Brooke Edwards - Research Collaborative: Slow Shutter/ Pano

Okay guys, I have finally found some apps that I like and I am going to share them with you here. First, let me say I was having such a struggle when I first started to shoot for this Extended Seeing Topic. I feel I am still being faced with somewhat of a struggle but I’m taking it as a challenge. So if you feel this way too, you are not alone! Professor Berkowitz suggested that we help each other out by sharing advises on apps and various techniques that we discover. Research collaborative starts here!

I began by looking for slow shutter/ long exposure applications for my iPhone 5c iOS 7. 1.2. I am a cheapskate so I was downloading the free ones. Big mistake! Now, don’t get me wrong, if you don’t want to invest the money into an app by all means don’t do it! But I found that I don’t have the skill (or patience) to get a good photo from a cheap (free) app. The free applications I tried were Slow Shutter Camera Version 1.3 and Top camera Version 4.82. They lack the options in these free apps really limits what you can do with the camera. If you are interested in a decent free app with interesting effects, I would suggest Fisheye Camera.

Eventually I caved in and spent a few dollars. I currently have four apps that I want to suggest checking out. Some free and some paid. Slow Shutter the paid version! It is only 99 cents and it gives you much better quality than the free version and more options too. It has various capture modes (Motion, Light trail and Low light), blur strength, capture duration, self-timer and other controls that the free version doesn’t have. Another paid app is Tiny Planet Version 5.0.1. Really cool. It takes your photo and spins it around to create a planet or rabbit hole effect. For panoramas, I suggest trying more than what is already programmed in your phone, yes it is free but so is this app called Photosynth Version 1.6.2. It is really easy to work with a little practice. It allows you more lee-way with how you handle the camera. You can move side to side, up and down or do a 360. Finally, I recently downloaded Ghost Lens Version 1.5 and I really like it. I am going to experiment with it more this weekend but it was free and seems to offer some creativity with overlaying or creating ghostly versions of people.

I have taken photos and posted them using these apps except Ghost Lens and Fisheye Camera. I highly suggest taking a look at all of them. I guarantee they will help if you are struggling like I was. I am having fun learning about these new apps and I look forward to hearing about the ones you have found. Just a reminder, these are all iPhone apps bought from the app store. I will list them below for easy access.

Fisheye Version 3.8.2 Requires iOS 6.0 or later. Optimized for iPhone 5 (FREE)

Top Camera Lite Version 4.82 Requires iOS 4.3 or later. Optimized for iPhone 5 (FREE)

Slow Shutter Version 2.1 Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Optimized for iPhone 5 ($0.99)

Tiny Planets Version 5.0.1 Requires iOS 7.0 or later. Optimized for iPhone 5 ($0.99)

Ghost Lens Version 1.5 Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Optimized for iPhone 5 (FREE)

Photosynth Version 1.6.2 Requires iOS 5.0 or later. Optimized for iPhone 5 (FREE)

Hope this Helps!
Brooke