Crowded Venues and Lowered Expectations

Add a visit to The Great Reno Balloon Race some day soon. In 2023 it was held Friday thru Sunday, September 8 - 10. Plan on getting to the parking area at 4:30 am. Yep, 0-4-30 dark. If fortune smiles on your visit you will see three events: 5 am Super Glow, 5:30 am Dawn Patrol and 7 am Mass Ascension. The vendor and food area is open 4:30 am to 11 am. The 2023 program will remind me of the special shape balloons present and flying and it includes 70 balloon details (but I think there were more balloons). 

Other large audience venues will come to mind. How do you plan to share this experience with others? Here are my initial thoughts and your experience can be edited in to help others ... plan big. 

• A crowded venue will mean slow cellular access 
• Take a power brick and charge cable to recharge iPhone as needed 
• Use Airplane Mode to save battery as needed 
• Leave your drones and dogs at home
• Use Messages to share your location with iPhone users in your group 
• If some of your group are Android users, give them an Apple Tag for the event
• Raise the resolution for some photos and videos (maybe not all) 
• Use the different modes on your iPhone Camera - Night, Portrait, Video, Cinematic, Pano, etc 
• Shoot video in landscape orientation 
• Sending several images could result in Message Failed to Send 
• Watch your Photos status to see if upload to iCloud has stalled to save battery
• If your images/videos upload to iCloud, consider sending iCloud link instead of images 
• Before going to the event, create a Shared Photo Album and invite people -- then upload your best images 
• After all images have loaded to iCloud, review and mark Favorites 
• Select multiple images and tap ( ... ) to find Slideshow (music and ambient sound) 
• Edit portrait oriented photos if to be shown full screen (PicCollage 16:9 on black) 
• Open iMovie and create a Movie, adjust clips, adjust Ken Burns, adjust playback speed, etc 
• Create a Movie of one image, then turn off Ken Burns and add other video clips and photos
• Look beyond the screen - take it all in - enjoy the moment - enjoy the energy of the crowd

Cat is out of the bag - iPhone 15 Pro vs Pro Max

You've seen the headlines by now. After weighing the features against your current iPhone model are you  considering making the leap? What hints in the presentation or website caught your eye? 

Take Control Books is one way I keep up with the rush of information. They have just released "Sonoma" (the next Mac OS update) and "iOS 17 and iPADOS 17" and other titles include "Take Control of Your Digital Photos", "Take Control of Your Digital Storage". Books are available in PDF or ePUB format. A frequent author at TCB, Jeff Carlson, has written iPhone 15 cameras: What you need to know at DP Review (thanks to Charlene for sending me this link). Read the comments for additional deep dives. 

Apple Pencil Reboot

This might not be an issue for you, but here is my story. The Apple Pencil is a great tool, a stylus, that is responsive to pressure and tilt angle on the glass. The Procreate app is very responsive to the Pencil. 

My Pencil often lies dormant in a case with other adapters. So it is not charged often and it is not paired to the iPad Pro occasionally. But it does not work! Urggh. Do I need to buy a new one? 

Discovery: using the MagSafe iPhone Charger is one way to maximize the charge on the Apple Pencil. My experience - not that I've read this is suggested by Apple. It took several tries and now the Pencil will pair and work on the iPad Pro. Not only to do drawing but also to handwrite text on a Notes page and then the scribbles become words (like "editable" words. 

Revised Tracking Device Details Worksheet

I've been tracking my devices every year, and especially at a time when I expect to purchase new devices. This is for your own information, so printing and filling out the form is voluntary. 

The current worksheet is iOS_device_details_ios16.pdf and I will sent it as an attachment to the email for our first class. The next version of our operating systems will be available in the next six weeks and the Settings > hints on this form will be revised (not immediately). 

Fall Check-in

A quick review of current camera preferences, devices, iCloud Subscription and workflow so you can exchange techniques with participants using the same devices. What new photo adventures have you tried out? What social media environments are you active or lurking on?  

Melissa: Apple Camera, Slow Shutter, ProCamera, Camera+, Obscura. iPhone 13 Pro until 15 Pro is released. iPad Pro 12.9" 5th Gen. iOS and iPadOS 16.6. iCloud now at 1 TB. Not using PhotoManager Pro to move images out of Photos Library and rate or add captions. Mark photos to print with "Mpix" caption and when printed change caption to "Xpix". What's new: Printed photos on towels and tiles. Purchased magnetic wood frames for easy swapping out of printed photographs. Struggling to learn about stacking astrophotographs through YouTube and Reddit. SM Active: Apple Shared Photo Albums, Google Photos. Lurking: Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter. 

Carolyn: Using iPhone to make phone calls!

Chad: iPhone 13Pro will go with 15Pro. ProCamera and Camera+2, Obscura. Spectre for slow shutter. Missing 645Pro. New app Camera M.  iCloud 2TB plan, Amazon & Google photos. Pinterest is helpful. Facebook lurker; Instagram for family, Twitter is unused. Wants to print again. Taking lots of pictures and not editing. 

Charlene: Pixelmator & Photomator. iPhone 15Pro and using Sandmarc telephoto lens as needed. Beastgrip to hold iPhone for video and still images; Joby tripod; Apple Watch to control Apple Camera. No SM. Private Browsing in Safari and DuckDuckGo as search engine. 

Cheryl: Diptic collages, Camera+2 Macro, (frustrated with Slow Shutter). Percolator and blending with Image Blender. SM Instagram & Pinterest, Facebook. ImageSize app to upscale.  

Colleen: Trip to Ireland with iPhone 14Pro Max. Looking for iPhone 15Pro Max with periscope telephoto feature. Portrait Mode, Camera+2 Macro. SM lurker Instagram and Pinterest. ReTouch and Photos editing. Obscura - watching for current install vs next update with subscription. 

Cynthia: Slow Shutter, Apple Camera. Scotland trip with just iPhone! Instagram posting - ICM and other photos. Self-Standing acrylic 1" block prints: 1 inch acrylic block prints: www.bumblejax.com

15% off for new orders Code: Metalprints20off - thru 9/10 @9pm; Snapped with double exposure, Pixelmator, DistressedFX. 

Debra: Cinematic mode for grandchild and grand-dog; musician hands; PicCollage. Facebook locked me out after FB account was hacked.  

Irene: iPhone photos. Holiday card booklet project at Minted. iPhone for car navigation is great! SM lurker. Facebook for book club. 

Jim: (Mac M1 & iOS apps?) iPhone 14Pro. Printing is new - 11x14 print?? What's App for messaging to other countries. Slide Scan app was not great - personal setup to use Macro on iPhone to take photos. Telescope adapter for iPhone. 

JoEllen: iPhone camera for bat documentation uses Lightning connector so will not be upgrading to 15Pro. Facebook poster. 

Karen: Nikon shutter is cranky. iPhone lenses inverted; Portrait mode for selfies in different poses, Panorama mode for vertical shots. Examples from Facebook Reels of family and friends. Uses PicCollage to collect images for posting. ReTouch, Slow Shutter, some Live mode shots then Long Exposure to make people disappear (screenshot). 

Linda: Procreate app, Waterlogue, Apple Camera. Web page. Watercolor with ink. Show at 17th & I Street. post to Instagram and Facebook. https://artbylinda.my.canva.site/ and https://lindazempel.com  

Marilyn: 

Mike: iPhone 14 ProMax. SM lurker on Instagram for photo techniques, jokes. Snapseed, Pixelmator, Image Blender, iColorama, Graphite for B&W, Retouch, iMovie. Acrylic blocks at Bay Photo. 

Niel: Travel photos and editing with Camera+2. 

Roe: Sony camera & iPhone; iPadPro w 256GB 5th Gen, Apple ONE iCloud, Adobe Creative Cloud; Slow Shutter, ProCamera. Facebook Marketplace. HomePod Mini. Siri is always listening. Mike's Camera is offering a Lightroom class online. (Mike recommends  

Linda: Sac Open Studios 260 artist showing their work September 9-10 and 16-17. 

Irene - field trip suggestions - SMUD Rancho Seco or Organic Farm.  

Mike - some large prints are mailed rolled and need to be unrolled for 24-48 hours before print lies flat. 

Melissa - MPIX delivers print packed flat. 

Mike - classes for photographers - McKay Photo Academy, Gold River David and Ally McKay. 11344 Coloma Road suite #346. They have a Groupon discounted class and also 20% off other classes. https://McKayLive.Com  

Charlene: recommended Derrick Story Nimble Photographer classes based in Santa Rosa. Read and listen to podcast episode on Photomator app. 

Melissa: Get inspired by iPhone Photography School quick camera demos. 

Melissa: Get inspired to create video from Apple's 2013 Christmas Commercial. 

Waitlisted for iPhone Studio Multimedia Collective?

Please read and view the video demos on the App Stack Frenzy page. This one page is no substitute for a full review of all the pages in this website. Take your time to read, play, explore and share with others. In SCUBA class the main lesson was: Don't Dive Alone! So take some friends on this adventure. 

Something is different. Have you noticed too?

Using my iPhone and iPad with iOS 16.6 and there are little changes that have happened. More to be expected with iOS 17, due out in late September or October. 

What changes have you noticed? Add to a new Notes page and maybe event take some screenshots and use Markup to identify changes. 

What are your frustrations with current apps? Right now I'm fighting with the Apple Mail app and the search feature which is not showing me the message displayed on my Mac. Oops, my bad. One email account is only on my computer and not on iPhone. But still, tokens should work in Mail Search! 

Are you diving deeper into an app and see features previously ignored? Please get ready to share your discoveries. 

When Captions Become Descriptions

You've probably seen the movie "When Harry Met Sally" and all you need to know is this post title is a weak attempt at title plagiarism. 

Back in iOS 14, fall 2020, Apple added the Captions feature to Photos. Similar to adding keywords to Photos on MacOS, Captions are text added to metadata. The Search feature in Photos will find images marked with these words. Captions on photos are also reported when using Spotlight Search at the Home Screen view on iPad and iPhone. 

My summer print project, Camellia Tiles, had me dig deeper into iOS Captions and MacOS Descriptions. 

The original photos were taken in 2022 at the Camellia Festival competition, where each bloom had a tag with cultivar name and the competitor. After taking each (almost) photo, I paused to add the cultivar as photo caption. If you remember, captions also appear as text when posting a photo to a Shared Photo Album. 

The flower photos were processed in Pixelmator photo and TangledFX which meant there were multiple images taking up lots of iCloud storage. Pixelmator app was chosen to isolate each bloom, while making a collection (each flower on one layer) by color: pink, white, red, variegated. Each layer exported and renamed by collection. Now both the filename and caption have been lost! The stylizing in Tangled FX could have modified the original exported Pixelmator photo, but that is not my workflow, save another new image. Now the Caption has the Tangled FX recipe and not the original cultivar.  Sometime in Fall 2022 all these images were moved from iCloud Photos to an archive on an external drive. 

Easy to find the folder of images and select three for the printing as 8" x 8" tiles. But what were the cultivars? When offloading the photos, did the metadata retain the captions? Yes, but ... can the stylized image be matched to the original to recover the cultivar name? Yes. But future workflow might speed up this recovery process! 

In any Finder window on your Mac include a Search option, and you can type text to locate file by name, date, tag and ... Description (aka iOS "Caption"). Interesting to view Get Info for image files and see the metadata and Description (also "Instructions" repeats the Tangled FX recipes). 

For one image the cultivar name was MIA. Have you used Google Image Search to do a reverse lookup? Try it at https://lens.google.com 

Last word here: keep track of captions when app stacking and stylizing images.