Melchers Olde Tyme

As I and others are finding out, the iPhone 4 is a pretty spectacular digital still camera. One of the key differences with the iPhone is that there are applications (“apps”) that can enhance the capabilities of the handy little device. The iPhone comes standard with a camera app, but one that provides some pretty stunning functionality is Tap Tap Tap’s Camera +. It’s one of those take a picture and apply the filter type programs, but it works very well and provides loads of functionality that I’m just beginning to play with.

Camera + Effects

The picture at the top of this post, and the ones following, are using the effects (the grunge effect in this case) and the border (the one called Old-Timey) features.

Seeing the photos in this context makes me want to find the stories of these buildings. There are also the “flaws” of the modern day (bicycles, cars, modern signs) intruding on the historical accuracy, but it almost makes it fun to find those errors. Here are the rest.

Olde Tyme duPont

Trinkle Olde Tyme

Seacobeck Olde Tyme

Chandler Olde Tyme

I love Picasa, a free photo management tool, and Flickr, a great (also free) online photo sharing/storage service. Picasa, now owned by Google, does have its own photo sharing service and it is quite good. However, I give Flickr the nod because it has more professional features that I use and seems more mature in it’s development. So, if you’re like me, you want a way to integrate the capabilities of Picasa on your computer (it runs on Mac and PC) with your online Flickr account, there’s a solution. It’s a Picasa plugin called picasa2flickr.

If you watch the video above, you’ll see how to install and use it, but essentially it gives you another button allowing you to perform the uploading action on a given photo or photos. You will need to also have the free Flickr tool Flickr Uploader. Once Picasa and Flickr Uploader are installed, you can click on the picasa2flickr link and it will add it to the Picasa button along the bottom of the program’s screen. Now uploading photos to your Flickr account is as easy as finding them in Picasa and pushing a button.

Here’s what you need. An iPhone, using its built-in camera. An app called AirMe, which you set up to upload the image you take, to an account of your choice. In our case we use the Flickr service. I’ll talk about the Flickr piece in a moment, but I don’t want to gloss over how AirMe works. I grab the iPhone and start the free AirMe app. It works on top of the camera app and it allows me to take a picture, if I like it I use it, or I retake it. I can also use an image that is already on my iPhone. As long as I’m connected to the AT&T network, it will instantly start uploading. In 30 seconds, give or take, it’s done.

Now it’s available on Flickr. So, similar to the audio recordings on AudioBoo, the image is instantly hosted on a photo sharing site. However, like we also did with AudioBoo we are going to republish it to a WordPress blog automatically. We again employ our good friend FeedWordPress. We use the RSS feed from Flickr using the tag iPhone. In no time at all the image is up on the blog.

I have a preset title of “Latest iPhone Photo” and it posts the thumbnail that links to the Flickr page for the photo.

Caution, of course, needs to be exercised because it will publish whatever photo you send. The current iPhone has even better quality than the one I own, and network coverage is getting better all the time. This will only get better and easier with time. I was hoping to have this procedure worked out in time for my MS Ride this year but . . . better late than never.

My reaction is to wait and see. Maybe the 1 minute 30 limit will be like Twitter’s 140 character limit. Concise and yet thought provoking. More than a sound bite, but less than a diatribe. Say it in 90 clicks or don’t say it at all. It’s a new Flickr era!

Flickr Photo courtesy of Sellers Patton

I wonder if Fox Interactive/News Corp. had any influence on the policy of Photobucket considering babies in diapers as “nudity”. Their terms of service lists nudity as one of the restrictions when uploading photos, but this is a bit excessive, no? Seems this policy got some attention when diaper company Good Mama Diaper ran a photo contest on Photobucket. When the photos disappeared, questions got asked.

Now I know that pictures of children slightly older than the diaper-set on the Internet is a big concern, but are we incapable of making rational choices? I have to question the intelligence of the people running a service that have such a policy. I obtained a pro account at Photobucket to try out their video editing service a year ago. I just received my last notice asking if I’ll be renewing my pro account. I think not. I think I’ll close my account all together.

I will go on using that ever reliable and oh-so-racy photo site, Flickr. The photo above was courtesy of Flickr. The photo below of the cute little boy in his diaper is courtesy of . . . Photobucket!

UPDATE: Photobucket admits their error.

I suppose that Flickr would be the sweet, lovely butterfly and Picnik provides the sting as the bee. The marriage is finally consumated. You will now find an "Edit Photo" button on your Flickr pictures, and that editor is the Picnik engine, which opens up a new section for you to edit to your heart’s content. Or at least with the functions that the service provides you. Those features include things like resize, crop, fixing red eye, and even exposure and "auto-fix" capabilities.

Since I had an account already, I was greeted with this.

If you have a Flickr account, and you haven’t signed up at Picnik yet, it’s time!