Some very basic observations and fundamental questions from a totally blind iPhone camera user
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Michael Malver
Jun 6, 2013, 8:04:45 AM6/6/13
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Hello,
I have been blind all my life. I rarely am able to get a shot that
works. As an example, I tried taking a picture of a dog, which was lying in
a crate. I held the camera above the dog, took my shot, posted it to
Facebook, and was told I'd cut off her nose. Another time, I tried to take
a picture of my girlfriend, who was sitting from me across a table. Though
I pointed the camera toward where I felt her face was (i.e. Speech comes out
of the mouth part, so if I point where the voice comes from, I should get a
face,) the iPhone never announced face, and my girlfriend could tell the
shot was going to be off. She manually took my hand and repositioned the
camera.
One last example. I was camping, and wanted to get a picture of the tent
which had just been set up. I had no concept of how far back to stand, or
how to know if the tent was in the picture. I have been blind all my life.
I lack the concept of the relationship between my body in space, and how it
relates to other things in space in terms of what the camera sees.
I know there aren't any hard and fast answers, but for those of us who are
totals, some extremely basic descriptions of how the camera relates to one's
physical self would be helpful. I can touch my eyes, and notice The
iPhone's width is narrower than a line drawn from below my left eye to my
right, yet it obviously takes into account an area wider than my face, and I
don't know how high (i.e. from my face down,) the camera field is. Distance
plays a role in this as well.
Sorry this post is so scattered. I guess what I'm saying is that I want to
take pictures, but I suspect that learning how to shoot things is like
playing a musical instrument. You need to learn how to play a basic scale
and feel that scale in your fingers before you can start hopping all over
the instrument. Perhaps what I want is the equivalent for a camera. What
are basic positions one needs to know for holding a camera in order to shoot
specific types of things, such as faces or objects sitting still. Once the
basic concept of how to hold the camera (angle, height, etc.) is mastered,
then more complex concepts such as perspective could be tackled.
Does what I'm saying resonate with anyone else?
Michael
I have been blind all my life. I rarely am able to get a shot that
works. As an example, I tried taking a picture of a dog, which was lying in
a crate. I held the camera above the dog, took my shot, posted it to
Facebook, and was told I'd cut off her nose. Another time, I tried to take
a picture of my girlfriend, who was sitting from me across a table. Though
I pointed the camera toward where I felt her face was (i.e. Speech comes out
of the mouth part, so if I point where the voice comes from, I should get a
face,) the iPhone never announced face, and my girlfriend could tell the
shot was going to be off. She manually took my hand and repositioned the
camera.
One last example. I was camping, and wanted to get a picture of the tent
which had just been set up. I had no concept of how far back to stand, or
how to know if the tent was in the picture. I have been blind all my life.
I lack the concept of the relationship between my body in space, and how it
relates to other things in space in terms of what the camera sees.
I know there aren't any hard and fast answers, but for those of us who are
totals, some extremely basic descriptions of how the camera relates to one's
physical self would be helpful. I can touch my eyes, and notice The
iPhone's width is narrower than a line drawn from below my left eye to my
right, yet it obviously takes into account an area wider than my face, and I
don't know how high (i.e. from my face down,) the camera field is. Distance
plays a role in this as well.
Sorry this post is so scattered. I guess what I'm saying is that I want to
take pictures, but I suspect that learning how to shoot things is like
playing a musical instrument. You need to learn how to play a basic scale
and feel that scale in your fingers before you can start hopping all over
the instrument. Perhaps what I want is the equivalent for a camera. What
are basic positions one needs to know for holding a camera in order to shoot
specific types of things, such as faces or objects sitting still. Once the
basic concept of how to hold the camera (angle, height, etc.) is mastered,
then more complex concepts such as perspective could be tackled.
Does what I'm saying resonate with anyone else?
Michael
Lisette Wesseling
Jun 6, 2013, 5:03:25 PM6/6/13
to blindpho...@googlegroups.com
Hi Michael,
I am a total too and have never seen. I'm struggling with the same questions as you. It does seem to me that I have to remember the camera is in the top corner of the phone, so sometimes need to hold it lower than I thought. It seems like the camera's field extends upwards more than I relise, so you can hold it lower than you think. Sighted people often crouch to take pictures (I've noticed this).
Just an observation from another total.
I too was impressed that Apple thought blind people might want to take pictures, including the face recognition and making the app accessible. It's nice to know I can sent a sighted person a photo of something and have some chance of having it look vaguely right.
Lisette
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I am a total too and have never seen. I'm struggling with the same questions as you. It does seem to me that I have to remember the camera is in the top corner of the phone, so sometimes need to hold it lower than I thought. It seems like the camera's field extends upwards more than I relise, so you can hold it lower than you think. Sighted people often crouch to take pictures (I've noticed this).
Just an observation from another total.
I too was impressed that Apple thought blind people might want to take pictures, including the face recognition and making the app accessible. It's nice to know I can sent a sighted person a photo of something and have some chance of having it look vaguely right.
Lisette
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> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to blindphotograp...@googlegroups.com.
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Maria & Joe Chapman
Jun 10, 2013, 4:24:27 PM6/10/13
to blindpho...@googlegroups.com
HI. I wonder if now that pictures can be saved in taptapsee whether or not if tap tap see recognizes a pic might give us some idea of whether it looks right or not?
Blessings! Maria Joe and loving guide Karly.
Email/ I Message: &fb bubbyg...@gmail.com
twitter: bubbygirl
skype: bubbygirl1972
Maria & Joe Chapman
Jun 10, 2013, 4:29:49 PM6/10/13
to blindpho...@googlegroups.com
Hi. yep I can relate to the whole post.
Blessings! Maria Joe and loving guide Karly.
Email/ I Message: &fb bubbyg...@gmail.com
twitter: bubbygirl
skype: bubbygirl1972
Cara Quinn
Jun 10, 2013, 7:20:36 PM6/10/13
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Hi Mike and list.
First off, so very sorry this has taken me this long to answer you. I tend to be very busy. My apologies!… :)
Mike, I'll share some ideas I think might help in getting you familiar with the basics of taking images below. I'll also then reread your note and take a bit more time to detail more in-depth answers if need be in later notes.
To start off though, one idea to keep in mind when using most cameras is to think of a cone shape. The pointy part of the cone is where the lens is and the further away from the lens a subject is, the wider this cone becomes. So if you want to have more of a scene in your picture, simply move further from it.
this is why your doggie had their lil nose cut off. :) Since you were very close when you took the shot, the camera's field of view was smaller than it would be if you moved the camera back a bit further. Does this make sense?
NOw this field of view can be radically altered depending on which lens is mounted on a camera and yes, there are even lenses available for the iPhone. However, for this note, I'll just address the usual most-likely scenario you would encounter with a standard iPhone.
The average angle of the field of view on an iPHone 4 is about 47 degrees from side to side in portrait mode and about 60 degrees side to side in landscape. So you can think of the imaginary cone widening out from its smallest point at the lens in all directions in an oval shape as it extends further and further away from your camera lens.
So bare this in mind when you are setting up a shot with friends or family. If you have a lot of people you'd like to be in the shot, remember this imaginary cone and move forward or backward depending on the number of people you need to fit in. Does this help?
Because of the above, understand that sometimes it will be better to use the camera in portrait mode and other times in landscape, depending on how close you'd like to get to the subject or how tall or wide what you are shooting is. Remember your field of view is wider from side to side when you are holding the phone in landscape mode so if you are wanting to take a pic of your friend who is standing right in front of you, it is better to use portrait mode and just make sure you have them in your cameras field of view so that you get all of them from head to toe in the shot. You may hear of sighted folks cutting someone's head off. Well this is why. :) they needed to step back a little bit or aim the camera just a teeny bit higher. :)
So back to lenses for just a second.
there are little lens adapters you can get for the iPhone which are very, very cool! :) They may come with a lens called a wide-angle lens. Well, as the name implies, this drastically expands the camera's field of view and can allow you to take a picture which covers a huge amount of area from a very close proximity. So this might be something you may be interested in checking out.
So I think this is enough from me for now. I hope this helps and please do let me know if I need to clarify any of this. K?
Thanks so much for reading and I wish you a wonderful day / evening!
Smiles,
Cara :)
First off, so very sorry this has taken me this long to answer you. I tend to be very busy. My apologies!… :)
Mike, I'll share some ideas I think might help in getting you familiar with the basics of taking images below. I'll also then reread your note and take a bit more time to detail more in-depth answers if need be in later notes.
To start off though, one idea to keep in mind when using most cameras is to think of a cone shape. The pointy part of the cone is where the lens is and the further away from the lens a subject is, the wider this cone becomes. So if you want to have more of a scene in your picture, simply move further from it.
this is why your doggie had their lil nose cut off. :) Since you were very close when you took the shot, the camera's field of view was smaller than it would be if you moved the camera back a bit further. Does this make sense?
NOw this field of view can be radically altered depending on which lens is mounted on a camera and yes, there are even lenses available for the iPhone. However, for this note, I'll just address the usual most-likely scenario you would encounter with a standard iPhone.
The average angle of the field of view on an iPHone 4 is about 47 degrees from side to side in portrait mode and about 60 degrees side to side in landscape. So you can think of the imaginary cone widening out from its smallest point at the lens in all directions in an oval shape as it extends further and further away from your camera lens.
So bare this in mind when you are setting up a shot with friends or family. If you have a lot of people you'd like to be in the shot, remember this imaginary cone and move forward or backward depending on the number of people you need to fit in. Does this help?
Because of the above, understand that sometimes it will be better to use the camera in portrait mode and other times in landscape, depending on how close you'd like to get to the subject or how tall or wide what you are shooting is. Remember your field of view is wider from side to side when you are holding the phone in landscape mode so if you are wanting to take a pic of your friend who is standing right in front of you, it is better to use portrait mode and just make sure you have them in your cameras field of view so that you get all of them from head to toe in the shot. You may hear of sighted folks cutting someone's head off. Well this is why. :) they needed to step back a little bit or aim the camera just a teeny bit higher. :)
So back to lenses for just a second.
there are little lens adapters you can get for the iPhone which are very, very cool! :) They may come with a lens called a wide-angle lens. Well, as the name implies, this drastically expands the camera's field of view and can allow you to take a picture which covers a huge amount of area from a very close proximity. So this might be something you may be interested in checking out.
So I think this is enough from me for now. I hope this helps and please do let me know if I need to clarify any of this. K?
Thanks so much for reading and I wish you a wonderful day / evening!
Smiles,
Cara :)
Maria & Joe Chapman
Jun 16, 2013, 12:04:37 AM6/16/13
to blindpho...@googlegroups.com
HI this is very good. thanks for the explanation.
"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong." - Mahatma Gandhi
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