SynthCam – iPhoneography App – Now Free
What’s SynthCam about? There are lots of apps out there that capture a single image and blur it to simulate a shallow depth of field. This app is different. Every 30th of a second it captures a video frame, tracks the object you pointed at, aligns it to the same object in previous frames you captured, and blends the frames together. You don’t see this happening, and you don’t see the result until you press Pause, but your iPhone is very, very busy. By the way, the native iPhone camera app lets you touch to focus, and objects you don’t focus on are blurry. But because the iPhone’s lens is small these objects are not very blurry. Using this app, you can create a much shallower depth of field. The tradeoff is that the output image is HD video resolution, not still photo resolution.
– SynthCam now offers multi-point focusing and tilted focal planes. The( number icon on the toolbar cycles through 1, 2, 3, and 4-point modes. In( each mode the solid square shows where the camera itself is metering and( focusing, and the open reticles show other points the app is tracking and( keeping sharp. These squares and reticles can be moved or resized by( dragging or pinching them.
Multi-point focusing not only lets you align the focal plane with any( collection of objects in the scene; it also lets you simulate a tilt-shift( lens. To do this, place 2 or 3 points along a line through the scene, then( rotate the phone slowly and continuously while recording. With some practice you can take pictures that make the world look like a miniature model.
This app has some great features, if you would like to try it out, just click here.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photography journalist, editor, curator, and the founder of *TheAppWhisperer.com*, one of the world’s leading platforms dedicated to mobile photography and art. Since its launch in 2009, TheAppWhisperer has become an international hub for artists of all levels to discover, learn, exhibit, and engage with contemporary photographic practice.Built on principles of inclusivity, accessibility, and artistic excellence, Joanne has spent almost two decades championing mobile photography as a serious artistic medium. Through interviews, critical essays, exhibitions, competitions, and education, she has helped shape and document the evolution of mobile art on a global scale.Her work has taken her internationally, lecturing on photography and mobile art at institutions and events including the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, alongside appearances in the UK and Europe. She has served as a juror for international photography and mobile art awards across Portugal, Canada, the United States, South Korea, Italy, and the UK.Joanne is also the founder of *TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com*, one of the first online galleries dedicated exclusively to collectible mobile art, connecting artists with collectors across Europe, the United States, and Asia.Before founding TheAppWhisperer, Joanne worked extensively in print journalism and photographic publishing, including roles at a paparazzi photo agency and as deputy editor of a leading photography magazine. Her freelance journalism, criticism, and commentary have been published widely in both the UK and the US, with bylines in *The Times*, *The Sunday Times*, *The Guardian*, *Popular Photography*, *NikonPro*, *DPReview*, *Which?*, *Vogue Italia*, *LensCulture*, the *BBC*, and more recently, the *Financial Times*, where her published letters on photography continue to contribute to wider conversations around the medium.Alongside her editorial and curatorial work, Joanne’s own photographic practice has been exhibited internationally across the UK, Europe, South Korea, and the United States. Her work increasingly explores themes of grief, loss, death, memory, and the body.Her current research interests centre on grief, death, and poverty, with forthcoming postgraduate study leading towards doctoral research in these areas.Joanne is currently developing new long-form writing and photographic projects and is available for commissions, editorial projects, speaking engagements, and collaborations.Contact: joannetheappwhisperer@gmail.com)
