Here’s a small collection of photographs from April and May:
I’ve captioned all the photographs on Facebook: click here.
All posts in Photographs
Statigram: Instagram For The Web
Last week I shared a couple tips on how to take better photos with Instagram. While the application was initially limited to iPhone users, it recently became available to a grateful group of Android photographers.
Statigram is a slick web application that integrates with Instagram and allows you to manage your account directly from the web. Once you’ve signed in, you’re presented with your feed in a grid view. Not a fan of grid view? No problem. You can swap between list and slideshow views as well.
Under the Viewer tab, you also have quick access to your photos, printing options for your photos, your likes, your followers, people you follow, and photos that are popular on Instagram.
The printing options for your photos are pretty cool. You can print your Instagram photos nearly anywhere. The options are iPhone cases, fridge magnets, calendars, wall art, stickers, pillows, albums and posters. These are some innovative uses of your Instagram photos and they make great gifts too. For the hardcore Instagrammers, there are also keychains, phone charms, mini stickers, bamboo picture frames and bamboo iPhone cases.
Under the Statistics tab it really gets fun. You initially get presented with an overview of your Instagram stats, from the number of photos that you’ve shared to the number of likes and comments you’ve received. You also have a breakdown of your follower rate along with your scores, which are broken down into your Love, Talk and Spread Rates.
It doesn’t end there. You can drill down even further with options for Rolling month analysis, Content, Engagement, Optimization, and Community. Statigram does a wonderful job of drilling down on your account’s statistics.
You can see the number of photos you’ve posted, your most engaged followers and your most popular photos in the Rolling month analysis, while under content you can see when you posted your first photo, what number user you are (I am number 335,820), when you post your photos, the filters you use most and which tags you use and how often. Engagement pretty much covers all your likes and comments since joining Instagram and which pictures were the most liked and commented on. Optimization takes care of the best times to submit photos, which filters have the most impact and which tags you currently use as opposed to the ones that are the most popular on Instagram to get those likes and comments numbers up. Community encompasses your followers, those you follow, your account growth and the people you enjoy most.
The next tab in the navigation bar is Snapshots. These are quirky pictures based on your stats that you can email to your device and upload to Instagram to share with your followers. It’s a pretty cool feature which I think is a nice touch.
Next is the Management tab which houses a comments tracker on your photos and a function that allows you to send and receive private messages to and from your followers and people you follow.
The Promote tab is up next with some nice features for promotion. You can promote your photos with a public URL, which allows non-Instagrammers to view your photos and an RSS feed, which you can use on your website or blog.
You can also share to Facebook. You may think that this is a no-brainer considering Facebook bought Instagram, but keep in mind that this is an independently developed web app. There is a feed tab for Facebook pages, a Timeline box and a tool to create a Facebook cover photo from your Instagram photos. Your cover photo gets put together relatively quickly, and once the pop up box appears with it, just right click to save.
The final tab is the Contest tab, with current contests being run and also past ones with their winning photos.
Ultimately I can say that this web app appeals both to the iPhoneographer and the geek in me. A mashup of statistics and Instagram is a winner in my books.
How To Take Better Pictures With Instagram
Instagram, the world’s most popular photo sharing network that recently got bought by Facebook for $1 billion, is a fantastic way to share your photos with your followers. While some may argue that the app has encouraged many novice photographers to take mediocre photos, add filters to them, and share them with the world, the app’s biggest fans will argue that it is a fun way of expressing themselves.
I’ve put together a couple of tips to help you take better photos with your smartphone.
- Forget the zoom button/slider exists. Even though smartphone cameras have been upgraded to higher resolutions, photos tend to get very grainy when the zoom is used, which typically results in poor photos. Take a few steps closer to your subject and take the photo.
- Get as close to your subject as possible. Let’s face it, taking photos from a distance creates distance from the subject. Getting in nice and close creates an intimacy with your subject and often reveals more than we would expect.
- Keep the camera steady. Hold your smartphone with both hands, bend your knees slightly, breathe out and snap that photo. Clear, crisp photos always make a better impression.
- Use filters sparingly. Don’t overdo the built-in filters too much. Subtlety is key.
- Use different filters for a change. If you’re anything like me, you tend to use the same filters over and over again. Try using different filters, or even no filter at all. It could make all the difference.
- Use third-party camera apps. I shoot all my photos almost exclusively in Camera+. The popular camera application for iOS affords greater control over the appearance and overall feel of the photos. Other popular camera apps include Luminance, Snapseed and Hipstamatic.
- Shoot from a different angle. Subjects tend to be photographed from all the same angles. From the front, the side, the back, or a three-quarter angle. How about taking a photo from above, underneath, or from the back? Or focusing on the little details that normally get overlooked?
- Get your back to the sun. Shooting into the sun is generally a bad idea, as your photos will be overexposed. Unless, of course, that’s a specific style you’re using. Instead, get the sun behind you, and your subject will be lit up quite nicely.
- Use different lenses. There are many complimentary lenses available for smartphones, from DSLR type lenses, to wide angle, fish-eye and macro lenses.
- Ignore what I say. My tips may or may not work for you. Try them out for yourself. Rules are meant to be broken. Take photos to express yourself, rather than to impress others.
Do you have any other tips for taking better Instagram photos? Please share in the comments below.
The Steri Stumpie 1 Litre Launch Party
Oh wow, so much of awesomeness this morning when Steri Stumpie arrived at the office and handed me a VIP entry card to their discotheque where they unveiled the new 1 Litre boxes of Steri Stumpie goodness!
Let’s look at the photographs:
Photographs by Andre in Africa
What a blast! Steri Stumpie kicked off April with their Ketchup flavour campaign and now this, they’re on fire!!!
You can follow Steri Stumpie on Twitter here or catch them on Facebook here.
Big up to Cat from Society for pulling off an awesome campaign!
Some photographs from the company retreat
I’ve been in Stellenbosch for a company retreat, and whilst being here I managed to snap a few photographs that I wanted to post. Andre snapped some really great ones, which I’ll bug him for when we’re back in the office on Monday.
I unfortunately didn’t get any pics of lunch, dinner or the poker game, but I’ll see what I can capture tomorrow!
The place we’re staying at: Auberge Rozendal
Awkward cat sleeping positions!
Boy did I have a good laugh at some of these:
[Thanks Shelley]
Introducing CINEMAGRAM
The name gives it away doesn’t it? Cinemagr.am is a new application that has been launched and is receiving a fair bit of coverage.
Cinemagram allows you to create a wonderful hybrid between photograph and video. You’re able to animate small portions of your photograph to create a magical photograph that is part video, part image. With filters such as vintage and cross processing, the application puts the control in your hands.
Really easy to get going:
- Download the iPhone application
- Record a short film, couple seconds long
- Animate a small region
- Apply some filters
- Share!
Lovestagram – Valentines Day for Instagram users
Another great little website with a really useful little tool, Lovestagram allows you to send a photograph to someone with a heart cutout, check it out:
Really simple to get started, click here, connect your Instagram account and off you go!
17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs. One incredible journey.
This amazing timelapse has a bit of a story behind it – Kien Lam quit his job, packed a bag, grabbed his camera and bought a one way ticket to London. He travelled 17 countries taking photographs to put this lapse together, which covers some of the most amazing places he visited.
Take a watch:
Absolutely incredible, good one Kien!
Incredible photographs from 2011
This information has gone viral and I saw these photographs the other day and have only had a chance now to publish them. Because they’re so deep and moving I felt I would publish them for anyone who hasn’t seen them – they’re timeless after all.
Take a look:
Quite an incredible year we’ve had!
There are another 32 on this website.
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