What Photo Tools are in Your Pocket?

Recently I was asked, what tools I carry around with me when I shoot? Not thinking, I quickly answered with the formulaic outlay of my gear, from body, to lens, to flash, filters and lights. By the deer in the headlights look I got, I realized rather quickly that I misunderstood their interpretation of “tools”.

Upon clarification I understood what he meant, what are those things I use that maybe not everyone has in their tool box — you know, the light meter, the grey card, the variety of diffusers, etc. After we finished our conversation, it got me thinking about what “tools” we can use in our daily lives as photographers. Living in the smart-phone era, I can say that my tools have quite the variety these days. My personal tool of choice is my iPhone, whether you hate it or not, it is a useful tool to have on a shoot, or when you are out and about it can take some decent artsy pictures. And seriously, who goes out of the house without having their phone attached to them? It sure makes it handy having it available when you don’t have the trusty DSLR on hand. This week I wanted to highlight a few of the Apps that can be found for the iPhone, both Camera taking apps and Camera Tool apps, particularly the ones I have sitting on their own dedicated page that I use frequently.

Camera Tool Apps:

I’m going to highlight both of these apps, because they are great in their own right, and depending on my mood, I switch back and forth between them both because they are both useful. These apps take the meticulous calculations of exposure, DOF, Angle, distance, out of the equation so you can focus quickly on your photos before the sun goes down. Speaking of which, they also let you know when to expect the key times throughout the day. Out of the two of them, PhotoBuddy has more depth and interaction.

PhotoBuddy

PhotoCalc

Camera Taking Apps:

These apps below are great for all purpose or creative picture taking when you don’t have your big lens and camera on you.

Genius

A great application for taking general pictures to be worked on outside of the app. Useful features are Zoom, Anti shake, guides, timer and a big button for those self portraits. Below is a picture taken using the timer feature within Genius.

Forward by Carbon Prototype: A

Hipstamatic

An app I use more than any other photography app, simply because nearly every picture you take turns out to be pretty cool and unique. This app really gives you the feel of dealing with some old film, lenses, flashes, and treatments.

Windmills of your mind by Menno Ophelia

CameraBag

Another useful app that has some simple but effective treatments, like hipstamatic it but without the interchangeability of features. The treatments are more presets than anything else. The photographers picture below is one of many of theirs that have come out stunning using this app.

Onboard Post Processing & Other Applications

FX PhotoStudio

A nice, albeit limited, post processor that lets you choose from many different styles of effects and treatments.

PS Mobile

Adobe’s very simple post processor of their Photoshop line of tools. Allows for cropping, a couple of style treatments, exposure, and also uploading.

myPantone

Nice to have on hand if you are adding graphics to your photos, its great to be able to browse and find the right colors if you need to match something within a photo.

Flickr

Aside from the ability of uploading your edited photos directly to Flickr, you can also view your online catalog and download pics straight to your phone. Useful if you are without a laptop and someone wants to see your work. You can also browse through Flickr and check out other amazing photographers.

A final word…

So now you know whats in my “bag”, what tools do you carry around to help you out? Feel free to drop us a line, we would love to highlight some more apps (especially ones that don’t reside on the iPhone) just let us know what it is and why you like it.

Lead Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/rudolf_schuba/ / CC BY 2.0 and used within the Creatvie Commons Guidelines