Burtynsky's Giant Oil Photos Port to the iPad

Edward Burtynsky's photos from his Oil series are best viewed as enormous prints on a gallery wall, but the iPad version makes up for what is loses in scale and tactility with special commentary, videos and, most of all, price.

There's no doubt that Edward Burtynsky's photos from his Oil series are best viewed as enormous prints on a gallery wall. Known as one of the preeminent projects about the industrial age, the photos rely on scale to deliver their message about how oil has changed both the earth and human kind in profound and lasting ways.

That's why we were skeptical when we heard he was releasing a new iPad version of the project's book, which was originally published in 2009. How would these prints translate to a backlit viewing platform smaller than a sheet of office paper?

With app in hand, we were able to confirm the obvious — the iPad will never replace a print on the wall or a well-designed photo book. But that said, what we lost in scale and tactility was made up at least in part by the other features we've all come to love about the iPad.

Case-in-point are the short interviews with Burtynsky that accompany 24 of the photos. I enjoy a piece of art more when I know something about it and hearing Burtynsky explain things that you wouldn't find in a normal caption — like why he composed certain photos in very particular ways — enriched the experience.

Other features on the app include three videos of Burtynsky speaking about his work and maps that show the location of the photos. There are also nine new images from the Gulf oil spill.

What tips the scales in favor of the app is the price. The Oil book sells for $128 on the publisher's website. We can just imagine how much a Burtynsky print sells for. So at $9.99 there's not much room to complain. If you enjoy Burtynsky's work, it's a drop in the bucket to experience a project that will only get more important as time goes on.