Cheese! Snap, edit and post in an instant.

It sometimes amazes the tools I have at my fingers tips for doing things that a few years ago just were not possible. This photo of my two-month-old niece was taken last night. Her aunties were having a great time dressing her up. I quickly grabbed my Nikon and fired off a few shots. Babies aren't the most co-operative subjects so this is the best photo of the few I shot. The aunties ( and uncles ) loved the photograph so I was obliged to share.

A few years ago, sharing would have meant, waiting until I got home to import the photo to my computer, doing some selective editing, launching the email app and sending off an attachment. But now, now I can do that entire process in just a few minutes.

The process was quick and simple. I attached the iPad Camera Connection Kit to my iPad and imported the photo to the Photos apps. I then edited the photo in Snapseed, cropping and adding some selective blurring. I saved the processed image back to the Photos apps and added it to an existing Photo Stream -- one I had created a few weeks after my niece was born. The Photo Stream is shared with all the immediate family1. If the family member has an iPhone or iPad ( there is at least one in each household ) with iCloud enabled they get a notification. If that family member has Mac with iPhoto2 they can sync a copy of the photo to their library. Even better, if they have an Apple TV they can watch the photos via their big flatscreen HDTV. Family members who haven't become wise to Apple products can still view the photos via a ... browser.

I could have taken the photo with my iPhone 5 and shared directly with them but I wanted to use the more powerful features of my DSLR. The iPad, iCloud and the iPad Camera Connection Kit enabled me to make my DSLR photography as instant as I want it to be.


  1. I could just have easily shared the photo to Facebook but Photo Stream allows the full resolution image to be downloaded. I also don't have to be concerned about privacy. 
  2. OS X Mountain Lion, iPhoto '11, and a free iCloud account are required. 

Author: Khürt Williams

A human who works in information security and enjoys photography, Formula 1 and craft ale. #nobridge

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