iPad For Seniors For Dummies, 8th Edition (2016)

Part III. Having Fun and Consuming Media

Chapter 12. Playing with Photos

Get ready to …

· Take Pictures with the iPad Cameras

· Import Photos from a Digital Camera

· Save Photos from the Web

· View an Album

· View Individual Photos

· Edit Photos

· Organize Photos

· View Photos by Year and Location

· Share Photos with Mail, Twitter, and Facebook

· Share Photos with AirDrop

· Share Photos with iCloud Photo Sharing

· Print Photos

· Run a Slideshow

· Delete Photos

· Shoot Videos

With its gorgeous screen, the iPad is a natural for taking and viewing photos. It supports most common photo formats, such as JPEG, TIFF, and PNG. You can shoot your photos by using the iPad’s built-in cameras with built-in square or panorama modes, and you can edit your images using smart adjustment filters. You can also sync photos from your computer, iPhone, or digital camera. You can save images you find online or receive by email or Messages to your iPad. You can then share photos with groups of people using Photo Stream and your iCloud Photo Library, which makes storing and sharing easier.

The rear-facing camera is a built-in 8 megapixel iSight camera on all three iPad models. The camera comes with an illumination sensor that adjusts for whatever lighting is available. Face detection balances focus across as many as ten faces in your pictures. The video camera option offers 1080p high-definition (HD) video recording with video stabilization that makes up for some shaking as you hold the device to take videos. Newer video recording features you’ll want to check out are time-lapse and Slo-mo videos.

When you have photos to play with, the Photos app lets you organize photos and view photos in albums, individually, or in a slideshow. You can also view photos by the years they were taken, with images divided into collections based on where or when you took them. You can also AirDrop, email, message, or post photos to Facebook; tweet photos to friends; print photos; or use your expensive gadget as an electronic picture frame. Finally, you can create time-lapse videos with the Camera app, allowing you to record a sequence in time, such as a flower opening up as the sun warms it. You can read about all these features in this chapter.

Take Pictures with the iPad Cameras

1. The cameras in the iPad are just begging to be used. Tap the Camera app on the Home screen to open it.

2. The orange highlighted word below the Capture button (see Figure 12-1) is the active setting. Slide it to Photo if it’s not already set there.

3. You can set the Square option by sliding down. This setting lets you create square images like those you see on the popular Instagram site. Sliding one setting further down sets the camera to take a panoramic view; you begin to capture an image, move the camera across the view, and then tap Done to capture a pano image.

4. With the active setting at Photo, move the camera around until you find a pleasing image.

5. You can do a couple of things at this point to help you take your photo:

· Tap the area of the grid where you want the camera to autofocus.

· If you want a time delay before the camera snaps the picture, tap the Time Delay button near the top right of the screen and then tap 3s or 10s for a 3- or 10-second delay.

· Pinch the screen to display a zoom control and then drag the circle in the zoom bar to the right or left to zoom in or out on the image.

6. Press the Capture button on the right-center side of the screen and release it when you have the image in view. You’ve just taken a picture (refer to Figure 12-1), and that picture has been stored in the Photos app’s gallery automatically.

tip You can also use the up switch on the volume buttons on the right side of your iPad to capture a picture or start or stop video camera recording.

7. Tap the icon in the top-right corner to switch between the front camera and rear camera. Now you can take selfies (pictures of yourself, as the camera is now facing you); so go ahead and press the Capture button to take another picture.

8. To view the last photo taken, tap the thumbnail of the latest image in the bottom-right corner of the screen. The Photos app opens and displays the photo (see Figure 12-2).

9. Tap the Done button to return to the Camera app.

10. Press the Home button to close the Camera app and return to the Home screen.

Figure 12-1

Figure 12-2

tip If you want to capture a series of photos in rapid succession, which can help you get the right shot, especially when your subject is in motion, use the Burst feature in your iPad (this feature wasn’t available on iPad mini 2 but is with iPad mini 4). Simply press and hold the Capture button while aiming at your subject, and iPad continuously snaps photos. This feature is called Burst mode.

tip You can use the iCloud Photo Library feature to automatically sync your photos with your iCloud account and share them among your various Apple devices. Turn on iCloud Photo Library by tapping Settings on the Home screen; then tap Photos & Camera and tap to turn the iCloud Photo Library on.

Import Photos from a Digital Camera

1. Your computer isn’t the only photo source available to you. You can also import photos from a digital camera if you buy the iPad Camera Connection Kit from Apple. The kit contains two adapters (see Figure 12-3): a USB Camera Connector to import photos from a digital camera or an iPhone/iPod touch, and an SD Card Reader to import image files from an SD card.

2. Insert the USB Camera Connector into the Lightning Connector slot of your iPad.

3. Connect the USB end of the cord that came with your digital camera into the USB Camera Connector.

4. Connect the other end of the cord that came with your iPad into that device.

5. Wake your iPad. The Photos app opens and displays the photos on the digital camera.

6. Tap Import All on your iPad or — if you want to import only selected photos — tap those photos and then tap Import. A prompt asks if you want to delete or keep the images on the media. Make your choice at the prompt and the photos are saved to the Last Import album.

7. Disconnect the cord and the adapter. You’re done!

Figure 12-3

tip You can also import photos stored on a secure digital (SD) memory card that you purchase, often used by digital cameras as a storage medium. Simply put the iPad to sleep, insert the SD Card Reader into the iPad, insert the SD card containing the photos, and then follow Steps 5 through 7 in the preceding list.

tip Remember that with AirDrop on a recent iPad model, you can quickly send photos directly from your iPad to your recent model iPhone, another iPad, or a Mac as long as the devices are within about 12 feet of each other.

Save Photos from the Web

1. The web offers a wealth of images you can download to your Photo Library. Open Safari, and navigate to the web page containing the image you want.

2. Press and hold the image. A menu appears, as shown in Figure 12-4.

3. Tap Save Image. The image is saved to your Recently Added album in the Photos app.

Figure 12-4

tip For more about how to use Safari to navigate to or search for web content, see Chapter 5.

tip Many sites protect their photos from being copied by applying an invisible overlay. This blank overlay image ensures that you don’t actually get the image you’re tapping. Even if a site doesn’t take these precautions, be sure that you don’t save images from the web and use them in ways that violate the rights of the person or entity that owns them.

View an Album

1. The Photos app organizes your pictures into albums, using such criteria as the folder on your computer from which you synced the photos or photos captured with the iPad’s camera. You may also have albums for images you synced from devices such as your iPhone or digital camera. To view your albums, start by tapping the Photos app icon on the Home screen.

2. Tap the Albums button to display your albums, as shown in Figure 12-5.

3. Tap an album. The photos in it are displayed.

Figure 12-5

View Individual Photos

1. Tap the Photos app icon on the Home screen. The Photos app opens.

2. Tap the Photos button at the bottom of the screen. Your photos are displayed by criteria, such as a time taken or location (see Figure 12-6).

3. To view a photo, from the Photos view, tap the photo to view it (see Figure 12-7). Place your fingers on the photo and then spread your fingers apart. The picture expands.

4. Flick your finger to the left or right to scroll through the album and look at the individual photos in it.

5. To reduce the individual photo and return to the multipicture view, place two fingers on the photo and then pinch them together. You can also tap the arrow button in the top-left corner (which may display different words depending on where you are in a collection of photos) to view the next-highest level of your photo collection.

Figure 12-6

Figure 12-7

tip A new feature called Live Photos lets you take photos on an iPhone and the 1.5 second of action on either side of the moment of capture is recorded. When you tap one of these photos in the Photos app on your iPad, it plays back like a very short video.

tip You can place a photo from the Photos app on a person’s information page in the Contacts app. For more about how to do it, see Chapter 18.

Edit Photos

1. The Photos app also lets you edit photos, and with iOS 8, several new editing tools appeared for you to work with, including smart adjustment filters and smart composition tools. Tap the Photos app on the Home screen to open it.

2. Using methods previously described in this chapter, locate and display a photo you want to edit.

3. Tap the Edit button. The Edit Photo screen shown in Figure 12-8 appears.

4. At this point, you can take a few possible actions:

· Enhance: Tap Enhance to turn it on or off. Enhance improves the overall “crispness” of the figure with one tap.

· Crop: To crop the photo to a portion of its original area, tap the Crop button. You can then tap any corner of the image and drag inward or outward to remove areas of the photo. Tap Crop and then Save to apply your changes.

· Filters: Apply any of nine filters such as Fade, Mono, or Noir to change the feel of your image. These effects adjust the brightness of your image or apply a black-and-white tone to your color photos. Tap the Filters button in the middle of the tools at the bottom of the screen and scroll to view available filters. Tap one and then tap Apply to apply the effect to your image.

· Adjustments: Tap Light, Color, or B&W to access a slew of tools that you can use to tweak contrast, color intensity, shadows, and more.

5. If you’re pleased with your edits, tap the Done button, and the edited photo is saved.

Figure 12-8

tip Each of the editing features has a Cancel, an Undo, and a Revert to Original button. If you don’t like the changes you made, tap these buttons to stop making changes or undo the changes you’ve already made.

Organize Photos

1. If you want to create your own album, display an existing album.

2. Tap the Select button in the top-right corner and then tap individual photos to select them. Small check marks appear on the selected photos (see Figure 12-9).

3. Tap the Add To button; then tap Add to Album (which appears only if you’ve previously created albums) or New Album.

4. Tap an existing album or enter a name for a new album (depending on your previous selection) and tap Save. When you create a new album, it appears in the Album screen with the other albums.

Figure 12-9

tip You can also tap the Share or Delete button after you select photos in Step 2 of this task. Doing this allows you to share or delete multiple photos at the same time.

View Photos by Year and Location

1. You can view your photos in logical categories such as Years and Moments. These so-called smart groupings let you, for example, view all photos taken by date or by a location where they were taken. Tap Photos on the Home screen to open the Photos app.

2. Tap Photos at the bottom of the screen. The display of photos by date appears (see Figure 12-10).

3. Tap the Collections button in the top-left corner, and you see collections of photos arranged by date range or location (see Figure 12-11).

4. Tap Years in the top-left corner and you see all your photos grouped by year taken.

Figure 12-10

Figure 12-11

tip To go back to larger groupings, such as from a moment in a collection to the larger collection to the entire past year, just keep tapping the Back button in the top-left corner of the screen (which will be named after the next collection up in the hierarchy, such as Collections or Years).

tip With all these photos available to you, you’ll need to be able to search a library for the one you want. From the Photos tab, tap the Search button at the top of the screen. A list of so-called “smart” suggestions appears. Tap on one of these suggestions, or enter the date or time of the photo, a location, or an album name such as “Vacation” in the Search field to locate the photo.

Share Photos with Mail, Twitter, and Facebook

1. You can easily share photos stored on your iPad by sending them as email attachments, posting them to Facebook, sharing them via iCloud Photo Sharing, via Flickr, or by tweeting them via Twitter. You have to go to Facebook or Twitter in a web browser and set up an account before you can use this feature. Next, tap the Photos app icon on the Home screen.

2. Tap the Photos or Albums button and locate the photo you want to share.

3. Tap the photo to select it and then tap the Share icon. (It looks like a box with an arrow jumping out of it.) The menu shown in Figure 12-12 appears.

4. Tap additional photos across the top to share if you wish, then tap Message, Mail, iCloud Photo Sharing, Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr.

5. In the message form that appears, make any modifications that apply in the To, Cc/Bcc, or Subject field; then type a message for email or enter your Facebook post or tweet text.

6. Tap the Send or Post button, depending on which sharing method you chose. The message and photo are sent or posted.

Figure 12-12

tip Using the options shown in Figure 12-12, you can also save a photo to a Notes document. Just tap Notes in that pop-up menu, add note text, and then choose New Note or an existing note to add the photo to.

Share Photos with AirDrop

1. AirDrop provides a way to share content such as photos with others who are nearby and who have AirDrop-enabled devices. Follow the steps in the previous task to locate a photo you want to share, and then tap the Share button.

2. If an AirDrop-enabled device is in your immediate vicinity (say, within 12 or so feet), you see the device listed at the top of the Share dialog. Tap the device name, and your photo is shared with the other device. The recipient has the option of accepting or declining the share.

tip Note that the other iOS device has to have AirDrop enabled (if an iPhone, it has to be an iPhone 5 or later) and has to be an Apple device running iOS 7 or later. To enable a device, open Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of any screen and then tap the AirDrop button in the bottom center of the screen to turn the feature on. Tap the AirDrop button at the bottom of the screen and choose Contacts Only or Everyone from the menu that appears to specify with whom you can use AirDrop.

See Chapter 2 for more about using Control Center. On a recent-model Mac running OS X Yosemite or later, open a Finder window and click AirDrop from the Sidebar. Set the sharing permissions at the bottom of the screen.

Share Photos with iCloud Photo Sharing

1. iCloud Photo Sharing allows you to share photo streams with others when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network. You can also subscribe to another person’s photo stream if she shares it with you. To set up Photo Stream, tap Settings ⇒ Photos & Camera; then tap the On/Off button for iCloud Photo Sharing to share among your devices, and tap My Photo Streaming to share with others who don’t have iCloud accounts.

2. To share photos with somebody else who has an iCloud account, return to the Home screen, and tap Photos.

3. Tap the Share button and then tap to select the photos you want to share (see Figure 12-12). Tap iCloud Photo Sharing. Enter a Shared Album name (see Figure 12-13), and then tap Next.

4. Enter a comment and then tap Post. The selected photos are posted to your iCloud Photo Library.

Figure 12-13

Print Photos

1. If you have a wireless printer that’s compatible with Apple AirPrint technology or you use a device such as Lantronix xPrintServer plugged into your network, you can print photos from your iPad. With Photos open, locate the photo you want to print, and tap it to maximize it.

2. Tap the Share button and then tap Print (see Figure 12-14).

3. In the Printer Options dialog that appears (see Figure 12-15), tap Select Printer. The iPad searches for any compatible printers on your local network. Tap to select the one you want to use.

4. Tap the plus or minus symbol in the Copy field to set the number of copies to print. If your printer supports double-sided or color printing, you’ll see that option here.

5. Tap the Print button. Your photo goes on its way to the printer.

Figure 12-14

Figure 12-15

Run a Slideshow

1. You can run a slideshow of your images in Photos and even play music and choose transition effects for the show. Tap the Photos app on the Home screen.

2. Tap the Photos button (refer to Figure 12-5) and then tap photo in a collection.

3. Tap the Share button, and then tap Slideshow to begin the slideshow. To make changes, tap to pause the show and then click the Options button in the bottom-right corner to see the Slideshow Options dialog, shown in Figure 12-16.

4. If you don’t want to play music along with the slideshow, tap the Music and then tap None.

5. To choose music to play along with the slideshow, tap Music, and in the list that appears, tap any selection in your Music library.

6. In the Slideshow Options dialog, tap Themes and then tap the transition effect you want to use for your slideshow.

7. Tap Music and select the music you want to play or choose None if you don’t want music.

8. Adjust the volume slider if you wish.

9. Tap outside the Options dialog to close it.

10. To stop the show, tap Done.

Figure 12-16

tip To run a slideshow that includes only the photos contained in a particular album, tap the Albums button instead of the Photos button in Step 2, tap an album to open it, and then tap the Slideshow button in the top-right corner to run a slideshow.

Delete Photos

1. You may find that it’s time to get rid of some of those old photos of the family reunion or the last community-center project. If the photos weren’t transferred from your computer but were downloaded or captured as screen shots on the iPad, you can delete them. Tap the Photos app’s icon on the Home screen.

2. Tap the Albums or Photos button; then, if you’ve opened Albums, tap an album to open it.

3. Tap the Trash icon.

4. Tap Delete Photo (see Figure 12-17).

5. Tap the Delete Photo/Selected Photos button that appears to finish the deletion.

Figure 12-17

tip To delete more than one photo, with a collection or album displayed, tap Select; then tap all the photos you want to delete before tapping the Trash icon.

Shoot Videos

Shooting a video is as simple as setting the selection slider near the bottom right of the Camera app’s screen to Video, pressing the red Record button, scanning around with your iPad, and then pressing the Record button again.

1. Capturing photos with the Time Lapse feature allows you to create a time-lapse photo show. iPhone captures photos at select intervals, making the capture of a dynamic scene such as a sunset possible. Tap Camera on the Home screen.

2. Swipe the listing at the bottom right of the screen until Time Lapse is active (see Figure 12-18).

3. Tap the Capture button. Leave the camera recording as long as you like, and then tap the End button. Your new time-lapse image appears in the bottom-right corner. Tap the image and then tap Play.

4. Finally, try the Slo-mo video setting. Move the setting in the bottom right to Slo-mo, and then press the Record button. Your video is recorded in slow motion, allowing you to view every detail of faster activities such as a car race or an archery tournament during playback.

Figure 12-18