Meet The Olloclip.

I have looked at lens options for my iPhone since 2008 when Apple released the iPhone 3G.  The release of this new phone and iOS, the app store began to fill up with wonderful photo editing and sharing apps.  My fascination with iPhone photography started with the original iPhone I purchased when it was first released.  I liked the LOFI look of the images.  Because I was also shooting with Lomo film cameras, in 2008 I created a site to showcase what I called iPhonelomo.  Quirky photographs shot without the intent of perfection and focused more on creativity.  It pushed me to think differently about photography and what I see around me.

This fascination made me look for ways to do more creatively with my phone.  I started my iPhone lens search with a Griffin Clarifi case that made close-up (not quite macro) photography possible with the 3G and 3GS.  It also allowed me to create artistic images without anything in focus.  I got a lot of use out of this case because it served two great purposes and didn’t require me to carry any accessories.

Photos taken with an iPhone 3G using the Griffin Clarifi case.
See more on my site, iPhonelomo.com

When the iPhone 3GS came out the camera gained a new feature – the ability to focus.  The addition of this new feature meant I no longer needed the case and went without any lens accessories for the next 2+ years.  I openly admit to being tempted by many other iPhone lens options that use magnets to attach or cases that had a bulky clip on a lens – but I couldn’t see myself carrying multiple lenses or using the rest of the phones features with the awkward cases.  At times I would have fun shooting the iPhone through my old TTV cameras or through an SLR lens to get creative results, but I didn’t have a dedicated lens that allowed me to feel safe carrying my iPhone as a primary camera…until the Olloclip.

This cleverly designed lens slips onto the corner of the iPhone 4/4S and offers 3 lenses in one compact device:  wide-angle, fisheye, and macro (when the wide angle is unscrewed).  At $70, this lens may not be for everyone, but I wanted to share why this accessory goes with me everywhere.  I have been using this lens for a little over a month now and am thrilled with its performance.  From artistic uses, to capturing my children, to shooting video walk-throughs of potential home options we visited, this lens has been a gem. It is really versatile and produces crisp images with great contrast and color. The one drawback that many people point out is that it cannot be used while the iPhone is in a case.  I can understand this gripe, but because I see my iPhone as a tool for my work and inspiration, I am not as worried about it looking flawless as I am focused on creating beautiful or interesting art.  I went from using a heavy duty Otterbox Defender case to being completely case-less. I couldn’t be happier (in fact, all of the cases I’ve owned have scuffed and scratched up my iPhones, but I may sing a new song if I drop and totally destroy mine because it isn’t in a case).

Now, back to the awesomeness

I bought this lens for two reasons: wide angle photography and using the fisheye to replicate a wide angle lens when shooting video.  This lens shines in both areas.  The iPhone sensor has a different field of view when it is switched from Photo to Video.  Having young children, I use the video feature on my iPhone all the time, but it is hard to capture the entire action when indoors because you can only back up so far before you run into something.  Even when you are outside, you have to remove yourself from the fun to get a wide shot because you have to step back so far – not to mention how much worse the audio gets.  The fisheye and wide angle lenses really give flexibility to shooting video on the iPhone 4S.  It also helps smooth out movement even more than built-in stabilizer.  This flexibility does come at a small price in image quality.   Distortion toward the edges of the image is pretty noticeable when using the fisheye.  I happen to like the look stylistically, so it isn’t a negative point for me personally.  For people that love really clean footage, the fisheye may not usable.  The following short video of my boys was shot using the Olloclip.

I’m a huge fan of wide angle photography, so I was really excited about this lens.  I’ve also been surprised how often I use the fisheye for photography if shooting in square format (Hipstamatic, Instagram, etc).  I received a lot of questions on social media about the lens and I promised a review after I had enough time to know if I would continue using it or if it was a gimmick that I stopped using after a week – it is not.  I took it out to shoot areas around Chesapeake and Norfolk, VA and was impressed with the images I was getting with the lens and iPhone 4S camera.  Two weeks later, I took my first trip ever to NYC for my birthday at the beginning of this month and I chose to take my iPhone as my main camera (I also carried a Polaroid SX-70 that I took about 30 shots with).  You can see how below how much fun I had without all the gear to carry around – I was able to see a ton of NYC in just a day and a half.  I have printed the images and am very happy with the quality and look I was able to get using apps on my iPhone and this $70 lens.  It was a very freeing experience.  It is interesting to note how much I was able to pay attention to what was around me because I wasn’t bogged down by gear and the need to overshoot every scene.  I also think the images are stronger because of the way that I looked at the city and being forced to be creative in the ways I could capture it.

Needless to say, the Olloclip has found a welcome spot in my pocket or bag.  There are not many days that I do not have easy access to it.  I would probably leave it on my phone if it had a button that would push down to turn my phone off.  I hope this non-technical review helps you understand how this lens could be useful.  If you shoot a lot of photos on your iPhone 4 or 4s, this will give you a lot more options.  Feel free to ask more detailed questions is you have any.

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An iPhone Captures New York City

All images contained in this book were taken with an iPhone 4S. It was my first trip to New York City, so the images captured reflect my desire to see as many popular spots as I could during my brief one day and a half in the city. They are wide shots that show the larger context I was seeing as I took it all in. I’m sure that my photographs will be completely different the next time I visit the city and zoom my focus to show more of the people, lifestyle, textures and movement of New York City.

As a photographer, I knew I wouldn’t be able to see and capture as much of the city as I hoped to if I was weighed down by all my professional gear. I also knew there are already thousands of stunning shots of the city taken by photographers who live in the city and can shoot when the conditions are just right. I decided to focus on taking stylized images with my iPhone and SX70 with Polaroid film. This book contains the photos from my iPhone.

All but seven of the photographs were taken using the Hipstamatic app using the Loftus Lens and Rock BW-11 Film. I did not use a flash in the app. Because I was in the city and wanted to capture the huge buildings that were right on top of me, I was using an Olloclip lens that slips on the iPhone to give me wide angle and fisheye lens options. I am totally enamored with the Olloclip and the settings I was using in Hipstamatic.

I have seen the beauty of iPhone photography since I boought my first iPhone when they were first released. You can see more of my work at www.iPhonelomo.com

I hope you enjoy the artwork contained in this book.

 

An iPhone Captures New York City by Tony Cece | Make Your Own Book

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Celebrating Hadiara’s Gift Of Love

This Christmas, as we begin to celebrate the gift of God’s love, I can’t help but think of the ways that Operation Blessing shares the gift of love on a daily basis all around the world. A few weeks ago I was in Niger and met a 4-year-old girl named Hadiara.

She and her sister were playing with a crude little toy that their father had made for them out of a scrap piece of plastic that had a nail through it and hair that was sticking out of the top that the girls sat and braided.

I was amazed at the joy they found in this simple little toy. I couldn’t help but think that this toy represents the poverty they live in every single day.

But there is hope for them because Operation Blessing partners gave them two goats. To us, two goats doesn’t seem like much, but for her family it is milk that the children can have on a daily basis.

Even more important than that, the gift of a goat becomes the gift of an education. Their father is able to raise the baby goats and sell them at market, and the money they make through this repeated process allows them to send their children to school.

It is exciting to see that something as simple as a goat can become the gift of an education, and the gift of an education gives them hope for a better future—that they’ll be able to rise out of the poverty that their family has lived in for generations.

Read the rest of my story at the With My Own Eyes blog

Give a gift to support families and help make the future brighter for children like like Hadiara.

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Free “Mixed Colors” Lightroom Preset

I created this new Lightroom Preset for a set of Christmas photos I shot of my son Dino today.  I am making it available for viewers of my blog for free as a way of thanking you for stopping by. This was created for RAW files.  I call it Mixed colors because it has two gradient overlays: one with warm hue and the other a cold hue. 

• Download TCece Mixed Colors LR3 Preset.

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Today It was Dino’s Turn To Get In The Christmas Spirit

It’s Pre-Thanksgiving still, but we our household is ready for Christmas. We are trying to create and capture some memories of the boys while they are young. Dino had fun telling us what colors the lights were as he held them up. Believe it or not, we only sacrificed one light bulb and no one got hurt.

• Get the free Lightroom Preset I created for this set of photos.

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Dominic Is In The Christmas Spirit.

My wife and I decided to start putting up our Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving this year. Part of those decorations included photos of our older son, Dino’s, first Christmas and realized that we didn’t have any of Dominic to put out in the future. Today I decided to remedy the problem with a similar photo shoot for Dominic.

For the photographers that may be reading, this is a two Canon 580ex ii flash setup. My key was bounced into a 30″ umbrella at 1/4 and moved to whatever side of the camera he was facing. I used a bare flash at 1/32 power on the floor camera-left to chisel the face. I wanted this hard contrast in lighting because I knew that I wanted to use a lot of sharpening and “recovery” in Lightroom to achieve this vintage magazine ad look.

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Boys Like Planes, Trains, & Space Stuff.

I’m just getting around to some family photos from a few months ago and ran into this of Dino riding the Metro in Washington DC. It was from a quick trip the Air and Space museum. He was so content as we took the 30 minute ride from Franconia-Springfield into the heart of the city.

We had borrowed a two-seater stroller from our friends that live in the area, but upon arrival at the Metro station we learned it had a flat tire. I convinced Heidi that we should still proceed with the trip because I was certain that they would have some type of stroller available for rent like they do at the Virginia Zoo – they don’t.

The following hour at the Air and Space museum was chaotic and stressful. Dino didn’t understand why he couldn’t climb into the lunar lander exhibit and play with “Buzz Lightyear.” I didn’t realize that there wasn’t plexiglass under the bars setup around the exhibit and he made a break for it. Luckily, I am quicker and smarter than our 2 year old…or so he let’s me believe.

We pulled our family off to the side to regroup and then decided that the hands-on area was much safer for us. Dino was really excited about walking through the partial innards of DC-7 and I tried to tell him about how I flew on a DC-3 owned by MFI out of Haiti after the riots last December…he wasn’t impressed and ran around to get back in line to go through the plane exhibit again.

Looking back at the few photos I took and remembering the day made me glad we went. It was pretty stressful, but we survived and learned quite a bit about how toddlers behave in museums. I leave you with the following photo and a quote from the popular children’s movie, Toy Story.

“Reach for the sky!” – Woody

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Vacationing & 30 Second Exposures

I’m currently vacationing with my family and on the last leg of our trip from a stay in Summersville, West Virginia to our final destination in Bee Spring, Kentucky. While in WV, I enjoyed two nights shooting sunset and twilight photos of Summersville Lake. One of my favorite techniques is shooting 30 second exposures of moving water. It creates a magical effect. Here is one shot that I took of the water lapping onto rocks and a rotten stump in the water. The varying movements of the water on the tree and rocks gives it a “witches brew” look. I’ll post more later…

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An Interview with Michael Pritchard, Inventor of the Lifesaver Bottle.

Yesterday I had the privilege of interviewing Michael Pritchard, the inventor of the Lifesaver Bottle, for an upcoming video that Operation Blessing is putting together to show how we are using his technology to bring clean water to remote areas of the world. Not only was it great to be able to interview him, but it was also fun to create an atmosphere for the interview in our office space.

I had a few ideas going into the shoot about using black and the striking yellow Lifesaver jerrycans, but creative juices started flowing as I inspected the space. One piece in particular caught my eye and  changed our “set” for the better. It was an old light table that is usually unused and in our way. It became my third light source and put an interesting aura under the jerrycans. But lighting aside…let’s talk about the Lifesaver technology.

As an employee of Operation Blessing, I spend quite a bit of time out in the field and have had the privilege of using and distributing Lifesaver bottles and jerrycans. Their ultra filtration system removes viruses, bacteria, parasites, and other waterborne pathogens. It was great to hear his story about the creation of the Lifesaver systems and his goal to end water poverty. I thought I would use this inspiration to talk a little bit about my hands-on experience with Mr. Pritchard’s Lifesaver systems.

I carry a Lifesaver bottle with me on every trip I take because I never know what situation I will be in where I won’t have access to safe drinking water. Even when I have access to water in a hotel room overseas, it isn’t always safe for drinking. I’ve saved a ton of money by avoiding the expensive bottled water provided in hotel rooms. In disaster scenarios, it can be even more crucial. I used it daily when our team was in Haiti right after the earthquake and helped distribute Lifesaver jerrycans during the cholera outbreak. Operation Blessing was able to deliver safe water to the hardest to reach places because these systems are small enough to pack into 4 wheel drive SUVs that can handle the worst terrains.

Because the Lifesaver jerrycans are so portable, we were able to give one to every family in the water-locked village of Luben. They were completely surround by the cholera-infested water and these systems were a real “life saver” for this and other communities in the area that were unreachable with larger purification systems. Having been back to the village of Luben, months after the outbreak of cholera, I heard firsthand from villagers, like Wilna, who are using their Lifesaver Jerrycans daily to protect their families from the cholera that is still in the river where they get water. (See her video story below.)

Even though I am currently in the US and don’t personally have to worry too much about the water I am drinking, I don’t forget about the people who are less fortunate.  It was truly great to hear the passion that Michael Pritchard brings to his innovative technology because he cares about others and wants to bring a solution to this water crisis that over 1 billion people face. 

You can learn more about how the Lifesaver technology works at http://www.lifesaverusa.com/
To make a donation to Operation Blessing to give this technology to families in need, Click here.

Videos:
Waterlocked Village In Haiti Battles Cholera With Clean Water

Wilna’s Story – Surrounded By Death: Cholera in Haiti’s Waters

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A Vintage Lens, A Day At The Zoo, A Lot Of Fun.

I don’t know exactly what made me go up to my office and dig out a vintage Vivitar Canon FD mount 75-205mm lens today, but I am sure glad I did. It was pure joy to shoot with this one-touch focus/zoom lens. I may have been motivated by a photographer I saw taking photos at the zoo the day before. Yeah, I endured the zoo 2 days in a row. The first was just me and my two boys…needless to say, I didn’t have a hand free for a camera. When we decided to go back today, I wanted a little extra zoom to try to get a closer shot of the elephants (who ended up being inside both days).

Before you look at all the images, I have to admit that I bought this lens on ebay for $10 shipped. It has fungus inside the glass and is stuck fully open at f/3.8, but I love the images it produces. They image is soft and the bokeh from these FD lenses through the cheap glass of the adapter is like a painting. I’m not going to ever get a super crisp image, but that’s not always my desired effect. Knowing it’s limitations allows me to have fun creatively with it. Perfection doesn’t have to be the end goal.

I highly recommend taking a look at some of these cheap lenses and an adapter. The images can be very unique and you don’t have to give away our little secret.

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