Silk Mill Rerun App 6x6

Bathroom Sink        Capture: 6x6 Processed: Snapseed: PerfectPhoto

This past weekend I joined a group of photographers on Sunday to do some shooting in the old Lonaconing Silk Mill in Western, Maryland. I made several images with the Nikon and then started making iPhone shots. I was having a great time working in the mill with the shooting app 6x6 making exposure decisions with the retical. 6x6 has as a part of the application the ability to select areas in the image for exposure and focus. I love this app for its square format and exposure control. The mill has very dark and bright areas, normally an HDR shooting venue, but I challenged myself to find images using only one shot on the iPhone, adjusting the placement of the exposure retical for the exposure I liked. If you live in Maryland I hope you can join me at Horizons Photography Workshops in Chesapeake City for my iPhone photography workshops on March 10 or June 9.

Tool and Hardware         Capture 6x6: Processed: Snapseed: ScratchCam: PerfectPhoto

Machine Brush     Capture 6x6: Processed: Noir

Warehouse Shadows     Capture 6x6 Processed: Noir

The Open Door      Capture: 6x6 Processed: Noir

Sometimes Simple is best~Apps: BracketMode~Sanpseed~ProHDR~TouchRetouch~Photo fx

I posted this iPhone, shot and processed, image to a few social sites including InstaGram, GooglePlus and FaceBook. I received many positive comments from viewers. So much that it made me think about why; What is it about a simple shot of the sun rising through the mist over a body of water? Was it something universal in our human experience that we so loved and related to?
The mystery of fog, the renewal of a new day, the calming effect of water, the suggestion of land, the soft colors of blue and yellow....a combination of elements that must be universally appealing and appreciated.
It also made me want to share the process for this simple yet emotion invoking image. Honestly, it was a hand held grab shot...pointed the iPhone lens toward the sun, made a composition and then made two exposures using the shooting app BracketMode: it is amazing how well this app works for capturing the dynamic range of light in a scene.

BracketMode Exposure 1 for the darks

BracketMode Exposure 2 for the highlights

I then blended these two shots in ProHDR: (making adjustments in the app to achieve this image)

ProHDR processed image

I wanted to make some further image adjustments so I brought the image into SnapSeed and made adjusts to saturation white balance, sharpness and added an off center blur effect.

Snapseed Adjusted image

I didn't like the contrail reflections that appeared in the water and the dark speck of land in the upper left so I used an app called TouchRetouch to make a selection and get rid of the undesirable elements. Touch Retouch is another amazing app, and functions much like content aware in PhotoShop when using the Lasso tool.

TouchRetouch adjusted image removed contrail reflections

I was happy with the tone of the image at this point and removing the contrail reflections helped but I wanted more fog, the image to me was still too harsh. I opened the app Photo fx on the iPhone and applied a fog filter adjusting the opacity to my taste. I also made further adjustments to the color tone in the image to achieve the final image. As a photographer I am still amazed with the shooting and processing possibilities of the iPhone and Apps!

Final image adjusted in Photo fx for tone and fog.

I will be conducting a day long advanced iPhone workshop on March 16 in Gaithersburg, Maryland and will be demonstrating apps and techniques I use to shoot and process images. If you would like to attend click here for registration and more info.

Second Chance~ Apps~6x6: SnapSeed: Crop'n'Frame

Captured: 6x6 Processed: Snapseed, Crop'n'Frame

This past Sunday I conducted an HDR workshop for  DSLR photographers at Second Chance in Baltimore. I made a visit the day before because they have just recently moved into an old warehouse to make way for the new Gambling Casinos to be built in Baltimore on the old location. I walked every square inch of the warehouse looking for shots and interesting reclaimed items. The old warehouse itself offered up some interesting shots and because I was making a run through I only had the iPhone with me...soon after snapping some shots I was developing a theme for my day in the warehouse. I focused my eyes on the old walls and columns, finding interesting textures, shadows and old fixtures. In processing, I wanted an old retro feeling to go along with the age of the fixtures and chose a vintage and grunge filter in SnapSeed. It was a fun day on Sunday helping students make images. We were finding some great material to work with. Second Chance provides a wonderful service to the community with their "Retain, Reclaim and Renew" motto in full force and they welcome photographers and artists.

Chadds Ford, Pa ~ Apps ~ Painteresque: Snapseed: ImageBlender

Captured 6x7 Processed: Snapseed: Photowizard:ImageBlender: Picturesque

Yesterday my friend Annette and I took a day trip to Pa. My mission was to see Longwood Gardens Orchid extravaganza and make some shots with the big camera. I must say I was a bit disappointed. I did not even take one orchid shot...but that's another blog...after our visit to Longwood we headed out to some nearby antique shops in Chadds Ford. That's when the iPhone went to work. I love antiques and there were some really cool ones in Chadds Ford. So we spent some time just cruising the three level antique barn of The Brandywine River Antiques Market, making some shots. Afterward we rambled back country roads looking for shots. We found a cool old structure so we stopped and made a few shots there. The app Picturesque is new in my painting app folder. It saves the image at the size of the original captured resolution. It has a cool one filter only look with no options to deliver any customized looks; but no fear, layers can be combined to achieve the look you want.
I hope you sign up for my iPhone workshop on March 10 at Horizon Photography Workshops, in Chesapeake City, Maryland to get you jump started capturing and processing images with your iPhone.
I am also working on an advanced iPhone Class which will build on my initial iPhone class. It will include, layers in many methods, app blending, image blending, masking, using words in your images, levels, curves, shooting for HDR, Slow Shutter exposures and much more so stay tuned for future class dates on my next level of iPhone image capture and processing.

Captured: CameraPlusPro Processed: Snapseed: Picturesque: ImageBlender

Captured: 6x6 Processed: SnapSeed: Picturesque: ImageBlender

Captured: BracketMode Processed: ProHDR: Picturesque: SnapSeed: ImageBlender

 It was a great day in the land of Andrew Wyeth..........one of my favorite American Artists!

Old Kennett Friends 1710 Meeting House: Capture: BracketMode  Processed: ProHDR: Snapseed: Picturesque: ImageBlender