1. Editing On-the-Go
The iPad is never going to replace a desktop computer for photo editing. However, it does come in handy when you are looking to quickly edit a few pictures. I recently traveled home for the holidays. My parents wanted a picture for their Christmas card. I was able to quickly take a picture on my Canon 5d MarkII. Then I connected my camera directly into the iPad using the Apple iPad Camera Connection Kit. The kit allowed me to download any of the pictures from my camera to my iPad. Apple makes this whole process very easy and seamless.
Once the pictures are on your iPad, there are lots of great apps you can use to edit your photos. I encourage you to download a number of apps and figure out which ones work best for you and your style.
Here are a few of my favorite iPad apps for photo editing:
- PS Express – Allows you to do basic editing like crop, contrast, sharpen, and add borders.
- Filterstorm – This is probably my favorite photo editing app. It allows for more advanced editing like adding text, canvas size, editing the curves, redeye, and it even allows for layers.
- PhotoFX – If you are looking to just add a quick effect (glamour, faded, film, etc.) to your picture, this is the app for you.
2. Client Viewing
The iPad has great screen resolution and a wide viewing angle (meaning you can have multiple people looking at it from different angles and they can all see the same thing). This makes the iPad perfect for client viewings!
Here are a few ways to display your images on the iPad for your clients:
- Built-In Photo Slideshow – Create an album with your client’s pictures on the iPad. Then, click the slideshow button – yes, it is that simple!
- Smugmug – Smugmug is an online image hosting service for photographers that allows photographers to sell their images. Since I use this service and my photos are already uploaded to Sumgmug this is my preferred way to display images. Smugmug also has a slideshow feature.
3. Accepting Payments
Say goodbye to the, “I don’t have any cash” excuse! The iPad allows you to take payments using tools like Square. It is free to get an account and a credit card reader from Square. They do charge a small fee to use the service, but in my mind, the convenience is with the price!
4. Handy Tools
Since the iPad connects to the internet, there are a lot of tools and apps you can use that relate to your business.
Here are a few tools that I use:
- White noise app – I love using the WhiteNoise Light app during my newborn sessions.
- Music – I use Pandora for all non-newborn sessions.
- Weather – You can check the weather and sunrise/sunset easily using The Weather Channel for iPad app.
- Appointments – Use the integrated calendar to say on top of all your bookings.
- Learning – You can subscribe to photography magazines, purchase photography books digitally, or just follow your favorite blogs.
5. Marketing
Where would your business be if you didn’t market it?!
The iPad has lots of tools to help photographers with marketing. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Twitter – The Twitter iPad app takes Twitter to the next level!
- Facebook – The Facebook iPad app allows you to quickly and easily add pictures and messages to your Facebook Fan page.
- Flickr – The Flickr iPad app lets you easily upload pictures to your Flickr account.
- WordPress – Update your blog in real time using the WordPress iPad app.
The iPad is so versatile I’m sure that there are more uses for the iPad in photography that I didn’t cover. Leave a comment below with your favorite use!
This blog post is brought to you by KristeenMarie Photography. Be sure to check her out on Facebook. Kristeen is an Indianapolis, IN Photographer who loves ice tea, the color purple, technology, and small children. She loves many things in life – though there are not many that she loves more than photography. She loves life and wants to capture every bit of it using her camera.
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