Decluttering Your iPhone & iPad

With the sheer number of apps available, it's fun and often inexpensive to try out new, exciting apps. It can easily become a bit of an addiction (do you ever feel like an appoholic?), and you wind up with so many apps that your smartphone (or tablet) becomes a cluttered mess. 

Just like on your computer, unused software takes up extra room on your tablet or smartphone’s storage and makes it harder to find the apps you do use. Cleaning out and organising the apps you use frequently makes it easier for you to focus and find what you need and enjoy to use. It also frees up extra space and helps your device run smoother.

Decluttering your iPhone. Deleting apps you no longer use. 

Deleting Unused Apps

To uninstall apps on your iOS device (iPhone, iPod or iPad), press and hold the app you want to remove until it "wobbles" and then tap the small “X” that appears in the corner to uninstall it. 

What if I Change my Mind? 

If you change your mind you can restore an app that you used to have, directly from your iPhone, iPod or iPad. You won't be charged twice for an app or in-app purchase, provided you use the same iTunes account login. Open the App Store, search for the app and reinstall it. It’s that easy. 

How to Automatically Backup Your Mobile Photos With Dropbox

Camera phones make it so easy to take photos when the moment strikes. Chances are that you're carrying your cell phone with you at all times, but not your camera, which is one of the reasons that mobile photography makes it so convenient to take photos on the go. 

The only snag is that it's easy to lose your smart phone, and with it your photos. But what if you could wirelessly save your photos and videos to the cloud, and access them later on from any device? Thanks to Dropbox that's possible. 

Backing up your photos with Dropbox

How you get started started backing up your photos and videos with Dropbox on your mobile device

Begin by installing the free mobile Dropbox app on your smart phone. There are mobile versions for iPhone, iPod, iPad, Android and Blackberry. 

Next click the Dropbox icon on your screen, you'll see a welcome message with two options to select either logging in as a Dropbox user or creating a free account as a new user. 

When you log in to Dropbox for the first time, you'll be asked if you want to save your photos to Dropbox. You can choose to save all your photos and videos or only new ones. Now Dropbox will backup your images when you're connected to WI-FI. 

Dropbox

Your photos and videos will now be synced to all your devices. Not only will you have access to your photos in your pocket all the time, but you'll also be able to reach your photos from your Mac, Windows or Linux computer as well as all your mobile devices. 

You might also like to take a look at our Free Tutorials, App Tips and Guides for Mobile Photography and Art. 

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How to Use Multi-Touch Gestures on your iPhone, iPod and iPad

Tomorrow, after all of the presents have been unwrapped and you’re snuggling on the sofa with your new iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad, you might have many questions, especially if you’re new to Apple’s wonderful touchscreen devices. If you’ve never used any type of touchscreen device, you are delving into a whole new world, and we know you’re going to love it as much as we do. In any case, there are many touchscreen gestures that you will see referenced in the apps that you download and in the instructions for your device. Here are some of the basic gestures that we thought would help get you started:

There are so many things that you can do with these devices, that they can't all be included in one blog post. You might want to check out previous posts like, How to Save an Image or How to Change the Wallpaper. These two can be used together so that you can save an image and use it as wallpaper on your device.

There are more posts like this to come, and here you'll find a roundup of all our guides, app tips and tutorials. You can also sign-up to be a member of Club Marmalade Moon to be one of the first to be notified on the latest blog posts and courses.

Happy Holidays to you all!

About the Author: Jennifer Lynn Bishop is a freelance graphic designer, artist, and iPhoneographer. Follow her artistic journey at Rainy Day Doodle.

How to Save an Image to your iPhone, iPod or iPad ​

Saving pictures from websites or emails on to the iPad, iPod touch or iPhone is very easy and comes in handy when you want to change your wallpaper or create mobile art. 

How To Save Images from Your Browser

1. From Safari, navigate to the image you want to save
2. Tap and hold on the image until the pop-up selection menu appears, then tap “Save Image”
3. You'll find the saved image on your Photos app

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How to Save Images from Your Email

1. Open the email with the images
2. Tap and hold on an image and select “Save Image” from the pop-up menu. If there are several images and you want to save them all, tap “Save # Images”
3. Open your Photos app to find the images you saved 

How to save images from Safari to your iPhone, iPod and iPad

How to save images from email to your iPhone, iPod and iPad

Take a look at our roundup of all our Free Guides, Tutorials and App Tips for Mobile Photography and Art. 

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How to Change the Wallpaper on your iPhone, iPod and iPad

One of the fun things about the iPhone (iPad and iPod touch) is that you can customise the wallpaper to make your device personal. It can be a fun way to express your personal taste. You could use a photo you've taken yourself, or find a wallpaper you like at one of the many online resources for wallpapers, save it to your device and use it as a backdrop.  

There are actually two different kinds of wallpaper you can change. First the Lock Screen, the screen that you see when you wake up your iPhone to unlock it. Next the Home Screen, the image you see behind your apps. You can either use the same image for both screens, or use different ones for each screen. 

How to set your wallpaper

1. Tap on Settings
2. In the Settings screen select Brightness & Wallpaper
3. Tap Wallpaper
4. Now you'll have several options. This includes Wallpaper (Apple's pre-installed selection of Wallpapers), Camera Roll (pictures taken with your built-in camera), photos taken with any photo apps, or the names of folders you've synced to the phone. Pick the collection you want to use as a wallpaper by tapping it
5. Select the image you'd like to use as a wallpaper by tapping it. If it's a photo, you can adjust the photo by moving and scaling it (if it's one of the built in wallpapers, you can't zoom in or adjust it). When you're happy, tap Set (or Cancel if you change your mind).
6. Next, choose if you want to set this image for your home screen, lock screen, or both. Tap the option you prefer, or tap Cancel if you've changed your mind.

You're done! 

Tip

You can make a photo library in iTunes for your iPhone wallpapers and name it something like iPhone Wallpapers to easily find wallpapers you want to use on your iPhone.

Check out more of our Free Tips, Guides and Tutorials for Mobile Photography and Art. 

Keeping an iPhoneography Journal

iPhone art and photography is a lot of fun and I learn something new every single day, and sometimes every hour! The biggest lesson I have learned is that even though it is fun to create interesting art on your iPhone, it is also easy to forget the steps you took to edit them later. For this reason, I started a notebook to remember the various effects and adjustments I make in my iPhoneography.

At first you might feel that it is a lot of work and think, “Eh, I’ll remember all the steps.” But trust me. There will be a moment when you are looking at multiple folders full of photography apps on your device and you might say something like, “Which one of these apps had the sepia filter that I used in the photo of that old church?”

It is up to you how much information you want to document, but here is what I keep track of in mine:

• Image Name or Description
• App Name
• Crop size
• Resolution
• Color Adjustments
• Filters used
• Strength of filter
• Other adjustments made (i.e. contrast, focus, blur, etc)
• Frame type (if used)

The type of notebook you keep is whatever works for you.

You may like a pocketsize book that you can easily keep with you at all times, or maybe you prefer a larger notebook with lots of room to write. Some like to keep everything in the cloud, so you could use an app like Notes that is already installed on your iPhone or Evernote, which is a great notes app.

I recommend that if you choose an app for your journal, that you write the steps down on paper and transfer them to your notes app after you’ve saved your final photo. When you close or minimize some apps in the middle of editing to document steps in another app, the editing app may not save the photo and when you go back to continue editing, your work is gone and you’ll have to start all over again. Sometimes I use two or more apps to edit my images, so I tend to jump around a bit and the last thing I want to do is lose any of the work I have done!

Whether you choose a beautiful notebook with daisies on the cover, an app on your iphone, or even a dated scratch piece of paper thrown in a box with many others, take the time to document your creative journey.

Even if you don't use the same steps again, it might be fun to record your creative journey and make a scrapbook journal to enjoy later! 

About the Author: Jennifer Lynn Bishop is a freelance graphic designer, artist, and iPhoneographer. Follow her artistic journey at Rainy Day Doodle 

Here's a roundup of all our Free Guides, Tutorials and App Tips for Mobile Photography and Art. 

How to Use Flickr

I've been getting a lot of questions about how to use Flickr so I thought I'd put together this introduction for how to get started using Flickr.

What is Flickr?

Flickr is a popular online photo-sharing website that’s free to join. With Flickr you can upload photos to your own gallery, and choose if you want to keep them private or share them. You can share your photos, explore other's photos, participate in the online community and bloggers can use Flickr to host images that they embed into their blogs. 

How to open a free Flickr account

To open a new account go to www.flickr.com and click on the ‘Sign Up’ button. You can sign in using Google, Yahoo or Facebook IDs.

if you already have one of these IDs, you’ll be able to use that to sign in. If not, click ’Don't have a Yahoo ID?’ to sign up for a Yahoo account. Sign in with your new Yahoo ID and password.  

Choose your Flickr screen name and click ‘Create a new account’ and you're done! 

Personalising your Flickr Profile

After you've signed up for your Flickr account, you might want to personalise it.

Click on ’You’ > ’Profile’ and in the sidebar you'll find options for how to edit your profile information, your profile privacy, buddy icon and  screen name as well as how to hide your profile from searches.

How do I add my photos to Flickr?

To add photos, choose  ‘Upload’, and drag the photos you want to add from your desktop. 

How do I share a photo with a group?

The easiest way to add a photo to a group is to go to the photo's page and click the ’Add to a Group’ link in the actions menu. Then choose the group you want to add it to. (You can only add photos to groups that you're a member of.)

Can I share my images in a group, but keep them private so others don't see them?

You can post your images to a group privately, without adding all the group members to your contacts. When you upload, you can check the box that says "Public" or "Private". Private photos are completely hidden from everyone except you, (but if you would like them to be visible to your family or friends, check those boxes). You can then add your photo to our group's photo pool that every member of the group can see. You can change the privacy of something at any time by clicking on the red (for private) or green (for public) button. 

How can I be notified when my friends and contacts post new images and comments?

If you'd like an email about new activity on your photostream or new photos from your contacts you can set these up in email notifications. You can choose how often they're sent, immediately, daily, or weekly.

Help, I've been invited to a Flickr group but I can't find my invitation?

Check here to see your invitations.

How can I save an image that's posted on Flickr?

Click the magnifying glass icon. When a dark screen with the picture shows click the “View all sizes” button. Select the largest size. This isn't possible on an iPhone or iPad as far as I know, but you can use this technique on a computer.

I use my iPhone as my camera. What's the easiest and best way for me to use Flickr on my iPhone?

There are several Flickr apps, and Flickr's own, free app works beautifully. Another possibility is the practical and intuitive FlickrStackr. Elegant interface and helpful tooltips that help you to get started with ease. 

Using Flickr for a Course

We've been using private groups on Flickr as our online course space for the Creative iPhoneography courses. These groups are only open to participants of our course, and enable us to share our images, our creative process, connect, and collaborate. Keeping this vulnerable part of the creative process safe and private. 

Find out more about Sharing and Creating your images on your smartphone or iPad.  

The Ease of iPhoneography

Effortless and Easy

iPhoneography offers an easy way to slip a creative layer onto your life. All you need is an iPhone.

You don't need a space like a studio or a workbench. No need to wait for paint and glue to dry. Your cat won't leave paw prints in your artwork. You won't need tools or materials like an easel, clay, wood, paints, guitar strings or yarn. No toxic ingredients. You don't need huge, uninterrupted blocks of time. All it takes is a few minutes here and there. You can even edit your iPhoneography on the go. On the bus. While you wait for something. Or in the comfort of your home. You don't need to have an idea to start with, you can simply look around you to see what catches your interest.

The ease and convenience of having your creative tool in your pocket, packed all into your iPhone makes it so simple to get started and to build momentum.

Visual Poetry Is Everywhere

The photo above is a shot of the rusty wall of a pump house. Sunlit and with the shadows of pine trees cast onto it. When you start learning techniques for opening your eyes to your surroundings and becoming more aware of it, you'll find beauty, interest, small dreamscapes, visual poetry, humour, abstractions and human moments all around you. All you need to do is to see it and capture it with your iPhone.

Start Building Your Own Momentum

Find out more about building momentum and finding your own unique style for iPhoneography with one of my courses, take a look at our library of free resources or join Club Marmalade Moon to get all my new releases.