POV: Protect Your Instagram Images

I seldom use Instagram but I really can't believe the amount of media attention that has been given to Instagram's recent amendment of its Terms of Service...CNN, MSNBC, CBS, NBC and ABC* all had the negative furore it created amongst its users. I initially thought the furious backlash was restricted to the social media, blogs and the rest of the Internet, but it spread all over.

The change in the terms of service was swiftly followed by an apologetic statement by one of the co-founders of Instagram which, in essence, is a waffle couched in legalese.

That said, let's wait and see what happens.

In the meantime, there's a solution for Instagram die-hards and those who don't want to cancel their accounts...as some professional photographers already did.

It's iWatermark**. It's an app available in iTunes, and costs $1.99. I've used on occasions, and it's pretty simple, versatile and would go a long way in preventing Instagram using one's images.

* I don't watch Fox.
** I have no relationship with iWatermark whatsoever, other than having used its said product.

POV: New Stuff

Oaxaca-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
(Click To Enlarge)

Hanoi-Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
(Click To Enlarge)

I've mentioned the evolution of style over time in yesterday's post, and I thought I'd add my experience in that one's style evolves with one's exposure to, and the availability of, new imaging software...as well as to improved photographic gear.

I was always a sort of purist (if that's the right word) when post processing my digital images; resisting almost any modification in them except for some sharpening and exposure changes...and seldom, if ever, cropping my photographs (except when street photographing and shooting from the hip).

Having a phobia of spending more than a few minutes on Photoshop, I welcomed Lightroom's preset filters (that I still use) which allowed me with a click of a button to obtain the "look" I wanted for my images. I relied on simple and plain vanilla presets, eschewing the funkier ones that were, in my opinion, too extreme.

With the advent of Instagram and Hipstamtic filters on my iPhone, my limited tolerance for these funky filters turned into an embrace of sorts, which eventually widened my willingness to experiment with other software.

So it was with undisguised eagerness that I started using Alien Skin's Exposure 4 on my return from Vietnam. I had heard of it, but given my allergy of "manipulation", I never thought of trying it out before.

I used it to give a pseudo-Daguerreotype look to some of my photographs from Sapa and Bac Ha, and I was hooked ever since.  I now happily toy with its various options, especially the classic films, like Kodachrome, Polaroid, and Panatomic-X.  A click...a few nudges here and there, and I have the look I want.

The two photographs above; the top made in Oaxaca of a street festival in 2010, and the lower one made in Hanoi last month, were processed in Exposure 4, using the Polaroid 669 film simulation preset...one of my current favorites...enhanced with vignetting. Another milestone in my evolution.

Something else to report is that I recently got two Bip soft shutter buttons manufactured by matchTechnical Services. They're the outfit that manufactures the Thumbs Up for the Leica, which I have on my M9, and -as I previously posted a few times- like very much.

You can see them on my two cameras; one on my M9 (right) and the other on my X Pro-1. It's very smooth on the M9, but as I mostly shoot from the hip with the X Pro-1, I am finding that I have to get used to the different "travel" time of the shutter with the Bip on it.

In retrospect, I ought to have chosen red Bip for the M9.

Disclaimer: I have no relationship with matchTechnical Services or with Alien Skin other than being a consumer.

New!!! The Travel Photographer's New Website

Well, as it was raining almost all day in New York City, I managed to finish the first phase of my new personal website (www.telsawy.com).

It's flash-based, iPad and iPhone-friendly and I think it looks really cool with a very large image of a Kathakali dancer, whose put-on scowling face is a perfect fit for welcoming viewers! 

More seriously; I've started the website with 5 galleries...The Oracles of Kali (my latest photo essay), Canang (Bali), Kolkata, Tsechu (Bhutan), and The Kutch. The images chosen for these galleries are a mix of documentary photography and pure travel photography. 

The website's opening spread also has direct links to The Travel Photographer's blog, my Twitter feed, my Facebook page and my Vimeo multimedia page.

I will start the second phase of the website in a couple of weeks.

This new website is separate from The Travel Photographer which features my photo expeditions and workshops, photo essays, multimedia, and books. 

So bookmark both if you're interested, and keep an eye open for more galleries in the weeks to come!

CameraBag2: Photo Editing

Photos © Tewfic El-Sawy - All Rights Reserved

I chanced on the Camerabag2's website just yesterday, and thought I'd share it with my readers, especially as it offers a free trial for 30 days.

Camerabag2 describes itself as a photo app for Mac and PC with a new approach to editing. It claims that its Analog Engine pairs a full suite of photographic tools with filters and vintage simulations. It uses a straightforward approach to layering, rearranging, and tweaking all of these effects in realtime. It has 100+ fully-adjustable filters and 25+ professional controls.

Purists will probably not be interested in such as app, but for those who like presets, and appreciate tweaking these to suit their own preferences, Camerabag2 does deliver. It has all sorts of tools, from simple exposure and cropping to advanced vignetting, color correction, and curves. However, I didn't see any sharpening tools...but I may have missed it.

The image I made on Bleecker Street the other day was processed in Camerabag2 as seen above.

Does it compete with Lightroom, Photoshop et al? Of course not. But it offers a quick fix to those who have no time or interest in getting involved with these two heavyweights...and it does so at the price of only $29. Not too bad.

Note: I have no direct or indirect relationship with the makers of Camerabag2 and/or its distributors.

645 For iPhone And A Boom Mic

I've had the iPhone 4S since late October, and despite my previous reluctance in having such a device, I'm head over heels with it. Well, this might be an exaggeration because some of my friends and peers have really gone "extreme" with its photographic apps, and I'm not.

 That said, I do like to use the various apps such as Instagram, Hipstamatic, Snapseed and the like that I have on mine. The lastest to appear is 646 Pro for iPhone whose claim sounds interesting. It claims that the app has been designed for professional and serious amateur photographers, and is the first and only iPhone camera app to give TIFF image files that have no in-app post-processing applied and no JPEG compression.

Its JPEGs are enhanced by 645 PRO's seven Film Modes, inspired by classic film stock as used by top photographers. It's still being considered for approval by Apple, but from the claims it makes, I'm sure many serious iPhone photographers will lap it up (subject to its meeting these claims and depending on a sensible price, of course).



 

As for multimedia photographers enamored with the iPhone, here's the iPhone Boom Mic, a small microphone that provides iPhone videos "professional" style sound. The microphone attaches to the iPhone's headphone jack. It's very lightweight, has a broad directional and a super-directional setting for more precisely focused recording.

Note: I have no direct or indirect relationship with either of these manufacturers and/or products.

The "Gamsha"...Yet Another Scarf Fetish

Well, I'll be at the Delhi Photo Festival for most of the day, reviewing photographers' portfolios, and then presenting a seminar Introduction To Multimedia in the afternoon. I shall post something on the event as the day progresses.

However, I discovered yet another type of scarf that fits extraordinarily well in the panoply of photojournalists' scarf collections. It's the gamsha...a cotton scarf worn by many Bengalis, and especially useful for the rickshaw pullers of Kolkata who use it for virtually everything. They range from 35 to 60 rupees depending on quality, and haggling skills of the vendor.

The rickshaw pullers use it as a sarong when they shower, as umbrella when it rains, as face wipes when it's humid and they sweat, a fly swatter....almost exactly like photojournalists use their own scarves.

The one above at 35 rupees is the cheapest version, and is super absorbent.

Seriously, this is a must have for photographers who suffer of scarf-fetish.

Correction: Kaushik Saha, a Bengali photographer living in Delhi pointed out that the correct spelling for the scarf/towel is 'gamchcha. I don't know if the pronunciation differs from what I used, but the rickshaw puller I asked for directions as to where to buy them understood me perfectly.

Flare: Photographic Effects App

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

I am not a huge fan of the Instagram or Hipstamatic apps, although I see that a number of other photographers use them frequently when using their iPhones et al. If Asim Rafiqui, the quintessential Leica user, uses Instagram photos to illustrate his phenomenal The Idea of India project, there might be something to it.

Through a tweet on my Twitter page, I came to know Flare which describes itself as "a fast, easy, and beautiful darkroom for your desktop". So I decided to try it out and see what all the fuss was in these apps. I don't own an iPhone (I'm a BlackBerry kind of guy), so this seemed to be an alternative.

Downloading Flare (there's a 15 days trial period) I applied photographic effects to a couple of my photographs, as can be seen above in my Lou Reed Graffiti shot. It comes with more than 20 presets, which can also be edited by users. Flare also allows users to come up with their own presets. For those like me who are not joined at the hip to their Photoshop or Lightroom, Flare is a matter of drag and drop...mere seconds to get the preset look you like.

Ingenious, huh? And fun. The photograph above was originally shot using a M9.

And for more fun...how about this one of the porters at the Old Delhi spice alley? The Flare preset is called "Molga". Click on it for a larger size.

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved

Zite: An iPad App

Having noticed that a fair chunk of visits to The Travel Photographer blog come from a Zite.com source, I looked it up and discovered that it's a free new iPad app called Zite, a personalized magazine that accurately targets your reading preferences.

I tried it yesterday, and I'm quite impressed with it. I chose Photography and Photojournalism as two of my sections on it, and it pulled out some interesting articles from a variety of source...including from The Travel Photographer blog. In fact, a bunch of my recent posts appear under both the Photography and Photojournalism sections...and this one will probably make it as well.

Here's a review on the Wall Street Journal.

ps. I have no connection with Zite. It's just an app that I happen to like.

New Sponsor: PhotoShelter

Regular readers of The Travel Photographer blog may have noticed the small PhotoShelter ad on the right sidebar. Yes, PhotoShelter has become a sponsor of this blog because I believe its products are tremendously useful to photographers and photojournalists and this is reflected by its impressive list of clients....some of who are friends and acquaintances.

I, too, have now joined PhotoShelter not because I needed another website, but because I wanted an online archive and lightboxing system, and a sales mechanism for my images. I know that the many photographers and photojournalists who constitute the bulk of my readership will benefit by joining and using PhotoShelter if they haven't already.

The PhotoShelter ad will appear in the sidebar of this site, any paid signups that occur through links on The Travel Photographer will generate a commission**, and I will occasionally write a post about how and when PhotoShelter has worked for me.  The site will remain editorially and fiercely independent as always.

If you’ve ever considered signing up for online archive and purchasing system, click on the link on the sidebar. It only costs $1 to get started on PhotoShelter on a 2-week trial.  You will be doing your photography business a favor.

** All commissions will be donated to the Foundry Photojournalism Workshop, and aimed right back at helping emerging and aspiring photojournalists.