Camera Plus

I love this application. It’s not a fancy app, but it really does good work. All you do is take a picture and the application allows you to make it black and white or crop it. The cropping is probably the best part about this tool. You can choose from a circle or rectangular crop. Then once you get the size you want you can turn the crop any direction you need. There’s a zoom capability, but as always, it makes the picture fuzzy, so be careful what you use it for.

You can send the finished picture to your camera roll, or you can send it straight to Facebook, Flickr or Twitter. You can also attach it to an email. It doesn’t take long. The application would allow you to cover stories then immediately display your photos on whichever medium you choose. Again, breaking news stories or events would be good places for this. You could live Tweet from an event and add in some pictures of the goings on. There are other applications that act similarly, but it does the job and is trustworthy. Plus, it’s free, so it couldn’t hurt.

There is an upgrade you can purchase called Camera Plus Pro that allows you a lot more flexibility and options on doctoring photos. Recently, the manufacturer took away the video zoom capability, which has upset many users. If you need video zoom, don’t buy this app. Overall though, it looks just as simple as the free version, just with a ton of more options.

Eye-Fi

The Eye-Fi is a device that automatically backs up your camera for you. It is a SD card that comes together with Wi-Fi. We have a 4GB+Wi-Fi card, which is $69.99 For a complete list of products, visit their website here.

To use the Eye-Fi, simply leave on your camera when you get home, or to any Wi-Fi spot that you have preset as an accepted spot on your card. It will do the uploading for you. If you choose, it will also upload your photos to Facebook, flickr, YouTube or a variety of other hosts.

It is really easy to set up - just plug the Wi-Fi card into the USB port that comes with the device and it will do the rest. It has prompts and guides to help you set up your wireless networks and other sites you may wish to publish your photos.

Some of the features of the Geo card we have are:

• Geotags your photos
• The photos come in via date-based folders for easy-to-find files
• Compatible with a wide variety of cameras
• You can select certain photos to upload instead of waiting for the whole set to upload
• You can also set up Twitter, Facebook or email alerts to notify you when your photos are uploading online

I wouldn't recommend this tool for the serious photojournalist. It is not as quick as you might think. It takes a while because the device works through Wi-Fi. It definitely doesn't save any time, and I don't really see the purpose for a journalist. It is not that much of an inconvenience to use a card reader or connect your camera to your computer via a USB port. I could see how it would be handy for a parent or someone on the go who doesn't have time to sit there and babysit your uploading photos.

Here is a video of my computer screen as I choose photos to export to Facebook. Watch the process below:

PicPosterous

Posterous is a place to share, well, anything that you think is fit to share. You can upload photos, videos or files or anything that you see fit to share. There are many ways to upload to Posterous - through a mobile device, email or directly from the web. It is really easy and a really good way to create a low-maintenance photo blog of sorts. It is so accessible. That is the great thing about this application - whether you are on your mobile device, on a friend's computer or your own - you can update your Posterous account. Another cool feature is that you get to choose whatever name you want for your account. For instance, mine is jenniferelston.posterous.com, but if you have a developing business or another blog and want another outlet to share with your friends and fans, this is perfect. One successful example is imjustcreative.posterous.com/ for a logo/design blogger. Graham puts most everything that he would put on his website and tumblr account, but more importantly, everything else that wouldn't quite fit in.

The iPhone application is specifically designed to be a photo-sharing app. When you open the application, you are given the choice of taking a photo or video, or adding an existing one from your Library. You can create different albums on your phone of different people, groups or whatever you feel inclined to make. If you want to share the fun in different ways, you can change the settings so that PicPosterous automatically posts to twitter, Facebook or your existing blogs by visiting http://posterous.com/autopost.

I would recommend this application for anyone who loves to share every aspect of their lives. It is one step above TwitPic and Plixi because you get your own professional-looking website that features all of your favorite pictures/videos.

flickr

flickr is definitely one of my top picks for best design, easy on the eyes and easy to use. The iPhone application interface is so appealing that I actually have the desire to upload my photos to flickr, an urge that I do not have when I am using the website on a laptop or desktop computer. I know what you are thinking - could it really be that great? But, I'm telling you.. less is more is the name of the game. When you open the application, various breathtaking photos take turns more or less sliding across the screen.

To upload a picture, simply click on the camera with an arrow above it. The prompt will have you select either "Take Photo or Video" or "Upload from Library." See? Couldn't be any easier if you tried. Once you select a picture, you can add a title, description, add the photo to a new or existing set, add tags, choose your image size (resolution) and even geo-tag your current location. Or, you can add another photo by clicking the "Add Item" button. If you enable the setting, flickr will share your photos on twitter for you.

On the main menu, there are three other options (besides information). You can click on your recent flickr history, "you" where you can view your sets, tags and your photostream and contacts. That's all. You cannot do a lot with it. There are no fancy gizmos, but that is why this application is fantastic. Simple and efficient.