Closeup Image Tip for iPhone 5

image 2: closeup photo

Making closeup images (ref image 2) has been a challenging skill to master with my smartphone. I have been Googling the web for tips on how to create good closeups. I do not want to buy a lens for the phone's camera. I would never have it when I needed it.

image 3: AE/AF Locked

One trick I learned about was to lock the AE/AF by just holding my finger on the screen for several seconds. A box (ref image 1) will appear on the screen under your finger. When the lock feature is turned on, that box will flicker and the words "AE/AF Lock" (ref image 3) will appear on the bottom of the screen above the home button. A single tap of the screen with your finger unlocks it. The trick to making better closeups is focal point. If you hold your hand in front of the smartphone's front lens and hold your finger on the screen just right, the camera will focus on your hand. When the camera's AE/AF in the locked state, you can move the phone's camera lens in the correct location near the part of the plant of object you want to take the image of and make sure its focused by moving the camera to the correct distance way from your subject and it will be in focus.

image 1: that box will blink
when AE/AF is locked

The hard part is to be able to see the screen in adverse lighting conditions. If you want to get technical, try this tip: I am experimenting with holding a ruler and measuring the focal distance from between my hand initially prior to AE/AF locking. Then, moving the ruler to try and measure the distance between what I want to photograph and the camera lens.

You just have to practice. I am still learning. Auto focus is not always my favorite feature.



+Michelle Li , +Anthony Martin

iPad Tips and Tricks

iPad Tips and Tricks

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Back to Work After the Holidays

Hope your first week back from the Christmas Break was fruitful. Here is another excellent iPad app for creative teachers with iPads. 

"Millennia ago, all you needed to get a point across to your buddies was charcoal and a cave wall or a pointy stick and some sand. Now, we sit for hours crafting passive-aggressive emails to make a point that once was communicated with an arrow and a grunt. There’s beauty in that simplicity. Let’s return to it."

image source: http://blog.evernote.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/skitch_ipad_screens4.png 

The iPad 2 is a great tool with a cable connected to your data projector with the Skitch app. The iPad 2's mirroring feature allows teachers to use maps, diagrams, scanned pages, document, pdf and annotate and highlight important points. Students can share their mastery of concepts with a quick presentation using Skitch on the teacher's iPad. Nothing new in this strategy. However, when teachers can post this illustrated lesson on their wiki or in their digital locker for students that missed the lesson or for review before the EOG this helps students and even parents. In the classroom, Apple has a device called Apple TV that wirelessly connects the iPad and a data projector, interactive white board, or a classroom HDTV. They use AirPlay which is a slick feature of iOS on the MacBook, iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone. This seamless integration is what makes it a classroom tool-- when the wifi works and your battery is not dead. Students can create presentations using this "tactile annotation"tool. Skitch is also available for MacBook.

To share the Skitch documents, Evernote can be used. Evernote is another app teachers like using to share learning and organize their digital library of documents.  

Read more about Skitch for iPad on Andrew Sinkov's blog post http://blog.evernote.com/2011/12/21/skitch-for-ipad-is-here/

Continue the conversation on Twitter by following @cmshelpdesk and Like my "Central Middle School Center for Digital Learning" Facebook page.

First Sunday of December

I have not gotten in the spirit of the season. Maybe it is because I have not helped put up any decorations. So, on my todo list I am informally listing: pray, eat, take a nap, go to a party, and move tree out of storage room.

It's the first Sunday of December.

Really?

Already?