Wonder Woman and I went to a wedding this weekend in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and I used this child-free occasion not only to drink and put the moves on my wife, but also to really figure out once and for all just how the hell I want to manage my iPhone photos.
I like to take photos with my phone, and I like to sometimes tweet links to those photos, but what I often don’t like is the quality of those photos, and what I’ve never liked is sending those photos to TwitPic and/or yFrog, because, Hello? Flickr? … so what I set out to do was find a way to take better-looking iPhone photos that I could tweet via my Flickr account.
Of course, Hipstamatic was all the rage not so long ago, but I failed to jump on board that train when it was cool, and now that it’s so five-minutes-ago, I wasn’t sure if it was worth my while any longer. Also, I recently stumbled across a promising looking app called Camera+ … but Instagram is the new “It” photo app, right? And I want to be one of the cool kids, so I should use the latest cool-kid toy, shouldn’t I?
Hey, I know: Howzabout I ask my Twitter peeps what they think?
And lo and behold, Meredith Groenevelt (a.k.a. Bueno Baby) summed up the not-yet-fully-formed thought that had been rattling around in the hollow abyss I call my mind:
See, the thing is, deep down inside, I’m really not crazy about the odd-hued, over-saturated, dramatically distorted photos that Hipstamatic and Instagram are known for. Is there room in my arsenal for those types of images? Sure … (see?) … but they seem to be everywhere as of late, and they mostly don’t do anything for me, so …
Here’s what I settled on instead: Camera+. Lots of cool settings that automate the photo-taking and photo-enhancing process … and, hey, if super-distorted Hipstamatic/Instagram-like images are your thing, Camera+ includes plenty of effects for making them.
But what I really like about Camera+ are the many photo-taking settings and post-production editing/cropping options that it offers. I also like the cool borders you can place around your photos if you’re feeling so inclined, such as the vintage border shown around the photo above (which, by the way, is a shot of a very cool-looking chandelier that hangs from the ceiling of the Tower Spa at the Mountain View Grand Resort, where we spent two wonderful nights this past weekend; more on that later).
It’s easy to upload photos directly to Flickr from within the Camera+ app (as well share them on Facebook and Twitter), but I still had to do some legwork to figure out how to tweet Flickr image links, which I now am able to do from within the Flickr iPhone app.
To accomplish this, I first had to link my Flickr account to my Twitter account, which I did by visiting this link, selecting Twitter from the “What kind of weblog do you have?” dropdown menu, clicking “Next” and following the instructions.
After I had authorized Flickr to access my Twitter account, I discovered that, when I tap a photo’s “share” button within the Flickr app …
… I now have the option to tweet a link to the photo via my Twitter account:
Hooray!
So, now that I’ve rekindled my long-dormant love affair with Flickr, I plan to post all future iPhone photos to my newly created iPhone set, and when the urge to tweet a photo link overtakes me, that link will lead not to TwitPic, nor to yFrog, but to Flickr.
This is the word of the Jon. Thanks be to me.
16 Comments
Can I just add a “Here here!” to the quoted comment from BuenoBabyGirl? I used Instagram for a couple of days – and maybe three photos – and wasn’t hugely impressed with it.
Sure, it appeals to my “ooh, shiny!” tendencies and it was free, but it’s the most unstable app I have on my phone. It crashes every other time I try to snap a photo. So that moment is lost because the damn thing just drops me back to the home screen.
Thanks for recommending Camera+, I’ll be checking it out!
- Jessie
Jessie´s most recent blog post: Somebody Killed His Editor – Josh Lanyon
I have to admit a great aversion to having my photos hosted on the web. Something about them becoming public domain in certain situations makes me queasy. Oddly, I still post them to twitter and that doesn’t bother me as much. Go figure. I haven’t worked it all out in my brain yet. lol
watercolor´s most recent blog post: Where I moonlight
Glad you found something that works for you! Looking forward to reading about your weekend away, with envy!
Erin´s most recent blog post: on being held accountable…
I just want to know about the chandelier.
Me, too!
But thanks for the Camera+ recommendation.
I’m buying my iPhone today (after NOT getting a message re: tsunami at 4am. Stupid phone.)
Karen Kos´s most recent blog post: This is so much more impressive than the Jack Russell tricks
People read my tweets. Who knew.
BuenoBaby´s most recent blog post: Every naughty word I needed to learn I learned in kindergarten
I know the feeling.
This post made me feel like a goddam dinosaur with no technical skills and no future. Please write one immediately to make me feel less out of touch and terrified of technology.
I will no go count the muinutes until youdo on my abacus.
Susan´s most recent blog post: My Review of the Oscars-or-High on Cold Meds- I Can Still Be Mean Thank God
I’m with Lynda and Susan…
Still love you though, and your pics, and especially your humor.
And where’s my SouthLAnd dvds?
So…you went to a spa? Pray, tell us about the spa…
You lost me at “tweet link to those photos”, but don’t worry…I’ll come back again soon.
Amy Ro.´s most recent blog post: The Hodgepodge Hears a Who
Yeah….well….my whole next post was going to have about 80 hipstamatic photos….damnit…
I’m still doing it! Because I think it’s cool! And….yeah! So there!
Fine!
CatZilla´s most recent blog post: Bipolar No- Im Bi-Winning
Right on. I can’t stand seeing Hipstamatic photos, they always look identical and yet the person posting it thinks they’re so artsy.
Cool….I still use the generic camera app that came with the phone, which makes me feel rather lame.
Muskrat´s most recent blog post: steps for winning! at mardi gras
DS, I read this article and laughed and thought of you. The author has quite the colorful writing style, he’s almost in your league!
http://badassoftheweek.com/akaiwa.html
I saw that! Very funny. And that dude is a badass!