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

 

A friend said you need some colorful pottery on the ledge~

Finished image with inserted colorful item with painted in shadow for dimensionality.

Yesterday I posted a version of the opening shot here as an example of what the WordFoto app can do, I liked it and it was representative of the scene. I also shared it with my iPhoneography friends and a suggestion was made to add some colorful pottery to the ledge. So, always being open to suggestions I thought OK I am sure I have a file with some colorful pottery from New Mexico. I went into my camera roll and found an unprocessed shot below.

Unprocessed light image

I thought the light cover on the wall would work perfectly, as I really did not have just the right pot for the scene. I tried some baskets but they had the same colors as the wall and they did not work in my mind with the tiles on the wall below the ledge.










 So I quickly dropped in the light cover with Juxtaposer and re-posted the shot below.

Needs dimensionality and shadowing on light inserted.

Then I got the suggestion to add a drop shadow, well yes of course...that would make the image look "real" as the quick re-do did look rather "fake" due to its one dimensionality.  I had processed the original with some Dynamic Light Relief which added dimension to the original image: the quick light insert did not have. So I went back ran the insert through Dynamic Light Relief and re-blended just the light part back with the original light. Then I used PhotoForge to carefully paint in some shadow, and then blended it back with the original in Juxtaposer.  Ideally the best process would have been to put the light in the image first and process the whole thing at once, as it was hard to duplicate the exact amount of  DynamicLight Relief effect, and sharpness-levels adjustments, not to mention that I could not duplicate the word effect on the light as I had not saved the settings as a preset.

I do like the revised version...but also still like the original. The point and the concept of this blog post is...... that whatever you can imagine...you can create with the iPhone and all the awesome apps available! Have fun! (Not to mention that friends do have great ideas!) Now its beach time!

A little Imagination and the LensFlare App.

Its been a couple steamy hot days at the beach. In the late afternoon I have taken a little beach time with the iPhone.  I grabbed this shot below of a Seagull as I had the Hipstamatic loaded with the combo of Cano-Cafenol film and the Chucky lens. 

I was working on getting a few more little beach images to add to a previous collection of beach images. I loved the simplicity of the shot and it will work for my other collection, but I wanted to try and do more with it. So I created a flock of seagulls in Juxtaposer and arranged them in the image. Then I went into the App LensFlare and played around with different options of light effects and decided on this one. To finish the image I applied a border in PicGrunger and applied a newspaper filter. I also app'd it with ScratchCam, toning the image and adding some scratches...

The next image also has some LensFlare effect in it....LensFlare is a cool app! You can move the effect around in your image, you can shrink it and there are several types of flare effects you can manipulate. Overall I love the App, its fun and different. The rainbow below was added with LensFlare.

Dynamic light Orton IR effect.

The sun flare in the drivers window on this old truck I shot while in New Mexico was added in with the LensFlare App.

Factory Girl: Every Picture has a story and process: Juxtaposer App

FACTORY GIRL

The Story: 

On Monday, Don Vetter and I visited the old Lonaconing Silk or Throwing Mill. We met Amy McGovern and her husband there. Amy had called ahead and let the owner know we were coming.  The current owner Herb Crawford is desperately trying to save it from the demise of time. (He raises money by charging admission of $75.00 to any desirous photographers.) He has guarded the mill for some thirty years now and single handedly has tried to keep the building in tact. He is fighting a losing battle now due to money, age  and resources. The rain has penetrated the roof and the lead paint is peeling off every wall, and the smell of well oil machinery permeates the thick air of history.
There are current attempts to raise awareness and money on many sites like this Blog by Rusty.
However, my sense is that the building will fall further into ruin. The image here Factory Girl, was inspired by the many women who's lives were both of the factory and ruined by the factory's unforeseen and sudden closing, leaving many of them to economic hardship. The personal belongings of some of them remain in the building today, covered with the dust of time. The tickets which most likely were used to tag spools of silk or monitor employee production were still seen throughout the mill in several places. This image was my visual attempt at sharing this thought, or feeling I had about those women.

The Process:

When I go into places like this I take shots of miscellaneous pieces; such as surfaces, or snippets of material that alone does not necessarily make a compelling image, but when brought together with other snippets just might make a compelling image. This image was made with this idea in mind.
So here's the process I used on the iPhone:

Three shots:
Shot 1: The Tags: shot in BracketMode and merged in TrueHDR

Shot 2: The Shoes: shot in BracketMode and merged in TrueHDR

Shot 3: The Brick Wall: shot in BracketMode and merged in TrueHDR

I then opened Juxtaposer and used the BrickWall as the base layer; I layered on the shoe shot and then the tag shot. Selectively erasing the part of the image I did not want in the final composition, and arrived at this image.

I ran the composite image through Grungetatstic and put a small inner border of rusty color around the images. Then I opened the app called "ScratchCam" and opened the composite image with the rusty border, tabbing through the options until I arrived at this one:

Although the image  was dark, I liked the effect the filter in ScratchCam gave the image, so I saved it and then opened it in Iris to brighten and make a levels adjustment:

 

I then finished the image by applying a black border in the app Crop'n'Frame.

Hipstamatic and Autostitch

Every Thursday night that I am in town I try to make it to the Baltimore Camera Club. Tonight a few of us met early for a planning session and we sat outside of Starbucks in Mt. Washington. One member was talking about using his pan head to make panoramas and as I was listening I thought if they only knew how easy it was to make an iPhone pano..so I got up and walked over to the old warehouse and made 9 shots with the Hipstamatic. I then loaded those shots into the app AutoStitch and it blended them as they are here. I added the sun in Juxtaposer and added some textures in Iris. I enjoy the odd alignment of the edges so I left them.

The iPhone A little Grunge Work

Apps: BracketMode: Iris Textures:PicGrunger:DynamicLight

These images were captured last week on my way to and from the beach in Delaware...I have really been enjoying blending images in the app Juxtaposer...I am not sure why these images all represent something in decay or time passing, but it has been said the photographers images express their inner vision or maybe some subconscious thoughts. Britannica Online defines art as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects, environments, or experiences that can be shared with others." So I am sharing with you some of the objects or scenes that captured my interest. I'll be heading back to the beach tomorrow for my Beach Workshop this weekend!

Apps: Idroste to create a layer image: CameraPlusPro original clock capture: Iris for Textures and grunge: PicGrunger:Juxtaposer

Apps: Hipstamatic:Tejas~Kodot XGrizzled: PicGrunger: Juxtaposer Layers arranged

Apps: Hipsta~Tejas~Kodot XGrizzled: PicGunger: Iris:Texture

Valley Frame and Fine Art: Many different apps and layers

Three layered images with all images shot in "Hipstamatic" layers blended in "Juxtaposer" and texture applied in "Iris" and "PhotoForge" with a touch of "Rays" to add some more light in the lamp.

Last night I gave a 2 hour presentation on composition, light and creativity in photography...at Penn Camera in Tyson's Corner. I had a full class of photographers anxious to learn; How fun is that! I added a few iPhone images just before the presentation and the group was amazed, as I am, every time I make pictures with this technology.

The group of iPhone created and processed images you see here, were made at Valley Framing and Fine Art in Maryland. "Valley" has been in business for three decades. I first came to "Valley" when I was traveling to and from New York for business. I was purchasing some old Vanity Fair prints and some French Fashion prints from the Old Print Shop. Each time I traveled I always stopped into the Old Print Shop to look at what they had in stock. I wanted a quality framing for them and Valley Framing was the place I took my prints to for fabulous framing, that worked with the prints and my home decor.

My friend Annette, I met at Valley and over the years we have developed a wonderful friendship. I even got her to join the Baltimore Camera Club! She shares a love for the Delaware beaches, the Maryland countryside, art, photography, and cars. I was there the other day just dropping in to say hi as I was in the area. She has home decor items there as well and I enjoy their style. So before I left I wandered around the shop making some images on the fly. This weekend I am heading to the beach to open up the beach house and get ready for my beach workshop next weekend....its not too late to sign up if you want a weekend get away.......check it out here for details and registration:
http://blog.karenlmessickphotography.com/p/delaware-photo-ramble-and-workshop_19.html

Captured with iCameraHDR "PicGrunger" and "Iris" added texture

Hipstamatic Salvador Lens Dream Canvas Film

The "Real Gold Frames"

Repeat post from my "Rays" post but also made in the Valley Frame and Fine Art shop.

Juxtaposer App: Creative Layers Opportunity

The Little Dancer

 

 Starting with The Little Dancer, the image is two images blended and arranged in Juxtaposer. Here are the two images, so you can get a frame of reference.

It was a very busy weekend for me, Saturday morning I had the field shoot for the first group of Spring Hopkins students, and it was great, but pretty cold. Saturday night I attended a fabulous Indian dinner at one of the Baltimore Camera Club member's home to benefit Leukemia...and Sunday morning I was up at 4:30am and on my way to Annapolis to conduct a workshop for Penn in the morning...later Sunday afternoon I met a father~daughter team of photographers at the Howard Rawlings conservatory and conducted a three hour private lesson. Needless to say I was a pretty tired camper on Sunday night ~ But I was working on some iPhone images I had made at the BMA and Conservatory using the app Juxtaposer. I enjoy layering images and I have been working with the iPhone apps Iris for blending, Blender for blending and Filterstorm, but I have found Juxtaposer to have some great options for creative images. So I will explain some processes I have used to create the images you see here.

Tropical

 Tropical is a blend of four images: I made several renditions of the original fern leaf image for layering in Juxtaposer.  Each layer was then selectively erased or added to achieve the desired layer, before saving and adding on the next layer.

 

The Garden Bronze below is a blend of two images one positioned over the other, resized in Juxtaposer with no opacity reduction, and arranged.

Garden Bronze

Here are the two images that made this one image: