July 28, 2011

FxCamera: Tim Went to the Market


...The Android Market that is. Tim and I both have different versions of Android phones. Long story short - I think we would have opted for the iPhone but have been Verizon Wireless customers and didn't want to wait to enter the wonderful world of the smartphone way back when. That being said, I love my droid and am not sure I could go back to not using a smartphone - funny how something I've lived my entire life without could seem so essential now.


In our world, Tim is the mobile expert and I like to think I'm the computer expert. So not surprisingly, Tim came home the other night and showed me a new photo app called FxCamera (forgive me if I am way behind the loop on this one). Basically, it applies retro filters on photos you take with your phone - works for both Android and iPhone. I'd been dying to get my hands on a droid version of Instagram, and hadn't found anything I liked that seemed to compare, so I was actually pretty impressed with the outcome of the FxCamera filters.

I've really only had time to play around with the Polaroid overlay and like how it seems pretty realistic to when you only had that one chance to get the photo right - if you took a blurry shot of the foreground it was too late. I'm a little more weary of using phone photos for anything other than personal use due to the quality of the image, but I'll admit something about these processed shots is pretty swell. I've actually been taking note of some popular Etsy sellers using Instagram/FxCamera type photos as their Etsy shop product images to evoke a nostalgic quality - so clever.

After snapping away over the past couple days we're not yet bored. Pictured above you'll find random snippets from our home and garden: vintage wire locker basket we use for kitchen storage, wildflowers my 2 1/2 year old niece picked, our latest garden yield of butternut squash, and the first two okra pods that have survived this Virginia heat wave - yes, we planted them late this season.

So tell me - are we totally missing out on Instagram without an iPhone? What other phone photography apps are you loving that we should know about? Are you also loving the processed retro look that's so in right now or are you already over it?

8 comments

  1. I am one who has chosen not to enter the world of smart phones...yet. We're also with Verizon so I was going to go for a droid, but decided to just keep my cheap old phone.

    The photos look fantastic and are very comparable to instagram photos.

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  2. Be very careful Monica - once you enter the world of being able to check your email and Etsy shop 24 hours a day no matter where you are - it will be tough to ever go back! haha

    Yeah, so far we've loved being with Verizon so we weren't willing to switch services for the iPhone.

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  3. That's butternut squash from this year? In Oregon, our squash isn't hardened off until at least September if not later.

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  4. Camille, they sure are! We may have planted them early - it's also our first time growing butternut squash. When do you typically plant in Oregon and any specific things you generally look for to know when they are ready to pick?

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  5. When they're ready to harvest, you shouldn't be able to poke your fingernail through the skin. The vines will also get super yellow and will start to die.

    The reason that we don't plant earlier is because a late frost in the spring will kill the starts, but if you're not worried about the cold, go ahead and plant as early as possible. It also rains so much here (especially this year) that it's hard to get the ground worked up when it's saturated. We usually don't plant until May or even June.

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  6. Camille,

    Thanks so much for your tip on the blog comments - we should have it all fixed so let me know if you come across anything awry!

    I'm hopefully going to make a butternut squash recipe at some point over the next week but you've got me wondering if it's not too late to plant a fall crop.

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  7. You're probably too late to plant another crop for this year, but next year you should try ambercup or Kabocha squash. They have WAY more flavor than butternut.

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  8. I'm embarrassed to admit I'm unfamiliar with these types of squash, but you can bet I'll be doing my research on them for next year - thanks so much for the suggestions!

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