Capture a story worth printing

The barriers to enter the world of photography have been all but removed with the inclusion of high-resolution cameras into smart phones. While Apple was one of the first to include a camera in its phone, other brands like Samsung, Nokia, HTC, Sony and others offer the same multi-functionality in their phones. The question is no longer whether a smart phone has a camera, but rather how high its resolution is, and how many photo-editing applications are available.

With the perfect tool to capture remarkable images literally at our fingertips, it’s worth remembering that inspiration can strike at the most surprising times, in the most unlikely places. The mobility and flexibility afforded by mobile phone cameras means that you can capture beautiful photos that tell a story, wherever you are.

The way that we take photos is not the only thing that has changed: the way we print them has evolved too. We’re no longer subjected to the tortuous week-long wait for a film to be developed and processed, flavoured by the combination of dread and anticipation to see which images worked and which were headed to the ‘BooBoo Bin’, all at great expense.

At the fifth Epson Develop Yourself event, Gareth Pon, Meruschka Govender and Epson teamed up to demonstrate just how easy images can be captured, chosen in seconds, edited on the go, and printed wirelessly and cost effectively to Epson’s range of high-quality ink tank system (ITS) printers at home or in the office.

Capture the moment

By its nature, your smart phone is more than likely only ever an arm’s length away – and it’s compact, lightweight, and always switched on. Capturing a memorable moment no longer means lugging a heavy camera bag around, making sure you’ve got film and a charged battery – it’s as simple as unlocking your phone, opening the camera app, and snapping the moment unfolding right before you.

Gareth Pon, one of South Africa’s most popular Instagrammers, offers these tips:

• When you’re in the mood for photos, go wherever your heart fancies! Your smart phone and its camera can go wherever you do.
• Your smart phone is not a DSLR – and this is not a bad thing. It’s smaller, which means you and it can get into more interesting places.
• Light is your friend – and is your best friend when you use it to highlight on particular elements of your image.
• Most cameras have a zoom function – but don’t use it unless you have to. Rather move closer to your subject, if you can.
• Shoot before you think. Sometimes spending too much time on composing the perfect shot will mean that you lose it.
• Think before you shoot. It’s worth composing a good image paying mind to the rule of thirds and looking for good textures, for example, but also spend some time pondering the privacy of your subject, if it’s a person or group of people.
• Wear good, comfortable shoes. This is true of photography and many other hobbies!
• Be aware of your environment, so that you can make the most of available lighting conditions and composition opportunities. Also be aware of what’s going on around you, for safety’s sake.
• Keep looking, but know what you’re looking for. Don’t be so focussed on capturing the image that you’ve set out to get that you miss other wonderful opportunities along the way.
• Keep stable, if you possibly can. Otherwise use any motion blur to good effect in your image.
• Avoid using the flash. While cameras in mobile phones are fantastic, their flashes often aren’t.
• Shoot lots of images – it doesn’t cost you anything!
• Change your perspective: lie on the floor, stand on a table, jump on a merry-go-round – there is so much more to the world than what you see at eye level.

Edit for excellence

One of the particular benefits of mobile photography is that it’s so easy to your edit images even though you’re working on a compact device. It’s quick and easy to correct red-eye, crop out unexpected subjects in your photo, or to enhance the image with special effects, such as sepia, framing, or word-bubbles.

Whatever your editing strategy is, make sure that it doesn’t disrupt the theme that you have chosen for your photo story if you are working with a series of images, and that your images don’t suffer from overzealous editing.

Some of the most popular smartphone photos editing apps at the moment include:

• iOs: Snapseed, VSCOCam, Luminance, Afterlight, Blender, Touch re Touch, Filterstorm, and ProHDR, Bokeh Lens
• Android: Snapseed, VSCOCam, Photoshop Touch, Photoshop Express, and Touch re Touch.

Press P for Print or Publish

Once you’ve created your masterpiece, you can choose to publish it online using the many online options such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Flickr, or you can choose to print it. Printing photos is easier than ever before, and Epson’s ITS printers have made it more affordable than ever to do so.

With more than 50 years of printing research and innovation to its name, Epson has fine-tuned its ink and printing technology to dramatically reduce the costs of printing photos. And with the art of photography firmly at our fingertips thanks to high resolution images in smart phones, Epson’s iPrint app makes it even easier to print images on the go.

Epson’s L800 ITS photo printer can print up to 1,800 10cm x 15cm photos using one ink tank system, at a cost of only R0,60 per photo. Epson’s L355 printer – a versatile colour printer that is ideal for home office use, also prints superior quality photos, as does the multi-function Epson L550 printer. The ITS printers use larger ink refills that cost much less than other home photo printing solutions, giving you the freedom to print as many photo stories as you like!

For more information about Epson photo printers suitable for home use, visit www.epson.co.za 

About Epson
Epson is a global imaging and innovation leader that is dedicated to exceeding the vision of customers worldwide through its compact, energy-saving, high-precision technologies, with a product line-up ranging from printers and 3LCD projectors for business and the home, to electronic and crystal devices. Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises over 68,700 employees in 94 countries around the world, and is proud of its ongoing contributions to the global environment and the communities in which it operates. http://global.epson.com

About Epson Europe
Epson Europe B.V., based in Amsterdam, is the Group’s regional headquarters for Europe, Middle-East, Russia, and Africa. With a workforce of 1,655 employees, Epson Europe’s sales for fiscal year 2012 were 1,540 million Euros. http://www.epson.eu