Is your car your pride and joy? Do you regularly dedicate hours of your time to washing and detailing your beautiful vehicle? Have you secretly dreamed of hiring a photographer to take professional photographs of your most prized possession? Then this tutorial is for you! This installment of iMore's photography series is all about cars and how to get the most spectacular photos of your car with your iPhone's camera.

Choose a nice environment

Nothing will ruin a photo of a beautiful car more than an ugly environment. How can your viewers soak in the beautify of your car if it's surrounded by a distractions like messy garages, driveways, parking lots, or car dealerships. In every car magazine, the photos of car are showed off in locations that enhance the overall appearance of the car, not that distract from it. You should do the same. I'm not going to deny that this will probably be the hardest part about getting an awesome photo of your car, but it's so worth it.

I wasn't too thrilled with the location I chose to take photos of my car for this article, which is why I chose jammer148's photo for this section instead. (Thanks jammer148!)

Clean your car

The above photo is an example of the type of photo you do not want to show off. What's the first thing you notice? The pile of dust on my bumper? Yeah, me too. Any level of dirt on your car will stick out like a sore thumb, so make sure you give it a good washing before taking it out for photos. In my case, most of the dirt appeared on my car while getting to the location, so I recommend bringing some car wipes and touch-up cleaning supplies with you to take care of situations like this. You can't predict what will happen -- like getting stuck behind some jerk who sprays you with windshield-wiper fluid (I hate that!).

Now, there is one except to this rule -- vehicals that are meant to be dirty. For example, perhaps you take your truck four-wheeling in the mud. If that's you, then you want the opposite of clean. Go take your truck out on an adventure, then take photos. Just make sure you take the photos in the appropriate environment. A filthy truck in a driveway looks like a filthy truck in a driveway. A filthy truck out in the hills and a mud puddle looks bad ass.

Interesting angles

Your average person will take a photo of their car by stepping back until their vehicle fits in the frame, then snap the picture. Don't be average. Get creative with your angles. Get low. Get high. Add tilt. Step a little to the left. Aim not to take a snapshot of your car, but a portrait of your car. Little things like turning the wheels of your car will also add interest and dimension to the final photograph. I recommend taking a look at some car enthusiast websites and magazines for inspiration before taking your car out for its big photo shoot. You can even save examples you like in your Camera Roll to reference.

Get the details

Some of the most interesting aspects of a nice car is in the details, so make sure you get some photos focusing on them. Are you particularly proud of the specific model of car you have? Focus on that. How about those alloy wheels, fancy sport shifter and pedals, and detailed stitching in your leather? What about the engine? Get it all! Everyone knows what the outside of a corvette looks like, but not everyone has had the opportunity to sit in one and take in all the details -- show them what they're missing. And again, make sure those details are spotless; whip out the Q-tips if you have to!

Go wide

Most professional car photographers use wide angle lenses when photographing cars because it adds dimension and a creative look to their photographs. If you own an external wide-angle lens accessory for your iPhone, bring it along for your car's big photo shoot. If you don't, you can achieve a similar effect with panoramic photography apps like Autostitch.

• $1.99 - Download Now

I used an olloclip to take the above photo.

HDR

HDR photography with cars is very popular and can result in an interesting look, so make sure you experiment with this idea! If it's a sunny day with lots of harsh shadows, I definitely recommend using the built in HDR feature in your iPhone's Camera app. This will help make skies bluer and bring out details that are in the dark. But if you're interested in getting creative with more drastic effects, head to the App Store and try out some apps specific for HDR photography. The above photo was taken by the winner of our car photography contest winner and he used the app HDR Fusion to achieve this look.

• $0.99 - Download Now

Examples

We recently had a car photography photo contest and received a lot of great submissions, so make sure you take a look at the official car photography contest thread in the forums for inspiration.

Now go out and shoot!

Now that you're all prepared for taking the most spectacular photo of your car, put it to practice! And when you do, please share your results in the iMore photography forum. Above all -- have fun!

When iMore first heard that Apple was going ahead with the 7-inch iPad this fall, and at a ~$200 price point, one of the first things we asked was -- what does that mean for the iPod touch?

The rise of the iPod touch

Apple launched the iPod touch in September of 2007, only a few short months after the original iPhone shipped. It was even more limited than the pre-App Store iPhone, and didn't even include basic internet apps like Mail, but it did provide a slightly lower-priced point of entry for iOS.

In January of 2008 Apple added those internet apps to the iPod touch -- for a price -- and in June of the same year, it got iPhone OS 2.0 and the App Store. The rest, as they say, is history.

Apple updated the iPod touch hardware in the fall of 2008, and again in the falls of 2009 and 2010. Year after year, the iPod touch hardware kept pace with the iPhone hardware, adding new chipsets, gyroscopes, FaceTime cameras, and Retina displays as the iPhone added them.

Then, in 2011, the iPod touch hardware was not updated. It got a new color -- a white option -- but that was it. No new chipset, no new optics.

The fall of the iPod market

Apple's iPod business had been shrinking for a while now. Apple sold 15.4 million iPods in Q1, 2012, down from 19 million in Q1, 2011. Apple maintains that the iPod touch accounts for roughly 50% of iPod sales, but 50% of 15.4 million is still less than 50% of 19 million.

The iPad, released in 2010, likely played some part in that. Though more expensive, it also offered a bigger screen and, for some things, a better experience. The $0 iPhone 3GS, released in 2011, may have also been a factor. Though it lacked a Retina display, the lower up-front cost might have convinced more people to more quickly make the leap from iPod to iPhone.

Yet, to this day, the iPod touch remains the cheapest overall way to access the App Store, and one of the most popular portable gaming platforms on the market. Starting at just $200, with no cellular contracts -- indeed, not even the option for cellular data -- its perfect for kids, for joggers, for developers, for those who want a phone other than the iPhone but still want access to iOS, and for those who simply want a tiny, app-centric tablet for home, travel, or work.

The iPod touch in an iPad mini world

With an iPad mini not only rumored to be coming, but rumored to be coming at the same $200 base price the iPod touch currently enjoys, where would that leave the iPod touch then in the lineup?

Apple has several options:

• Cancel the iPod touch. This would replace the iPod touch with the iPad mini as the entry-level iOS device, and keep the product matrix cleaner and simpler.
• Keep the 2010 iPod touch on the market. This makes it the pocketable alternative at the same price, or the budget, iPod shuffle option at an even lower price.
• Introduce a new, 2012 iPod touch. This brings it back up to spec with the rumored 4-inch, 16:9 iPhone 5 and increases its value proposition at the same price.

Let's take them in order.

Canceling the iPod touch

As far as iMore has heard, Apple isn't canceling the iPod touch or replacing it with the iPad mini, at least not yet. Unless we heard wrong -- and it doesn't seem like it so far -- there will still be an iPod touch on the shelves when the iPad mini joins it.

Keeping the 2010 iPod touch on the market

If the iPad mini hits store shelves at $200 or $250, it makes it seem harder for Apple to sell a 2-year old iPod touch for $200. Even though miniaturization can be expensive, and ultra-portability can be a feature, for many customers smaller is synonymous with cheaper.

Apple could try to offset this with more cosmetic changes -- add "nanochromatic" color options like the iPod nano and iPod shuffle enjoy -- to increase the perceived value, but even that might leave the iPod touch as a tough sell compared to the bigger iPad mini.

Apple could drop the price to $150, perhaps less. But the current bill of goods for the lowest end iPod touch 4 is probably just under $150. If Apple can't reduced that to less than $100 or so, and you take into account manufacturing, transport, and other associated costs, they won't sell it for under $200. They're not Amazon or Google. They don't sell hardware at or below cost.

If Apple wants an even lower priced iOS device on the market, and they can get production costs down enough, this is an option. It just doesn't seem like a likely one at this point.

(Apple has announced that the current iPod touch will be iOS 6 compatible, like all current generation iOS devices they sell. Take that as you wish.)

Introducing a new iPod touch

There was no new iPod touch hardware in 2011, so Apple could certainly introduce an all-new, radically improved iPod touch in 2012. If it includes the new internals from the iPhone 5, and the rumored new 4-inch, 16:9 screen, then it will be seem as an even bigger hardware revision than it might have otherwise been.

The iPad mini will be perceived as all new hardware, and the best way to give the iPod touch a fighting chance at the same or similar price point, is to give it all new hardware as well.

If Apple wants to keep iOS as a premium brand, at least relative to the greater iPod line, then an all-new iPod touch 5 seems like the best option.

Conclusion

The iPod touch may get updated and stand its ground, dollar-for-dollar with the iPad mini, or it might stay around as a legacy device like the iPod classic, or it might stay get even cheaper and become the iPod shuffle of the iOS line. Potentially, Apple could even introduce a new iPod touch at the same price and keep the older one around at a cheaper price.

iMore hasn't heard what Apple plans to do with the iPod touch line yet, but we did hear a couple months ago that the iPod touch line wasn't going anywhere.

And that's certainly good news for kids, for joggers, for developers, for those who want a phone other than the iPhone but still want access to iOS, and for those who simply want a tiny, app-centric tablet for home, travel, or work.

Yesterday it was announced that Google had acquired Mac and iPhone Gmail app Sparrow, and that the Sparrow team would be joining the Gmail team, and Sparrow would be receiving no further updates.

Some users were really disappointed, and expressed as much here on iMore, on Twitter, and through various other mediums.

And that led to some push back from some developers. Matt Gemmell best framed the push-back, so not to single him out, but to provide context for the discussion, I'll link to his framing. Here's a brief excerpt of what he posted on mattgemmell.com, but do go read the whole thing before continuing here:

Cue predictable squawking on the internet. The same thing happens every time there's an acquisition of a smaller, indie dev company or product by a larger company.

People try to dress their reaction up as a principled stance or a community cause, but that's at best wrong-headed thinking, and at worst wilfully egocentric bullshit.

This is one of the most classic blunders in customer relationship management. No, not "never get involved in a land war in Asia...", but "never take up an equal and oppositely wrong headed, egocentric position in an argument".

The crux of this argument is that Sparrow doesn't owe users anything. Users paid, got the version of the app they paid for, the transaction was one-time and completed. And that users have no right to complain now.

The first few points are completely accurate. The last one, that users have no right to complain, is flabbergasting. (Yes, as someone who worked in software marketing for years, my gasts are literally flabbered.)

Certainly there's a segment of the user base that is outrageously entitled. There are those who believe that they shouldn't have to pay for software, even though they themselves get paid for their work, or who run beta operating systems or jailbreak and then leave negative reviews for apps they themselves broke, or that once they buy one version of an app, they're forever owed all future versions, for free. All of which is nonsense.

However, there's also a segment of the developer community that's just as outrageously entitled. That believe their success is detached from their user base. That they can act anyway they like, and that any negative reaction by their user base should be dismissed at best, attacked at worst. All of which is also nonsense.

Both beliefs do a disservice to the developer-user relationship, a relationship that can be powerfully beneficial for all parties involved.

There's a middle ground here. We can be thrilled for the Sparrow team's success and thrilled for Google for acquiring their talent. We can look forward to everything they'll bring us in the future. But we can also mourn for Sparrow,for an app we enjoyed and recommended highly, that we made part of our workflow and may soon need to replace, that now has no future.

A developer is no more obliged to keep updating an app in perpetuity, for any reason, than a user is obliged to purchase every update a developer ever releases, forever. Apple can stop making iWork and I can stop buying iWork updates. Adobe can stop making Photoshop and I can stop buying Photoshop updates.

If something happens beyond a developer's control, however, and they can no longer sell their app -- if it's rejected or removed from the App Store, if an API they depend on is threatened or denied them, if they're copied by the platform owner - they have every right to be pissed, or sad, or to complain about it. (Just look at the complaints about sandboxing and Twitter uncertainty) -- all well justified.)

And by the same token, if something happens beyond a user's control, and a they can no longer buy an app -- if it's removed from sale due to litigation, if it's discontinued, if an intermediary like Apple refuses to sell it -- they have just as much right to be pissed, sad, and complain.

A passionate customer base should be humbly nurtured, never taken for granted, or worse, arrogantly dismissed. If you're a developer, understanding that can be the difference between amazing customer relationship wins and detrimental public relations gaffs.

The reaction to Sparrow is no different than than the reaction to Tweetie being replaced by the new Twitter for iPhone. It's no different than the reaction to Firefly being canceled.

Humans become invested in what we enjoy. We feel connected to it. We share pride in its successes and take issue with its failures. The benefit to those who develop or produce such things is enormous -- continued revenue, powerful word-of-mouth advertising, popularity, and support.

Our passion for products is infectious -- we tell our friends, our families, and our colleagues, and we spread word on Twitter, Facebook, forums, and more. We recommend what we love and we feel responsible for what we recommend.

And the flip side of that passion, the reaction to it being lost, the price paid when it is taken away, is that we voice our displeasure just as loudly, in just as many mediums. We mourn. And then we move on.

If you break up any relationship out of the blue, own it. Anticipate the reaction. Plan for it and handle it with grace and respect. The Sparrow team did just that. They sympathize, thanked, acknowledge, and used the opportunity to build even stronger support for the future.

But whatever you do, don't ever tell users -- customers -- that they don't have the right to complain, because then you're turning them into opponents. And how much opportunity does that future hold?

Response to: Matt Gemmell

Australian Airline Qantas will roll out iPads for every one of its passengers on its fleet of Boeing 767 aircraft. Earlier in the year, Qantas carried out a trial to see if the iPads could fulfill its needs for in-flight entertainment. The trial has been a huge success and according to ZDnet, it's all systems go.

As of May this year, there were 23 Boeing 767-300 aircraft, according to the Qantas site, each with between 229 and 254 seats, meaning that more than 5,000 iPads would be required to kit out the fleet. However, Qantas said it was currently reviewing retirement options for a few of the aircraft.

The system will roll out to the first aircraft in the fourth quarter of this year. Most of the flights offering the service will be on Australia's east coast routes, with some also flying to Perth. The service will be free of charge. The airline was still assessing whether it will extend the system so that customers can use their own tablets to access the entertainment.

Apple is certainly a favorite with Qantas, it has already equipped its pilots with 64GB iPads to store all of their flight manuals and reduce the amount of paperwork that they need to carry. It has also announced that it will be dumping its BlackBerry smartphones in favour of iPhones in the near future too.

iPads, as a way to access in-flight entertainment make perfect sense. They are small, personal and easy to use; even for the first time user. The rollout of iPads across Qantas' fleet of Boeing 767 aircraft will surely be the first of many in the future. Looking around me on flights that I have taken recently, iPads can be seen everywhere and are definitely the first choice travel companion. Have you noticed any other airlines adopting the iPad as the chosen form of in-flight entertainment?

Source: ZDNet Image: F4Aviation

Julia Child is famous for revolutionizing home cooking in America by bringing us the essential French repertoire of classic dishes and now 32 of her recipes come alive for the first time on the iPad. These 32 recipes are the most often prepared and best-loved dishes from the book Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 1 and include careful explanations of technique, discuss buying the right ingredients (or finding substitutes), and planning ahead. In addition to the recipes, Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes includes colored photos of each finished dish, 30 video clips from The Way to Cook video series, audio pronunciations of the names of French dishes, and more.

The entire app has a very clean, clutter free look that I really like. If you tap the menu banner, it will slide down to reveal 7 different sections: Recipes, Julia, Shop, Videos, Resources, Excerpts, and Grocery List.

The Recipes screen is a horizontal menu of beautiful photos. Above the recipes, you will see various Juila Child quotes, like "The perfect vinaigrette is so easy to make that I see no reason whatsoever for bottled dressings." At the bottom of each photos is a banner that displays the name of the dish, both in French an English, a share button that let's you announce the fact that you are cooking a specific dish from the app to Facebook, a star button to mark the recipe as a favorite, and an audio button to listen to the name of the dish pronounced in French.

Each recipe is nicely displayed with the ingredients needed for each step displayed to the left of each step. The directions are very clearly written and easy to understand. There are also buttons to see the entire ingredients list with the ability to add them to your grocery list, a list of tools needed (like a saucepan), a recipe intro, additional info related to the recipe (like the benefits of using a pressure cooker), and variations of the recipe. At the top of the screen, you'll see links that'll take you to related videos in the app.

The Julia section of the app includes a bunch of photographs of, or related to, Julia Child. Each photograph includes a caption that describes it.

The Shop section of Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes includes the four Juila Child books that are available in the iBook Store. Tapping on the book will take you to the iBook Store.

The Video section includes 30 video clips from Julia Child's The Way to Cook video series. The videos aren't of the highest quality, but that is to be expected considering how old they are. What shouldn't be expected is the poor scrolling that you will experience on the videos page.

The good

• Nice clean and clutter-free design
• 32 recipes
• Beautiful photographs
• 30 video clips
• Audio pronunciations of the names of French dishes
• Grocery lists
• Photographs of Julia Child

The bad

• Does not fully support the new iPad's Retina screen, including the icon. All the main in-app graphics are Retina-ized, but some buttons are not. It's ugly.
• Share button is for Facebook sharing only. Why is it a generic share button? It should be a Facebook button!
• Poor scrolling on the Videos page

The conclusion

Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes is a great app for anyone interested in Julia Child's recipes and videos. Except for the poor scrolling on the video screen, the app is beautiful and very well made.

In celebration of Julia Child's 100th birthday on August 15, Mastering the Art of French Cooking: Selected Recipes has an introductory price of $2.99.

$2.99 - Download Now

No, that title isn't a typo! Sure, I'm the editor-in-chief of the #1 site for everything iPhone and iPad, but I've gotten my hands on Google's brand new Nexus 7 tablet, running the all new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, and I aim to put it head-to-head, tablet-e-tablet against Apple's new iPad.

And I'm starting with the traditional unboxing and some quick first impressions.

I really like the Nexus 7 so far. The interface on Jelly Bean is, for the most part, gorgeous. It doesn't look at all like iOS, and that's refreshing. It's filled with flat, high contrast colors and lines, and the design language works. Likewise, the animations are much, much better as well, serving more as transitions the way they should, and not delays like they have in the past.

The only downside is -- it's not consistent yet. I think Google's decision to allow a mishmash of smartphone and tablet interface elements was the wrong one. Having beautiful, pixel perfect, tablet-specific apps would make the entire experience better.

That feels like a stop-gap, however, and more an issue of time than anything. Matias Duarte is definitely having an impact at Google, but Rome wasn't re-built in a day.

Both Safari on iOS 5.1.1 and Chrome on Android 4.1 are great mobile browsers. They're based on WebKit, while Apple uses the Nitro JavaScript engine and Google uses V8. Rendering is so quick, and updates happen so frequently with new OS release, that differences are barely noticeable any more. The "browser wars" have really benefitted users in that regard.

The only issue I have with Chrome -- and it's really with Android in general -- is that a) it can't use elastic bounce-back effect that Apple patented, and that really does add to the experience of scrolling, and b) even with "Project Butter", Jelly Bean's simulated physics still feel off, and the touch tracking still feels too loose.

For many users this won't be an issue at all. For me, it's like nails on a chalkboard. Android 4.1 is undoubtedly the best, most fluid Android release yet, but slapping on experience polish may simply not be an option. They may need to re-build core parts of the OS from the ground up. My guess is they know that and are already doing it.

Unlike iOS, the app launcher isn't the main Home screen, but is available if you want to see all the apps that come with the Nexus 7. I really do miss having a Home button -- I keep trying to hit it on the Nexus 7 only to find it's not there. But what's irking me the most is that, if I put the Nexus 7 to sleep or it goes to sleep on its own, when I wake it up, it often goes to the Home screen instead of restarting where I left it. It doesn't happen when I'm in an app, thankfully, but if I'm in the app launcher, it does. Saved state should be an absolute. I shouldn't go back to the general place where I was when I resume using a device. I should go back to exactly where I was. If I can find a setting to change that, I will. If not, I hope Google fixes that behavior in an update.

The small, 7-inch form factor on the Nexus 7 is terrific. It's light, you can hold it by its sides with one hand, and it can easily slip into and out of a jacket pocket. The size does come at a price though. While it's every bit as good for enjoying videos, books, websites, and games, the lack of screen real estate hurts it as a productivity device. I bought a 13-inch MacBook Air over an 11-inch MacBook Air because, even though it's not as ultra-portable, the extra pixels were far more important to me. I live in Coda, Photoshop, and web browsers. I need space. Other people, of course, will value the smaller Nexus 7 more, just like they value the smaller 11-inch MacBook Air more.

If I had to line them up, a Nexus 7 is closer to being a bigger, more functional phone where an iPad is closer to a being a smaller, less functional laptop.

If I'm reading in bed and pass out, the lighter Nexus 7 will dent my face considerably less when it falls on me, and so it'll be my go to device then and there. But when I'm out without a laptop and need to get things done, I'll want the iPad. (There's a carry on vs. checked baggage analogy there somewhere.)

With a 1280 x 800 display at 216dpi, the Nexus 7 isn't as high resolution or as high density as the iPad's 2048 x 1536 Retina display at 264 dpi, but they're both IPS (in-plane switching) so they both have excellent viewing angles and both look fantastic for everyday use.

No one should be disappointed with either of these screens.

At times, the Nexus 7 feels like a front end to the Google Play store, much like the Kindle Fire feels like a portal to the Amazon Store, but here I think Google's "openy-ness" will make a big difference here -- Jelly Bean It doesn't feel anywhere nearly as locked in as Amazon's ecosystem.

(The Apple TV feels much the same when it comes to iTunes, though iPhones, iPads, and Nexus phones have never felt that way to me -- likely because I'm too busy doing things with them.)

Overall, the Nexus 7 is the best 7-inch tablet I've used so far. It's not and iPad, nor should it be. Google got that part exactly right. It fills a space, and a need, that the current iPad does not. In fact, it's more like a big iPod touch than an small iPad. And that's a good thing...

...Because I don't think the rumored 7.85-inch iPad will be anything like that at all. It will be a small iPad, not a big iPod touch. That will make the iPad mini and the Nexus 7 very different products. And that will make things even better for consumers, and more interesting for those of us who love gadgets in all shapes, sizes, and flavors.

Back with more on Monday when I've had a chance to user the Nexus 7, Jelly Bean, and Google Play some more. That's the part I'm most interested in -- and the part where I think the power and flexibility of Android will really shine.

Meanwhile, if you're an Android Central expert, feel free to give me your best tips and tricks. I want to get the most out of the Nexus 7!

Found an interesting article you want to share with iMore? Have a burning question about that feature you just can't figure out? There is ALWAYS more happening just a click away in the forums. You can always head over and join in the conversation, search for answers, or lend your expertise to other members of our community. You check out some of the threads below:

- Where to get a good deal on an iPad 3?
- Battery drains 1% per min when surfing the web. Is this normal?
- Best iPad Animation App? - Dang Sparrow!
- How do I get rid of this song?
- Moving photos/downloaded pics from camera roll to another photo folder on iPhone

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The latest update to the BlackBerry 10 Dev Alpha device has added... Siri! Okay, not exactly Siri, but it is a virtual personal assistant in the style of Siri, and while it currently switches between voices s seemingly at random, one of the voices is exactly the same as the female voice Siri uses. Chris Parsons took it through its paces over at CrackBerry.com and you watch the video above, or head on over there, and see what he thought.

Given that Apple is expanding Siri in iOS 6 with wide availability and more features, and that Android is getting in the game with Google Now (and manufacturer-specific packages like Samsung's S Voice), this obviously comes as no surprise.

Both Siri and S Voice have faced challenges with reliability. It'll be interesting to see how RIM's version does when it's released, likely alongside BlackBerry 10 in Q1, 2013.

Source: CrackBerry.com

• iOS 6 vs. Android 4.1, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone 8