Notes

• Well this is a first for me! Today's post is 100% from an iPhone as opposed to the usual DSLR - it was taken, processed and cropped using Apple's little wonder. I really like using the iPhone camera, a lot more than I expected when I first read about its specs. It's something many people look down on the iPhone over (as well as the other usual suspects, lack of MMS and Copy/Paste) but I don't really expect much from a phone camera.

  What really makes the iPhone camera fun is the range of processing apps you can get for it. Toy camera styles in particular are well represented, and my app of choice is CameraBag by Nevercenter (App Store link). It's got a great range of toy camera, retro and B&W styles which apply to any photo you've got on your phone, or one you've taken from within the app itself.

  The best thing is you can of course combine the effects by loading in one you've already applied a filter to.

  This shot was taken on a dull overcast afternoon outside the second-hand book shop near Putney Bridge tube station, using the standard camera app with a view to loading it into CameraBag. First I tried the Helga filter as it's my favourite in general. It desaturates, raises the contrast and applies a circular vignette, right up my street! However, it didn't look so fantastic - the bookshop was evoking a warm nostalgic feeling in me so I didn't like the lack of colour - it also went a lot darker. If you don't like an effect you can just slide the next filter over, scrolling through the options. I tried the Instant and 1974 filters which have a faded but warmer look to them but it was all a bit dark too.

  The solution was to save a copy using the Lolo filter to pump it full of colour - it's supposed to be Lomo-esque but the end result is to brighten the overall shot and saturate colours, with the option to crop square if you like (as with the Helga; all the cropping features across the different filters are optional if you prefer the original aspect ratio).

  Then you can load in your saved version and apply an effect on top. I loaded the Lolo copy and applied Helga to it, turning on the cropping option, and it's one of my favourite shots at the moment!

  Well, until tomorrow's post, that is. It's another '100% iPhone' shot and I love it... ;)

  EDIT: something I should add is that CameraBag itself has a tendency to crash occasionally, usually if you've used it a lot or there's been some other heavy draw on the CPU recently. It can also have trouble playing music at the same time, but this is sporadic. Turning the iPhone off and on again usually helps, and should definitely be done after installing the app, and all other apps I'm told!

Camera & Exposure Information