India by iPhone

Robin Robertis, our favorite globetrotting iPhone Diva, captured the multilayered melange that is India - in photo art on her phone! Apps included You Gotta See This, Diptic, Toonpaint, and FotoMuse. Namaste!

Finding the Muse in a Flower, Foto Muse That Is

Judy Norton, one of our iPhone Divas, has done it again. Here is her straight shot of a rose on the iPhone 4. It's a nice shot. But iPhone Divas can't leave it alone. So using apps FotoMuse and PicMix, she worked it.

Sunset with the iPhone

Brian Kavanaugh Jones does sunset with his iPhone. Check out these two great images.

Sunset with the iPhone

Agave Dreams

Agave Dreams

I love agave plants. And not just because some of them are responsible for tequila. I love their beauty, their form, and their succulence. And I love having them in the garden as subjects for photography and celebration. The other day I worked an iPhone photo of one plant with some of my favorite apps.

iPhoneography to the Max

iPhoneography to the Max

Okay, photo friends, iPhone Diva is back. I went on retreat for a couple of months, but my little phone/camera has been smokin'! I got invited to join a group of extremely talented iPhone (and all camera) photographers and my creativity has gotten a real infusion. Kind of like getting a drink of water from a fire hose.

Off To The Picture Show: Picture Show App and More

Off To The Picture Show: Picture Show App and More

Diane Rupnow shares a wonderful and inspiring double exposure. Here's how she did it:
"I took the pic of my kamaka uke on my phone. The layered image is palm tree bark. Apps used were dxp, Fotomuse, Iris (to slightly bump up saturation), and crop n frame."

Bird of Paradise Appstravaganza

Bird of Paradise Appstravaganza

I love to photograph our tropical flowers, especially the Bird of Paradise. And the iPhone apps make it possible to show them off in myriad ways. Here are four appstravagant views.

This shot was antiqued and framed in one of my favorite apps called Infinicam.


I turned this shot into a sketch with Artista Sketch app and combined it with the original in Iris app.

Flying High With the iPhone

Flying High With the iPhone

My pal, surfing instructor, and renowned Photoshop guru Jack Davis was flying high with his iPhone the other day and sent these terrific captures. He used apps
Instagram and ProHDR.

He calls this little portfolio: "What to do when you can't get a window view - steal someone else's!"

Content Aware Fill - There's An App For That

Content Aware Fill

Yep. iPhone Diva has a new look. Every once in awhile, we all need a makeover, and this site was due. I hope you like it.

I have been on the fast track of learning in iPhoneography this past few months, thanks to an incredible group of iPhone fanatics who share their best with grace and humor. (Lots of humor). Expect to see lots of new apps and arty permutations in the upcoming months.

Ten Reasons To Make The iPhone Your Main Camera

Ten Reasons To Make The iPhone Your Main Camera

1. The best camera is the one you have with you. The shots that I used to miss when I left my big girl camera at home or in the trunk of my car remain embedded in my brain. And while neurochromes (as photo wizard John Barclay refers to mind-only pictures) make for wonderful memories, I sure wouldn’t mind having a few of the ones that got away. My iPhone is always with me.

Dare To Break The Rules With Your iPhone

Dare To Break The Rules With Your iPhone

I love attending the Merrie Monarch hula festival and competition. It's sort of an annual Hula Olympics if you will. As the official photographer for our Halau (hula school or group), I used my "big girl" cameras to document the event each time we participated. And along with the documentation, I got to take loads of artsy pictures - slow shutter speed motion blurs being my favorites.

iPhone Photojournalism

Recently I accompanied my girlfriend Karen down to Kalaupapa peninsula here on Molokai. We hiked down the highest sea cliffs in the world to take the tour of the infamous leper colony, where so many Hawaiians were exiled during a most shameful period of history.

iPhone Photojournalism

Karen was slated to write an article for the LA Times and I brought along my trusty iPhone. As always, the tour was moving and emotional, while the natural beauty of the place was jaw dropping. And the iPhone apps helped me enhance the feeling of this most spiritual place. The best camera is the one you have with you - and for me that's most often the iPhone.

Autopainter Turns iPhone Photos Into Paintings

Autopainter Turns iPhone Photos Into Paintings

“What are you doing?” Dewitt asked as I sat staring intently at my iPhone. “Painting,” I answer.

Autopainter and Autopainter II are two “crazy good” apps for creating photo art paintings. You choose an image and a style of painting such as chalk or felt tip, click start, sit back and watch it work.

Sunset Strolls With the iPhone

Summer is here finallly, though you wouldn’t guess it by the amount of snow on the peaks here in Tahoe. Still, it is warm enough for an evening stroll along the lake shore. ProHDR and Tiffen’s Photo FX optimized this photo (with a little added sharpening from Perfect Photo app.)

Sunset Strolls With the iPhone

Fab New App - Pixel Blend

Fab New App

There is a fantastic new app out for the iPad (and coming soon for the iPhone) that I am so excited about. Back in the day, hubby Dewitt and I loved the Polaroid emulsion manipulation process with Time Zero/SX70 film and cameras. Basically, we'd use crochet hooks and other tools to "smoosh" the emulsion around before it hardened to create a painterly effect. There is a new Time Zero film out now and you could conceivably still do this process in its pure form.

iPhone Art Gallery

iPhone Art Gallery

An exultation of photos are featured in this gallery by some of iPhone Diva's favorite contributors. These iphoneographs blew my socks off! OK, I wasn't wearing socks, but if I had been, they'd be history.

iPhone Gallery: A Family Affair

iPhone Gallery

The Ruderman family practices iPhoneography together. Each is artistic in his/her own right and each has a unique vision. We are lucky enough to get a sample of their wonderful submissions to Viewpoint Gallery's cell phone only photo art competition.

Fabulous App Pixel Blend Pro for the iPhone

Fabulous App Pixel Blend Pro for the iPhone

Hallelujah! Pixel Blend app is now available for the iPhone! (Drumroll, please!) (Here's the review of the iPad version for those who missed it.) I know that many of you have been waiting patiently - I'm delighted to report that your wait is over. For fans of the SX70 - Polaroid Time Zero emulsion manipulation process, this is a must-have app! If you love impressionist painted-look photos, you'll also want to download it ASAP.

No iPhone Yet But You Have an iPad? No Problem!

No iPhone Yet But You Have an iPad

Photographer Carol Robinson has begun the foray into "apping" by bringing her big girl camera pix into her new iPad and the rest, as they say, is history. I predict an iPhone in her future as well - after all, the best camera is..wait for it... the one you have with you!

Transferring Photos From iPhone to iPad to Computer

Transferring Photos From iPhone to iPad to Computer

One of the questions I am most often asked is "What's the best app for transferring photos back and forth?" Working on the iPhone itself can be a fast track to eyestrain especially if you are using a painting app, such as my fave Pixel Blend. Ideally, we'd rather "app" our photos on our iPad or optimize them on our computer. So we need a reliable and quick way to transfer our art.

Of all the apps I've tried, (and as an appaholic, I've tried a bunch), the one that gets my overall vote is PhotoSync. For $1.99, you can install it on both your iPhone and iPad. The computer version is free (of course, you have to have it installed on one of your other devices for it to work.)

It is unbelievably fast - I've never had it crash or had any problems with it. I use it everyday. There is only one caveat: you must have wifi access.

And, traveling around to photograph, there may be times - gulp - when there is no access (eg. in the Galapagos, or Yosemite or camping.)

For those situations, I depend on my previous favorite transfer app:  Photo Transfer. ($2.99 in the app store.) Because (drumroll please), it also works with bluetooth. Just turn on bluetooth on both devices, open Photo Transfer on both, and voila, you are on your way. Go have a cup of coffee or chimp on your big boy/big girl camera for a bit, because bluetooth is a lot slower than wifi. But it's still magic.

The above image was transferred to my iPad or I'd never have been able to process it - the iPhone, much as I love it, is just too tiny for accurate brush strokes. This heliconia blossom was "painted" in Ghostbird Software's Photoforge app using the smudge tool, (way harder than Pixel Blend, but it wasn't available when I worked this) then combined with a sketch of the same image from Jixi Pix Artista Sketch app. The combining and blend mode was done using IRIS Photo Suite app.

So iphoneographers, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. The two best and most versatile transfer apps for less than the cost of a latte. You can't afford not to have them!