Using a Photo
The image overlay has a Share button for using your photos in many ways. This button, represented by a rectangle with an arrow, is found all the way to the bottom left of your screen. After tapping it, you can choose what to do with the photo:
- Email Photo:
The iPhone opens a new message screen and attaches your photo to the message. Address the message, add a note, and send it. Instantly, your photo travels across the ether to your recipient. On the iPhone 4 and newer models, photo file sizes are much bigger, so you may see a set of buttons displayed that allow you to scale the photo before sending it. - MMS:
You can immediately send any photo in your photo library by selecting the MMS button. The photo is scaled down to a small size and then placed in a blank MMS message ready for addressing and sending to a friend. - Send to MobileMe:
Want to share your photographic prowess with more than just one or two people? If you're a subscriber to Apple's MobileMe service, you can choose to post your photos to a MobileMe gallery for viewing. There's a place to add a title and a description of the photo, and a list of all available galleries appears at the bottom of the screen. Unfortunately, you can't create a new gallery from your iPhone. - Assign to Contact:
When you tap this button, your Contacts list opens. Select a contact name and set the photo, or tap Cancel to return without using the photo. This is a useful thing to do, because the contact's photo appears on the screen of your iPhone when they call you. At a glance, you can see who's calling. - Use as Wallpaper:
The iPhone prompts you to move and scale your image and then set it as wallpaper on your Lock screen, on your Home screen, or on both.
The Share button is your gateway to sharing or using a photo in a number of ways. If you're a MobileMe subscriber, you can publish your photos to a MobileMe gallery complete with a title and description.
Uploading Pictures by E-mail
Many photo-hosting and printing services allow you to upload pictures using e-mail. Check with your host or printing service to see whether it offers this option.
For Flickr, visit http://flickr.com/account/uploadbyemail. Flickr will assign you a "secret" e-mail address. Mail photos from your iPhone to that address, and they automatically load into your Flickr account.
It's just a handful of the many locations where you can upload your photos. When uploading pictures by e-mail, remember to send them at their highest resolution. That's the largest file size, but it ensures that printed photos are going to look their best.
Photo-Sharing Apps
E-mail isn't the only way to share your photos with others. There are plenty of iPhone apps available in the App Store specifically written to let you share your pictures through common photo-sharing and social networking sites.
For Flickr fans, there's an official app for free just for uploading your pics (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flickr/id328407587?mt=8). You can apply tags to the photos that you upload, set them as public or private, and choose which set you want to add the photos to. The official Flickr app provides a quick and easy way to send photos directly to Flickr. You can take new photos (or video) to send or upload photos from your library.
The free Pixelpipe app (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pixelpipe-hd-post-uploadto/ id290648828?mt=8) pushes your photographic endeavors to Facebook, YouTube (videos), Picasa, Flickr, and many other sites or blog services. It's able to upload your pictures to as many sites as you want, all with one tap on the iPhone.
Facebook users can use the official Facebook app (free, http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/facebook/id284882215?mt=8) to whisk photos fresh from the camera or the photo library up to their Facebook page.
If you're a Twitter fan, you'll want to know about TwitPic (http://www.twitpic.com). It's an online service for hosting photos you can upload from most Twitter clients or post via e-mail.
Many more apps are available in the App Store, so be sure to browse the Photography category for additional apps that can both improve your photography and let you share your photos.
Synchronizing Pictures from Your Computer
iTunes synchronizes your iPhone with pictures stored on your computer. You can bring your photo collection with you and share it through the iPhone. To make this happen, connect your iPhone to your computer and launch iTunes. Select your iPhone from the sources list (the blue column at the left side of the iTunes screen), and open the Photos tab. Your choices depend on your operating system:
- Windows: iTunes can sync your iPhone photos with Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0 or newer on a Windows computer.
- Mac OS X: Choose whether to synchronize to iPhoto, to Aperture, or to a folder (such as Photos in your home directory). When synchronizing to iPhoto, you may sync your entire photo and album collection or choose just those albums you want to include.
