Phoster App Review

So this is my second app review.  Again, a little thought went into the decision of which app I wanted to review, and Phoster came out on top.  And yes, again, this app isn't free. I realise that 98% of my apps are free and with them I have so much fun, but this one is definitely worth the £1.49 from the app store - link here. 

My review may not be as polished or as perfect as others found on the interwebs, but I'm mainly commenting on what I find interesting and useful, which in turn makes these reviews far easier to write!

This app was created to allow users to make and publish posters, invitations and other related material.  Through the use of templates, one can create some very eye-catching images that probably look more professional than they actually are.  I'll go through the steps of using this app and hopefully, anyone who is contemplating whether or not to get this app will then positively decide to go for it!

First things first, select 'create new' to open a new project. You'll then be faced with the mammoth task of choosing a template for your project.  There are currently 82 different templates to chose from, all with slightly different layouts, fonts, colours, themes, etc.  To begin with, I would advise you simply pick any of them, just to get a hang of the user interface and controls.  After that, you need to pick them really due to the fonts used.  I will go into that later.

Once you've chosen your template, it will ask you to insert an image either using your camera or one previously taken.  Hopefully these screens shots (left and right) will work with the text - like I said, I'm no professional reviewer by any stretch of the imagination!  OK then, to the right, you'll see the photo that I've added in the background.  You can use the finger-pinch technique to make the photo larger, smaller, etc.

Now the fun begins!

The 4 buttons at the bottom are used for the following: Change the photo (Camera icon).  Editing the contrast, brightness and saturation of the photo (3 slider icon).  Edit the text (T icon) and change the text colours (paint icon).  Assuming that you're happy with the picture, leave these buttons alone and concentrate on the poster itself.  Tap on the text and your keyboard pops up (see left image).  Here you can change the text, the font size, the font colour and the font itself.  You can also delete lines using the little 'x' as well.  Once happy with the text, click Done.  You can then tap + hold the text you want to move - here ----->

Once you're done with the editing, you can now click next.  Your poster will then go into its final stage whereby you can chose what type of finish you want.  Anything from normal (no edit) to vignetting, poster fold marks and various dots and patterns can be added here.  Then, simply save it to your camera roll, email it, twitter, facebook or instagram it!  It really couldnt be any simpler!  I've used this app greatly now, most of the results you can see on my photo blog (link below).

christophecarty.blogspot.com

It really is fun and simple to use.  The fact that you have to pay for it just means that the updates via the app store give you more than you would usually get from free apps.  I've only had the app a little while now, and the first update added more templates which is always nice to see.  One issue I have with Phoster is that not all images within the templates are movable.  Lines and other images will not move and you cannot delete them either as you can with text.  In fact, it is only text that you can alter....Hopefully this will change with an update.

My overall verdict is that I simply love this app.  It is very classy and simple to use.  The controls are not cluttered and templates are diverse enough to give everyone something that they may use.  I would have given this app a 9/10, but the fact you cant change certain parts of some templates is still an issue.  Hopefully they will change this!  I do still strongly recommend you get this app if you are into editing and having fun with photos.  For now at least...it gets a very worthy:

8/10

R O M E O 

Adsense Earnings...

I thought I would mention Adsense as I am new here, inexperienced and in need of advice.  I started this blogging as a means to show people my photos and a little bit about myself.  I have read hundreds of blogs and seen a lot of vlogs and I love the community that appears to be circling around here.  I love how blunt people are and how we're generally not afraid of voicing our opinions online due to the protection that anonymity brings.  I then came across Adsense (Google) and the small possibility that you can earn 'real' money through advertising.  So I decided to set up my Google Adsense profile and see exactly what all the hype was about.

Now, I'm still very new to this and I only get a couple of views a day with even fewer 'clicks' on my adverts.  However, in principal, it would appear that there is potential to using this scheme.  I think that every new blogger needs to realise that this isn't an over-night, get rick quick method - but instead simply start blogging because you have something you want to say or share with the 'community'.

Wishing for more clicks... Adsense works on the idea that the more people who click on your adverts, the more revenue you will receive.  But over at Google; they're not stupid.  They keep a close eye on your links, your content and 'you' in general.  You are not allowed to ask people to click on your ads, nor can you click on them yourselves - obviously.  The grey area comes when discussing methods on creating more traffic to your blog and ways of making your ads more appealing...

The best answer for this... make your blog as interesting, relevant and exciting as possible.  By doing that, Google will 'make' you more searchable, more people will find you, and you will get those all important clicks! Visit other peoples blogs and see what they're doing, click on their ads and maybe Karma will have it that one day, these people may click on your ads in return...


Here are some links to other blogs which have some good Adsense tips and tricks...


http://www.wolf-howl.com/22/google-adsense-tips-tricks-and-secrets/
http://www.problogger.net/archives/2010/02/08/9-tricks-i-used-to-triple-my-adsense-earnings-in-30-days/
What not to do: http://google.about.com/od/adsense/tp/adsensedonts.htm

Finger Focus iPhone App Review

F I N G E R   F O C U S 

So this is my first app review and after a little contemplation, I decided to review the Finger Focus App.  Link here for Apple's review on this app.  Out of all the apps on my phone (4S), the Finger Focus app is one of the only apps that I payed for.  I say payed for - it cost £0.69 which didn't exactly break the bank!

Finger Focus allows you to create a blurred effect on photos in your camera roll or on a photo taken within the app.  The user interface is incredibly simple with only a few different settings that you can play around with.  

Why create blurry photos?  This app isn't there to ruin your photos by blurring them...obviously!  This app is simply brilliant at creating a depth of field for your photos.  Now, I don't claim for a second to know much about photography, but I know what looks good when I see it - in my eyes anyway.  Creating a depth of field is essential when you want to hi-light or emphasize an object in your photo.  This app can also be used as a tilt-shift generator which can give the 'model toy' impression.  

Lets look at how this app works.  Again, its so simple that I doubt this will take very long!

First choose your photo - either an existing one or take one within the app...

Along the bottom of the interface are a further 4 buttons.  The first deals with saturation/brightness/ contrast.  The second allows you to change the brush size, change background colour (I'm using red as you will see) and amount of blur.  The third button gives you all your saving options - including an email function and add to twitter link.  Finally, there is the settings tab.  Here you can change the resolution (I use full size) and there is a handy operation guide for first time users and those wanting to get a little more from the app.

OK...now that you have chosen a photo or taken a new picture, the app will automatically convert the entire photo to a blur:

Now simply decide which part of the photo you would like to draw attention to and 'paint' with your finger.  You can use the normal 2-finger pinch/expand technique to zoom in or out.  In the top right-hand corner of the screen there is a small tab that will let you undo any unwanted actions.  In this example, I wanted to hi-light the large leaf.  Once you start hi-lighting the area you want to be un-blurred, the remainder of the image with show up in which ever colour you decide - again, I chose red to make it clearer for me:

Once you've finished, saving your photo or emailing it couldn't be simpler.  I found this app truly brilliant for introducing a bit of depth to iPhone photos.  You can always add further editing via other apps once you've finished with this one too.  Personally I love this app.  I know its not free, which might put people off, but I say "go for it!"  I'll add a few examples of me using this app, they're not brilliant, but you should get the idea...

Pros: Simple to use, effective results.
Cons: Everything's better when its free!

App Rating:  9/10 


Here are a few examples of how I use the Finger Focus app....