Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Hipstamatic Oggl ~ Winter at the Beach


Watts Lens and BlacKeys Supergrain Film
This is my last week at the beach before closing the house for the winter. It was very cold last night as a Canadian blast of cold air came through. The beach in winter, and it does feel like winter, is ghost like. People abandon it and return it to the wind, the birds and the sea. As the WWII watch towers now stand guard over the abandoned picnic tables, winter is coming on. All these images were shot using the Hipstamatic Oggl app. The coolest thing about Oggl is the ability to control exposure and then to choose the combination of Lens and Film after the shot is made. It was a bold blue sky day when I made all these images and I like to think in Black and white on those kind of days. Processing all the images here in Oggl I chose several Lens and Film combos to achieve the results.
Watts Lens Blackeys Supergrain Film
 The dune fences give way to the wind and the sand.
Watts Lens and Rock BW-11 Film






Shells are tossed to shore and nestled into windblown sand.
Foxy Lens and BlacKeys Supergrain Film




Beach pines filter the harsh afternoon sun.
      
G2 Lens and BlacKeys Supergrain Film                                  





























Beach grass struggles to keep rooted in the shifting windblown sands. The ice lockers are locked and the refreshment stands are shuttered. The bath house benches are empty. Winter is here!
Lucas Lens BlacKeys XF Film

Lucas Lens D-Type Plate Film       




































Loftus Lens BlacKeys XF Film







Monday, November 11, 2013

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


Sunday, November 3, 2013

Trees: Hipstamatic Classic: Glaze: Leonardo: ImageBlender



It has been a beautiful fall week with the trees really showing their colors. I have been gathering a collection of colorful tree images from my iPhone. While working with Glaze in workshop mode I have developed a filter that I like for trees...it reminds me of a style of painting called Pointillism made popular by Georges Seurat...and yes it is a form of Impressionism which I love so much!
I also updated to iOs7 and I definitely see a purple tint in some images. The update went well after sorting off 2000 images from my iPhone and backing up the computer...updating all the apps that needed updating, then updating to iOs7. If you are one of the 30% that have not yet updated, click here for some tips before updating.
After updating, I had to change the home screen background and found that using a burgundy background allowed me to readily see the names of my app folders, which I found hard to do with the new design of the app folders. Then I immediately followed tips on saving battery power that were published...click here for a good list. Then I started to find the new features...Click here for a list of what you can now do with the updates.
Now heres a few more trees! I love fall! I hope you have been enjoying it where ever you are!
My  next "Getting Started" in iPhone photography workshop sponsored by Capital Photography Center is November 17 in Baltimore, click here for more information.
Also I will be doing an all day iPhone photography workshop "Working with Apps in Depth" in Washington, DC on November 24. Click here for more info and registration.
And.....I will be in Chestertown, Maryland on Saturday November 23 at the Chestertown River Arts for an all day iPhone photography workshop "Working With Apps in Depth"..click here for more info and registration.