Cafe Paris~ Inspiration! Camera+ ~ Artista Oil~ Artista Sketch ~ Glaze ~ ImageBlender ~ Snapseed

Last week I had the great pleasure of working with a client who wanted to master GLAZE and do some iPhone work. Their home is like a large studio with white walls, soft white sheer curtains and beautiful windows with lots of natural light. As I worked with my client my eyes were just seeing small still life vignettes everywhere! So we used the natural light and set up a few stills to process on the iPhone. This was one of them. The beautiful china cream pitcher with Cafe Paris on it by Bernardaud and the blue checkered breakfast napkin, just begged to be photographed, so I arranged a little comp by the window with the soft drape of curtain behind it.We placed a white foam core board behind the curtain to balance the interior light.
Staring with Camera+ and choosing an appropriate exposure using the lock exposure feature we made a few comps. I liked this one.

1. Original capture using Camera+

                               

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. To begin the processing, I brightened it a bit and used a warmer  White Balance in Snapseed. Then I wanted to add a bit of color to the edges. I used Artista Oil to accomplish this by reducing all the slider effects except the border and then toned  the border to work with the blue in the napkin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. Next I wanted to add a bit of color to the comp.

I used Artista Sketch to accomplish this, by choosing a sketch look I liked and changed the sketch color to yellow which I thought would work nicely with the blue of the napkin and china.

4. To the original image #1, I blended in ImageBlender image #2 to soften the effect of the blue border toning.

5. Next I blended image #3 with #4 in ImageBlender choosing an appropriate blend mode to achieve the look I had in mind. Then I ran that blended image through Glaze and achieved the look in this image.

6. To finish off the image I used Snapseed and boosted saturation and sharpness as well as applied the border. I used Impression to add my copyright and toned it blue to match the image.

 Check out my full list of classes on the Capital Photography Center site click here for more information and registration.

Whats your Muse? Apps~Hipstamatic ~ Glaze ~ BracketMode ~HDR Pro~ Leonardo ~ Snapseed

Often, I ponder what it is that moves me to see and then create an image......waxing introspectively....
On my recent workshop at The National Gallery of Art, men inspired me, doing what they do in this beautiful environment...as I was working with the group explaining BracketMode and HDR Pro I spotted this gentleman with his camera. I was curious about this older man walking around the gallery putting his camera to his eye and shooting images...at any age photography is a gift and a camera a good companion! I quickly grabbed a BracketMode shot while he stood still looking at the tree with his camera to his face. BracketMode allowed  me to capture the light inside with detail on the wall, as well as the beautiful light falling on the outside building wall. I wondered what image he made....

Captured: BracketMode Processed:HDRPro, Snapseed

After the workshop was over I found him in another section of the gallery and made this image. Waiting until I found just the right composition which allowed me to fit him in between the two paintings hanging on the wall. He was alone with his camera, his thoughts and marvelous art!

Captured: Hipstamatic, Jane lens Inas 1969 film Processed: Glaze, ImageBlender, Leonardo, Impression

The same day one of my young students, who I was terribly impressed with....captured my "Yes" when I saw him holding his iPhone up to capture the condensation of the perpetual condensation display....and once again...the joy of photography came to mind...from the very young with his iPhone to the older gentleman with his DSLR. Amazing....how we see so differently through the lens!!! any lens! and the joy it brings.

Captured: Hipstamatic, Jane Lens Inas 1969 film Processing: None

While showing a workshop student a composition using Hipstamatic, of a man seated, seemingly as part of the stone building structure, an art object himself, we got down low and and made this composition. He never knew we were there.

Captured: Hipstamatic Processed: Glaze, ArtistaSketch, ImageBlender, Snapseed, Leonardo

And after the workshop I strayed into the West wing and captured the Gallery Guard as he was directing traffic and warning people to put their beverage bottles away, again, waiting to catch him in a position separated from the escalator so that he was in a good position to offset his person against the wall in front of him, and waiting for that crossed hand behind the back stance that caught my eye initially.
It is always fun to shoot with the iPhone, then app it up! I have only two spots left for my all day workshop sponsored by Capital Photography Center on May 4th. Hope someone can join me there. For more info Click Here. My next "Getting Started" class is June 1 at the National Portrait Gallery for more info click here.

Captured: Hipsatmatic Jane Lens Inas 1969 film Processed: Glaze, ImageBlender, Snapseed, Leonardo, Impression

Polamatic~Camera+~Glaze~PhotoArtistaSketch~ImageBlender~Leonardo~Phonto~ Working up a new process

Finished Image My Process Below.....

This image started with a simple grab shot of a little flower arrangement on a table at Chick-fil-a when I was killing some time before a Camera Club meeting I was judging. The process evolved as I was working through a few of my favorite apps and one I recently bought Polamatic. The process steps I took are in order below.

1. Camera+ original capture

2. Saturated in Leonardo

3. Image 2 opened in Polamatic and Filtered in Polamatic

4. Image 3 opened in Glaze and masked using the in app purchase mask feature.

5. Image 3 Glazed. Notice the cool effect of paint drips over the masked out border
using the workshop mode in Glaze to achieve a custom Glaze effect..

6. Image 5 opened in PhotoArtista Sketch with sketch effect reduced to
zero so that the paper texture is totally visible, almost completely obscuring the image file.

7. Image 5 and image 6 Blended and selectively masked in
ImageBlender for an aged paper look.

8. Image 7 adjusted for sharpness, saturation and brightness in Leonardo, then opened in Phonto to add the text.

Join me May 4th in Washington, DC for  my full day of Working with Apps in Depth class sponsored by Capital Photography Center where we will process images with cool apps like the ones used here! For more information and registration click here.

Glaze ~ Transparency Masking ~ ImageBlender ~ BrushStrokes ~ Camera+

1. This is the iPhone image I started to work with in Glaze for the purpose of exploring the mask feature in Glaze. The image was captured with Camera+ with Square crop mode activated and  I had already processed the image with BrushStrokes a newly released App.

About 5 months ago the developers of Glaze added a new masking feature to their app Glaze. In order to access the feature it required an in App purchase so, I purchased it. I really did not have the curiosity to explore the options at that time as I was using ImageBlender, but this Glaze masking feature allows you to accomplish a different process when using the App Glaze with mask mode...so here it goes my attempt to explain its features and benefits as well as some ideas for improvement.

2. Image being masked in mask mode in Glaze.
To select the areas to be masked one paints over the image area with the Brush Icon activated, it is easily seen by the bright green mask.

After purchasing the mask feature a star icon will appear at the bottom of the paint style palettes upon opening the application. When you tab on the star the menu choices appear as in the image 2 above.

3. Transparent mask applied to background of the image.

The cool thing about this mask is that you can save it with a transparent background. To do that you activate the transparent background by tabbing on the checkerboard icon. In order to work in great detail you simply expand the image and the brush becomes smaller relative to the enlarged image There is no brush size or opacity adjustment. The eraser feature works the same way. I woud like an undo button but it is easy enough if you over paint to erase. The one button you do not want to actidentally activate especially after you have spent time painting your mask is the diagonally striped rectangle on the bottom right, it will clear your mask! I wish there was a prompt connected with that saying are you sure you want to clear the mask?Now that you have the mask on a transparent background, you can hit the checkmark in the lower right. This will activate the mask and you can now run it through your favorite glaze filters.

4. Masked image area processed with a Glaze filter with a transparent background.
Notice the star icon changed to reflect a transparent background.

So here is what happens when you process the  mask with you favorite Glaze filter, it applies it to the masked area only...pretty cool!

5. Saved image to camera roll, masked and Glaze processed with transparent background all ready for blending with another file.

The image above is what the saved, transparent masked image looks like in your camera roll.

6. Blended images, the original BrushStrokes image 1 and the Transparent Glaze image 5

This is an image blended in ImageBlender using the original processed image from BrushStrokes  Image 1 and a variation of the Masked Transparent Image 5. When you use the transparent image in ImageBlender there is no further masking required.

7. You can also choose not to use a transparent background using the mask feature and run your image through a Gazed filter right out of the mask feature and Glaze will only apply the Filter to the mask leaving your background in the image.

So five months later, I will say this is a pretty trick feature in Glaze!!! If you would like to work with me on this process, join me on my next day long iPhone workshop, "Working with Apps in Depth" May 4, Sponsored by Capital Photography Center. Click here for more information and registration. Happy Masking!

Depending on the Glaze filter you use the background will change, this is a variant to the image process without the transparent mask activated.

New Painterly App ~ Brushstroke

Capture: Camera+ Processed: Brushstrokes, Leonardo, ImageBlender

From the developers of "ToonCamera" comes Brushstroke! I like it! It has the ability to deliver a high resolution file with a nice group of filter options and editing options, with texture, as well as an option to actually add your personalized signature, not script, your hand written signature. Fun! The app filters are varied and the signature option is easy to use. For $2.99 I think it is definitely worth adding to your App portfolio. It will also be a great app to use for blending back with other files using ImageBlender.

Capture: Camera+ Processed: Mextures, Brushstroke, Leonardo

A few notes of info that I wanted to share about some of my favorite Apps, ImageBlender updated today and if you have been loving it for its past ability to uprez files while blending, using the background image as the largest file, check out the new settings as the default came in using the foreground image to scale the blended image. If you want to revert to the prior workflow then you will need to change it in the settings in the ImageBlender App.

Accidental discovery Ha...maybe I am very late to discover this one!!! But I accidentally figured out how to resize the borders within the Snapseed App. Having been a long time user, of Snapseed and loving their borders, when the App updated after Google purchased Nik, it seemed as though the adjust border option went away or did not function, but this week I was "pinching the screen" when the border filter was open and guess what, it changed the size of the border...so... as with many cool features in apps sometimes the features are not so obvious! Just thought I would share...silly me! Now I will be enjoying using their borders again! My next "Getting Started" in iPhone Photography is this Saturday March 8 at the National Building Museum. For more information and registration click here!

Capture: Camera+ Processed: Brushstrokes, Leonardo

A Little Whimsey ~ BracketMode ~ ProHDR ~ Portrait Painter ~ Snapseed~ ImageBlender ~Leonardo

Before the recent snowfalls I wandered around Druid Hill Park one day with my iPhone. It is a fabulous old park in Baltimore with good walking paths, Victorian pavilion structures and magnificent old trees. I made a couple compositions before landing on this one. I just loved how the old trees seemed to embrace the little pavilion in the woods. Below is a series of images with notes on how I arrived at this process. On a humorous note, I was also dubbed a "Master App Stacker", by Gilles Dezeustre of the 11er's by Glaze when he re-tweeted the previous post I made using one of his superb apps Glaze! That gave me a chuckle!! I have been called many things in my lifetime but that's a new title! I guess this post is a good example of App Stacking!! Thanks Gilles! A link to his app can be found here! Glaze... 
Happy to say my Spring 2014 iPhone Photography Class starts tonight at Johns Hopkins and the class is full with a wait list! amazing!! If you are interested in learning more about iPhone photography....Check out the sidebar of this blog for more info on my upcoming iPhone Workshops and classes.
I am also honored to have been invited to Present a Session on iPhone Photography at Nature Visions, in Virgnia this fall. Also happy to have sold a framed iPhone print and a few more ceramic iPhone image magnets at More Than Fine Framing in Baltimore.

Finished processed image copyright added with Impression

BracketMode Image no 1 Captured for highlights

BracketMode Image no 2 Captured for dark areas

Processed image no 3 BracketMode images 1 and 2 in ProHDR

Snapseed image no 4 sharpened and converted to monochrome

Snapseed image no 5 Retrolux Filter

ImageBlender image no 6 : Image no 3 and image no 5 combined

Image no 7 processed image no 6 in Portrait Painter by JixiPix
and enhanced color and saturation in Leonardo

Beach Pines~ You can never duplicate the exact image unless you write it all down!

This is an image I posted on Facebook over the weekend. One Facebook friend said they hoped I would write a tutorial on my blog for this processing. Well...... I can tell you what I shot it with and maybe a few steps along the way. However to duplicate the exact same image after the fact, with a process one could share, without writing down the original process, is almost impossible. I am not one to write down my processes with exacting steps. In this tutorial I have tried to recreate the image to some degree here. Hopefully these steps will be a starting point for a creative process you might want to try.

Original Image Capture: Hipstamatic Oggl ~ Lowry Lens Kodot XGrizzled Film
The reason I chose Oggl is because you can control exposure. Using the reticles in Oggl I wanted to open up the deep shady areas of the pines. I didn't care if the sky blew out because it was gray and overcast anyway. I did want a hint of horizon line from the ocean. SO controlling capture is important to me as well as processing. I knew I wanted to add textures to the sky area when I shot this image.

Original Capture

Processing:
A. Open the Hipstamatic image in Mextures then choose
 1. Grunge Filter Painterly
                                           Choose Blend Mode Multiply

Screen shot of Mextures Grunge interface

Then Adjust texture to 50% Check and continue to add filters in Mextures.

Screen shot of Mextures Vintage User interface

   2. Then add new filter in Mextures
       Landscape enhance "Vignette" at 20 %  Blend mode overlay (not shown) Check and continue  to  add filter in Mextures.
   3. Then add new filter in Mextures
          Vintage "Polaroid" at 20% Blend mode Hard Light 
Save file to Photo Library

B. Open the saved Mextures file in AutoPainter and apply Benson filter and save.

AutoPainter file

C. Open the last saved Mextures file (not the AutoPainter file) in Leonardo and apply the Clarity slider as shown in screenshot and save to Photo Library.

Screen shot Leonard Clarity interface

D. Open AutoPainter saved image in Snapseed and add ambience and warmth in the Tune Image Command and save file.

Screen shot Snapseed

E. Open Image Blender and open The last saved Mextures file from Leonardo first, with the last saved AutoPainter file from Snapseed and blend with Lighten mode at about 45% and save.

Screen shot ImageBlender interface

F. Open the saved ImageBlender file in distressed fx and use filters to adjust color save.

Screen shot distressed fx interface

G. Lastly to the saved distressed fx file add a vignette in Mextures and save. This is close but not exact in tone and shading however, I hope the tutorial will give you some ideas for future processing of your images.

Check out my next all day iPhone Sessions in DC on November 24 sponsored by Capital Photography Center (click here for more info) and in Chestertown, Md on November 23 sponsored by The Chestertown River Arts (click here for more info on Chestertown.)

Final image