New apps, new sharing sites.

There is a kind of serendipity when you view one of your new photographic hero's on-line and then one of the apps you use produce something that mimics what he his doing.  Today on Chase Jarvis Live I watched a photographer whom I first discovered one year ago.  Ian Ruhter was his guest and he demonstrated his wet-colloidal plate process.  It was very interesting, especially when you get to step inside the camera.  I learned a lot and the process and am encouraged as I hope to explore it in the coming new year.

I had barely finished watching it when I got notice that Hipstamatic has released a new pak for their app called the Tintype Snappak.  With a lens and two film stocks that are suppose to mimic the old style look of tin and cyanotype photo's.  I decided to play with it tonight and used this little troll that I received at a PhotoPlus booth a number of years ago as the subject.  I moved it around a light source getting a variety of shadows.  The look is not bad and one of the things that Ian mentioned about his process, the incredible shallow depth of field he has with the Camera Truck, seemed to be mimicked perfectly by the app.  SO I can see myself playing with this Pak on the iPhone on my upcoming trip to India.

The other day I talked about Instagram and their proposed changes to their terms of service.  Now while this really does not scare me that much I still think it is prudent to keep an eye out for new options.  One that I doscovered is called Pheed.  The big difference here is that there is no camera involved with the app itself.  You just choose the images in you library and upload and share them.  Now there are two methods that you can choose, one is a free Pheed which means any one can view your posts anytime fro  anywhere.  However an interesting feature is that you can have a premium feed where users will have to pay a fee to access your content.  This would mean you could share specific items or genre and make some money from those accessing it.  I believe that Pheed would take a share, but if one had a unique project you could set the channel for premium and promote it as such.  I still need to do a little more research, but this has some unique potential.

I also downloaded Trey Ratcliff's The Light Camera.  I have not played with it much other then a quick look, but one of the interesting features is the ability to dial in filters and see the look before you take the photo.  Now the WoodCamera app offers something similar but it is not as seamless or friendly as this app looks to be.  Once I shoot a test with it I will share it here with you.

These new items work well with my goal for 2013  to explore and expand my photographic horizon's.  I am trying to bring back the fun and passion that I have always had and tp help grow it and to take you along my journey of discovery.