Spring Cleaning - New Articles

Well, "new" is a relative term, right? New to me, not necessarily "hot off the press" kinda new. 

Backlight is a new site - maybe start with Shadow photography on iPhone: How to master light and shadow and wander through the other articles posted there. Peruse the list of articles on Storing photos because this is a recurring theme for our time together. One of the ads is for Gemini Photos - with in-app purchases - for cleaning up duplicates. Not ready for this service yet. 

Review Things You Never Knew iCloud Could Do from Slash Gear.  You can open Pages and create a new document using the Book template, share cloud files and more. 

Come back for other new articles ... next week ... after I catch my breath. 

Pages to ePub

You can create your own photo book using the Pages app and a book template. 

Checkout these references to help make books in place of Albums. 

Books app resources 

Pages User Guide for iPad 

https://books.apple.com/us/book/pages-user-guide-for-ipad/id1450571972

Creating Digital Books on Mac and iPad 

https://books.apple.com/us/book/creating-digital-books-on-mac-and-ipad/id1572547377 

iPad User Guide - Files app, iCloud, Collaboration references 

https://books.apple.com/us/book/ipad-user-guide/id1567104892 

Venngage 20+ eBook Templates and Design Tips (ideas for your work) 

https://venngage.com/blog/ebook-template/ 

You will need a reference for the Pages application, this is Apple’s free word processing and page layout app. This guide, is an example of a word processing book where readers can set font size and style for preferred reading. The text in this type of book “reflows” and a larger font increases the number of pages. Search will find text in this book. A page layout book, a picture book, has fixed pages and the text does not “reflow” or pages expand to accommodate larger text size. Search will find text in this book. 

Why a book instead of an album in Photos? 

• Your audience is not sitting on your couch 
• Audience uses Windows or Android devices 
• You want to make room on your device for new photos
• You want to include text, video and audio to your project 
• Add interactive features, Image Gallery with captions
• Add links to web videos and web sites
• ... 

Workflow suggestions 

1. Review your photo library, add captions for pictures you want to add to your book
2. Review existing Photos albums for source material
3. Review Pages app and the User Guide 
4. Practice with text styles and making modifications in page layout document 
5. In pages look at options to add media to your document 
6. Organize your project in the Files app > iCloud Drive > new folder for project
7. Bring word processing files into iCloud for easy access 
8. Review landscape book templates offered when creating a new photo book
9. Review portrait book templates for new text-based book 
10. Choose a template with placeholders and pictures options for your project 
11. ... 

Important steps in creating a book project 

• Plan on practicing with features in a sampler document 
• Mac users need to find a Windows user to install ePub Reader app & test sampler
• Collect assets (text, photos, presentation files, audio recordings/script …) 
• Pictures can be captioned or added to an album in Photos app 
• Keep web link contents in Notes app or a Pages app 
• Archive Keynote presentation at full resolution 
• Archive Keynote presentation as PDF - slides & handout 
• Save a copy of Keynote presentations with Reduced Size option
• Export Keynote presentation as individual images 
• Warmup your skills by working with a practice document 
• Export an early version of several pages and open in Books app
• Revise template and workflow as needed 
• Complete project 
• Save ePub to iCloud and find sharable link 
• Share ePub file using email and add text to mention the project, file size and how to open on iPad or a Windows computer 

Features for your book

• Master Pages (blank, two-column, one-column, photo collage, cover) 
• Text Styles (font, size, style) 
• Placeholders (text, photos, gallery) 

Template 

• Page Layout style document 
• Test text with styles and making modifications then updating style
• Styles to include: heading, body, caption, label, URL (new for us) 
• Practice on a page with Image Gallery, add caption (accessibility feature) 
• Practice on a page with collage of photo placeholders 
• Practice page for table of contents 
• Page with lorem ipsum text
• Add photo to lorem ipsum page and set text wrap 
• Add photo to blank page with border style 
• Create page with instructions on using features of this document 
• Add Blank page for book cover 

iPad Activity 1.0

1. Open template and rename document > 2022_book_practice.pages
2. Touch buttons on top left, top right, to see features, menus, options
3. Use left sidebar to rearrange pages (move cover to page 1) 
4. Use left sidebar to add new page - see available page templates 
5. Add a photo to image placeholder and adjust mask 
6. Add a new blank page, add text block and stylize, add photo 
7. Add shape and arrange layers - text block, photo and shape 

iPad Activity 2.0

1. Look at Master Page options and change the background color of the page
2. Look at Master Pages and add a line or border (even layout grid) 
3. Close Master Page view 
4. Add two more pages with lorem ipsum text, edit heading, add some new text
5. Add a new page then add Image Gallery (not included in a template) 
6. Set order of images in gallery, add Caption/Description for each photo
7. Check page sequence 

iPad Activity 3.0

1. Export Pages document as ePub with Table of Contents 
2. Save to iCloud Drive project folder 
3. Open Files app and find ePub document, tap to open in Books app
4. Explore the features included in your ebook 
5. Tap center of page to bring up top tools, bottom page thumbnails
6. Test TOC jumps to page, Search finds text, Gallery flips images 

iPad Activity 4.0

1. Return to Pages app, open 2022_book_practice.pages
2. Add a new blank page
3. Add a web video 
4. Add a new blank page 
5. Add text and links to websites 
6. Export document as ePub with revised name
7. Open Files app and tap to open revision in Books app
8. Test new web content pages 
9. Take notes on what you want to include in your project 
10. Revise your practice document and Export as Pages Template 
11. Delete early version of the book in the Books app
12. Delete early versions of your practice document 

Lose Yourself in Search

Niel Nielsen will demonstrate the power of Search available in the Photos app Library. His handout can be found at https://rsiphonephotostudio.blogspot.com/p/search-your-photo-library.html  

Search keeps getting better with each iOS release. 

Distractions

Our website is pretty much the same as last fall. I've been distracted in organizing a new seminar and building the associated website. 

We have a new Shared Album for posting - any photos and image creations - 2022 Spring Studio. 

Day 1

Challenge is to play and create with Slow Shutter app or Live mode in Apple Camera. Post your photos in the 2022 Spring Studio Shared Album. 

Actually, use any of our camera apps that extend the shutter time. My approach is to find the best app with the easiest interface to capture a scene. Many of our apps can so all of the types of photography we explore by changing the preset or mode or feature. That takes time. iPhone photography is best when you can quickly capture the moment.  

Watch the iPhone Photography School video Long Exposure iPhone Photography: Advanced Techniques to see how Emil Pakarklis uses the Bulb setting on Light Trail mode to capture traffic at blue hour. He is using wired earbuds to start and stop the exposure as a remote control.  Note how he is safely on a bridge and not in a traffic lane. 

Think about locations that would be safe places to gather before blue hour to take light trail photos. Consider how to get height (top of parking garages) and road with curves. 

• In Old Town Folsom, the parking garage is across the street from the Light Rail Station. The trains comes and go at the hour and half-hour. 
• Pedestrian overpasses along Hwy 50 near Hazel or Mather Road. 
• Serrano Parkway from near El Dorado Hills Blvd. 

I hope to hear other suggested locations. Where are commuting bicyclists riding? Where do roads curve? 

Go, play, experiment. Take a buddy along. Be safe. 

Photo Walk Report

Report from photo walk. We signed in using the RenSoc Vaccine form and then stood around covering the plan for the next couple hours. Our ragtag group walked along the levee to the empty golf course where open shade, full sun and sloping path gave us photo opportunities. Plus there were joggers and bicyclists in motion. Success with Apple Camera Portrait Mode (optional lighting modes) because we had dog subjects, also some practice with turning on Live mode or using Burst in Apple Camera. Camera+2 in Macro Preset is suggested for default with optional Burst mode when hand-holding shots. Macro has such a short focal length that any little movement might miss your intended detail. Burst lets you choose the best focused shot. An alternative is to use Live Mode and choose the best Key Frame then Share > Duplicate > As Still Photo. Slow Shutter was a challenge and it took all of us to inch towards success with moving subjects. In this case, single bicycles are fast moving and the background is static (aka "persistent"). The recommended settings work well for flowing water - static rocks and shoreline with continuous moving water. The "ah-ha" here is continuous movement. Glad Debra worked outside the box - try Light Trail mode instead. 

Play with Slow Shutter at home in a room with different amounts of light. Get some light sticks to wave around. Play with this using the front camera so you can see the image "develop" while you move. Avoid too much light. Karen has found double exposure possibilities with Slow Shutter with a change in "Workflow" to Default. The shutter button stays on screen with option to Clear - Edit - Save. After two or three overlay exposures tap Edit for the Freeze and exposure control sliders. Try the Motion Blur, Light Trails and Low Light modes. Try this in front of your computer in a darkened room. The light from your computer screen can be adjusted from high to low. When you get a result that has potential, tap Save; then return to the gear to show Mode choices and make a screenshot. You will have lots of practice photos to delete. Seems that Motion Blur does better with available light but Light Trails is best in the dark. For multiple exposures, use very short shutter speeds. Have fun!  

Tripods and monopods were helpful today. Also Bluetooth shutter remotes and earbuds with Lightning connectors were on-site. Toys were plentiful! Balls, remote controlled car and a skateboard were on hand. 

Who thinks my next iPhone accessory should be a remote controlled truck that can hold a small multi-colored LED light source? How about an evening photo walk? Yea, when the pandemic has cleared. 

Spring 2022

Stay tuned! This semester we gather in our familiar tribe - people who know the ropes already, have purchased the apps, regularly navigate this website and feel that Zoom fits them like a glove. 

Thursday Feb 3rd will be an opportunity for our small group to meet in person (vaccinated, boosted and masked) for a review of camera apps: Apple Camera, Camera+2 and Slow Shutter. A reminder for this short activity will come in email on Feb 1st. This is an optional activity. Especially if you are comfortable with these apps. As a hint - Camera+2 in Macro preset and Slow Shutter Motion Blur @ 15 sec - Auto ISO. 

Our six class sessions begin Feb 10th.  

Check for recent app updates

December 2021 - the New Year is upon us. 

Zoom - online meetings, Camera+2, ProCamera, Snapseed (Dec 17), Prisma, Darkroom, Dropbox, Waterlogue, Metapho, Pic Scanner Gold, PicCollage and more. 

I waited along time before updating Snapseed after reading recent reviews four months ago. First updated on iPhone and test edited an image. The sample features all worked. So I've updated Snapseed on iPad Pro as well. Baby steps when updating a critical app. Snapseed remains a free app. 

Halide Mark II is moving to subscription and I’ll be deleting it because many of our other camera apps shoot RAW. 

Some apps continue to work with a reduced set of features while they offer to unlock everything with a subscription. I try to find apps that ask for a reasonable price without subscription. 

After a rash of updates, it might be time to restart device. Just cuz .. 

On the photo walk today, James asked a great question: "How do I know if an app has been updated?" Go to the App Store and search for the app and read the details provided by the developer. 

Do you want to be in-charge of app updates? You have the choice between Auto Updates On or Off. 

• Go to Settings > App Store > Apps > OFF 
• Settings > App Store > App Updates > OFF 

Now go to the App Store app and find your account (upper right corner) and tap. Now scroll the screen up to see all the apps that have released new updates. You might update most of the apps without further thought but pause to read about important camera or editing apps. Tap the Update button for a fresh download and install, or tap the name of the app to read about the changes included. Maybe the developer added language support for a language you do not speak ... then no need to update immediately. Maybe the developer included a feature you'd like to use in a stylizing app. Open to the details screen, read the RECENT Reviews and ... take a chance. Try out the app to be sure it is working for you. If you have both an iPhone and iPad, then you can update an app on one device for testing and once satisfied, update on the other device. What? Editing mostly on iPad? Then do your trial edit/stylize app updates on iPhone. 

If this level of control is bothersome, you can tap the Update All in your account view or return to the Settings > App Store > App Updates > ON.