Beach Color Palettes ~ iOs7 ~ Hipstamatic ~ Glaze ~ Snapseed ~ Leonardo

Dunes: Processed Snapseed, Glaze, ImageBlender, Leonardo, Impression (signature)

This morning I took the big camera out to shoot my last sunrise at the beach for a couple weeks. It was a bland sunrise so to speak, no clouds...or drama in the sky. I had my iPhone with me using it to time the long exposures pre-dawn for the big camera shots. I also made a couple shots with the iPhone after I was done with the big camera. I must admit walking around with the big camera on my back, tripod collapsed and iPhone in hand was a bit more fun! Call me crazy it just is: Something about the flexibility of moving the iPhone any which way you want so easily to get the shot. I am sure if you are an iPhone shooter you can relate!
iOs7~ Is now live and I am waiting for the apps to catch up before updating my iP5 to the new system. A few Apps posted updates this morning. It sure makes an iPhone educators job difficult when Apple updates their iOs and the App developers have to scurry to update...so I wait....instead of risking incompatibility of my favorite shooting and processing Apps. I just issued a note to students who have enrolled in fall courses not to update until the courses are over due to uncertain compatibility! Geez! OK, now back to the fun stuff!
Beach Color Palettes~ Daytime: Turquoise and yellow
I am loving the Square Format right now so I have enjoyed using the Brighton Hipsta Pak which is the Doris lens and Sussex film in bright afternoon and daytime light at the beach. It adds to the yellow blue palette already at the beach with a twist of turquoise and a touch of the nostalgic feel of vintage hand colored postcards.
The three images below and the opening image were made using the Brighton Hipsta Pak.

Surf : Processed Snapseed, Glaze

Beachscape: Processed Snapseed, Glaze

Landscape Color Block : Processed Snapseed, Glaze

Beach Color Palettes: Sunset: Purples, pinks and blues
For this color palette I like Hipstamatic Jane Lens and Inas 1969 film.

Tidepools: Processed Snapseed, Glaze, Leonardp

Sundown Tide Pool: Processed Snapseed,  Glaze, Leonardo

Beach Tide Pool Walker: Processed Snapseed ~ Straighten, and framed, Glaze

Beach Color Palettes: Sunrise: Gold and Blue
I have no idea what I am going to do with all these little beach pictures, but I have had fun making them...and I think thats what it should be about anyway!! 

Sunrise Surf: Processed Snapseed, Glaze, Leonardo

Sunrise Tide pool: Processed Snapseed, Glaze, Leonardo

Image Composites ~ Hipstamatic ~ Glaze ~ Leonardo

Image 1

It's been a beautiful 10 days at the beach and I will soon be missing the wonderful people and color palette of the summer beach. Sometimes as a photographer waiting for that special moment you hope will happen just doesn't so you have to stretch it a bit. I was watching this lovely young family play by the sea the other day. Mom was pregnant and demure in her black swimsuit and large brim black hat. I loved the style she had created and hoped that I could get a shot of her isolated, but after several hours of enjoying the seaside activities, that did not happen, however, I did snap some shots as she watched her family. In my mind I was seeing a different scene. (Her alone isolated and just the sea and sky.) When she raised her hand to her hat brim and looked out to sea I grabbed it regardless of what was around her.
Today I worked my idea or vision, out with the apps, ImageBlender,  Leonardo and Glaze.
First objective was to find another image to work with the one I shot of her.
So here are the two shots I began with. They were both captured the same day just at different times.

Captured: Hipstamatic Lens~ Jane, Film ~ Inas 1969

Captured: Hipstamatic Lens~ Jane, Film ~ Inas 1969

Then I went to work blending the two images in ImageBlender. I just love the easy user interface in ImageBlender for composite work. Heres the result of the blended, masked, arranged image...

Image result of the two blended images, in ImageBlender, masked, arranged, and re-sized overlay image.
Color enhanced in Leonardo.

Not bad...but it certainly wouldn't pass for a perfect image as is...but I didn't care about that because I was going to then "Glaze" the image for an artistic painterly look.
Glaze is a super App for painterly effects with great texture, which allows you to create and save unique looks....here are a few of the images that I saved as possible keepers. Which one do you like best? Or none at all...leave your vote in comments if you like!
I hope you have some fun trying your hand at ImageBlender and Glaze...or join me on November 24 for an all day iPhone workshop and see how I use these apps.
Here's the link for more information and registration click here.

Image 2

Image 3

Image 4

Now its time to hit the beach to enjoy the last days of summer by the sea!

Another great Beach Day..Hipstamatic~ Brighton HipstaPak ~ Glaze ~ Snapseed ~ ImageBlender

So maybe you are getting tired of seeing this little beach series??? But I never get tired of watching folks at play on the beach on a summer day! Its just the most fun..not to mention personally being at the beach and enjoying the ocean water too! What a wonderful color palette to work with...Blue skies, yellow sand, punctuated by bright summer clothing and beach gear! Sadly, today is my out day! Renters coming in tomorrow and I have a private photo tutoring session planned for Saturday morning. So I am saying goodbye with a few more pics I captured yesterday from the shore. Glazed them, yes! I admit I am addicted to that app, it really suits my personal aesthetic, if I were a painter this is how I would paint! The "digital art" process saves a lot of money and lugging around paint supplies! Now I gotta' pack it up! :-(
My next iPhone workshop, sponsored by Capital Photography Center, is August 10 in Washington, DC at historic Union Station. For more info and registration click here. Hope to see you there!

A Perfect Beach Day! Beach Walkers ~ Hipstamatic~ Brighton Pak~ Glaze~ Snapseed

Yesterday was a perfect beach day, so shortly after 1:00pm when the sun starts to move to the west, I packed my gear and walked to the beach.
The beach is a great place to people watch and make iPhone pics...although its very hard to see the iPhone display in the sun! I managed to get the horizons pretty straight...with maybe a little lens or earth bow.
I wanted to try out the new Brighton Pak with the Doris Lens and Sussex film, from Hipstamatic as I perceived it to be perfect for beach images. I put my chair and umbrella near the water and far enough away from the tide...to snap some unsuspecting beach walkers. The ocean was flat and the waves barely created any surf...perfect for me just walk right in and swim away...it was hot and not a cloud in the sky!
I watched people as they came toward my space on the beach, looking for interesting attire or relationships. Then of course I processed them with Glaze~ utilizing the custom feature tool. (I have to send the developer a note....I want a save this combo feature!) I had to shift away from the bold combos I had been using for flowers and objects so that I could still maintain some features of the smallish people relative to the beach landscape. I enjoyed the color rendering of the Brighton HipstaPak and for .99 is worth every penny! I never hesitate to buy a new HipstaPak! Like my friend Tony Sweet says,  "Just buy it!"
I tried to capture people as they walked into the scene but that was not always possible based on the direction I was looking when I first saw them, so I snapped anyway if the people were interesting. I never left my chair for any of these as I was really trying to be inconspicuous. I also tried to make shots where there was separation between the walkers. The other compositional idea I tried to achieve consistently was looking straight ahead of me to render the shoreline level. Looks like its going to be another perfect beach day..maybe more images to come!

Summer at the beach!! Hipstamatic~ Glaze~Snapseed~Mextures

Every once in a while, in the summer, I am able to get to the beach in between renters.
I left the "Big Camera" at home this time. I only have a few days here and yesterday I did not feel well, but by evening I was wanting to get out to the beach and walk a little as the heat of the day subsided into the 80's!!
So along came the iPhone. It is really hard for a photographer NOT to take pictures! Almost feels like an addiction when I want to give myself a break....
The beauty of an early evening walk is empty chairs, less crowded beach and low angled light casting shadows. The opening image was a test of Hipstamatic...I pointed the iPhone right into the sun looking west. I loved the scene, and wanted to see what I could do with it in post. So I took the original unprocessed image below...and went to work...starting with Snapseed, I applied the ambience filter to the max, brightness adjust, saturation adjust, contrast adjust and then also sharpened and added some structure. I pushed the image more than I would if I was working with a "straight" image file as pushing creates pixel issues, but when I know I am going to "Glaze" it, then it really does not matter....pretty fun stuff!
After running the image through Glaze, I went back into Snapseed and made selective adjustments to the chairs, brightening them as I saw them on the beach, illuminated by the sun!

Call me the beach walker, stalker...looking for a great subject! This couple walked the beach for a good stretch looking for beach treasures, bending over picking shells and then walked holding hands! I loved their presence. So I kinda, walked behind them...making a few images along the way.

Surf fishing is a "thing" here in Delaware, folks pull their trucks on the beach in certain licensed areas.
They make great subjects when they actually have their lines in hand...the long shadows on the gentle surf were a great bonus.

Not all beach umbrellas are equal! This one had the colors of summer in it! It was alone on the beach, its owner probably gone for dinner....

Then there was a beautiful black lab, endlessly jumping into the sea for that green tennis ball!
So that's Summer by the sea!!
Hipstamatic just launched a new Pak...Brighton HipstaPak...if you are a Hipsta fan...time to go shopping! Click on the shopping cart in the app and download it. I look forward to trying it out at the beach as I love the tones in the pak examples. Check out the Hipsta Blog here!
My next iPhone workshop is August 10 in Washington, DC at the historic Union Station...sponsored by Capital Photography Center..click here for more info and registration.

......and iPhone images make great prints! I would be happy to sell one if you are interested please shoot me an e-mail! or leave a message on the Blog comments.