The Gymbl iPhone Accessory

Capture: BracketMode Process: Autostitch; Snapseed

 The Gymbl is a fun little attachment  I used today to create these images made at The Fire Museum of Maryland in Towson. I have had the Gymbl for a while but just have not had the right time to get out and use it. I attached it to a spare camera plate and was able to use it on my regular tripod. It was easy enough to maneuver with the custom designed case that attaches to the head. I was amazed at how seamlessly the images were stitched because of the deign of the Gymbl accessory.  The Gymbl has a gimbal panoramic head that lets you rotate the iPhone around its optical center.

 Each one of these images began with vertical images and then they were stitched together with the app Autostitch which not only will blend the images but the bracketed exposures at the same time.
I made a few other shots with the iPhone but will get those processed later for another post.

iPhone at the Silk Mill: Apps: 6x7: Simply Black and White

Last weekend a group of photographers met at the abandoned silk mill to do some shooting, thanks to Tony Sweet for organizing the shoot. I didn't do any shooting on Saturday as I arrived later in the afternoon, but upon arriving at the silk mill I wandered around and behind the mill I found this old TV among the leaves. I told Herb who owns the mill, that I loved the scene and he said one day the TV just rolled down the hill from above and there it stayed. It was a fun weekend!All the shots here were processed with the app Simply Black &White and shot with either 6x7 or CameraPlus Pro, them framed with Crop'n'Frame...and maybe there's a little SnapSeed in there too.

If you live in the Gaithersburg area I hope you can join me for my iPhone workshop at Mac Business Solutions in January or in March at Horizons Photography workshops.  

You will learn how to get interesting shots with the best apps, explore processing options and more!

iPhone Artist of the Day

Yesterday I was named iPhone Artist of the Day on the fabulous iPhone art site iPhoneart.com
Tonight I was looking through some apps I had downloaded and came across one I had not explored as yet~ Slideshow+HD. So I opened it and began exploring its functions.To test it out I grabbed the sequential processing files on my iPad from the image that the iPhoneart.com folks selected as the image to post along with the announcement of my AOTD selection. The slideshow looked pretty cool with fun transitions and the ability to add music...so I downloaded some cool jazz from Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd and added it to the slide show. Then I saved the file as a Quicktime movie on my iPad, transferred the file to my laptop using the app PhotoTransfer and tried adding it to the blog. NOT! For some reason Blogger would not accept the QT movie as it was, from the file on my laptop..so I went to You Tube and opened an account, posted the movie there and clipped the HTML code to add to the Blog...Well that worked but the colors look a tad off...so I learned a few things tonight and am sharing this crazy process of making images on the iPhone with you in the experimental slide show. I hope you can join me either for my iPhone workshop in January at Mac Business Solutions in Gaithersburg or Horizon Photography Workshops in March and June.

Hipstamatic's New Foodie Pak

Capture: Hipstamatic~Loftus Lens: DC Film: Crop'n'Frame: SnapSeed inner white mat

Hipstamatic has added a new lens and film SnapPak inspired by David Loftus......which I really like. The film has a great tone for food and the selctive focus is a nice touch although you have no control over where it is placed it works fine. I love that Hipsta chose not to add a frame, unlike all the other SnapPacks Hipsta offers which have frame edges on them. Hipsta is also offering now a Retro Pak so if you missed some lens pack offerings many are available this weekend. Lens like Labatique which is also a fav of mine.
Wednesday I met the trainer from Penn Camera in Old Town Alexandria, VA. to plan some outings in 2012. We met at this wonderful French cafe called Le Pain Quotidien. Theatmosphere of the cafe was delightful to dine in and the food and coffee were fabulous.
I made the opening shot through the case glass with the Hipstamatic Foodie pak. I cleaned up some crumbs that were laying on the tray with TouchRetouch and brightened it up a bit in Iris. I will be posting links to the great workshops we planned out as they become live on the Penn Camera Website.

Capture: Hipstamatic~Loftus Lens DC Film Process: PerfectPhoto ~sharpen a bit: Crop'n'Frame: SnapSeed inner white mat.

Captured: Hipstamatic

Capture: BracketMode : Process: TrueHDR: PerfectPhoto~Sharpen: Iris: Crop'n'Frame: SnapSeed inner white mat..

Percolator 2.0 Just Released~ New Textures~Filters~and Opacitiy

Capture: Hipstamatic: Process: Percolator2.0: Iris Color Sense~masked: PerfectPhoto~sharpen

When I first saw this app in its original design I really enjoyed it. It had fun settings, but I always wanted some opacity adjustments..well voila in 2.0 there are some cool adjustments. I was notified today that the app had gone live and I wanted to see what the new enhancements would do so, I spent a few moments (hours) today working the new updates with some images already on my camera roll. The one thing I didn't take time to do was right down all the settings I used to get the effects so I am sorry I can't share those with you...but just play you will discover some great combo's between new texture options, opacity and effects its just fabulous! I was reminded though that it is a 3 mp image file when using a traditional format like the piano below. However I successfully blended back the saved file from Percolator 2.0 with the original larger file in ImageBlender and the result was the larger of the two files blended beautifully with the Percolator file. We will have to put increased resolution on our next request when they get to making another upgrade,  but for now this is fine. It handles resolution on square images better at 2048 x 2048 but shrinks a large iPhone 4 file image from 1936 x 2592 (a 5mp file) to1528 x 2048 (a 3.1mp file). No reason not to work with Percolator,  as you can always do a blend back with a large file, adjust opacity and blend mode in ImageBlender if you need a larger file. This file size manipulation resulted in a 13.1MB file on the piano below. Have some fun and play with the new improved Percolator App........

Capture: BracketMode Process: TrueHDR: Percolator 2.0: ImageBlender: PerfectPhoto~sharpen

Capture 6x7: Process: PhotoWizard~crack texture: Percolator 2.0 Stars

Relax... 6x7: Snapseed:FX PhotoStudio

Capture: 6 x 7 Processed: SnapSeed: FX PhotoStudio

  When I worked in retail really long hours and I needed to relax once I got home, I made a hot tub of water, lit some candles, fixed a little Amaretto drink and climbed in. Well, last night I needed a little relaxation. I love the way the candle light danced on the bathroom walls and hardware, casting deep shadows and always thought it would make a cool shot. But, I never made the shot because it would have just been too much trouble with the big camera...so last night, as I filled a tub of hot water and I made some iPhone shots! Call me crazy! All shot and processed on the iPhone! (no I didn't process them in the tub!)
Check out my new iPhone Workshops on January 20 and 28 at Mac Business Solutions in Gaithersburg, Maryland

Capture: 6x7 Processing: LensLight; CrossProcess: FX PhotoStudio: ScratchCam

Now that my holiday decorations outside are done I have to get out and test the Gymbl..I have had for a while!

PhotoStudio~ Percolator~ 6x6

Last week I made a run to Longwood. When I ran through the Tropical Room the leaves of the ground vegetation caught my eye. So I made some shots with the iPhone app 6x6. PhotoStudio is an app that I don't usually go to right away for processing, but I wanted to challenge myself to work with it and explore more of what it can do. What I found was that I really like the masking and erasing feature for effects. Its very easy to work with and you can see the effects while masking. I used that process extensively on the first two of these leaf images.
I also received notice this week that the fun app Percolator will be updated soon with more choices. Coincidentally I had just made an image with percolator after running it through PhotoStudio. I hope you can join me on Saturday March 10 and June 9th at Horizon Photography Workshops for my one day iPhoneography Workshop.

Rt 15 Barn~Snapseed 100Cameras

Capture: BracketMode Process: TrueHDR, 100 Cameras, LensLight, Snapseed, Crop'n'Frame.

This barn has caught my eye every time I travel up and down Rt 15 in Virginia. The last time I went by was on my way home from the Nature Visions Photography weekend at George Mason University. I did not stop that day because I just wanted to get home but I promised myself the next time I went by, I would. So this past Saturday I traveled down Rt 15 to my niece's house for our family Thanksgiving dinner. I stopped! I grabbed a few shots with BracketMode..handheld. Then a man came over and asked me why I was taking pictures of the barn. I said, it's cute! He laughed and he said OK, I thought he was going to ask me to delete the files or confiscate my iPhone..
I had some downtime that day and processed one of the images. 100 Cameras rendered the square format.  Today I processed another shot..exploring some processing options in Snapseed. I really like Snapseed.....fun textures, and effects as well as some real great basic processing.

Capture: BracketMode Process: TrueHDR, Snapseed

Capture: BracketMode  Process: TrueHDR, Snapseed

Night Shooting with the iPhone 4

Capture: SlowShutter Process: Blender, Noir

Sunday I met a few photographers from the Baltimore Camera Club downtown in the rain to do some shooting. I was really feeling lazy and left the DSLR in the car, but I did take my Joby tripod and my iPhone. The light rail was my first stop. I waited with my umbrella for a train to come by using Slow Shutter to see what image effects I could create with the iPhone. I wrapped the Joby around a handrail right by the train and waited.The shot above is a blend of a straight shot while the train was stopped and an 8 second exposure as the train pulled away, blended in Image Blender.

Capture: Hipstamatic: Process: Noir, Crop'n'Frame

Under a street light I found some graffiti, the word Cloud had been painted on it, I wonder if they had the Apple Cloud in mind? So I made a shot with Hipstamatic. I am also very excited to announce that I have been scheduled by Horizon Photography Workshops for two day long workshops with the iPhone! They will be a blast working with the participants on the iPhone, doing some shooting and processing together with a few cool apps. If you are interested I have posted a link on the sidebar or you can click here. The Creative "i" iPhone Workshop with Karen Messick.

Capture: Hipstamatic: Process, VintageScene, Noir, Snapseed

The Mount Royal area of the city is charming with old wrought iron and brick walkways. I loved the way the light from the streetlamps lit up this space.

Capture: 6 x 6 Process: Noir, Snapseed, Crop'n'Frame

New App 6x7

Capture:6x7 Process: Photoforge2 ~ Diffuse: VintageScene~ toned vignette: BadCamera~inner border and texture:Iris~color Sense~ replace color in maple leaves: ImageBlender~Blend Layers: Juxtaposer~ selective masking: Crop'n'Frame ~ Frame: Impression~Signature

Having been a fan of the app 6x6, I thought I would give 6x7 a try. The developer of 6x6 e-mailed me the other day announcing the launch of his new app 6x7.  I love this app too! I tried it out in my outdoor studio, my patio table. I love it for the white background. I stopped and picked up some Ginko leaves the other day and made a few shots of them on the table. I also have a Japanese Red Maple in my garden and the leaves had started to show their wonderful red fall color.  I combined the two leaves and made a few shots. Processing images on the iPhone is limitless in combos and creativity! These are a few images from one shot I made with the 6x7 app.

Capture: 6x7 Process: PhotoForge2~texture~brightness: SnapSeed ~ inner border: Crop'n'Frame~ frame: Impression~ signature.

Capture: 6x7 Process: TinyPlanet: Juxtaposer: PicGrunger ~texture: Crop'n'Frame

Christmas is near: Apps~AutoPainter:BracketMode: Phonto: Crop'n'Frame:Snapseed

This weekend I was busy making two presentations at Nature Visions in Virginia. It was a fabulous, well attended photography event. My Lensbaby workshop was so much fun helping folks see in a different way and actually use the demo units Lensbaby sent for the event. My iPhone photography presentation was also sold out and I had some very hungry to know photographers, with lots of great questions. On the way home I decided to take the scenic Rt 15 out of Leesburg, stopping at one of my favorite home decor stores "On A Whim". They have some wonderful hand stained furniture and home accessories. I snapped a few shots of some of their displays and merchandise that I liked. I left with some great holiday potpourri. When I finally got home I processed a few with the Holidays in mind.

The images here were captured with BracketMode: Processed in True HDR: Apped with AutoPainter~Benson: then blended in Image Blender. All the lettering was done with an app called Phonto. I kept the processing fairly consistent as I wanted to create a collection with the same feeling.

The snow in this image was added using a free app called Magic Snow~its a small resolution app, but blended back with the original it works just fine for an artistic look, but you can see the difference in the clarity as a result of the small file blend..compared with the image below.

In this image I also had to apply some darkening at the top of the image and I chose Tiffen FX color grad to get the toning I wanted in the top of the image.

Beach Shots: Assorted Apps

Shot with Camera PlusPro: Processed in Simply Black and White: Noir: Photo fx~ added ND Filter to hold back the sky: Perfect Photo~to sharpen: Crop'n'Frame~Framing

The weekend Beach Workshop was great...we had extreme weather conditions on Saturday morning with winds at 25 MPH and huge waves...Sunday was milder and overcast....The shots here I made before or after the workshop while scouting and processed in my down time between shoots and programs. I will be doing another one in April so if you have any interest either keep an eye on my regular blog where I will post the sign up info or shoot me an e-mail to get on my mailing list.
 Extreme weather creates great shooting opportunities, from windblown sand to high water carved land. Saying goodbye to the beach today until April~always a bummer. Hope to see you at Nature Visions for my iPhoneography presentation where I will be sharing some of my favorite shooting, processing, utility apps and images.

Shot with 6x6: Processed with Simply Black and White

The sand is amazing when the wind blows hard all night!

Shot with Camera PlusPro: Processed with: Noir: Perfect Photo: Crop'n'Frame

This landscape was created by the Nor'easter that blew threw the weekend before the workshop started and I found this amazing water carved landscape. The image below was made in Ocean City.

Shot with Slow Shutter Hand Held: processed with PhotoStudio~Sketch and Toning: LensFlare~added the sun: Blender~ Blend back with original: Snapseed~Frame

Howard Rawlings Conservatory: Apps~6x6: SimplyHDR:Photocopier:Big Lens

Yesterday morning was the last session of my intro to Digital Photography course I teach at Johns Hopkins University in the Odyssey Program. Since we had rain and snow, I moved the location indoors to the Howard Rawlings Conservatory. It is always great to see new photographers begin to "get it." I made a few shots there while working with the group. These are pretty straight shots but in a square format and toned in Photocopier with the photo preset Steichen adjusted in tone and brightness. Photocopier is pretty cool for "looks" of classic photo artists and painters.Big Lens is a selective focus app and I applied that to diffuse the outer edges in the image. Join me at Nature Visions for my iPhoneography presentation and learn about the fun you can have shooting and processing images on your iPhone!

New York, New York~Apps 6x6: Noir: Big Lens; Crop'n'Frame

I love New York!!!! even in the rain!!!
Yesterday, I had 8 students in a rainy, cool New York City for a street photography workshop. It presented some great shooting opportunities with wet streets, reflections and umbrellas. Awesome! I don't usually carry my big camera when I do street workshops with students so that I am free to assist when needed, but I do carry my iPhone which I find helps me communicate shooting opportunities for students, they can easily see what I see by looking at a shot I made on the iPhone and breaking it down for them.

 The night before I had surfed for some new apps I wanted to try and was really happy to find 6x6 a full res square format shooting app. I was also happy to try out a new selective focus app Big Lens. Both apps, I am happy to say have found a permanent place in my shooting routine as I just really enjoyed both of them.

 I was soooo tempted to do HDR work with bracket mode, but I kept my commitment to myself to only shoot with 6x6. Sometimes I do that with my big camera too. It really forces you as a photographer to see things differently and become a better photographer. I chose the app "Noir" to add some vignette effects as well as toning the images. I enjoy creating series works and so all of these images were processed with a series in mind. I finished all the images with Crop'n'Frame.