Long day, quick post.

I had a full day as I was prepping for the Lecture and workshop by my friend, photographer and Author, Rolando Gomez. The lecture went well this evening with a good turn out and tomorrow and Sunday will be the hands on shooting workshop. So I am quickly posting my Instagram 366 of Pineapples above and my "tadaa Today" photo below.

Snapseed, still my favorite app.

So I have now used tadaa for a few days and am finding that I am probably going to be doing the same post processing as I do for my Instagram That is I will bring the photos into Snapseed and do the cropping and other enhancements and then pick the frame from one of the other apps that I have. The above image was entirely done in Snapseed with some darkening to the image and then posted as my Instagram366 photo for today.

These two photo's are my "tadaa Today" images. Again both were started in Snapseed with the motorcycle having some grunge added and the flower the brightness and contrast worked on. I used PhotoToaster for the frame above and Pictureshow for the shot below. Both were then added to tadaa.

You can't go wrong with flowers.

My world is pretty condensed at this time. Basically it revolves around home, work (SAIT) and the boy's activities (school, choir, dance). It is pleasant but it does make a challenge to find something to photograph every day. So it is not uncommon to see me with the iPhone in hand looking for something while I am out shopping. As such I always find the floral department at Safeway an area of opportunity to collect new images. As we move into spring we are seeing a greater variety of flower types thus offering more opportunities. I am still amazed by the close up capabilities of the iPhone and because it is discreet I can quickly capture the shots I desired. My Instagram 366 shot was cropped in Snapseed but otherwise was not enhanced other then a little bit of contrast.

The following three images are for my "tadaa Today" project. I decided to work with some of the filters and frames to see what they look like. The first is pretty straight with only a slight brightness and contrast change and then a frame that I felt matched the colors.

The second I rotated the image and then cropped it tight using the 16:9 ratio, Laika filter and the Fotoautomat frame. Now one of the features that is unique to tadaa is that you can preview all these features as you compose the shot and use them at the time of capture. I still choose to shot with the iPhone's native camera and then do my post processing later, but this is an interesting feature.

My final shot was done of the red and yellow peppers in the produce department. To achieve the result below I used the U-Bahn filter to get the tones I wanted in a Black & White image. The frame was Mockba which also adds a texture to give an old time feel to it.

Instagram or tadaa?

It seems that the big news of the day is Facebook's purchase of Instagram. There are many out there bemoaning this decision and who look to it as the death of their beloved photo sharing community. Many are looking around to find alternatives and I was lead to one today called "tadaa". It is similar to Instagram in that it is also a community in which you can upload your photo's and also use it for post production on your images before doing so. It is designed by a German based company and has produced and English version that is available on iTunes. As such it abides by German copyright and privacy laws. At first glance all seems to be in order and it looks like another fine app and community.

So what are my impressions after a first day of use? It has a very slick and clean design and look. As well the amount of filters and ways to massage ones photographs are nicer then Instagram. It is not as intuitive and since there are no instructions, it does take some time to get the feel of the app and how it is layed out. There does appear to be a lag time in when you post your photo's and to when it actually shows to your status as well as when you decide to follow someone. At this time you can only share your posts to Facebook and Twitter and not to Flickr, Tumblr, Posterous and Foursquare. The one real advantage that I do see in "tadaa" is that you are not limited to the square format that Instagram has. Not that this ever really bothered me as I am comfortable shooting square having worked with Hassleblad and twin lens reflex cameras for many years.

Now as many people look to jump ship fearing Facebooks possible destruction of Instagram do I think this is a viable alternative. Yes indeed, as it grows I can see tadaa becoming just as vibrant as Instagram. Will I stop shooting and posting to Instagram, No. In fact I see me using them as two distinct entities and I will shoot different images for each. Those who read my blog will get to see both. If you are a Facebook friend you will see each as well. If one is only following me on either of the formats, you will only see the images created for that app. I will still be doing my Instagram 366 project and am now adding what I call "tadaa Today" which will be at lest on photo specifically on tadaa.

As to my thoughts on Facebook's purchase of Instagram, good for both parties. The Instagram people are being rewarded for creating a wonderful app and community and Facebook will only make it easier to share and grow it. As to those who are upset about this I ask you, have you ever shared your Instagram images on Facebook? Do you have a Facebook page and following. If you have and do then chill out, do you think they would pay a Billion dollars for it and then run it over if they don't have anything better. Also with more money maybe we can see some more improvements to Instagram such as a greater selection of frames, filters and ways to enhance our images. I rarely post an image to Instagram with out first massaging it in Snapseed. It is my favorite app to get the look I want and then I will use RealCamera+, PhotoToaster, CameraAwsome, Pictureshow or others to get the final result I like before sharing it with the Instagram community. I may do this as well with tadaa as I learn it's strengths and weaknesses. So maybe we will see some real improvements as a result of this partnership.

Now as for today's Images posted here, the first is my Instagram 366 for today. The four that follow are the start of my "Tadaa Today". Hope you enjoy.

A trip to the Pet Store.

So the boy's are off school for spring break and after being in the house in the morning while I worked we decided to head over to Market Mall. While there we dropped by Petland to look at the animals. While Luke was looking at the fish and Cool at the puppies, I was watching this fellow in enclosure. This shot was done through the glass with my iPhone as he watched my intently. When one of the handlers came by and offered to open the glass he immediately scurried to the back and took a more defencive posture. In the end I like this photo best and brought it into Snapseed to crop it and add a little contrast and centre focus on the eye. No colour enhancement was needed for this bright chameleon.

Happy Easter.

As we left mass this morning I saw the sun reflecting off the wall behind the crucifix and felt it was a wonderful metaphor for today. Shot with the iPhone and processed with Snapseed. Have a wonderful Easter everyone.

A visit to Nose Hill Park.

I took a walk up on Nose Hill Park here in Calgary today thinking I might find some Crocus or Wild Rose flowers starting to bloom. However it looks like it is still to early so I walked a couple of paths seeing what I could find. The above shot is my Instagram 366 image for today as I found these dried berries still on the bush and framed them up with the dramatic sky behind. On the photo below I was looking to create a depth with the grass in the foreground, the trees in the mid-ground and the hill and sky in the background. I enhanced both images using the Drama filter in Snapseed and bumping the saturation before finishing both up by adding the frames.