Showing posts with label Storytelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Storytelling. Show all posts
Friday, November 20, 2015
Steller for Storytelling Gets a Major Update
When Steller was first released in March 2014, it was named Editor's Choice and Best New App on the Apple App Store! And with this latest update, it's bound to only keep growing in popularity.
I'd like to send out a thank you to Jay and Jordan who kindly gave me featured spots under the CREATIVE category with my painterly tutorial "California Dreaming" and under DIY with my Do it Yourself Macro Lens tutorial.
Now...on to the news!
The Popular Mobile Storytelling App for iPhone Announces Major Update,
Expanding on its Discovery and Social Features
Everyone has a story to tell. Tell yours with photos, videos, and text, all right from your iPhone.
Woodside, CA - August 21, 2014 - Mombo Labs, Inc. today announced a major update to its popular mobile storytelling app, Steller, for iPhone and iPod touch. Originally released in March, Steller makes it easy to design and share beautiful visual stories from the iPhone and iPod Touch. The engineering team behind Steller includes ex-Google, ex-Vmware, and ex-Microsoft veterans Mark Lucovsky, Vadim Spivak, and Richard McAniff.
The updated version of Steller makes it easier to search stories and connect with other users. “We’re really excited by our growth and momentum, and with so many new users and stories being added everyday, we knew we needed to improve Steller’s search and discovery features," said Karen Poole, Co-Founder and Head of Product Design. “We’ve added comments, notifications on mentions, and search by keyword and hashtag, just to name a few. We’ve also added an all new Explore section, which will bring a whole new dimension to the user experience."
One of Steller’s featured authors, accomplished fashion illustrator Katie Rodgers started using the app early on as a beta tester. “Steller has been a beautiful platform to tell the story of my work, and has inspired me to create in a new way. The community on Steller is so vibrant and diverse, and I’m thrilled that this new release will make it even easier to connect and discover,” she said.
Visit Steller online for featured stories, blog and more. Steller is FREE on the Apple App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch. Follow Steller on Twitter and Facebook.Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
Steller is a Stellar Storytelling App!
I recently created a profile using the Steller app and published my first story. The Steller format allows for combining your story to include text, imagery and videos using various layouts and fonts. Once you create your first story you can curate it to a Collection. Collections can include your own work or you can republish other works on Steller into a Collection (kind of like you do with a Pinterest Board). I've started one called Healthy Eats because I love the recipes I"m finding on Steller.
For my first story I decided to introduce myself and my love of creating painterly mobile art. Click on the image below to read the story on the web version of Steller.
Once you sign-up for Steller through the app (free on The App Store) you can start creating your own stories and collections. Be sure to look for me (just search Geri Centonze) and follow and I will be happy to follow back to see your stories!
Continuing on with my theme of The Painterly Way, I published a full tutorial for creating "California Dreaming". Click on it to view the tutorial in Steller. You'll see how I turned a very ordinal image into this painterly one.
Steller is about to release the latest version next week. Stay tuned because I'll be back with a press release on that soon! Are you using Steller? If so, please let me know how you're liking it so far in the comments below.
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Jordan Foy - Featured Mobile Photographer
What is your name and where do you live?
JF: My name is Jordan Foy and I am currently based in the small city of Chester (United Kingdom). It's a great little city with a lot of history.
How did you get started in mobile photography? What device do you use?
JF: I actually started ages ago - remember the Sony Ericsson Cybershot? That's where I started! I then moved onto an iPhone, my first was the 5, and I went through the whole '15 filters and a frame' on Instagram shots, I look back at the photos I used to take and they are shocking, I am so happy I got past that.
Do you have a traditional photography or art background?
JF: I first picked up art in high school, so when I was 14. I did graphic design and art classes. By this time I was taking photographs on family holidays, everything from nature to architecture, but never family holiday snaps! Every time I took one I thought was any good, every single family member that was on holiday with me had to be shown it! I am now in my third and final year of university doing a photography course. Never do one of these at university...it's useless!
Who or what inspires you?
JF: My favorite photographer is Vivian Maier. What an incredible, mysterious woman who happened to be one of the best creatives never discovered until it was too late. Other than that, I love taking inspiration from everybody, just like David Bowie, I adopt styles and techniques from everywhere!
I met you through your involvement with the Steller app. What is Steller and how did it come about?
JF: Steller is a new creative social media app where people can share their stories, which elsewhere can be hard to share. Steller allows you to share your stories through images, videos and text. There’s a really vibrant and diverse community taking shape comprised of photographers, food lovers, adventurers and creatives. It came about when the co-founders brain stormed ideas in their garage. They wanted to allow people to share stories on a simple interactive app, and the rest is history!
What sets Steller apart from other storytelling apps?
JF: Oh good question and one I love to answer. What sets Steller apart is people for the first time can share their story with their photos and videos in a way that just doesn’t exist in other apps/software today. Steller has put back the interactivity of holding a book and flipping through pages to see what’s next. Also the ability to combine photos, videos and text and design how you want yours to look turns each story into a piece of creativity in itself. I get lost in the creativity of the app. No other app is as fulfilling and captivating for me. I enjoy so many authors on Steller.
What makes a good story on Steller? Are some subjects more popular than others?
JF: I love stories from all different types of creatives. The great thing is I like to take inspiration from all different types of genres and the Steller community definitely holds all types of genres. From what I’ve seen there’s a lot of purely creative stories, as well as many on places and travel, food and recipes and adventures all around the world. The everyday stories too in the community have their own unique charm. It’s nice to see how people live in different parts of the world, what they’re thinking about. Some of my favorites from the community are;
Devin Castro / @Devin Making incredible stories combining photography + video in the most dream like way!
Tiffany Mitchell / @tifforelie A wizard in the Kitchen who will leave you feeling hungry at the end of each her stories!
Stu Heppell / @stuheppell Follow his collection entitled, ‘ Four Australians in the USA’. It is one captivating series of America.
Chris Belcina / @chrisbelcina Showing you the world that little bit closer! His collection entitled, ‘Macro Adventures’ are a must view.
Jonathan Lo / @happymundane The godfather when it comes to bringing the mundane into the limelight.
Andy Best / @andy_best View the most incredible trips documented with awesome photography +video!
For anyone new to Steller or just interested in connecting, my Steller handle is @jordanfoy. I post my own stories and also republish lots of cool stories that I find from around the community too.
Are there any plans for an embed feature with Steller? I'm sure bloggers would love that.
JF: The embedded feature on the app is being rolled out gradually and is available by request to support@mombo.com. It’s coming soon soon for everyone.
What other changes are in store for future updates?
JF: Like the best things coming out, all is secret till revealed! I’m really excited about the new login and find friends via Instagram. This makes it simple to find all of your friends and followers that are on Steller too.
Back to your photography - what photo are you most proud of and why?
JF: I think the word proud may be a bit too strong, but I am quite happy with the photographs I am producing at the moment, I am consistently inconsistent so my style can change from week to week. I am loving to take videos at the moment, I am inspired a lot by Devin Castro, whom I just mentioned. His video style is just incredible, they are like little snippets of dreams! They’re the reason I started experimenting with video. I use my iPhone for the video creating since it’s always with me.
Do you have any "go to" apps that you use when editing? What are they?
JF: For photography I use VSCO, the best and only filter app I use. If I ever want to edit the photograph further, like remove anything, I use Facetune. This as the name suggests is a selfie editor, it actually has some great features which help me edit images, I may be the first to use it for photography, and not for the infinite amount of self portraits people take! For videos I use Chromic, which is just as good as VSCO for video, and until VSCO has the ability to edit video I will use Chromic. To add music in my videos I actually use the app Splice and record the music off my iPad onto my iPhone, there could be an easier way, but I enjoy doing it this way!
What advice would you give mobile photographers just starting out?
JF: Treat your phone like it's the best camera on the market, the most expensive piece of photographic equipment out there and ignore everything else. I always think if you treat it like it's the best, you will get the best results. The sense of joy I get when I take a shot I am happy with is like no other!
Apps Mentioned:
News Flash! Steller 2.1 has been released.
Steller 2.1 adds Login and Find Friends via Instagram + new iOS 8 features such as multi-photo/video select via the iPhone camera roll.
(Get it / Learn More)
The Instagram Find Friends is significant for all pro authors, as it allows:
- All new users registering with Instagram to be prompted to follow you on Steller when they join
- All users that tap Find Friends can find/follow you if they follow you on Instagram
- Plus you'll be able to find friends and people you follow too
How to Find Instagram Friends
1. Tap Search icon in top right corner of the app > Tap Find Friends
2. Tap Instagram icon in top right > Tap Connect to Instagram
3. Done!
Loving Steller? Take a moment to share your rating and review on the App Store. With each release, the App Store visible comments go back to none. Review the new version here.
Geri's Note: Steller is currently featured on the App Store home page under Best New Apps and has a Banner Spread for Photo & Video and Social Networking.
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