The Picture on the iPad

Photo by Richard Misrach

Richard Misrach is a photographer I've been aware of literally since art school. He's been working for many years and has created an extensive body of work, mainly of western (U.S.) landscapes. His first-ever commercially licensed photo, "Pyramid Lake (at Night)," from 2004, above, used to be his own personal screensaver—and now it's the official background photo for the iPad. It was taken by the light of the moon on an Indian reservation in Nevada.

Misrach had been in negotiations with Apple, but the rollout came as a surprise. "'I was in bed watching Inglorious Bastards [sic] when I got a call from Jeffrey Fraenkel, my dealer in San Francisco, and he said, "Do you know what's going on live here?"' Misrach told ARTINFO. 'I was totally shocked. Naturally my other galleries started calling and my family was all atwitter....'"

Nice work if you can get it! ARTINFO has the happy story.

And speaking of the iPad, I wonder if the device might become the default portfolio presentation device for photographers. Seems well suited. I've read all sort of accounts of inventive portfolio implementations over the years—including one photographer who used a service that made placemats! As in, for the dining room table. After discovering that conventional laminations scuffed and aged too easily under rough handling by clients, he found that the "placemats" wore like iron and were impervious to scratches and hazing, so a box of his photos so treated became his working portfolio. Another photographer had all his work reproduced as 8x10 transparencies which he mounted with black mat board surrounds. He would visit Art Directors and other potential clients with a portable light box in a briefcase. Showing his work wouldn't have been a casual experience, but must have made a memorable effect. This was innovative when I heard about it in the '80s, but I think it became a common enough method of presentation in subsequent years—the photographer I remember had custom-made his own lightbox-briefcase, but I vaguely remember a commercial version for sale at one point.

The iPad seems tailor-made for portfolio presentations to potential clients. Not sure it would work as a drop-off, though.

Mike
(Thanks to many tipsters)

Send this post to a friend

Note: Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. More...
Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured (partial) Comment by Eric: "Short answer for me is yes. Photos are just beautiful on this thing (my company is developing software for them so we have a few around here). They really pop. I'll still make prints, but just due to the sheer ease of portfolio maintenance the iPad is the way to go. The black Apple iPad case just seals the deal for me. Once you put the iPad in that it's as nice as a portfolio as I've ever used."

Featured Comment by JackM: "I have used a laptop for a portfolio presentation and hated the keyboard. The iPad is superior. Apple is already talking about a smaller iPad; I already want one bigger. But that is in part because I like placemat-sized portfolios. As much as I like the iPad for stills, it is even better for video. Prints in a portfolio have always been possible, but video in a portfolio required a screen. Now we have one. By the way, your blog looks much better on the iPad than on the iPhone."

Featured Comment by Marc Rochkind: "When I first started up my iPad, I thought those star trails were scratches. A few others have commented on this as well. Regarding the iPad for showing photos: It's easy to move photos from, say, Lightroom to the iPad, in case anyone is wondering. No need to go through iPhoto or anything like that. (You sync with iTunes, but you don't load the photos into iTunes. Once you set up the drop folder, the rest is automated.) There's no information I know of about color management on the iPad. I assume sRGB is what you use for a profile. Someone asked here yesterday, I think, about calibration. No way to do that at this point, and probably will not be a way unless 1) Apple has supplied suitable application-program interfaces (APIs) and 2) special hardware is made that interfaces to the iPad's connector. I think both are unlikely."

Featured Comment by Ailsa: "Interesting that Misrach thinks the decision to use his image may have been made at the last moment. The same thing happened to Ian Cameron, a photographer I know who's based in the north of Scotland. A few years ago he was up working very late one night, when his phone rang. It turned out to be someone from Apple HQ, asking for permission to use one of his images as wallpaper for the iPhone—which was being launched the next day. I get the impression Ian was pretty much able to name his price. He never told me how much he was paid for it, but I believe it was a pretty tidy sum. Here's Ian's website."

Comments

[Eric]

Short answer for me is yes. Photos are just beautiful on this thing (my company is developing software for them so we have a few around here). They really pop. I'll still make prints, but just due to the sheer ease of portfolio maintenance the iPad is the way to go. The black Apple iPad case just seals the deal for me. Once you put the iPad in that it's as nice as a portfolio as I've ever used.

Also...Screen savers are what comes on when your computer has be idle for too long, either desktop image or wallpaper is the preferred nomenclature. Small peeve of mine :)

[Mike Johnston]

"Also...Screen savers are what comes on when your computer has be idle for too long, either desktop image or wallpaper is the preferred nomenclature. Small peeve of mine"

Can't help you there Eric...it's a quote from Misrach in the Artinfo story. He says screensaver, I gotta say screensaver.

Mike

[Daniel Fealko]

I am interested in how well an iPad works for portfolio presentations. My concern is that the iPad will never show a truly accurate representation of the final print given the difference between the mediums. Firstly, the interaction of light on a monitor surface is different than with a print. Secondly, photos on a monitor have luminance not found in any print. And lastly, I've yet to see a monitor reproduce a photo with the tonal quality of a fine print.

[Mike Johnston]

Daniel,
Okay, but most photographers don't use portfolios to sell prints. They use portfolios to sell themselves.

Mike

[Michel]

"And speaking of the iPad, I wonder if the device might become the default portfolio presentation device for photographers."

The iPad has the major advantage of using the full screen real estate because it is not restricted to a landscape orientation. It can be disappointing looking at portrait oriented pictures on a computer screen as these images end up looking so much smaller than the rest of your (landscape) portfolio.

[Chad Thompson]

I intend to buy one for the purpose of selling myself. Well, that and the Brian Eno apps available for it. I'll probably also get a felt cover to protect it too. So much more classy than the neoprene that seems to dominate the market these days. I really dig this one but this is nice too. Maybe when the iPod touch gets cheap enough that'll be my leave behind.

Incidentally the movie is actually spelled - Inglourious Basterds. Much worse that you originally thought.

[Mike Johnston]

"Incidentally the movie is actually spelled - Inglourious Basterds. Much worse that you originally thought."

Chad,
I know--but when quoting written matter it's not kosher to correct misspellings. The best I could do is to add that "sic" (Latin for "thus," meaning, "their mistake, not mine" [g]).

Mike

[Ken Tanaka]

It's a beautiful image by a good photographic artist (and a nice guy...having met Richard a few years ago). More power to him! I can sure think of worse images to use.

[Bill Mitchell]

Wonder what the actual screen size is?

[Miserere]

Does the iPad have a good slide-show app? Maybe one where you can create slide-shows from photos located anywhere on the drive, much like you do with playlists on an mp3 player. In this way you could have different slide-shows to fit your mood, or have slide-shows organised by genre, a "Top Ten" slide-show in honour of Mike, etc.

As an aside, I wonder what the licensing fees for Mr Misrach's iPad photo are.

[charlie]

I was just at the Apple store in Chicago and couldn't get within 10 feet of an iPad. So I went and loaded my blog on a few iMacs and hit the road! ;-)

I think they should make an iPad screen as an option to the MacBook Pro. Sitting here writing on my 15" MBP, how slick it would be to disconnect the screen and head to the coffee shop!

That would be slick...

[KeithB]

Maybe he was watching *this* movie with the American title:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076584/

[David Bostedo]

I'm left wondering what the iPad can do for portfolios that a tablet PC (where the keyboard can fold out of the way) can't? There is the "really cool and sleek" aspect to the iPad, which is certainly valid - anything that improves your image as a pro helps. But tablet PCs can also be calibrated and set up in many different ways and are available in different sizes. I haven't used one much though, so maybe the tablet PC screens are crappy? With so many available, one of them has to be good, right?

[Timothy Gray]

Thanks, but I'll pass. The iPad is half baked and crippled by Apple's closed distribution system.

Unless they offer a way to calibrate the display, I don't see this being a serious replacement for traditional portfolios. At most, it will be a nice way to review wedding proofs or a high-end portrait session, but even then, how it that revolutionary?

[Dave Stewart, The Black Isle, Scotland]

Possible alternative(s) from Archos?

[Jonas Yip]

I actually found that image to be a strange choice as the default iPad image because I kept looking at my iPad and thinking there were scratches on the screen.... which were just the star trails, of course. But even knowing that I'd notice them in my peripheral vision and think "scratches". I had to change the image.

- jonas

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Daniel, if you're working to sell prints, then your concern about the difference is valid. Of course, if you're selling services for print magazines, the quality print you present in a portfolio doesn't match the magazine printing, either. And, today, a lot of work is displayed online; the iPad will look MORE like the final work than a print would in that market segment.

[Gianni Galassi]

The launch of the iPad is revamping the debate on which is -or should be considered as- the specific final output of photography. The printed paper of a magazine or a book (either printed by a "real" publisher or self-published), a crafted print (inkjet or chemical), a poster, a TV screen, a computer screen, a portable device, a digital frame? Any of those media? None of them?
Last year I was asked for a photograph of mine to be printed on a series of disposable place mats. They were especially designed by a museum restaurant to celebrate an exhibition on Joseph Conrad. Color quality was magazine-grade. For three weeks people have had lunch and dinner served on my photograph. However fast the service, every guest has had it under his eyes thirty minutes at least. How long do we generally stand in front of a photograph at an exhibition?

[Christopher Lane]

Hi,

I know it's self serving, but what isn't these days. I did an in depth analysis of the iPad as well as a brief hands on, all from a photographic standpoint. You can read it at http://writtenbythelight.blogspot.com/2010/04/ipad.html. In my view it is a game changer.

Chris

[MJFerron]

May look into getting an iPad but I do think that in this electronic age the computer screen is a reasonably legit means of viewing an image. Try as I might I find it tough to duplicate the back lit glow of the screen in a print. Sure you are missing a touch of detail compared to a sharp print but detail isn't everything.

[Bill Mitchell]

Whoop-dee-do! A giant screen just big enough for a 5x7 with a small border.
What am I missing here?

[Jeff]

I'm so not buying one. I could write why but Cory Doctorow has done it for me:

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/02/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either.html

[Doroga]

About screen calibration.

It probably won't be possible to calibrate Ipad screen, but it would be possible to profile it just like any printer with measuring known color target with same device you use for monitor calibration.

All we'll need is just update of calibration software.

[ctein]

Dear David & Timothy,

See my comment about the iPad screen quality under the other iPad article. It's awesome. It's far better than anything I've seen on any other portable device, better than most desktop displays I've looked at (note: there are plenty of displays I've not seen).

Calibration would be nice, but it doesn't really need it for mere portfolio presentation-- overall it's near dead-on color- and tone-wise out of the box.

pax / Ctein

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've known a few photographers who have used the iPhone or iPod Touch to show a portfolio of their work to potential (non-professional) models, usually strangers that they meet on the street or the subway or in cafes. Now there is an iPhone model release app for street photographers where the model can sign on the screen with a finger or a stylus, an iPhone photo of the model can be attached to make it easier to match the release to the image later, and the release is saved as a JPEG or PDF--

http://www.applicationgap.com/apps/easyrelease/

I don't know that the iPad will replace the iPhone for these uses, since the iPhone is pocket sized, and the advantage is that you always have it with you (which is one of the reasons that some people like the iPhone as a platform for reading e-books, even if devices like the Kindle have better screens for reading, etc.).

[Marc Rochkind]

@Bill: True, it is a 5x7 with a border. What you are missing is that it shows any of 10,000 images.

--Marc

[Oskar Ojala]

Interesting story.

Regarding the iPad, I prefer a laptop for anything. The iPad is too restricted for me and as a techie I don't like these closed platforms at all. I want my desktop software to work on it.

[Joe Reifer]

ICC profiles for the iPad are coming in iPhone OS 4.

[Sylvain Goffin]

Hello,

While not exactly the place for computer gearhead talk, I'd like to point out that while being very desirable, I think it might be worth to wait a couple of months to see what competitors will present. My impression is that when you get to larger sized electronics, other brands might have enough expertise to match or surpass the iPad while clearing a few of its, I believe, blatant shortcomings.
Just from the top of my head:
HP Slate
ICD Gemini

Greetings,
S.

[Eolake Stobblehouse]

Just chiming in, here... the 'pad is not launched here in UK yet, but I had one flown in. Too excited not to. And it's true about the screen. I will sometimes think about a picture or a web site: "it didn't used to look this good, did it?"

The software is a bit limited, but it's a brand new platform, it'll grow quickly.

[Dennis Ng]

Just installed iPhone OS 4. I think by summer (iPhone; fall iPad) when this moved outside our developer group then your presentation is much more pro may I say. You can show your web site, pictures in iPad etc. all in one go. A multitask iPad is a different tool I think based on what I am testing now with multitask iPhone.

BTW, you may have a TOP App. to show iAd as Steve Jobs demo would add some support, in case Amazon pull its plug somehow.

It keeps on make me think how can 1 person be such an influence ... I think as he said it is NOT about what application one use (nothing new like MP3 player and mouse/windows, smartphone, ... etc. when Apples come in) but HOW one do the application.

Unfortunately Apple is always a closed shop. Its idea will be copied by someone and it would fail in the long term I am afraid. At least this time Apple has some reserve to cushion the inevitable of life of Steve Jobs.

Enjoy while we can.

[Jonathan Taylor]

Per Ray Maxwell of the colorsync mailing list:

If you look in the lower left of this image under the gdgt logo, you will see that ICC profiles are supported in the new iPhone OS 4.

http://live.gdgt.com/2010/04/08/live-iphone-os-4-0-event-coverage/#10-12-50-am

So the iPad (possibly iPhone?) should at a minimum properly recognize and display icc tagged images. Perhaps this has something to do with early reports of great looking photo portfolios?

Calibration is a whole 'nother question-- but since icc is supported would it be that hard for vendors to make iPad versions of their calibration software?

[Robin Parmar]

The iPad is an oversized and overpriced iPhone. Without the phone.

Just get a laptop with a touch screen and have everything Apple won't give you... for less money.