Big World Picture: Getting the most out of Iphone photography #1 INSTAGRAM

In this post I would like to take the time to help get the most out of the Iphone and its potential. I chose the Iphone to talk about, opposed to Android or Ovi (Nokia), as this happens to be the phone that I own. Since I have had the Iphone4 I have found more and more things that I can do with the camera and Apps that use the camera on the phone.

Mobile phone photography doesn't have to be the territory of just the out of focused and badly composed snapshot. With just I few Apps all of which are free (some add-ons may cost extra but they are not essential), a am able to take far more interesting photos. With these Apps I am able to Edit, enhance, and add artistic touches to the photographs that I take. I love the Iphone for this and I’m sure you can do similar, if not the same things, with other phones.

One of the things I like about mobile photography as the ability to load up to my various communities, such as Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook.
So using these Apps, you to should be able to get more out your photography on your phone. In this post I chose the Instagram App as a starting point and I shall show another great Apps in future posts.

Instagram

This is a very popular free App and photo sharing platform. One of the reasons I like to use Instagram is the square format that you are presented with, it kind of reminds me of the instant photographs taken with a Polaroid camera, indeed as do a lot of the filters that I can choose from within Instagram. It is great to have a camera always in my pocket ready to capture the moment or essence of any given time. Instagram is as i mentioned earlier is free but I recently found out that on android phones you only get a restricted version, less filters, and have to pay extra for the full version.

So what do you get with this App? There are many various filters such as Xpro-II , Earlybird, LoFi and Walden etc. You are able to add linear and radial Tilt-shift blur effects for extra depth of field. The uploads on Instagram are unlimited so feel you don’t have to worry about running out of space on your phone, this means you can shoot away only limited by your ideas.

To make things a bit clearer I now shall do a run through that various elements that make up the Instagram App.

First of all you will have to open up your downloaded App and sign up.

Once you have done this you will be up and running. So now to run through the features and buttons that you will see on the various parts of the App.

Three of the main screens

By tapping the star shaped button you will enter the "explore" section of this App. In this part you can tape the images shown and either "comment" or "like" each image. By entering a word or name in the search bar you can find relating Hashtags or other users.

The heart shaped button allows you to see who has added you, commented on your photos or started following you. If you tap the following button you can see what the users you are following have liked. I find this a great way to discover new photos.

Profile and Home screens

The profile screen shows you all your Instagram photos. You can chose either to few them as in grid form "default setting" or on above the other as in the way the home screen is viewed. From this screen you are able to change any profile details or privacy settings. You can also add your website or another web link via this page and it will be shown on you profile page for other users to tap and go to your link.

On the home screen all the latest uploads by the users you follow are shown. From here just double tap the photo to "like" it or tap "comment" to add any comments.

Taking, adding and editing your photos

To start adding photos to your Instagram you can take a photograph straight from the App or by adding one from your camera roll. To take a photo simply tap the big round button. To add a photo from your phone tap the square next to it, then choose image to upload. Once taken or added, you are presented with the editing screen. In this stage you can add various filters, rotate, frame, increase the contrast and even add at "tilt-shift" effect. After you have edited your photo tap "next". You now are nearly really to show your creation to the Instagram world. So now your in the "share photo section. In this section you add Hashtags and your title or caption, add your where you captured your photo and even share with other social networks. When filled this part, tap the share and your done.

So now that I have gone through the Instagram App I hope it makes sense and I hope this now will go some way to leaving you free to get out there and create the Big World Picture.

Here is a small collection of my Instagram photos.

My Istagram can be viewed HERE