It might seem like tablet computers have been part of our everyday lives for as long as the Internet has existed but the iPad celebrated what was only its fifth birthday last week, shocking ay? While the iPad doesn’t tend to be a photographer’s number one piece of kit it can certainly com in useful. Firstly, if it’s hand and you see a shot – why not take it with an iPad? If something has a camera you may as well use it! Just try not to obscure anyone else’s view in the process, they are a little larger than your average point and shoot! If you want to get to grips with the camera function on your iPad and make custom canvas print creation even easier, read on..

Tips for using your iPad camera

• First things first, iPads don’t have flash, which means they’re best used in the day time with good light. If you happen to be heading from the library to a restaurant and want to take a snap of your lunch, an iPad could fit the bill but you’re probably not going to be photographing the night’s sky.

• There are two cameras on an iPad, forward facing and outward facing, so if you’re in the market for a selfie in the comfort of your own home, the iPad might actually be a good choice.

• If your photographs often have an out of focus quality, the tap to focus feature on the iPad is your friend, where the yellow square appears is where the shot will focus.

• Zooming is easy with the iPad, you just need to use your fingers but beware of zooming in too far – digital zoom enlarges pixels, which will reduce the photo quality.

• The simple features built into the iPad – grids and HDR, will improve the appearance of your photos, so switch them on!

• Continuous shooting is easy on iPads, you just hold down the big round button and it clicks away for you – perfect if the kids are playing in the garden and you want to catch them in action.

Photo apps for your iPad

Whether you choose to use the camera on your iPad or not there are lots of fun and functional apps available to edit your images. Just check out our previous post for some nifty Photoshop alternatives.  In addition, take a peek at Photo Editor by Aviary – it’s free and covers all the basic photo editing features with some fun add ons available.

While some people are predicting the iPad’s demise as we become more reliant upon our smartphones others are predicting the release of the iPad Pro – a tablet/macbook hybrid that may well make it easier to edit your photos while sitting on the couch but probably wouldn’t be all that great for use as a camera!

We find iPads useful for uploading to Facebook but tend to stick to point and shoots or smartphone for photography, how about you?  Do you use your iPad to take or edit photos or are you all about your trusty DSLR?