rules and limitations and practice for the next opportunity to show your work. Name each photo. Original size or not less than 1000 pixels in height or width. Format as JPEG. 

Collecting Inspiring Examples

A new page has been added to this site to track videos shown in class and shared as distractions. The Chat Report page link is also visible in the navigation bar. 

If you attend our zoom sessions on iPad or iPhone you'll not be able to save the Chat to your device. On a computer, at the bottom of the Chat panel are ... > More > Save Chat. 

We will post the information here for easy access. 

Setting the tone for Spring 2023

Email sent to all participants:

Greetings all — We meet on Zoom to begin and will set dates and locations for field trips then. Zoom meeting details in the signature of this message and as a comment on an image added to our Shared Photo Album. Thanks to JoEllen for stepping up as my Tech Host this semester.

Have you found fun clips to share that inspire you about photography, videography? I’ve had emails with examples from Cynthia, JoEllen, Mike and Marilyn. I’d like to post links on our website for easy access. (Social Media can be challenging for me…)

This semester’s tag line is iPhone Studio Multimedia Collective and we will share in the experience of learning new things, scoping out the playing fields and starting to wrap our heads around the potential of moving pictures with and without sound. There are more buttons on our iPhones than Pano, Portrait and Photo. There are modes to explore like Live and Burst. This semester we will explore the other buttons: Video, Cinematic, Slo-Mo and Time-Lapse. We can put our iPhones in places where big camera fear to go (in the fridge, under water, etc). Our iPhones move with us while shooting scenes. We are storytellers, showing photos on our phone, framing prints and sharing online clips.

Oh, and so much more. Remember, all this sounds terrifying and yet this class is keeping us young! Accept the challenge -- no iPhones will be harmed this semester. Making a slideshow of your photos, adding a soundtrack and playing it for friends and family is a basic goal. Writing a treatment to tell a story and working together to create clips and experience the post production assembly is where we are heading. This journey begins tomorrow ...

Zoom and Face-to-Face Meetings 10am to Noon - March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, Apr 6