Its so easy being Green

Nikon FE camera and Nikon 35mm f2 lens with Agfachrome CT precisa 100 film

During a big clean up, following a recent flood at my place, I discovered some old photos I’d made during the first few months of 1986. It was my first year of formal photography study and I was staying with my oldest sister, Maree, and her family in the Melbourne suburb of Box Hill South. I’d been given an assignment, to produce 3 photographs that explored the color Green.

It seemed like a dumb idea at the time and it wasn’t until the night before it was due that, with the help of my brother in law, Steve, I got it together. I made a pic of a watermelon with a face cut into it. The pinkish red of the fruit’s flesh made a strong color contrast with the green on the outside of the fruit.

The above image, the second in the series, featured Maree’s 2 oldest kids: Rachel and Richard Gray. (Her youngest child, Patrick, was a chubby bubby at the time). The image was made in a few short minutes under the shade of a beautiful maple tree in the family’s front yard. The green, leafy yard provided the perfect background. The kid’s green school uniforms were an added bonus. It was then simply a matter of adding some extra props (green cordial, cups, serviettes and fruit) to complete the scene.

Nikon FE camera and Nikon 35mm f2 lens with Agfachrome CT precisa 100 film

The final image features Rachel, dressed in emerald green and adorned with green nail polish, posing in front of the bathroom mirror. Rachel was a great model, very patient and co-operative.

Both the kids were great fun to work with and I’m so glad I’ve re-discovered these old images. While they’re not portfolio standard they’re great keepsakes that allow us all to remember our time together. It may not be that much longer before both Rachel and Richard can share those memories with their own families.

Rachel is now an experienced and highly regarded secondary school teacher, while Richard is well and truly making his way as a director, writer and producer in the motion picture and television industries. But, back then, Richie was a typical 6-year-old boy: with a love for cartoons and a very competitive backyard cricket player. Rachel, who I guess was 8 years old at the time, was highly organized, very bright and a talented piano player. Richard was full of life and energy, a beautiful child who loved his mother very much. Rachel was a delightful girl. In fact she was perfect.

If you’re feeling like your own photography is a bit stale of late, perhaps it’s worth trying a Green, Red or Blue assignment for yourself. Of course you could take it further as color is also cultural. White is a metaphor that, depending on the country or culture in question, can suggest completely different things. When I re-visit familiar places I sometimes limit myself to a single focal length (e.g. 24mm wide-angle or 100mm Macro) to force myself to see the familiar anew. Whatever challenge you set yourself will help revive your enthusiasm and broaden your vision. Go on, feed your creativity.

Both images were made with Agfachrome ISO 100 transparency film on a 35mm Nikon FE camera. The original transparency was scanned prior to processing in Adobe Camera RAW and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Pic of the Week_Water Pool_Uluru_Central Australia

Leica M6 camera and Leica 35mm Summicron f2 Aspherical lens with Kodak Ektachrome Elite 100 Extra Color film

Uluru is Australia’s most iconic landscape. Situated in the Uluru / Kata Tjuta National Park it is a superb location for photography and offers the visitor a wonderful introduction to the culture and mythology of the local indigenous people.

The above image makes use of foreground (grasses), mid ground (rock) and background (sky) elements to enhance the sense of 3-dimensional space.

One of the problems with photographing under bright, sunny conditions is that the bright light acts to reflect much of the color and texture off the surface of important focal points (e.g. rock, sand and grasses). By employing a polarizing filter its possible to prevent this from happening and produce images that display quite vivid color reproduction. In much the same way as polarizing sunglasses a polarizing filter can also darken and saturate and already blue sky. It works best when the sun is directly behind the photographer.

After scanning the original 35mm color transparency was processed in Adobe Camera RAW and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Sunset_Ormiston Gorge_Central Australia

Leica M6 camera and Leica 35mm Summicron f2 Aspherical lens with Kodak Ektachrome 100 Extra Color film

Ormiston Gorge in one of my favorite locations in Central Australia. Situated along the West MacDonnell Ranges, an hour or so out of Alice Springs, great hikes and spectacular photography opportunities await the intrepid traveler.

The above image was made at sunset. I employed a 35mm mild wide-angle lens to convey the grandeur of the location and Kodak Ektachrome Elite 100 Extra Color film for its warm, saturated color rendition.

The difficulty with a scene like this is that it contains so much information for the viewer to deal with. The trick is to concentrate their attention on the most important elements throughout the frame. The image is made up of sand, water, trees, rock and sky. But it’s the light, distributed throughout the scene, that separates major focal points from their surroundings, light from dark, warm from cool and foreground from background. This enables the viewer to more easily navigate their way around the image.

The original 35mm transparency was scanned prior to processing in Adobe Camera RAW and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Apple 3Gs iPhone_The Journey Continues

Above Merry Creek at Sunset_Apple 3Gs i Phone

This week’s set of pictures from my Apple 3Gs iPhone were all from an evening walk I undertook around my neighborhood in Clifton Hill, Melbourne. I’ve included them in the order in which they were made.

On my return I employed Best Camera, the iPhone app created by US sports and commercial photographer Chase Jarvis, to enhance the images prior to uploading, via Adobe Lightroom 2, onto an external hard drive.

Rocks_Merry Creek_Apple 3Gs iPhone

The process of using the iPhone remains great fun. It’s easy to produce very good results, providing you’re working under reasonable levels of light and relatively low contrast conditions. But move outside of that fairly limited criteria and problems arise. While not necessarily visible on screen, prints of 5″x7″ or larger would clearly illustrate the problems.

Afterglow_Clifton Hill_Apple 3Gs iPhone

I’m happy with the visualization and design associated with today’s images. But the camera’s ability to handle low light conditions is limited. You can easily make the shot, and it may look good on your phone’s LCD screen. But, viewed on your computer, such images will likely display a low contrast, de-saturated and noisy appearance.

Night Sky_Clifton Hill_Apple 3Gs iPhone

Similarly the Best Camera app is quick and easy to use. It has a good interface and produces a range of interesting effects. But, without an option to control the degree to which each effect is applied, photographers used to working in Adobe Lightroom or Apple Aperture will often feel the need, as I did tonight, to employ such software to produce a more realistic result than what is usually possible with the Best Camera app. Of course amateurs may well be seduced by the punchy results achieved through the Best Camera app. More seasoned campaigners, while appreciating the speed at which such effects are applied will, nevertheless, wish for the ability to produce a somewhat more subtle result.

Rose by Moonlight_Clifton Hill_Apple 3Gs iPhone

I find this unfortunate because the less work completed on the desktop the better. And, while a camera phone is used for fun rather than profit or serious art, the user needs to have one or more apps that provide them with the type of control offered by RAW Converts/processing software.

Outside Lamp_Clifton Hill_Apple 3Gs iPhone

I still think the Best Camera app is great value and well worth purchasing. I just hope that the next generation of the program will include the ability to control the degree of the effect applied.

I will continue my investigation of this camera/software paring over coming weeks.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Cape Light_A Classic Photography Book

In 1987, during my second year of formal study, I purchased a photography book that has been a significantly influence my own photography ever since. I was reminded of the book, and a folio that I was producing at the time, when I re-discovered it during the clean up following the recent flooding of my living room. Thank goodness the book was not damaged.

Titled ‘Cape Light’ the book showcases a major personal project undertaken by New York based commercial photographer, Joel Meyerowitz. The title of the project refers to the extraordinary quality of light that apparently exists on Cap Cod, on the US eastern seashore, where Meyerowitz and his family spent summer holidays.

With a background in black-and-white street photography this book was a major departure for Meyerowitz. All images in the book were made with an 8”x10” large format camera on Kodak Vericolor Professional (VPL) film. This film was designed for long exposures under tungsten light, as would have been the case with a lot of studio-based product photography back in the days before studio flash. As tungsten (incandescent) light emits a yellow-red color VPL film was manufactured with a higher sensitivity to blue to produce a neutral result when used under tungsten lighting. However, when using a tungsten-based film outdoors, a deep amber (85B) filter was required to prevent the deep blue bias of the film producing an unnatural (blue) result under the more neutral daylight.

But Meyerowitz embraced the long exposure characteristics of the film and chose, rather than employing the 85B filter on camera, to adjust the light emitted from his color enlarger to best portray the conditions under which he shot and his response to the scene in question.

Landscapes, buildings and portraits fill the pages of this classic publication, which illustrates the artist’s time on the Cape; his love for the intricacies of light and color, throughout the day and with the vagaries of weather; and a formal, artistic approach to the subject matter at hand.

Originally published in 1979 my copy is from the fourth printing in 1985. While  the book was reprinted as recently as  2002, it appears that, despite an extended interview, poor print quality and design this latest version may be less than desirable. But for folks keen on fine photography publications you might want to keep an eye out for one of the earlier print runs on the second hand market or in larger libraries. Be aware that the colors and contrast in the book may look a little flat by contemporary standards, but that is more about the technology associated with film and printing processes of the day and the current age of the book. That aside, it remains a classic publication that inspired a generation of photographers and is one of several seminal titles that heralded a new way of seeing the world around us. I do hope you’ll at least get to see it one day.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Photoshop Madness_Part 1

Leica M6 camera and Leica 35mm Summicron f2 lens with Kodak Ektachrome Elite 100 Extra Color film.

Regular visitors to my site would be aware of some fairly creative images that I’ve made while goofing around in Photoshop. Today’s post is the most recent example.

I made the above image a number of years back in Alice Springs, Central Australia. I liked the image and, until today thought that it had merit. I realize now that I probably made the same mistake most others do with their own photographs – just because you were there and made a picture must mean it’s a good one. I think I was attracted to the subject, and the idea of producing a great photograph of this old rusted out car, in what is a thriving and yet very remote location in the centre of Australia. While I’m not particularly fond of cars there’s a kind of romance associated with the location and the idea of how such a car would have made it to and functioned, all those years ago, in such a difficult environment.

Looking at the scan I realized that I was not being objective enough and that the image was little more than a visual record. And, for me, that’s only the beginning of a great photograph. So I began to mess around in Photoshop, but the result, as seen above, looked pretty fake. Abstraction seemed like a way forward. When in doubt embrace the madness.

Leica M6 camera and Leica 35mm Summicron f2 lens with Kodak Ektachrome Elite 100 Extra Color film

I started to wonder if I could play with the colors and tones to bring out a look and feel something akin to opals, for which this country is famous. I started down that path and then, being reminded of some of the creation mythology of the region’s indigenous people, started playing with the idea of the Rainbow Serpent from Aboriginal Australian Dreamtime.

The result as you see is more fun than it is art, but it does suggest potential for this type of work. I hope you enjoy the concept and the result.

The original film scan was processed in Adobe Camera RAW, prior to employing Adobe Photoshop CS4 to achieve the final result.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Shooting into the Light

Canon 1D Mark II camera and Canon 24-70mm f2.8 L series lens. Exposure Details: 1/8 second @ f11 ISO 200

Wilsons Promontory is, to my mind, the jewel in the crown for landscapes in the state of Victoria. Probably the most commonly visited location at the prom is Tidal River, where the above image was made.

Shooting into the light can produce very dramatic results, often rendering land-based subject matter darker than expected, even to the extent of a silhouette, while producing a more spectacular sky.

One way to overcome this problem (outside of the new technique, HDR) is to bias your framing so that the vast majority of your composition is sky. Any land-based subject matter will tend to act as a point of reference (e.g. scale) by which to better make sense of the sky. As any trees or buildings now fill such a small part of the frame, the fact that they may be rendered as silhouettes is no longer a problem.

An alternative approach, as illustrated in the above photo, is to allow backlit areas (e.g. mountains or trees) to go black and use them as design elements (dark shapes or lines) within the frame. This approach can make for a visually interesting, image.

The above photo was processed in Adobe Camera RAW and Adobe Photoshop CS4.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Buying Camera Equipment and What I’ve Learned Along the Way_Part II

Monk, Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Equipment: Hasselblad 500CM camera and Hasselblad 150mm f4 Sonnar lens with Kodak Professional Ektacolor Gold 160 film

Continuing on from yesterdays article I returned to study in 1989 to a degree level photography course. The previous 2 years study at the private college was not recognized so I had to begin again at year 1. I needed another camera so I purchased a 60’s vintage Rollei SL66 camera with an 80mm standard and, I think 150mm portrait lens. This was a medium format camera, producing 12 _6×6cm images on a roll of 120 film. The newer versions of the camera, 70’s onwards, were superb. Unfortunately mine was a dog and caused me some grief.

That year I also purchased a 4”x5” large format camera. Rather than the large, heavy and cumbersome monorail version, favored by studio photographers, this was a flat field camera that folded flat. It was lightweight and ease to carry. A beautiful thing all word and brass that I purchased with a secondhand wide-angle lens. It’s the sort of camera where you load a single sheet of 4”x5” film into the camera, composing the image on a similarly sized ground glass screen with a large cloth (ideally black on the inside and white, to reflect the hot sun, on the outside) wrapped around to cut back reflections on the ground glass screen.

Not being terribly competent with the camera I took it on my second overseas trip. Sadly, after arriving in Ladakh following a torrid journey through Kashmir and over the Himalayas, with numerous adventures along the way, the lens packed it in. Unable to have it repaired, I had to carry the whole kit around for the remainder of the 10-week trip. I did make several usable images, a few of which I may still have. I remember, in particular, some shots of a young Korean Buddhist nun I photographed on a rooftop in Leh, Ladakh. It was a romantic notion to be using that type of camera, much like the great early travel photographers such as Samuel Bourne, in India and the middle East, or Timothy O’Sullivan in America. The fact was neither me or the equipment was up to the task.

In 1990 I returned to another 6×6 medium format camera. I wanted a brand new Rollei SL66 kit but, being almost impossible to buy through the Australian agents at that time, I upgraded to a new Hasselblad 500CM. The blad was a good camera, though a little clunky with one or two really weird foibles that had remained with the camera since the original model several decades early. Once again I bought an 80m and 150mm lens. My old boss, John Noyes, was now National Sales Manager at the Australian distributor for Hasselblad cameras. That made the purchase of this expensive new kit somewhat easier. In case you’re wondering he’s retired and those days are long gone.

Buying Equipment and What I’ve Learned Along the Way_Part 1

Your Author, Glenn and friend Sue in Leh_Ladakh, India_Camera: Canon New F1 camera and Agfachrome 100 transparency film.

I purchased my first camera when I was 17 years of age. It was 1979 and my first full time job in a camera store with Ernest C. Cameron a 67 year old photographer who, after retiring from professional photography, had to re-enter the workforce (I believe) after the guy who had taken over his studio business had gone broke without paying the agreed amount. As a consequence of this debacle, and in addition to working full time in the camera store, Ern went back to doing weddings on weekends.

He was a lovely old bloke and it was a privilege to work with him. He taught me a little bit about photography, camera and darkroom basics, and a lot about people. I think Ern was rushed off his feet pretty much all his life. He died aged 69 and, far from ready, I took on the management of the camera department and a lot of his upcoming wedding photography. I remember how mortified my boss, Peter Milburn, and I were after Ern’s sudden passing. But it was with and largely because of Ern and Peter that my life in photography began. I owe them both a great deal.

My first camera was a Nikkormat FT-3 with a 50mm f1.8 lens. It was a very solid, high quality camera and ideal for a beginner. I was earning $79 a week and the camera, even after a good deal, must have cost at least $300.

Only 3 weeks after starting the job I contracted glandular fever, incidentally on the night I returned to my old school for the annual school social (dance). Apparently I kissed too many girls that night.

After a few weeks off, I returned to work, on reduced hours and pay. It took me 5 years before I fully recovered. I can’t remember what my pay was reduced to, probably to around $60 a week. I was paying $25 a week in board (I think I’m the only one of 5 kids who ever did, at least on a regular basis) but, somehow managed to pay that camera off. I started shooting weddings and portraits with that camera. I really loved it, though like the Olympus OM series, it seemed strange to have both the Shutter Speed and Aperture changed by rotating 1 of 2 rings around the lens.

Sometime before my 18^th birthday I joined my first rock band, Taxi, with my old school friend, Tony (Bert) Lambert, and new friends Rod Knights, Darryl Smith and Russell Bateman. I guess it was somewhere in the middle of buying guitars, amps, a car and having a girlfriend that money became tight. I sold my FT3 but, to my horror, had to wait several years before I was paid. In the meantime I took a step downwards and purchased a Pentax K-1000 camera with 50mm f2 lens. It retailed for $249 though, working in the camera store, I would have got it cheaper than that.

Sometime after Ern’s death I was offered the opportunity to purchase some of his camera equipment. I decided on a Canon F1 camera body. I can’t remember what lens I got, may a 50mm f1.8, though I do remember having to borrow a 35-70mm f3.5-4.5 (I think) zoom from my boss Peter’s best friend, Jack, for weddings. There was also an almost brand new Canon ring flash, pretty fancy stuff in those days, which I used once. Stupidly I also acquired a Polaroid 600SE (how could I possibly have remembered that) camera and a Durst 5”x7” enlarger from the estate. I probably should have tried to acquire Ern’s Mamiya 645 medium format camera kit. Maybe it was too expensive.

After the Pentax I bought a Minolta X-300 with a 35-70mm zoom lens. It was a good camera for its time, marginally better than the Pentax, but not as good as the Nikkormat.

The next step was into medium format photography. I purchased a Mamiya RB67 camera with a 90mm standard and 180mm portrait lens. The RB67 made images that were 6×7cm in size and you got 10 images on a roll of film. I can’t remember what I paid for the kit, AUS $3,000-$3,500 I think. It was a fortune, particularly as I was only on about $120 a week at that stage. But I was doing a lot of weddings and portraits and the band was busy, although I was also spending a lot on guitars and amps. My boss Peter bought the camera for me and let me pay it off. Outstanding!

The next camera I bought was a Nikon FE. I used it for several years, including two years in my own studio photography business and a 6-month stint as a newspaper photographer. I predominantly used the camera with a 35mm f2 (great for environmental portraits) and a 85mm f1.4 (traditional portrait) lens.

In late February1986 I moved to Melbourne to begin formal studies in photography. I continued to use both the RB67 and Nikon FE for the first 2 years of my studies. After being kicked out at the beginning of the final year (actually its not what you think, I was a pretty good student) of the course I decided to travel. 4 months later I was off on my first overseas trip. The trouble was I had to fund it. I sold my car, a Nissan Bluebird, the RB67 kit and the Nikon FE camera and lenses. I was about to embark on a 3 1/2 month overseas photography trip without any camera equipment. Enter our good friends at Canon, Australia.

Since moving to Melbourne in 1986 to formally study photography I was supporting myself through some commercial jobs and by working in a camera store. My boss, John Noyes, arranged for Canon (Australia) to provide me with camera equipment for the duration of my overseas trip. I found out, quite late in the piece, that the gear would be second hand. It was a bit of a concern, but beggars can’t be choosers, and I was very grateful for Canon’s assistance.

I began to worry, come the week of my departure, with the gear still undelivered. I put the hard word on John, probably after buying him a chocolate éclair, and he in turn put the hard word on his contact at Canon. The gear arrived late on the day before my departure. With no time to test it I left Australia, with the mother of all flu’s, as discussed in a previous article.

The kit comprised of two bodies, an old and battered Canon F1 and a Canon New F1, which appeared to be in better shape and a couple of lenses. I can’t be sure but I think I had a 35-70mm zoom and a 200mm telephoto lens. I may even have had a 24mm wide angle. Being film-based cameras the concern about introducing dust through changing lenses just wasn’t the issue it is with today’s DSLR cameras. So, instead of having one camera over each shoulder, like you’d see in the movies, I opted for a less conspicuous approach my using one of the cameras (I think it was the New Canon F1) and changing lenses where required. The other body was packed away, as a spare in case the primary one broke down.

I decided on slide film for the trip and, as I’d had some experience with Agfa slide film at the college where I began my studies, allowed my other boss, Rob Kirby, a former Agfa employee to talk me into using Agfachrome 100 slide film.

Sadly, on my return 3 ½ months later, devastating news awaited. I was in the practice, at that time, of engaging the camera’s Depth of Field (DOF) preview button to check how much of the scene was going to be recorded with the range of acceptable sharpness both in front and behind the point at which the lens was focused (e.g. the subject). I was also in the practice, prior to loading every roll of film, of visually checking that the camera’s aperture and shutter speed seemed to be working correctly. This is a simply matter, with a film-based camera, of opening the camera back, putting your eye up close to the shutter and firing the camera. By changing the cameras shutter speed from say 1/15 second to 1/30 second you could tell that roughly twice as much light was let in at 1/15 compared to 1/30. You could continue this practice, quite accurately, from around 1 second up to about 1/1000 second. Similarly by setting the camera to a slow shutter speed, say 1 second, you could check that an f2 lens, when set to an aperture of f2, let a full circle of light onto the film. Closing down one stop to f2.8 would result in half as much light coming through, and f4 half as much again. I would continue this test right down to the narrowest aperture (e.g. f22).

The problem was that when the depth of field preview button was engaged, which back then I used almost every time I made a photo, the camera was no longer able to close the lens down. As a consequence, even though I may have set the aperture to f8, f11 or f22 I was shooting wide open with the lens at its widest aperture. So, the vast majority of my shots were severely overexposed. On transparency film that spells death. To make matters worse most of my films were severely scratched by the lab during the mounting process. I did the maths (math for readers from the US) and only 13% of my images survived, and many of them were a good stop overexposed. Once I culled out the least interesting slides, there were not many left worth keeping. To save the image at the top of this article I had to weave a little bit of Photoshop magic. Converting into a warm tone black-and-white also helped.

In case you’re wondering there were a few tear drops and I remember my boss, Rob, making a joke at the time that I would have been better staying at home after all. I’d say that I experienced significant shock and deep grief.

About a minute later (probably less) I determined to return and do it properly the next time around. I travelled back to some of the sites from that first trip the following year. It wasn’t the same, and I had other camera-related problems, but things got better and I was on my way to building a more meaningful and significant life through travel and photography. This continues today through my teaching and the content on this site. What this and so many hardships have taught me over the years is the need to turn adversity into opportunity. We can’t be afraid of failure, but we need to learn from our mistakes and misfortunes so that we will, eventually succeed. And by then we would certainly have earned it.

I’II continue this article with the final installment tomorrow. I hope you found it interesting.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography

Apple 3Gs iPhone_It’s a Gas!

Merri Creek, Clifton Hill, Victoria. Camera: Apple 3Gs iPhone

I hope that my Apple 3Gs iPhone photos, and the text that accompanies them, may be of interest to folks who either have or want to buy an iPhone. But it dawned on me that many folks won’t be using Adobe Lightroom 2 or Adobe Photohsop CS4 to process their images. Even for professional photographers and enthusiasts who have the software, time may be better spent processing images from their ‘real’ cameras. And with Twitter and Facebook the chosen way of sharing their pics, most folks just want to shoot and upload their favorite photos, directly from their iPhone, pretty much on the fly.

Laneway Scene, Clifton Hill, Victoria. Camera: Apple 3Gs iPhone

But our images can always be improved with a little processing and there are numerous apps (software applications) that are designed for processing and, in some cases, uploading your images directly from your iPhone.

Drinking Kirin Beer with photographer friend, Gary Bosely (Boss Photography). Camera: Apple 3Gs iPhone.

I never intended this site to be a camera or software review site. It’s primarily about the art of photography and communicating the beauty of our natural world and its people. But, where issues relating to technique, equipment or software seem relevant, I’II use this site to illustrate, examine and demystify much that relates to those areas. My aim is to ensure that your own photography remains as much fun as possible.

Street Scene, Clifton Hill. Camera: Apples 3Gs iPhone.

Regular followers of this site would know that I purchased by new Apple iPhone 3Gs around the middle of December. While I’ve been shooting with digital cameras exclusively for the last 4 ½ years, I have an extensive film-based background. As a consequence I still shoot, pretty much as though I was still shooting with a film-based camera. I’ve probably taken no more than 100 photos with my iPhone, and the ones that accompany this article were all shot over the last few days.

Painted Van, Clifton Hill. Camera: Apple 3Gs iPhone.

I’ve sourced several camera-related apps for my iPhone over the last few weeks. The one I’ve spent the most time with is the Best Camera application, created by US photographer Chase Jarvis. It takes a little getting used, but its pretty intuitive and quite fast, given the changes you’re potentially asking it to apply to your images. You can also use the app to upload your photos directly to Twitter, Facebook and a site for users of the Best Camera application.

From my point of view many of the visual effects (e.g. Candy, Paris, Warm Tone) are too heavy handed. It would be nice if you had the option to determine the degree (e.g. 40%) of each effect applied. Nevertheless it’s a lot of fun and, through experimentation, its possible to mix effects and, thereby, diminish the strength of a particular effect. Available through iTunes and at US $3.99 it’s as cheap as chips.

Vandalised Bus Shelter, Clifton Hill. Camera: Apple 3Gs iPhone.

All the images in this article where shot with my Apple 3Gs iPhone and processed by the Best Camera application. Please let me know if this information has proved helpful.

© Copyright All Rights Reserved

Glenn Guy, Blue Sky Photography