The Blog

iPad App: Black and White with Snapseed

Sample before and after images when using the Black and White functions in Snapseed on the iPad.

I’ve only just started using Snapseed for the iPad after I read that Apple named it iPad App of the Year. And after only about 5 minutes, I was already thinking it could easily replace all of the other photo editors I have tried in the past.

Rather than put together yet another review video of why Snapseed is so cool, I thought I’d share the AdoramaTV review and then follow up with a few of my own before-and-after photos.

AdoramaTV Review

Black and White Photos

There are so many features in Snapseed, that I thought I’d just start with one of the first sections I started playing with – the Black and White editor.

As you can see in the video review above, it’s more than just a one-click black and white conversion. You can control the Brightness, Contract, and Grain independently, while seeing the impact immediately before committing your changes. You can also combine the B+W effect with another effect like the Vintage Films section – I like I did for one image below – to add a sepia-like touch as well.

Wondering – Before and After

Sleepy – Before and After

Pose – Before and After

Stare – Before and After

Ornaments – Before and After

As with previous posts, the before and after images shown here were created with the Diptic app on the iPad.

Thoughts?

Have you tried the Snapseed iPad app yet, and if so, what do you think of it? Do you think it deserves the Best of Year title from Apple, and which editor in the App do you think I should I feature next?

– Kris

Photo: Nursery Smiles

A child’s nursery is his kingdom.

Back Story

As part of my yet-to-be-announced weekly project for capturing our son’s 2nd year, he and I spent 30 minutes playing in his nursery Sunday morning for a little playtime. Or, now that he’s one year old, should we stop calling it a nursery? (I’ll ask the wife).

More details on the new project coming this week, and if you’d like to see more photos from the shoot, check out the Nursery Playtime Shoot gallery.

View Gallery

 

– Kris

Daily Baby Project – Completed

And just like that, the year was over.

The recent celebration of our son’s first birthday was not only a glorious occasion for so many obvious reasons, it also marked the end of the year-long, Daily Baby Project.

And while this particular version of a 365 project was less about photography and more about documenting so many moments in our son’s first year, the result of this particular daily ritual left our family with a collection of photos that we’ll always have to look back on and remember when…

These photos tell so many memorable stories for us – from early family road trips to all those unforgettable firsts in a young child’s life. They were captured, shared, and enjoyed by all of our loved ones.

Were they snapshots? Maybe. Are they treasured? Definitely!

Reflection

I knew early on when I started this project last year that having this collection of images would be special. Looking back after the fact – comparing the world today to what it was when I was born – I can’t help but reflect back on how fortunate we all are to be able to do something like this.

If you stop and think about it, what would it have taken 30 years ago to do something like this? Polaroids, I assume (hey, I was only 1yr old, how would I know?) would be a first option. Fast forward 30 years, how would that shoebox of polaroids be holding up now?

Aside: Okay, so there’s at least one guy who did it. [ News Story ]

A disposable camera? Maybe not back far enough (Wikipedia says about 1986). But say it was, a trip to the photo lab every 3 weeks or so? Or maybe you had your own camera gear and a wet darkroom. Late nights in between feedings and diaper changes, perhaps?

So here we are today. These pictures were all captured with a smartphone. Pause for a second – a phone. 30 years ago, our prized phone in the Nelson household was one with Snoopy standing up holding the receiver, and the phone on the wall in our kitchen was still the rotary kind.

A phone – in my pocket nearly at all times. And many were shared…instantly. No photo lab, no shoebox – real-time, online, and with near instant feedback from friends and family. Some of them across town, others hundreds of miles away, and even more 4,200 miles further still. I already said instantly, right?

While none of these photos are going to be printed on canvas or gracing the cover of a magazine, they were all effortless. Well, aside from getting him to sit still long enough on some days. Yet they’re still “real photos.” Not only did we make 4×6 prints for ourselves every month, my wife and I also made prints for our mothers as well. So there are 3 full albums out there documenting our son’s first year, day-by-day.

Shoebox? These photos are saved on Flickr, on our blog, some on Facebook, on iPods, my iPad, numerous backup drives, a First Birthday video slideshow, you name it. They’re always there, available at almost every whim. And probably not possible – certainly not as easy – no more than 8-10 years ago.

As a geek, the technologies involved and their rapid growth fascinate me. As a parent of 12 months now, the tech itself fades away and empowers me to share memories both now and in the future when they become special to him, and even his own children some day. What more could you possibly ask for?

Now What?

With the end of one chapter comes a fresh, blank page.

In this past year – aside from the daily project – we did close to 2 dozen photo shoots with our son starting with one at six months. Those are the photos that go up on the wall. And those are the times behind the camera that drive my love for photography and my passion to push my limits and learn more every time I take the lens cap off.

So that’s what’s next. A focus on the photography, not just the moment.

I’ll post more details soon, but I’m going with a weekly effort this year, still capturing the growth and maturation of our handsome little guy. As one fellow photographer told me earlier in the year, I’m so lucky to have my own in-home models. Yes, I am.

Although our son will still be the star of this project, I am raising the stakes for myself. It’s a conscious effort to set a different stage every week, looking for new places and ideas for shoots. Trying out different techniques, using different gear (that’s the geek in me talking right there), you get the idea.

A year from now, when this next project ends, it will be more than just seeing how quickly our son has grown – it will be about how far I’ve come as a photographer.

It will be about the further evolution of my style for portraiture. It will be about how much closer I may be to making a living off of this someday. It will be about way too many tough decisions on the best shots to keep in my portfolio. It will also be about those weeks where things didn’t go well, or challenges that were faced and overcome.

So be sure to stay tuned for those details soon. If you’ve made it this far through my post here, odds are you’ll want to keep tabs on this new project as well, so expect frequent updates here as the ball gets rolling.

More Info

If you wanted to read up more about the Daily Baby Project and how it came about, check out the project page for more details. And if you had any thoughts or comments about the project, the photos, this recap, or have done something like this before and wanted to share – hit the comments box below. I’d really love to hear from you.

Mahalo, and here’s to another exciting year behind the camera!
– Kris

Photo: Holiday Light Blur

Taking a typical scene from a holiday tree and taking it out of focus.

Back Story

After grabbing daytime holiday photos two weeks earlier, we found ourselves back at the mall to take in some of the holiday lights in their full glory. And I managed to capture one nice, holiday light portrait…

…our son lost interest in posing for the camera. Hey, it happens.

So that’s when things turned a little creative…

Manual Focus Blur

As highlighted in the image at the top of this post, I captured a few images by switching to manual focus and intentionally blurring the holiday lights to create some nice big light circles. Certainly something you can use as a background or something else like that.

Here’s a quick before/after of the same scene both in-focus and then with manual blur:

Super easy and very fun.

Zoom Blur and Body Twist

Next, I put a little twist on things – namely, my camera.

My switching to a longer shutter speed (and dropping the ISO to compensate) I first did a zoom blur opening the shutter and then slowly zooming out while the shutter was open.

Next, I worked the opposite way and instead of zooming with the lens, I held it still and twisted the camera body for shots like this.

Ornament Reflections

Finally, the oversized and reflective globe ornaments on the tree caught my eye. So I literally went around the entire tree looking for different sizes and colors to take shots of my reflection and the scenes behind me (loosely inspired by our shoot in Millennium Park). I then cropped them square and arranged them into a 2×2 collage using Diptic on the iPad.

More Photos

If you’d like to see all the photos from this shoot, check out the Holiday Abstract Shoot gallery.

Photo: Birthday Boy

Our son checking out the remaining presents at his party.

Back Story

After successfully surviving our first year of parenthood, we were excited to host our own baby luau for our son’s first birthday party. It was a little hectic at the moment pulling everything together that during that week, and then playing “host” and making sure everyone was enjoying themselves. But in the end, everyone had a great time and our son handled everything like a champ.

From a photography standpoint, just about all of these were shot with on camera flash, bouncing light whenever I could. There were a few were I tried to bump the ISO up to 3200 on my 5DMKII and reduced noise in Lightroom, but that was only for a few shots that made it.

Also, these shots were from four different rooms during they party, each with their own lighting challenges. The was the same house (my aunt’s house) that I shot my wife’s baby shower last year – except that was during the day and we had great daylight coming in the windows. This party was at night, and I could certainly see a difference, even in the same room as last year!

Photo Gallery

If you want to see more, check out the First Birthday Party gallery in the Photo Shoots section.