App Review: Portfolio for iPad

Description:
This is an app for the iPad which as it says, it a portfolio for showing off photos.  It allows you to make different folders to display different content.  It also lets you have control over what folders are displayed if you only want to show certain folders to certain groups of people or clients.  This app also allows you to lock the app so if you pass your iPad around to clients, they cannot access the hidden folders or your settings.  These are just some of the features this app has to offer.


Thoughts and Opinions:
So far I love it.  Thought I would start off with that.  It is very well designed for a photographer (or anyone who may need to present photos) and is very easy to use.  The features are very useful.  I really like only showing what folders of photos I want to be very useful since a potential model doesn't care about seeing my landscapes.  You can rate the photos and then review the folder of photos based on the rating.  This makes the portfolio very useful to me for narrowing down ideas with a client.  Uploading and organizing the photos was easy and I did it with almost no difficulties.  I think I overloaded the RAM a little moving photos around and it did close on me once or twice.  This was fine since I think I was doing a little too much at the same time, organizing and uploading simultaneously.  Another thing I like, is it gives you a place to put a logo which is great.  Not only does it give you a spot, it tells you the exact pixel dimension of the slots for landscape/portrait/external screen layouts.  I currently have my cousin, who design logos, cooking me up one so I haven't fully used this feature but I know when I do it will be great.


Pros:
- Easy of Use
- Great Features
- Well Designed
- Good Presentation Layout


Cons:
- $14.99 is fair but probably could be cheaper


Conclusions:
All and all a very good app.  I really do love this app since the main reason I got an iPad was for it being a portfolio and this app makes it do that for me.  It turns the iPad into a very good portfolio.   I have very little to say against this app.  I would highly recommend this app for anyone who needs to present a portfolio.  I did look into other portfolio apps but this one just looked the best designed and it looked like it had a lot of thought put into it.


I will be using this app a lot more (hopefully) in the future and will update this review as I use it more.

Update: Portfolio & Logo

Hey,


So I just got a portfolio app for my iPad so I can best control how I show photos using my iPad to potential clients.  And with that, I need a logo to best market my photography and brand my photography when I present it.  So I am getting my cousin Katia, who is a graphic designer, to create my logo for my photography.  She is also a lifestyle blogger currently writing a blog about fashion, design and whatever else she encounters in life.  So check out her blog here.  I also updated my blog to include this link just for quick access.  You can also follow her Twitter for her blog @KittySnooks.


Will keep you posted here and on my twitter @TomHoustonPhoto about the logo and everything else with my photography and blog.

Review: Initial Review of the iPad 2

Hey, so I decided before I do any reviews of apps and such I should do an initial review of the actual device itself.  Before I start I would just like to mention that I am mostly going to use my iPad as a photography tool and this review will have the same focus.

Thoughts and Opinions:

First off, Apple sure knows what they are doing.  The iPad is a truly amazing device considering when it first came out it was really the only thing like it.  I got it for the purpose of having it as my portfolio.  I have not yet bought a portfolio app yet but I am planning on it very soon.  However just using the native photos app on the iPad is just fine more now.  I just want control over what photos I show and such.  The photos look great on the iPad, it is cool being able to zoom in to see how good the quality is of the photos.

The device is user friendly which is obvious for an apple product. It is actually kinda fun to just flip through the photos and have all the multi-touch gestures.  I really like the just pure ability of this thing.  So much potential like a portfolio app, eye-fi card to send photos to your iPad as you shoot, tons of potential features not to mention the native ones on it.

When you use it a lot you can get a lot of smudges on the screen but that is what happens when you have a touch screen.  It is a price you have to pay I suppose.  The good news is you don't notice until you turn off the iPad.  You don't really see any smudging when it is on looking directly at it.  

I will also be using my iPad to be doing a lot of things like twitter and e-mail and all that as well as checking my blog etc.  So I can keep the social media things going with my photography. 

Pros:

- Lightweight

- Compact

- Great Design

- Great Display

- Ease of Use

- Vast Amount of Functionality

- Battery Life

The list goes on but I will stop there.

Cons: 

- Oil Smudges on Screen (But you get that when you have a touch screen...)

- Cost

Conclusion:

So it is so far a very great tool to have.  I have really enjoyed using it the past two days.  I think once I get all of the apps I want for it then it will be quite the machine (not that it isn't right now, just more of a photography machine).  So there isn't much to conclude other than the iPad is a great photography tool so far and I only think it can get better from here.

Update: Santa made me an iPad.

Hey everyone,

I now am the owner of an iPad and I am going to start the hunt for great apps.  More so photography related ones for the iPad since it will be my photography tool since it will be my portfolio.  I don't have to use my phone anymore haha.

As I get great apps (hopefully) I will review them and start doing photography app reviews.  Just thought I would update everyone.

Hope everyone is having a great season with whatever it is you celebrate.

Update: Twitter

Hey,

So I had to get a Twitter account for something unrelated to my photography and that commitment is now over.  After some deliberation I decided to make a twitter account for my photography.  So if you have Twitter please, by all means follow me.  To be brutally honest with all of you, I have no idea as to what I will tweet about.  But I will think of something.  For sure I will keep you posted via Twitter for what I am posting but past that.  Not sure.

So if you have Twitter, or other friends that you know that to and what to follow my photography please let them know.  If you search Tom Houston you'll find me probably. "@TomHoustonPhoto" is my tag.

Hope all is well!

Update: Magazines (Beginners)

Hey,

So I just purchased the Digital SLR photography's magazine which is the "Getting Started in Digital Photography.  I believe I have passed the whole "getting started" phase I hope however there are always things you miss (especially when you are self taught).  Personally I just focus on genres and not photography as a whole sometimes.  So I read everything the Web has to offer on Marco photography and then cram that all in my head.  However I just learned not too too long ago about cross vs linear AF points from my last housemate.  So I know a boat load of technical stuff for Macro Photography but never knew what the two kinds of AF points do.

So if you find yourself in the same boat, I suggest this magazine.  Some of it went over the exposure triangle things that I did.  And I knew 99% of it but I either forgot some things or they said it in a way I will remember better.  Knowledge is a continual thing.  Don't forget that.

Update: 35mm Review was Updated

Update: 35mm Review was Updated                                                                                                                                                                                                                
Hey everyone,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
The review of the 35mm f/1.8 G lens is my most viewed post so I decided to update it with my current thoughts on the lens since I have started using it more because it is perfect for my studio.  So if you were one of the many that viewed and liked the 35mm review, or are just curious what more I said please go check out my update at the bottom of the review.                                                                            
You can click here to go to the 35mm review.                                                                                                                                                            
Thank you for reading my blog.  I hope it is helpful!                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Tom

Photos: Nat's Flower Series Extras

Photos: Nat's Flower Series Extras


So I was able to fit in another shoot and do another flower series shoot in my studio.  I really liked this one because I kind of got to build the shoot from the ground up.  I went out and bought a bed sheet and used pins to make a dress with it.  Got the flowers and used my studio.  The model was a great help and was also able to get the large lily I have ever seen to stay in her hair which, was an impressive feat.


I can't wait to have enough of these photos to call them a series.  I have three currently and hopefully will get more over Christmas break.


These are two extra photos from the flower series however the one shot I will use for the series is not posted yet.  So without further adieu here are the Flower Series Extras from this shoot:

Portrait - 105mm

Portrait - 35mm

Thank you for looking!

Photos: Sarah's Flower Series Extras

Photos: Sarah's Flower Series Extras


Just did a shoot with the lovely Sarah and the shots turned out really well.  It was the first real studio shoot I've done in my studio (unless you count me sitting in front of my magazines as one).  I was really impressed with the photos and since my review of the 35mm DX f/1.8 lens is so popular, everyone should be happy to hear the 35mm will be my new studio lens for full body shots.  Personally I want my 50mm to be my main portrait lens but it is not wide enough to get the full body in the frame so the 35mm it is.


I was really happy with these shots and I hope you are as well.  I will start showing my Flower Series photos when I have enough of them to be called a series.  Two doesn't count as a series yet.  So in the mean time here are some other shots form the shoot!

Portrait - 35mm f/1.8 G 

Portrait - 50mm f/1.4 D

Portrait - 35mm f/1.8 G

Thank you for viewing and I hope you enjoyed them!