Moving, Sharing And Printing Your iPhone Images: Wireless Transfer For Other Tasks By Dan Burkholder   •   December, 2011 When I wrote iPhone Artistry (Pixiq Press, www.sterlingpublishing.com, 2011) I moved hundreds of images from my iPhone to my desktop computer. Not once did I use a cable or iTunes! Yep, in this section you’ll learn the speed and ease of apps and techniques that let you move images both to and from your iPhone, all the while bypassing time consuming hassles of synch cables and bloated desktop software!

Moving Images Wirelessly
My weapon of choice for moving images quickly and easily (and wirelessly) is Photo Transfer. Image (#1) shows some of the great features of this image moving app. Note: The Photo Transfer App is $2.99 and supports Wifi and Bluetooth.

#1

In image (#2) you see how my Safari browser window looks when I connect to the iPhone via Photo Transfer. Notice “A” gives me the option (using a right-click of the mouse) to save the images to any location I prefer. Had I not done this right-click step, the 6 images would have been saved as a Zip archive in my Downloads folder, which is the default location.

#2

“B” highlights another great feature of Photo Transfer. By clicking either of the two circled buttons, I could upload photos or videos from my Mac to the iPhone. It’s a two-way street! I like Photo Transfer so much that I used it exclusively to move screen shots I created for both iPhone Artistry and this Petersen’s Photographic Digital Photography Guide.

Printing Your iPhone Images
Sure, iPhone images are ideal for sharing via Facebook (www.facebook.com) or e-mail but what about creating actual prints from our iPhone captures? In this section we examine “traditional” inkjet printing.

When it comes time to print your iPhone images, you have a range of options to consider. Apple’s AirPrint (www.apple.com) lets you wirelessly print to a number of desktop printers. As we go to press, you are pretty much limited to a special line of HP inkjet printers, but things move fast in this area so keep your eyes open for other printers that have this facility.

AirPrint set-up is about as hassle-free as you could want: plug-in the printer, link it to your WiFi network, and print from your iPhone.

My studio is Epson-centric (for fine art printing) while our business printing is handled by an Okidata laser printer. For business printing to the laser we use the wonderful (and free) utility AirPrint Activator. Once installed on a networked computer, you can print wirelessly from any iOS device.

But what if you want to print in a fully color managed environment, from Photoshop, Lightroom or the like? For this more serious image printing, you need to get your images onto a desktop or laptop computer.

Final Tweaks
I love doing the huge majority of my iPhone image-editing on the iPhone or iPad itself. It’s not a matter of “the challenge” or even technical discipline; it’s that the elements of immediacy and fun are amplified on the iPhone. Remember, however, the iPhone screen is not color managed, and that means that when you take your image into Photoshop, your image might not look precisely like you envisioned it.

Let’s look at an example of just such a case. “A” of image (#3) shows “Tree In April Snow” just as I imported it from my iPhone. Though not a huge departure from what I’d seen on the iPhone’s LCD, there was a lack of local contrast to the image that I knew wasn’t going to make for a vibrant print. Some minor corrective measures were called for here.

#3

Several Adjustment Layers later, the subtle but important glow had returned. “B” reveals the nature of these three adjustment layers.

The final version of the image, with the three curve adjustment layers and sharpening applied, is shown in D (and image #4). You might be muttering to yourself, “I don’t see much dang difference between the two.” You would be correct—the heavy lifting (in terms of image stylizing) was done on the iPhone. These minor tweaks were just to fine-tune the image before making a fine art inkjet print.

#4

Remember, there are few “rights or wrongs” in Photography. I happen to prefer to both capture and stylize images on the iPhone. If your hybrid system involves more computer based image-editing, that’s perfectly fine. As Ansel Adams said, “there are no rules for good photographs; there are only good photographs.”

Once we learn the hardware and the apps, the real photographic fun begins. Yep, we actually get to do something with our gear and software to create images with beauty and intrigue. Honestly, if you don’t dip your toes into this pool of incredible control, effects, textures and composites, you’re missing a giant tub of fun. And it all starts with a cell phone.

Note: Image (#5) “Sunset After Storm, Catskill Mountains” was captured with Bracket Mode and processed with FilterStorm and Iris Photo Suite.

#5

I’d write more but there’s a beautiful sunset happening over the Catskills, an eager motorcycle waiting in the garage, and a warm and ready iPhone snuggled in my pocket. Do what you want but I’m going to make images in the palm of my hand!