Tag:

digital photography

Hipstamatic The Portland Hipstapak

by Deborah Cruz 2011/06/14

The Portland Hipstapak

What is it? Hipstamatic ~ The Portland Hipstapak is a .99 application upgrade for your digital photography Hipstamatic app available for the iPhone, iPod, or iPad. It consists of a lens and a film; the Lucifer VI Lens and the BlacKeys B+W film. I absolutely adore Hipstamatic, which was evident in my original Hipstamatic vs. Instagram post and I love to add new hipstapaks anytime the opportunity presents itself. In fact, I own every one currently available. It’s amazing how simply changing a lens, flash or a film type can change the entire concept of the photo.Or how altering the combination of the three can create a different mood.The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

What does the Portland Hipstapak say it will do?

Lucifer VI Lens

Burn baby burn. The Lucifer VI is smokin’ hot and creates a flamin’ look that even the prince of darkness would envy.

BlacKeys B+W Film

Straight from grandma’s attic, the BlacKeys Ultrachrome gives your prints a superior monotone look and stamps the month and year directly on the print.

Does it do what it says it will do? The Portland Hipstapak application does exactly what it promises.

Lucifer VI lens allows you to capture your photograph through a variable rose colored glass. You take the photo and an instant red shadow is cast on the photo.It gives a great effect for photos of stills or even candids that you want to add a little extra artistic flair to. I wouldn’t recommend it for,lets say the first photo of your newborn baby because it tends to slightly distort the image.
The BlacKeys B+W film gives the photos very subtle monochromatic changes with variances of whites, blacks and grays. I love it. It’s just like real life. The color scheme creates a very raw and simple photo that packs a powerful emotional punch. I also love that it places a month and year stamp on the photo,giving it that vintage feel. Mine was pretty amazing because it actually teleported me back to 1981, well according to the time stamp anyways.

Do you need to consult a manual or is it “User Friendly”? No manual needed. All you need is to purchase the application,upload it and enjoy taking photos. That is what makes Hipstamatic so amazing, anyone can use it! The Hipstamatic ~ the Portland Hipstapak includes one lens and one film; add them to the collection that comes standard with the Hipstamatic and factor in all the different combinations of film, lens, and flash; the possibilities are infinite.

The Portland Hipstapak~where possibilities are endless.

2011/06/14 1 comment

Tech

Hipstamatic~ The Mission Hipstapak

by Deborah Cruz 2011/06/05

written by Deborah Cruz

The Mission Hipstapak

What is it? Hipstamatic ~ The Mission Hipstapak is a .99 application upgrade for your digital photography Hipstamatic app available for the iPhone, iPod, or iPad. You can easily purchase the photo app thru the Hipstamart on your iPhone.It consists of a lens, film and a camera case; the Bettie XL Lens,Ina’s 1935 film and the Eggshell White Case . I absolutely adore the Hipstamatic application, which was evident in my original Hipstamatic vs. Instagram post. I love adding new hipstapaks to my collection and changing up my photos. It’s amazing how simply changing a lens, flash or a film type can change the entire concept of mobile photography.Or how altering the combination of the three can create a different mood.The possibilities are limited only by your imagination.

What does the Mission Hipstapak say it will do?

Bettie XL Lens

She always had a colorful vocabulary, now she’s got herself a lens that suffers from the same leaky seal. Be careful with this one, you never know when the streaks will happen.

Ina’s 1935 Film

Dressed all in white, this line of Ina’s film is clean, beautiful, and lets the photograph speak for itself.

Eggshell White Case

Perfect for bright-light shooting (or if you’re lucky enough to own a white iPhone 4 – we’re looking at you Steve).

Does it do what it says it will do? The Mission Hipstapak application does exactly what it promises.

Bettie XL Lens allows you to capture your photograph from a light and transcending viewpoint . The photos seem to have a very ethereal feel due to the light and brightness allowed by the lens.
The Ina’s 1935 film gives the photos a very clean look. The subject of the photo is really left as the superstar, everything else fades into the background.When photographing with the Ina’s 1935 film, its like seeing everything for the first time.Colors are exaggerated, subjects are crisper, and it leaves you feeling like the photo is a work of art rather then a point and shoot.
Eggshell White Case I absolutely love this case. I know it’s only aesthetics but it is absolutely a ton of fun. It just pops and screams,look at me.I’m too hip to be square!

Do you need to consult a manual or is it “User Friendly”? No manual needed. All you need is to purchase the application,upload it and enjoy taking photos. That is what makes Hipstamatic so amazing, anyone can use it! The Mission Hipstapak includes one lens, one film and one camera case; add them to the collection that comes standard with the Hipstamatic and factor in all the different combinations of film,lens, and flash and the possibilities are infinite. The Mission Hipstapak~where possibilities are endless.

The Mission Hipstapak; Taking iPhone Photography to the next level

2011/06/05 0 comments

Tech

Hipstamatic Versus Instagram: Battle of the Best Camera Apps for your iPhone

by Deborah Cruz 2011/03/29

written by Deborah Cruz

Hipstimatic versus Instagram

Hipstamatic versus Instagram: Battle of the Best Camera apps for your iPhone. Hipstamatic had me at hello. If you have a love of photography and your iPhone you will fall deeply in love with the Instagram and Hipstamatic apps. I am a self-proclaimed paparazzi, like most Moms, and in being so, I need a good camera app within arms reach at all times. We never want to miss a moment, a memory, a photo opportunity.

Hipstamatic is an app that I fell in love with at first use. The sheer volume and variety of photo taking combinations one can come up with simply by changing the lens, flash and/or film type is mind blowing. Or if you want to live dangerously you can leave your combo to fate simply by shaking your iPhone and seeing which settings combo it lands on. I find it remarkable that this app allows me to take photos on my iPhone that look like they were taken on a vintage camera. This is all done before you ever take the photo on your camera. When you take the actual photo it’s just a matter of pointing and shooting. The results are always unpredictably beautiful.

I love the fact that the app is affordable at a whopping $1.99 and I can buy upgrade packages with more options of lenses, film and flashes. It’s easy to use and takes great photos. What could be easier for someone on the go? It allows us the convenience of a Digital SLR with a touch of creative license but without the tedium of having to pull your photos into Photoshop. The Hipstamatic app also makes photo sharing instantly via Flickr, Facebook, and email easy and convenient. The Hipstamatic app is available for the iPhone and Android but has yet to be released in a version for the Blackberry.

The Instagram app is the Hipstamatic apps younger, streamlined sister. While Instagram is very much like Hipstamatic, it offers a few crucial options that the Hipstamatic app does not. Instagram allows you to take your photo first or use an existing photo and then you have the option of applying one of the fifteen filters to the photo to achieve the affect that you want. Basically, you can take your photo and plug it into a variety of filters before deciding which you like the best. Of course, you are limited to just the fifteen filters.The photo filters can create incredible effect. It’s just a matter of playing with the app and learning what looks best aesthetically to you.

Instagram

The Instagram app allows you to share your photos as well, almost immediately after taking the photo and choosing your filter effect, you are asked to save and then you are prompted to identify the photo as What ( a caption) and Where ( location) which it defaults to your current location unless you specify otherwise or decline.

The Instagram app has a much greater social aspect to it. It allows you to share your photos via Twitter, Facebook, email, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare or Posterous. This has no bearing on the quality of the photos in comparison to Hipstamatic, it is only for socialization sake. The Instagram app also allows you to find and invite friends to follow you on Instagram. If you are a private person or want to keep photos of your children private, you can set your security settings to private. The Instagram app is currently only available for the iPhone.

All in all, I prefer Hipstamatic for photo taking because I use the app for quality aesthetically pleasing photos. I feel that the combination of lenses, film and flashes lends itself to a much greater degree of variety in your photos and allows you to be more creative. But if you want an app that allows you the ease of sharing photos via social networks, Instagram is for you. They are both great apps. I’d liken it to the difference between using a Digital SLR and a point and shoot. Both have their place and assets, but I prefer my Digital SLR. In the battle of the best camera apps for your iPhone between Hipstamatic and Instagram there are no losers.

What’s your favorite Phone camera App; Hipstamatic or Instagram?

2011/03/29 3 comments