The Days Blog

We’ve spent the past few years figuring out how to make content creation as habitual as content consumption. That’s the idea behind Days, the daily visual diary we launched in May 2013. Nine months later, we’re excited to announce that we’ve accepted an offer to bring our work on daily habits to Yahoo. We started our company with the vision of transforming daily habits, and we’re proud to be joining a new one that shares that mission.

Our entire team will be joining Yahoo’s NYC-based Mobile and Emerging Products group, where we’ll continue on as a startup team within a larger organization. The Days app will live on as a standalone entity, and we’ll also be working on some exciting new projects that we can’t talk about just yet.

Sincerest appreciation to our investors, our advisors, our friends and families, the good folks at Apple, and, most importantly, our users! Your days have inspired us and it’s been beyond rewarding watching the product and community we’ve built together evolve and grow. We are so grateful, thank you!

If you have any questions, please tweet @wander or email us via [email protected].

Happy Days,

Days Tutorial Series Episode 6

Taking Festive Photos of the Holidays

With a few holidays behind us and a few ahead, here are 3 tips on capturing festive photos during this holiday season:

1) Set the scene and document the holiday’s flair otherwise known as  “the details”. Someone has spent a really long time setting that table or creating that ornament so snap a picture before it gets filled with people and ruined

2) The gratuitous amounts of food need to be pictured. From your plate that’s never been so full, to the one that is inexplicably clean. What are you eating for the holidays?

3) Holidays are all about the traditions and the people that make them.  From family football, to extensive trivia games…the first one to fall asleep, to the last…. capture the moments that make your holidays your very own.

Having close family, friends and gratitude all in one place should not be taken for granted. Don’t be shy, take lots of photos so your memories can keep you warm for years to come.

Days Tutorial Series Episode 5

Taking Great Food Photos w/ Your Phone

Make your breakfast lunch and dinner look like it's straight out of a magazine. Here are 3 tips on taking great food photos:

1. Lighting:  Be mindful of lighting. Try to use indirect, natural light if you’re shooting in the day time. Sit near a window if you can. Shooting in a dark restaurant or artificial light won’t produce a beautiful photo. If it’s a dark dinner, get creative and try putting a drink in front of a candle.

2. Angles: You either want your phone to be directly above the dish and kept flat or you want to keep your phone at a 45 degree angle over the food. Experiment with angles. A sandwich may not be so interesting from above, but delectable from the side.

3. Composition: Create some context. Pretend you're a food stylist. Compose items or plates on the table in an interesting way. Center round plates in your photo, incorporate other items on the table to reflect the scene, or turn indian takeout into a masterpiece.

Days Tutorial Series Episode 4

Photos of your Kids with Dave Nelson from Secret Penguin

Dave is one of our favorite Days users (@davenelson), particularly because he's able to capture some of the most beautiful and interesting shots of his family. He (and his daughter) gives us 3 tips to taking great photos of your kids using the Days app:

1. Be present : If you’re staring at your phone all day, you’ll miss the tiny moments ...like, when they first see ice cream, or are about to go down a slide, or they smell a dog fart.

2. Show the full story : Add context to your photos by not always focusing directly on your kid. For example: focus on your food, and capture the moment of seeing your kid in the background about to dig in!

3. Play with your kid : Discover new things alongside them, go on adventures, take them to the skatepark, give them experiences they’ll want to remember - even if it’s as simple as making a fort out of a box!

Make those moments happen that you’ll both want to look back on.

Days Tutorial Series Episode 3 

Taking Great Party Photos

Days Tutorial Series Episode 3: Tips for the best party photos with Nicky Digital from NickyDigital.com

1) Get in as close as you can to the action and take photos of what makes the party special

2) Try taking photos both with and without flash, sometimes you'll be surprised about which photos give you the best results

3) Be part of the party! Take lots of selfies of you and your friends having a good time

Enjoy your weekend, TGIF and we can't wait to see your party photos on Days!

Days Feature Release

Camera Roll Import

We’re very excited to announce a new update that's available in the app store today that has a feature many of you have been waiting for (drum roll please).... Camera roll import!

Activate import once and we’ll start scanning. We’ll look for photos from days you haven’t already posted (as far back as a year ago!) and continue to pull in new photos going forward! In other words, take a photo on your camera roll, open Days, and watch it magically appear in your day picker. 

Download in the App store ➜

To turn on camera roll auto-import simply hit the white "turn on auto-import" button in your drafts or day-picker section of the app and watch your photos load in.

OR you can turn camera roll auto-import on and off from the "camera settings" section of the app by toggling the "Auto import photos from Camera Roll" button and hitting "save".

Days Tutorial Series Episode 2.0 (make sure your phone's audio is ON):

How to take a great selfie

Lara, a selfie pro, gives you 3 tips on how to take a great selfie with the Days App:

1. Get the right angle, get the right look, and get your arm out of the shot! It's totally avoidable

2. Pick an expression -- a selfie is like a visual status update, so use the GIF feature and subtle facial movements to convey how you're feeling

3. Get your friends involved!! The photo booth is in your hands, there's fun for you and a friend to be had

We’re starting a documentary-style project to present you with a day-in-the-life of a “creative visionary” as it really is: un-produced and as authentic as possible. Maybe you’ve seen the first few in your stream. It’s called Days in the Life.

Days Tutorial Series Episode 1.0:

How to Make a Great GIF

Lara teaches you 3 rules for making great GIFs:

Try to hold the camera in the exact same position for each photo in your GIF

Don't get trigger happy, try to capture discrete poses

Keep your GIF at 2 or 3 frames

And remember, each photo has to be taken within 10 seconds of the one before it.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

11:36am – View from the roof of our hostel – Arequipa