Lost Phone...and some of my final shots from it...

ClassicPan~capture:Processing~ ImageBlender, PicGrunger

Judging by my past post a month ago, seems I am only getting to update my iPhone blog monthly. These are a few images I have made over the last couple weeks, BEFORE I LOST MY iPhone...yes that's right, I lost it last Thursday, and now have the iP5 on order, but I can tell you being without it is interesting. I feel as if I have gone back in time! So now I am waiting patiently for my new one to arrive. Until then no iPhone pics from me. I am still teaching using the iPad which is just fine for that and for processing. These images were all rescued from the cloud. Check out my iPhone classes and workshops with Horizon Photography Workshops or Capital Photography Center.

Camera+ ~ Capture: Processing~ Snapseed for crop...AutoPainter3..ImageBlender

 

And here are a few from my New Mexico Workshop in September. 

File SIze ~ App Value ~ Your Call!

Resolution 2592 x 2592 6.7mp

I recommended the new App I like called "Glaze" in one of my e-mail newsletters to my mailing list and received back a comment from one client that they were going to buy the app until they read the online reviews, where someone had left a derogatory comment on the web developers site regarding the resolution. They then said it was too small a resolution to buy and small resolution apps should be banned, therefore they were not buying it. OK well that's fine I don't get any money from recommending an app, but in my workflow I often use an app not for the absolute file that app produces but for the effects it might generate for blending. The largest file size that "Glaze" delivers for a rectangular image was detailed in my original post.
The square file size "Glaze" delivers is 2048 x 2048 or 4.1mp.
The image above began as a 6x6 App shot with a file  size of 1936 x1936, so Glaze actually upsized the original file by choosing the save as menu and "Print" as a size choice. (I still shoot with a iP4 5mp cam, anxiously awaiting the iP5 release)
Here is the orignal file image:

Image 1

Image 2

Here is the version of the "Glaze" rendered file I chose to use as the beginning of my "new" image. 

The next step in the process was a run through Modern Grunge which maintained the 2048 x 2048 resolution.

Image 3

Now that I had this file saved I wanted to go back into Modern Grunge and make further adjustments to the image, which are below, maintaining the 2048 x 2048 file size.

Image 4

The next thing I wanted to do before going any further was to remove the black lower right hand corner, so I used the Touch Retouch lasso tool, to add back color into the corner, again maintaining the current file size of 2048 x 2048.

Image 5

My next idea was to minimize the ripped white edge achieved in Modern Grunge so I opened Juxtaposer and masked out and blended down the file with Image 3, maintaining the 2048 x 2048 resolution. 

Image 6

Then I wanted to run it through Snapseed and recolor the image with the Grunge Filter. The image then developed into the one below maintaining the 2048 x 2048 resolution.

Image 7

 Now I was getting where I wanted with the tones of old Asian Paper or Tapestry, but it needed some Chinese letters. So I opened the App "Custom Kanji Wallpapers" and decided to apply the Chinese letters for "Life" "Love" and "Wisdom". Which the downsized my file to 640 x 960, as this app is truly a "SMALL RES" app. But it has Chinese letters! And I only wanted the letters so I rendered files with the letters on them, knowing I was going to blend them back with another APP of larger file size.

Image 8

So now that I had my Chinese letter files to work with I opened up ImageBlender and used image 7 with a resolution of 2048 x 2048 as my base image ( the left hand image selection ) and image 8 as my top image then masked out the top image except for the Chinese Letters, Voila now I had my 2048 x 2048 image file back with the Chinese letters on it.

Image 9

But I wanted more texture and more interest, so I ran this file through "Glaze" and used the file below for texture.

Image 10

Once again I used ImageBlender to blend and mask image 9 with image 10 selectively.

Image 11

But I wanted more......texture color so I went into Pic Grunger...and added texture Pic Grunger has resolution options up to 8mp or 3264 x 2448. So I saved the file at a largest resolution possible delivering a square image file of 3264 x 3264 or 10.6 mp which would make a nice print sized 10" x 10".
I lost file size again when adding the frame on it in Crop'n'Frame for purposes of displaying on the web, but ended with a file sized 2592 x 2592. So don't throw out an app because it has a small file size unless that's all you want is a straight file delivered from the app in which case I would say 3mp is a pretty small file, but its still bigger than the first iPhone camera which started this whole photography ~ art movement! Can you believe this started with a straight shot of a beautiful lotus? ;-) Sign up for one of my iPhone workshops and gain more insight into the art of iPhoneography! I am very excited to be offering a six week course at Johns Hopkins University in the fall. The app I use to check file size through my workflow is called "Photosize" it makes it easy to keep track of whats happening during the process.

Image 12

 

Ireland~ Textures~ WIndows and Doors~ Snapseed~ ImageBlender~PicGrunger

While continuing to work my way through some iPhone images I made in Ireland........I noticed a common thread of window and doorway images. The little town of Dingle, our first stop, had interesting colorful windows and doorways to capture. In almost every window in Ireland there is some type of lace curtain. I was curious about the origins of this style of window decor and could not find in a quick search, anything on the internet relating to the historical use of lace at windows in Ireland. I did find a little history on Irish lace making on this site. History of Irish Lace. Maybe it has become just a decorating tradition but I also think it serves a purpose other than its beauty. Many windows in the houses I saw had no "screens" maybe the lace acts as screen, although I doubt it would keep the "Midges" out...
I snapped a shot of some lace that adorned a table in Dingle's Benner Hotel where we stayed. Walking the town for about an hour in the afternoon I captured a few shots of doors and windows that interested me for their colors or design. I used the single image of the lace from the hotel as a texture and overlaid it on the straight shots in ImageBlender. Then I used a grunge filter in PicGrunger or SnapSeed to finish off the look I had in my  mind.

 I also loved this window shot straight out of the app ClassicPan, no lace needed!

A few more recent shots....Chesapeake City

 

This shot was made while walking the streets of Chesapeake City, Md. during my recent iPhone photography workshop. I was working with the app Classic Pan making a shot of some chairs that were stretched out across the sidewalk, when I noticed this waitress looking out the tall window, I quickly recomposed and made this shot, I made one more shot after this one, but she moved and no longer had that daydreaming look.. "the decisive moment." The image was processed in Snapseed.

 

A shop keeper had a display of a wooden screen so I made a quick grab and processed it with Photo Wizard, Textures and PicGrunger.

This image is of a sailboat model that I shot through a shopkeepers window. I used AutoPainter VanGough, for the sky and then Blended it back with the original in Image Blender, masked out the VanGough effect on the sail and finished the image off in PicGrunger.

My next all day workshop in Chesapeake City, Md with Horizon Photography Workshops will be December 8. Here's a link for registration: Click Here.
Hope to see you there!

Lucketts Apps: Old Photo: PicGrunger:BadCamera

Captured with ClassicPan:Processed with: Old PhotoPRO:BadCamera:PicGrunger: Framed with Crop'n'Frame

Today I rolled out at 4:00am and headed south to McKee Beshers for my sunflower workshop. It was a beautiful sunrise over the field of sunflowers, but I was teaching and helping folks capture the shot before the light changed...so I don't have any pictures, except one iPhone shot I grabbed real fast. This is it...I used BracketMode to capture two shots, one for the highlights and one for the darks and blended them together in iCameraHDR, then because it was low light and the shots were handheld they did not line up as sharply as I would like so I painted the image with AutoPainter...well you get the idea...but this blog is not about the sunflowers...its about Lucketts.

Lucketts is a vintage hip home store and antique center in an old, really old building. I have been by this store several times on the way to my nieces house in Ashburn for holiday dinners, but have never been able to enter because they are either closed or I am in a hurry. But today I had time to wander a bit. While scouring the little buildings on the property I found some distressed "Olive Buckets"...I thought would make great planters, so I bought three of them and went inside to explore.  All these shots were made inside of Lucketts. They have a beautiful way of displaying shop goods and the light coming through the old store windows was wonderful.The workshop group was great and we had a fun time among the Sunflowers.

Classical Gas Museum PicGrunger: BracletMode: True HDR

This is a parallel post to the post I made on my "Big Girl Camera" Blog, but these are the iPhone images I made there which will give you more of an idea about the place. All of these images were shot with the BracketMode App, merged with TrueHDR and Treated with PicGrunger for texture and border...no sharpening or other adjustments were made. Well with one exception, the string of Gas pumps was processed with AutoStitch as it is a seven shot image stitched together on the iPhone.

The Highlight of this second to last day in New Mexico was the Classical Gas Museum in Embudo, NM, which is located along the Rio Grande, halfway between Espanola and Taos. Johnnie Meier, the owner, is president of the Route 66 New Mexico Association and contributing editor to the Route 66 and American Roads magazines. He is a voice for Route 66 restoration and commemoration and is the major force behind a  project to restore old neon signs at motels and restaurants across the State of New Mexico. I made more shots with my iPhone there than I did with the "big" camera, but these are a few I did make with the "big" camera. The "Museum" is not what one would think of..instead it is an old storefront along highway 66 with rusting old pumps lined up outside along with an assortment of other found or collected things. Inside he has for sale among other memorabilia, reproduction signs and gas globes. It was a fun place to shoot!

Steve Gottlieb photographs Johnnie Meir (owner)

Oh and on this image I removed from the original image,  a current model car and van in the parking lot, with Touch ReTouch, the iPhone app that replicates Photoshop content aware and has a pretty good clone tool.

Now I have to get back to cleaning the windows at the beach house!

Santa Fe Mornings with the iPhone

This image was the emblem on a state vehicle that was parked in the town. I ran the shot through ArtistaSketch and selected a texture in the sketch program to change the back ground look of the shot. Then I blended the image with the original in Iris and ran it through PicGrunger to finish it off with a texture and a vintage look.

During my recent trip to New Mexico, I spent the mornings in the town of Santa Fe, enjoying breakfast in a local cafe and taking a morning walk around the historic plaza. The iPhone was in my pocket as I walked and I enjoyed making intimate images of pieces of architecture, or store fronts that caught my eye. The colors of New Mexico buildings are representative of the soil and sky, the red adobe and turquoise windows and tiles are wonderful! The mornings were cool, but the sun was blazing. With an elevation of 7000 feet, it is not only the United States' oldest state capital but its highest.I will be posting iPhone images I made during the trip for the next week or so chronicling the trip's shots I made with the iPhone. I was on such a schedule that I hardly had time to process, so now that I am home I will be working through them.

This image was shot with BracketMode: Merged in True HDR: Processes with Iris for some texture and grunge and then finished in PicGrunger.

Shot in BracketMode: Merged with TrueHDR: PencilPaint applied in Photostudio: Blended in Iris: finished with PicGrunger

iPhone at the Beach: About making pictures......

Apps: Bracket Mode: iCameraHDR: Crop'n'Frame

Yesterday, I had some errands to run which took me a little inland, and while there I rode around the back roads of Sussex County, some not even on the Garmen, through the flat lands of Southern Delaware. This area is about the beach or the farms..not much in between.  Some of the farms are grand but most tend to be old and in need of maintenance. The history of the area lies in farming and raising chickens....with some dairy. The lower shore area is home to The Broiler Chicken Industry.  Many small chicken farmers have gone out of the business and abandoned chicken houses populate the areas farms. Sussex County Delaware, was the birthplace of the broiler chicken industry, and produces more chickens than any other county in the United States. It is home to the headquarters of 3 of the Top 20 broiler producing companies in the country. DuPont is also a big employer in the town of Seaford. Once you are out of the beach communities the area is somewhat depressed; a great place for some grunge work if you can get to it. The farms sit back off the roads for the most part and there is little room to pull off because of the many and deep drainage ditches. I was however able to get a few shots with the iPhone. I grabbed lunch on the go and as I sat in the Jeep I noticed that quite possibly the picture on the Garmen was the best one of the day...Pointing due east toward the Atlantic Ocean....being there! Sometimes its not about the pictures....its about just being there. The weather was variable, sometimes rain, sometimes overcast, sometimes sunny. I made a swipe as a storm was passing out to sea, with the SlowShutter app as I was heading North to do some more errands. I finished the day in Prime Hook Marsh and loved how the marsh reeds had been blown into a marvelous accumulation of winter debris creating texture against the shoreline. It was a great day!

Apps: Braclet Mode: iCameraHDR; PicGrunger: Crop'n'Frame

Apps: SlowShutter:PhotoFX

Apps: CameraPlusPro:MonoPhix: PhotoStudio