Great meeting starts the New Year!

Thanks to all who attended last week's meeting. Sorry about the delay in getting this info posted. Randy Allen (that would be me...) will be taking over for Dave Coblitz as the section chairperson. I hope I can serve you as well as Dave did in the past.

We had a great meeting and went over many items pertaining to the iPhone and iPad which many of you apparently use. There's a phrase in the photography world that goes something like this- "the best camera is the one you have with you". Considering we almost always have our phones with us - they could very well be that camera when we need one. While we spend all kinds of time going over manuals and learning about our DSLR's and high tech equipment, many overlook their phone and other portable peripherals as valuable tools in their day - to - day photography lives.

Now some will say that the phone does not have the quality, or that there is limited processing you can do, or that the flash is an issue, or ....... and I will say - Yes - your phone has limitations. But as technology advances - those issues will become much smaller issues. Today's iPhone 4S has an 8MP camera and takes great photos! The photos we received back from Mars for instance are taken with a 1.2MP camera. And look at what you can have in your hands!

So now is the time to start learning more about how to use that tool you carry with you every day!

Here are some ideas:

1) Use your phone while you are scouting places you would like to shoot. Shoot some shots and geo-code them so you can come back to that exact location and in the meantime - you can be mulling over the time of the day, weather and lighting aspects while having in your possession some shots of the area.

2) Use your phone to grab one of a kind shots you can't go back and get. Be sure to understand how to use your phone's camera to the best capabilities. Now - many cameras will not allow you to blow your photo up to really large sizes - you can indeed get some quite respectable camera phone images that will print very nicely. Want to see some great iPhone photos? Go here:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/takenwithiphone/

3) Use your iPhone to take photos and transfer them to an iPad to edit them. This gives you a much bigger screen to work with and many more options.

I'll be blogging a little more on this subject later - but this will get you started. Anyone having any questions about phone camera photography - give me a holler at randy@rsaphoto.com.

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On another topic - If you have any ideas for presentations at our next meeting on February 20th, please let me know!

Happy New Year to ALL!

Wishing all of you a Happy New Year! We start off 2012 with a presentation by Randy Allen (me) at our January 16th meeting dealing with the iPad and iPhone / Smartphones and the various Photography and Art apps that are available and work well. If you have an iPad, or iPhone, or other smartphone - be sure to bring them to the meeting. If you wish to be somewhat prepared - here are some of the apps we will be showcasing:

Photoshop Express
100 Cameras
PhotoStudioHD
ToonPaint
Sketchbook Pro
Photosynth
360
Instagram
iTimeLapse
iMovie
MySketch
iDraw
Inspire Pro
ArtStudio

and for a portable Portfolio of your work - Xtrafolio

Some of these apps are free, but most will cost you. If you would like to see them in action before you purchase - be sure to be at the meeting! See you there!