sunday selections – hipstamatic

I thought I’d use the opportunity to participate in Kim’s Sunday Selections project to show off some of the Hipstamatic photos I took this week.
On Monday I wrote about how, at the suggestion of one of my Twitter friends, I was going to use the Hipstamatic app for my photos this week to try and add something different to my photo project.
You can read about how I went on my first photo shoot here
After a week of shooting, I haven’t changed my initial views on the app. It produces some really interesting effects on my photos, which I really like, if I choose the right lens and film combo.
Actually, I’ve not been very adventurous and have stuck with the same film all week (boring! but in my defence, I have been sick), but I have tried out a few of the different lenses. Admittedly I’ve only tried the ones that came with the original app and a couple of freebies that were recently released, so I’m missing quite a lot of what is available. (Think of it as the cheapskate approach, until I decide whether this app is for me, and whether I want to shell out a hard earned couple of bucks for some more variety . . .  did I mention I have a reputation as a tightarse?!)
The hard part is remembering that there is no zoom function, so what you see in the ‘viewfinder’ is pretty much what you’re going to get – and if you want the cute little frame that the photos come with, there’s no option to crop later either.
The whole feel of the app reminds me of my very first camera. I got it when I was in primary school. I won $10 in a competition and decided to spend it on a camera. It was a gaf 100 XF (no, Slabs, it’s not a Falcon) that cost me $9.95. (I can’t remember what I did with the change.) The camera, which I still have, took 126 film cartridges that produced square pictures. Oh, and used external flashes that you bought in packs of three four-sided cubes, each side of which had a bulb that flashed and then blew, as bulbs do.

Hipstamatic, as a ‘retro/analogue camera’ app has that same fixed lens thing happening, produces square photos, and has no ability to adjust the lighting – what you see is what you shoot is what you get. It has a range of flashes that are supposed to produce different lighting effects as well.
The beauty of the app that I never got with the trusty old gaf (which I used until I was 18) is the wide range of lenses (or filters) and different films that you can use to create different effects.
So first up today is a little montage of my camera, using the same Ina’s 1969 film in all shots, but with the seven different Hipstamatic lenses that I have at the moment, plus the one from the normal phone camera as a comparison.
And then some of the photos that I took this week.
Bear in mind that for the outdoors one, it was quite glary and I really couldn’t see what I was shooting on my screen, so it was very much point, shoot and hope. And at times, I couldn’t get as close to the subject as I wanted to. As a result, the composition isn’t always ideal, but it’s certainly taught me a lot about this app and I intend to go back and try again soon. Unimaginatively, they were all taken using the John S lens.
I reprocessed this one, because the bird was just too
far away and was the whole point of the photo

Hobart

Hobart

Hobart

I love the reflections in this one, but not the
side of the dock – lots of the photos had that
problem because I couldn’t see what I was shooting.

Franklin Square

Juniordwarf – not sure I like the green tinge. Normal flash.

River

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