Maccast Members #119 - iPhoto for iOS

iPhoto for iOS

Opening

The new iPhoto for iOS seems like a great tool for image editing on the iPhone, iPod, and iPad, but I wanted to try and get the most out of it.

Many of the controls are intuitive, but as we like to do here I figured it was time to take a deep dive and uncover some of the little extra things it can do.

Getting stuff in

Anything added to your Camera Roll or in your Photos app is available to iPhoto

There is the often and annoying 'Updating Photo Library' message. Happens anytime there have been changes to the Photo Library

Beam

Wirelessly beam photos from another iOS device with iPhoto.

Beaming imports your photos at full resolution.

Sync from iTunes

Save from Text (iMessage) using the 'Action' button

Import directly using the iPad/iPhone Camera Connection Kit

Imports your photos at full resolution.

Use iCloud and Photostream

These come in at a reduced resolution

Organizing Photos

There are 4 sections for viewing images

Albums

Create Albums by upload using Photo Stream

Create using the Photos app

Sync from your computer (using iTunes) to your device.

Different colors represent different types of albums

Brown - Edited and Beamed photos

Blue - Photo Stream, Camera Roll

Grey - Standard Albums from Photos, sync'd via iTunes and PhotoStream

Photos

All photos you take with, import to, or beam to your device.

Events

Photo sync'd from Mac or PC using iTunes

Imported using the iPad Camera Connection Kit

Journals

Created using iPhoto.

If you delete a photo from your device after you’ve edited it, captioned it, tagged it as a favorite, or included it in a journal, iPhoto keeps a copy of the photo in the Edited album, the Favorites album, or the journal where it’s being used.

If you remove all the edits from a photo that was edited and who's original was deleted from your device, then the restored photo is placed in the 'Photo Box' album.

Browse, select, and view photos

Swipe to flip through photos

Tap a photo in the thumbnail grid

View multiple photos

Touch and hold a photo in the Thumbnail grid to add it to a set. Do the same again to remove a photo

Drag a photo out of the grid into the main area. Reverse to remove

Tap the "cog" icon (in Edit mode). Then tap Select multiple…, tap the images you want to select in the grid. tap done

Select a range by using two fingers, or clicking the 'Range' option when using the "cog" button method.

Using the 'cog' method works best for selecting large sets.

You can drag the handle above the Thumbnail grid to change the numbers of columns or rows of Thumbnails

Similar photos. Double tap and image thumbnail and iPhoto will auto select photos similar to that one.

To deselect a photo, flick down on it or touch and hold the photo’s thumbnail in the thumbnail grid.

When viewing multiples you can tap one to bring it up in large view and then swipe left or right to scroll through the selected photos

Select an edited photo

Photos that have been edited with have a toolbox icon in the thumbnail view

You can also click the dropdown above the thumbnail grid and choose to view just the 'Edited Photos'

When viewing an edited photo you can can tap the 'compare' icon (looks like a photo with an overlay being pulled up). to toggle between the edited and original version

On the iPad, you can press and hold with two fingers to bring up a loupe magnifier

Twist inside the magnifier to adjust the zoom level

Tap outside the loupe to dismiss it.

Flagging, tag, or hide photos

Another way to separate out temporarily a set of photos you may want to work with.

Tap a photo, and do any of the following:

Flag the photo: Tap the Flag icon.

If you don’t see the flag or tag tools, tap Edit.

Tag the photo as a favorite: Tap 'ribbon' icon.

Hide the photo: Tap the 'X' icon

To remove tags, tap the photo and press the corresponding icon again

To can press and hold the flag icon to get additional options

Flag All, Unflag All, Last 24 hours, Last 7 days

'Choose…' lets you flag from the thumbnail viewer including the option to select a range.

When browsing with the grid viewer on you can tap the label above the thumbnail grid to switch between viewing the different types of tagged or hidden photos

Deleting Photos

Photos and video clips taken with your device: Open the Photos app on your device, tap Camera Roll, tap to select the photos, and tap the trash icon.

Photos and video clips you synced to your computer using iTunes: Connect your device to your computer and, in iTunes, deselect the photos and video clips you want to remove from your device. Click Apply, and click Sync.

Photos in the Beamed album or the Photo Box album: Tap a photo in the Beamed album or the Photo Box album, tap the "cog" icon (tap Edit if you don’t see the tool), tap Delete Photo, and tap Delete.

Photo info

Select a photo and tap the "i" con to get it's info

You can get the Camera data

Click the Add a Caption to add a caption

The caption appears on the photo wherever it’s used (albums, events, journals, and so on). But this data seems to be limited to iPhoto on the device

Can also sometimes add by clicking 'Add a caption' the menubar in the main window on the iPad

If a Map tab is displayed then the photo had GPS data

If the photo was published from the device to Flickr or Facebook you can see the comments and add your own.

"Tap to add a comment…"

Seems like you can only view comments on the device the photos were shared from. Same goes for iPhoto. Lame.

Editing Overview

Originals are always saved, so it's 100% non-destructive. Will use up more space though, so be aware.

Can work with imported RAW photos, but edits are done with the embedded JPEGs, not the RAW files.

Click the "Edit" button and then click the "Toolbox" icon to get into the editing controls.

Before going to the full edit tools there is a one button "Auto-Enhance" feature.

Five areas for editing functions

Crop and Straighten

Adjust Exposure

Adjust Color

Enhance with Brushes

Add Effects

Edited photos will have a 'Toolbox' icon in the Thumbnail view

You can always revert all your edits by selecting the edited photo, clicking 'Edit' and then the 'cog' and choosing 'Revert' or 'revert this photo'

While editing there is also an 'Undo' button in the top menu bar, or shake to undo.

Another nice feature is the ability to apply adjustments and then copy and paste them

Make your adjustments and then click the 'cog' icon from the main Edit screen

Choose 'Copy Adjustments'

Now you can go back to the Thumbnail grid and select one or many photos, click edit, click the 'cog' and choose to paste the adjustments.

Combine that with the simple 'double tap' to select similar photos and you have a nice way to batch apply adjustments to a set of photos taken under similar conditions

Basic Editing techniques

Rotate

Enter edit mode and use a two finger turning gesture to rotate the image

Click the rotate button (landscape on iPhone) to rotate clockwise

Click and hold the rotate button to get a dialog to rotate either direction

Crop

In Edit mode, click the crop button

Drag the corners of the frame to resize the frame

Click the 'Constrain' button to maintain the aspect ratio

Click the settings 'cog' to get a list of standard sizes.

Drag and pinch inside the crop window to adjust the position and scaling

Straighten

Drag your finger on the dial at the bottom of the window

Two finger twist to rotate on screen

Tap the dial and use the gyroscope

Exposure and Contrast

Enter edit mode, tap the toolbox, and hit the 'Exposure' icon

Adjust light and dark areas

Use sliders, lines mark stating points on either end

Brightness and Contrast sliders

Tap on photo and slide up and down to adjust brightness and left to right to effect contrast

You can adjust the shadows or highlights in a photo depending on where you tap.

Color and White Balance

Use the sliders along the bottom

Color saturation (rainbow)

Blue sky

Green tones

Skin tones

Tap on screen and up and down will adjust saturation

Left and right will adjust color tones depending on where you tapped.

Tap the setting button to get an option to preserve skin tones

Tap settings button or WB button to access white balance options

WB, is the setting defined by the camera

Sun, Cloud, Flash, Shade, Incandescent, Fluorescent

The last two let you set the point by sampling a persons skin tone or an object by bringing up a loupe.

Advanced Editing

Using the editing brushes.

Click the Edit > Toolbox > Brushes

Repair: Patch areas of a photo using pixels from the surrounding area.

Red Eye: Remove red-eye from a photo.

Saturate: Increase the strength of colors in a photo.

Desaturate: Decrease the strength of colors in a photo.

Lighten: Lighten areas of a photo.

Darken: Darken areas of a photo.

Sharpen: Increase clarity in a photo by strengthening hard edges.

Soften: Blur and soften edges in a photo.

These effects are meant to be brushed on, but you can apply the effect to the entire image

Select the brush and tap the settings

Adjust the amount to the desired level

Tap the apply to 'Entire Image' button

The big issue here is there is no way to preview the effect before you apply it, so it make this feature almost worthless

You can adjust the intensity (opacity), but not the stroke size

Brushing on is additive, meaning the more you apply to a specific area the more intense the effect in that area

I find myself setting the brush intensity lower and then painting on more in a particular area to control the effect, since you can't control the brush size.

Can turn on edge detection, icon with triangle slope and brush. Does help.

Also can erase the effect

Go into settings and turn on show strokes. Shows red "mask" where effect is applied. The darker the red the more of the effect is in that area.

Can also erase all brush strokes for an effect in the settings or 'Erase All'

If you go back to adjust exposure, brightness, color, etc. after applying effects or brushes, iPhoto "peels" back the adjustment layer to let you color adjust the image with the effects in the way. When you finish it re-applies the effects

Effects

Edit > Toolbox > Effects

A bunch of different strips with various effects

Warm & Cool

Duotone

Black & White

Aura - Isolate strong colors (and turn the rest of the photo black and white)

Vintage

Artistic - Watercolor effects, tilt-shift, etc.

Can be hard to see what an individual effect is, just have to play with it.

Tap or drag across the strip to apply the effect.

Some effects allow for gestures to modify how they are applied

Gradient effects can have intensity and location modified by dragging across the photo

Vignettes can be moved and adjusted with drag and pinch gestures

Tilt shift and be adjusted with pinch and drag as well

Some effects have modifier options in little circles that can be toggled

Journals

Feels like a replacement for lost iWeb galleries and Homepages

Can create journals with multiple pages and combine photo, text, and various "widgets" and then publish and share them via iCloud or your own web server

Select the photos you want to create a Journal for and them use the 'Share' button and select Journal

A journal can only be edited and updated on the device it was created on, although you can view your journals created on other devices and published to iCloud. (read only are miked with a red ribbon)

Publish to iCloud will send your Journal to iCloud and give you a link to share with friends.

There doesn't seem to be a site that displays a list of your journals, just accessed via the direct links.

Security via obscurity

Can also export to iTunes which generates a folder with all the files that can be uploaded to your own web server.

Sharing

Beaming

Send from one iOS device with iPhoto to another.

Sent wirelessly and in full resolution.

How to beam

Open iPhoto on your device and the device you want to beam to.

Make sure your devices are set up to beam photos.

On both devices: In the main iPhoto screen, tap and tap to turn on Wireless Beaming. On each device’s Home screen, tap Settings and tap to turn on Location Services.

On your device: In the main iPhoto screen, tap and tap to turn on Include Photo Location. On your device’s Home screen, tap Settings and tap to turn on Location Services.

On your device, tap a photo, album, or event, and tap > Beam.

Confirm or change the photos you want to share by tapping an option.

Select all the photos in an album or event: Tap All.

Select a range of photos: Tap Choose, tap Range, tap the first and last photos in the range, and tap Next.

Important: Beaming a large number of photos can take awhile. If the device you’re beaming to goes into sleep mode, your photos won’t finish beaming.

Tap an iOS device to select it, and tap Beam Photos.

Note: If you don’t see the device you want to beam photos to, make sure iPhoto is open on the receiving device and wireless beaming is on for both devices.

On the device receiving photos, tap Yes to accept beamed photos.

On your device, tap Done.

Social

Twitter, Flicker, Facebook

For Facebook and Flickr you can see comments on images published from the device.

Facebook comment do seem to show up in iPhoto, but not on other devices

Flickr comments only show up on the device or Mac they were published from

Can Mirror to a TV using the HDMI adapter cable or Airplay and an Apple TV 2

To enable mirroring, you need to click the "Settings" (cog) button.

Set the Mirror on TV setting to 'On'

To use Airplay you also need to go to the Multitasking bar, swipe left to get to the Airplay button, turn on Airplay by selecting your Apple TV from the list and setting the 'Mirroring' button to 'On'

Slideshows

Select one or more photos, an album, event, or journal

Click the 'Share' button and choose Slideshow

Confirm or change the selection

Continue with the photos you selected: Tap Selected.

Create a slideshow of your flagged photos: Tap Flagged.

Create a slideshow of all the photos in the thumbnail grid: Tap All.

Select a different photo or multiple photos: Tap Choose, tap each photo, and tap Next.

Select a different range of photos: Tap Choose, tap Range, tap the first and last photos in the range, and tap Next.

Select a style

Ken Burns, Classic, Portfolio, Magazine, Dateline, Reflections, Origami, Sliding Panels

Choose Music

Turn on play music

Each style has matching music or you can select your own from your music library

Click Start Slideshow

Tap to get the slideshow controls. Tap the "X" to exit the slideshow. It loops until you do.