The placement of your subject or subjects is incredibly important when it comes to creating powerful iPhone photo compositions, but just as important is everything around and between them — the negative space. We started out our iPhoneography series by introducing the rule of thirds. Now we’re going to explore that other two thirds, how it defines the forms, leads the eye, and helps create more balanced, more visually interesting work.

The positives of negative space

Rubin's Vase is a classic example of the power of negative space. Do you see two faces in profile, or a vase?

If every pixel in your photograph was filled with important information it would be impossible to know what to focus on. In other words, if everything is special or important, nothing is. Just like the silence in between the notes defines the music, the negative space around the subjects of your photograph defines the composition.

Don’t think of negative space as “empty” space, because that’s not always the case. Negative space can be filled with clouds or forests, it could be out of focus or in stark contrast, it could be lost in motion or frozen in stillness. Think of negative space as something that balances out your photos, the supporting player that really lets your subjects shine.

It’s a difficult concept to grasp, and sometimes not an obvious one, especially now that we have 8 megapixel, million color cameras on our iPhones. Rubin’s Vase (above) is a classic example of the power of negative space, and breaking things down into extremely high contrast (i.e. black and white) can help you get the hang of it.

Lead the eyes into negative space

Here the coin is composed using the "rule of thirds" and, in black and white, it's easy to see how the negative space defines that composition.

Until now, many of you probably didn’t even think about the negative space and how it can impact your photography. Most people are focused on the subject and ignore everything else when composing their photos. Simply being aware of the negative space will immediately improve your photographs.

The best way to relate your subject and negative space is to compose your shots so that an element of your subject leads your eyes into the negative space. We talked about this briefly with portraits when we mentioned that you want to keep the negative space in front of your subject.

Dramatic lighting with harsh shadows is a prime opportunity for using negative space. Compose your shots so that the shadows are moving into the negative space because your eyes will naturally follow it.

This next photo is another great example and I want to walk you through my thought process with producing the final image.

I settled on this photo when I finally managed to get the flame to lead the eye into the negative space.

I took about 5 shots of this photo because of the moving flame. I settled on the above photo because the flame leads your eyes into the negative space. If the flame was pointing toward the left, it would still be a nice picture, but not have the same impact as this one.

Now, this candle was actually sitting on a table that had a lot of people sitting around it. I positioned myself so that no one was behind it, shot in portrait mode, and used the rule of thirds with the candle to the left. I used portrait orientation because I wanted to keep the people out of the shot, but in the end, the composition wasn’t working for me –it should’ve been taken in landscape. That’s why I decided to use Instagram to crop the photo to a square and applied a filter that darkened my background and eliminated the distractions. The square crop dramatized the negative space and brought the focus on the flame.

This photo is a great example of using a uniform color for your negative space and how it can positively impact your photo. I considered tilting the lens so that the leaf of the Apple symbol would lead the eyes into the negative space, but in the end I decided to leave it strait because the bite out of the Apple plays that roll nicely. I also cropped it to a 16:9 ratio to dramatize the negative space by making it appear longer.

I’ve also seen uniform negative space done nicely with the sky as the background, by looking up at a tree or flower, and on portraits with a solid colored wall or backdrop behind the subject.

Examples

One of iMore’s friends specializes in the use of negative space in his photography and iPhoneography. Check out some of Martin Reisch’s (aka *safe solvent™) work on Instagram (he’s @safesolvent) or on his website http://safesolvent.com/

Some great examples of negative space from Martin Reisch, aka *safe solvent™

Critique yourself

Composition is hard to master and is a skill that takes a lot of practice and patience to develop. In addition to the assignment this week, I challenge you to seriously critique every image you take that you’re proud of. There are many elements to a photo that need to be critiqued, but for this week, pay special attention to that negative space and ask yourself how you could have made better use of it.

For example, take a look at the very first image of this post.

I’m going to critique the photo that is being taken on the iPhone. There are two different light sources hitting the 8-ball, casting two different shadows. The choice of negative space is good — the 8-ball is in its element on the pool felt. However, even though I have the longer shadow leading the eyes into the negative space, The composition could still use a little tweeking. What make this image a little different is that there are two shadows, and together, they lead your eyes in a different direction than if the long shadow was by itself. When I look at that photo, my eyes keep falling into the bottom right corner, which then I fight back by jumping up and looking at the bigger space in opposite corner. This is bad.

How should I fix it? My first thought was to position the iPhone so that the shadows work together to lead my eyes into the bottom left or bottom right corner. But when I actually attempted it, the angle of the shadows wasn’t really working. So I decided the move the 8-ball entirely, so that only one light source was casting a shadow on it. Then I cropped to 16:9 ratio to make the shadow seem longer. Here’s the result.

Much better!

Now go out and shoot! And critique!

So your assignment this week is to not only make good use of negative space, but to give your photos a good honest critique. Then head to the iMore Photography Forum and share both your photos and a critique of each photo you share. Then ask your fellow iMore iPhoneographers for their critique and offer up your own constructive criticism to their photos as well. Let’s grow as iPhoneographers, together!

Siri on the iPad would need to address connectivity, user interface scaling, and some long missing apps

I would love to have Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled virtual assistant, on the iPad 3. I wrote in my iPad 3 event preview preview that I anticipate it, and not a day goes by that I don’t instinctively reach for the Dictation button on the iPad 2 keyboard and then grumble when I realize for the umpteenth time that it’s just not there.

But as much as I love the idea of Siri on the iPad, there are some challenges Apple would need to overcome.

Preface: Apple a) knows if they’re bringing Siri to the iPad 3 or not, and b) if they are, will have no doubt worked all of this out already. So this is entirely a mental exercise on my part. If the iPad 3 is announced with Siri, however, these might be at least some of the reasons why.

Connectivity

iPhone 4S has a 3G data radio, so it remains online pretty much everywhere. iPads have Wi-Fi-only models, so they could be offline for extended periods. Is that an experience Apple would be happy with?

There was no iPod touch update in 2011, so Apple didn’t have to deal with that use-case yet. However, there is considerable precedent for how Apple handles other internet-dependant applications when they’re offline — they pop up a network error. Siri already does this as well on an iPhone 4S in Airplane mode. “Siri not available. Connect to the internet.”

Siri already tells you when it's not connected to the internet

They could throw in a few funny variations, make a HAL or Skynet joke or two, and almost any user would quickly be conditioned to connect first, ask Siri questions later.

Server load

Another connectivity issue exists on Apple’s end. Siri on iPhone 4S, while much better now, had a lot of growing pains on the server side. Apple will want to make sure they have the capacity to handle tens of millions of additional Siri users, and all their queries, before they increase Siri’s deployment.

User interface scale

The full screen Siri interface currently used on the iPhone 4S wouldn’t look good if scaled up to fit the bigger iPad screen. That’s a problem Apple has faced and overcome several times before with the iPad UI. Mail’s composition sheet, for example, doesn’t fill the whole screen on the iPad the way it does on the iPhone. Likewise, while Notification Center is full screen on the iPhone and iPod touch, on the iPad it’s decidedly not.

The same approach could theoretically work for Siri on the iPad, but not without some reconceptualization. Mechanically, Notification Center pulls down on both the iPhone and iPad. The iPad version just isn’t as wide and doesn’t pull down as far. Siri on the iPhone starts off more like the fast app switcher, revealed when screen pulls up. The fast app switcher works fine at full width on the iPad, and in full width regardless of whether the iPad is in portrait or landscape orientation.

That’s something to consider as well — Siri is portrait only on the iPhone, and that works fine because the iPhone’s Home screen system is portrait only. The iPad’s Home screen system is deliberately designed to work in both portrait and landscape modes. Siri’s UI on the iPad would likewise have to work in both portrait and landscape mode.

Having the Siri microphone revealed at the bottom isn’t an issue — it would work and look fine. But having the whole screen pull up to display the results would look odd. It would look as odd as a full screen Notification Center. Which is why Apple didn’t do Notification Center full screen on the iPad, it’s why they didn’t do Mail composition sheets full screen on the iPad, it’s even — according to legend — why there aren’t clock or weather or stocks apps on the iPad. It’s something Apple seems incredible conscientious of, and not without good reason.

The Siri microphone might look okay as is on the iPad, but the widgets would look far too small, especially in landscape mode.

The Notification Center solution

Going back to Notification Center, which works fine in both portrait and landscape mode on the iPad, it might be worthwhile sacrificing the iPhone mechanic for the pull down’s flexibility. Would Apple really be happy with something that works differently on the iPad than it does on the iPhone? Would users find it disconcerting?

The Siri user interface could be re-conceptualized to work on the iPad the same was Notification Center does -- as a drop down overlay.

It’s workable, but not ideal.

The Mountain Lion solution

With OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion, Apple is bringing Notification Center to the Mac. Mac’s are landscape-only devices, but instead of a drop-down overlay, Apple placed it off to side and, like the iPhone, put it “under” the Home screen.

Apple could implement Siri like they implement Notification Center on Mountain Lion, but even if it's slimmed down it might not look great in portrait mode.

That could potentially work as a more consistent implementation on iPad for Notification Center and Siri both. While in landscape mode. But as discussed above, the iPad is Apple’s only real orientation agnostic device. And in portrait mode, the Mountain Lion solution may not look as good.

And there’s a bigger problem.

Clock, Weather, and Stocks

If we look closely at the Siri mockup above, there something missing. Or rather there’s something there that’s missing on the iPad: the CLock, Weather, and Stocks apps. As mentioned above, legend holds that Apple and Steve Jobs didn’t think they looked any good scaled up to 9.7-inches. Whatever the reason, the iPhone has them and the iPad does not.

Siri ties into the iPhone Clock, Weather, and Stocks apps. The iPad doesn't have these apps.

And the problem is, Siri uses them.

• “Set an alarm for 7:30″
• “Do I need a raincoat in Cupertino?”
• “What’s Apple’s stock price?”

Sure, the iPad doesn’t need these apps for Apple to bake the functionality into Siri. Notification Center on the iPad does okay without these apps, but missing the weather and stocks widgets is still irksome. Siri would do okay with these apps as well, but it would likewise be irksome. On the iPhone I can go in an manually kill Alarms if and when I need to. I can change the local weather if and when I want to. Not necessary by any means, but nice.

Apple could add the Clock, Weather, and Stocks apps to the iPad. There are clock and weather and stocks for the iPad with well thought out user interfaces, so Apple could certainly figure it out, if it’s something they decide to do.

Siri on iPad

I really, really want Siri on the iPad but there are some challenges Apple will need to overcome to make it a reality. They have some of the best user experience designers on the planet working there, and they’ve no doubt thought all of this through long ago. If they do decide to bring Siri to iPad, it’ll be interesting to see how they figured it out.

The U.S. Air Force has ordered over $9 million dollars worth of 32GB iPads to use as digital manuals and navigation charts for aircraft pilots and crews in the Air Mobility Command. Bloomberg quotes:

"Aircrews fly nonstop worldwide missions and require access to flight publications both on and off the aircraft, throughout all phases of flight," [Captain Kathleen Ferrero] said in an e-mail. The so-called electronic flight bags will help crews operate more effectively and safely, and support the Pentagon's efficiency goals, she said.

Although that contract would let the Air Force buy up to 18,000 iPads, how many they actually get funded and approved for remains to be seen. They currently have 63 iPads on order for testing.

The Air Force didn’t specifically go after Apple’s iPad either. It was an open evaluation and price sounds like it was a significant factor. The Air Force will be getting a discount of about $70 per iPad off the 32 GB model.

The FAA recently approved iPads for use in U.S civil aviation as well, and Alaska Airlines and American Airlines are already putting them to use. So it looks like the future of digital manuals and navigation is well under way.

Now we just need the Firefox/Stealth-like super fighters to hurry up and get here so we can all enjoy a little thought-controlled iPad fun…

Source: Bloomberg

The countdown is over. The 25 billionth app has been download from the App Store and one lucky person (hopefully an iMore reader!) has won a $10,000 iTunes gift card. This milestone has been reached just shy of 4 years after the App Store’s launch on June 10, 2008. Not bad!

No word on who the winner is yet — if it’s you, what do you plan to spend all that iTunes cash on?

John Anastasiadis conceptualizes a Liquidmetal, carbon fiber, full screen iPad 3 that absolutely, positively will not stop until the iMore nation is awed.

We’ve already posted our iPad 3 event preview, rounding up all the rumors and outlining what we think Apple’s likely to do with their next generation tablet. We’ve also asked you what you, our readers, expect from both the hardware and the software as well. Okay. Fine. Done. Good for us. Now it’s time to have some fun. Now it’s time to forget practical, forget realistic, and go full out, balls-to-wall, sky’s-the-limit gadget porn.

Georgia and I, along with kickass product designer John Anastasiadis, brainstormed what we’d love to see in our dream iPad 3. We didn’t go entirely Iron Man or Avatar transparent aluminum on it, but we didn’t hold back much either. John then fired up his imagination and his rendering engines and brought it to vivid, virtual life.

• Smaller bezel: more room for that gorgeous 2048×1536 Retina display
• Capacitive home button and volume keys: Touch is the new click
• Quad core: Super fast, super fluid, with 1GB of RAM and 128GB of storage just because
• Single model: One device to rule them all: Wi-Fi 802.11ac, 3G, and international 4G LTE
• Liquidmetal frame/antenna array: future materials for future speeds
• Squared, angled edges: flat like the iPhone, still easy to get a finger under
• Carbon fiber back: Light enough for a Kindle bikini chick
• Super HD cameras: Crisp FaceTime in front, 1080p in the back
• Surround-sound speakers: Forward projecting, room filling
• Micro dock connector: Save room inside because more battery is more
• And Siri, of course

The driving principle was emersion. We wanted to get even more of the device out of your way and really let the content shine. A Retina display that big, that expectantly beautiful, deserves to be the absolute star of the show, bar nothing. (And definitely bar 3D. Yuck.)

The chipsets to make a single SKU don’t exist yet but they’re getting closer. Even though 4G LTE is a bag of frequency hurt, and Gigabit Wi-Fi is still a ways off, they’re on the horizon. Likewise with 24nm 128GB NAND Flash storage at affordable prices. (Yes, even our dreams need to maintain the $499 entry point.)

Keeping the Home button was essential (our moms would find gestures utterly undiscoverable) but making them capacitive instead of physical seemed like a fair middle ground. Apple bought the rights to Liquidmetal, so why not put it use? It could maintains structural strength while still letting the frame flatten out and better match the current (and perhaps future) iPhone aesthetic.

Carbon Fiber was a tougher choice for the rear. John pointed out right away that it’s not a radio-friendly material. This is fantasy though, and we wanted something that was really strikingly different. (So just imagine the antennas run through the Apple logo in the back — which is why it’s not yet glowing in this version! — and around the Liquid Metal edges.)

Better cameras were a no-brainer, and Georgia insisted it was time Apple pay equal attention to better audio. Making the speakers surround sound and turning the to face front means they’d rock hard enough to make Dr. Dre run home and rethink his beats.

And yeah, the micro-dock, just because.

For more of John’s work, check out his terrific BlackBerry 10 concept with a wrap-around screen and then head on over to the Anastasidias Portfolio for even more amazing design work (including a bonus render of our dream iPad 3).

Once you’re done ogling, come back here and tell us what your dream iPad 3 would look like, or better yet — jump into our Designers Forum and show us!

Nexia Home Intelligences lets you control entry to your home, and monitor it remotely from your iPhone, from anywhere

The Nexia Home Intelligence system isn’t just a smart way to manage your home security but it’s literally the future of home automation, in your hand, today. It lets you control your house locks, your lights, your security cameras, from wherever you are, right from your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad or the web, from anywhere you have an internet connection.

Formerly known as Schlage Link, now known as Nexia, they’ve been in the home automation business for years and their focus and experience really shows. I tested out the Nexia Home Security Bundle, which is a great way to get started with the Nexia system. The Nexia Home Security Bundle includes the following products:

• The Nexia Bridge, which is the command center, and the brain that connects all the other home intelligence components together.

• Home Dimmer Module, which lets you control any plug-in light in your home remotely, over the internet.

• Home Keypad Lever, which lets you secure your home with a deadbolt and one or multiple programmable keycodes, as well as open or lock your door remotely.

• Home Indoor Camera, which lets you monitor the inside of your home, or watch your property out a window, right from your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad.

The complete Nexia Home Intelligence lineup

Installation was simple and straight forward. If you’re comfortable changing your front door lock, you’ll be comfortable installing the Keypad Lever. Likewise, if you can install a home router, you can install the Nexia Bridge. (If not, buy a handy, savvy friend a pizza and beer and they’ll help you get it done in no time.)

Once the hardware is in place, you’ll need setup an account with Nexia (more on that later) and download the App Store app to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad. Once that’s done, your home security is just a button tap away.

Nexia has separate apps for both iPhone/iPod touch and iPad that let you control everything from locks to cameras to thermostats to lighting.

If the idea of controlling access to your home via a mobile device scares you, don’t worry. Nexia lets you create a passcode for the app so if you lose your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad you don’t have to worry about random people suddenly popping into your door. (Which is more than can be said about losing tradition keys.)

Can't find your keys? Can't see the keycode? No problem, unlock any time, from any where, with your iPhone

If you’ve never experienced the power of home automation before, there are a lot of cool things that you can do with it.

• If you forget to feed the cat or dog? You can call a neighbor and just unlock the door for them remotely. (And lock it again when they leave!)
• Don’t want to give your in-laws a key to your house? Just make them their very own passcode that doesn’t work early in the morning, late at night, or any other time surprise guests would be unwelcome. (You can even make one-time or limited duration access codes!)
• Hate coming home to a dark house? Have your lights turn on whenever you open the door. (Or log in from your iPhone and turn them on any time!)
• Worried about your teenagers throwing a party when you’re away from home? Keep an eye on things remotely with the Security Cameras. (And rush home if needed!)

If you don't have your iOS device handy, you can log into your Nexia Home Intelligence system from anywhere with a web browser

The great thing about Nexia is that it’s an expandable system. If you want another Dimmer Module, just buy it and add it right in. Want another deadbolt for the garage door? Same thing. It really does “just work”.

Now there is one catch — you do need a Nexia subscription for all the really cool stuff to work. It’s not like an alarm company where you’re paying for monitoring, with Nexia you’re paying for the system itself to work. For example, neither the multiple keycodes nor the remote video cameras will work unless you’re subscribed to Nexia’s service. (It would be nice if you could run the cameras over your own home network if you so chose.)

The Nexia Bridge is the brains of the system, but you need an Nexia subscription to get the full set of features.

At $8.99 a month, the Nexia service isn’t expensive, however, and it’s well worth the functionality you get. There are no hidden fees and cancellation is an easy, painless process. There are no contracts, no risks, and Nexia offers a one month trial subscription to make sure you like the service before you start paying for it. That’s excellent.

Nexia doesn’t do everything yet — you can’t control all aspects of your home. There is a thermostat component, for example, so you can set your temperature remotely, but it would be great to support everything from the living room to the kitchen to the garden. One day, perhaps?

The good

• Easy to install
• Provides powerful remote access
• Expandable to suit your needs
• Reasonably priced

The bad

• Can’t be run on your own network
• Needs more/different types of components

The conclusion

Nexia Home Intelligences lets you control entry to your home, and monitor it remotely from your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, from anywhere. It’s a great way to get started with home automation, and the Security Bundle is a great way to get started with Nexia. If you’ve always dreamed about controlling your house from your iPhone, stop dreaming — it’s a reality!

$489.99 – Security Bundle – Buy now

Variable – Nexia on Amazon – Buy now