Image Processing ~ Where to begin?? When to stop??

This is the final result I achieved....or where I was satisfied with the "look" of the image.

Lately I have been tutoring a couple photographers on image processing...both on the iPhone and in Photoshop. One of the questions I get repeatedly is: "How do you know what you want to do with an image?" What a great question!!! The answer however is sometimes elusive.....but hopefully this post will give a little more insight into answering the question....at least on this one iPhone image I played with yesterday.

Part of thinking about processing actually begins in the field for me. I spotted my neighbors Datura blooming in the morning and after running some errands I went back to get a few shots...well guess what I was too late. The blooms had wilted and only a few budding blossoms were left. I had the OlloClip with me and as I always do I asked myself what I loved about my subject? Well I loved the curl and folds of the blossom end..so I used the macro lens on the OlloClip, knowing I probably would not get a totally sharp shot because I had to hold the bloom up while making the image. I made several shots and landed on the one below to start my processing. I chose the app 6x6 for its clarity and square format..as well as its ability to delivery a tiff file with a 300 dpi resolution. Once I have a shot I ask myself, "What do I think needs to be done with this image?" My answers were....

I would like to get rid of the green corner in the upper left and I would like to get rid of the brown area in the lower right....I like to take care of spots before I begin any process.
So in iPhone land my go to App for removing or adding in areas of correction is Touch-Retouch. Below is the resulting image after using Touch Retouch to make those initial adjustments, using the brush, lasso and clone stamp I was able to acceptably make those adjustments.

Now I asked myself "What I thought the image needed, to enhance "what I loved" about the subject.
So because my answer was the curls of the bloom, I thought they needed more definition by increasing the depth and light of the curls and maybe a little more color...so I then went to Snapseed and added Ambiance, adjusted White Balance, added a little sharpening and some structure and saved that file. With just a few adjustments it was beginning to fit my "vision" of the image I had in mind when I captured it. I was not sure about the little triangular peek of my blue jeans in the bottom center of the image but I decided to leave it there for the moment.

My next thought was to further define the furls of the blossom by running the image through Tangled FX adjusting the filters there to get the look I wanted to use as a "blend" file with the now adjusted Snapseed-Touch Retouch file. I landed on this image from the App Tangled FX because it maintained the softness and added a glow to the image I wanted to convey. Now it was time to blend this back with the Snapseed-Touch-Retouch adjusted image...so I used ImageBlender to make the blend.

 The result of blending the two images is the image below.

Now I wanted to run it through Glaze to get a painterly effect (did I mention I love painterly effects? and Glaze?)....so I made many iterations in Glaze and several blends in ImageBlender...that stayed true to my intent, to enhance the furls of the blossom..

After making several blends with ImageBlender and Glaze I landed on the result below as my final blend. I also went back into Snapseed and used the Selective adjustment feature to enhance the color and brightness in the center of the blossom, as I thought it needed attention drawn to it...Because when I asked myself in the field what I loved the answer was the blossom folds so I continued to work toward enhancing what I loved about the subject. Now at this point, I knew I did not want to keep that peep of blue in the lower center of the image..so I went back to ImageBlender and used this image twice, arranged and masked out pieces to fill in the blue area as desired.

The last question I asked was how about a little border...so I went into PhotoToaster and added a very subtle border to frame the image and considered it done!

Below is a screen shot of the files I made on my iPhone during the process of getting to the "Final Image."  So what do you think???
My next all day iPhone workshop is July 13, in Chesapeake City, Md at Horizon Photography Workshops...Click here for more info and registration.

Blurring the Lines~ Abstract or Figurative? Decim8,TangledFX, ImageBlender...

Today the opening image was described by a revered iPhone photographer and art educator, as more of a "Figurative" image when I posted it in an abstract on line iPhone group.
(He was not criticizing, just saying.)
I am an not an art educator by degree, although I have done a lot of studying, so I deferred. However, I am an MBA, who loves art and loves to analyze.......
So, is this a "Figurative" image instead of an "Abstract" image? Hmmm, that made me think, which is a good thing! It also made me wonder about the new process of image creation with the iPhone and all the cool and crazy apps we have to distort reality! This image was NOT created from a sunflower, now there is my question...If we create an image from a source image and the final image, does not  have any recognizable features from the original source image: is it still "Figurative" because it looks like a recognizable subject in our mind?
Here I took an image which had nothing to do with the "perceived" reality of the final image and "reversed engineered" so to speak an image which to me was abstract, but had a familiar shape color and dimension to a recognizable subject a sunflower...and there in lies the question...because it resulted in a familiar subject in real life is it a "figurative" or an "abstract" image? You decide!
Here is how this image evolved.
I made a panoramic sequence of an abstract painting in the National Gallery of Art a couple weeks ago when I was conducting an iPhone workshop. Last night I selected one image out of the image sequence to run through Decim8 and "fracture." Fracture is what I feel like Decim8 does to an image.
One of the iterations resulted in an image which I used as a base to the final image.

Original source file

Image result from Decim8

Image run through TangledFX

Image flipped in Snapseed to put weight at the bottom of the image, and shift the diagonal lines. Then changed color in Color Thief from another image.
(I have never liked purples and pinks, but love the color vibration of blues and yellows.)

So there is the process I used to get to this image...so "Abstract" or "Figurative" does the manner in which the image is created change the label "Abstract" or "Figurative"?
Is it "Figurative" simply because our mind might identify a similar shape or color combination in the real world? You decide...thoughts and comments are welcome!

I still have a few spots open in my all day iPhone workshop on March 8 in Gaithersburg, Md.
Click here to register and for more info

Abstraction ~ Decim8~ Glaze~ Image Blender

Abstracts have a fun place in my workflow, with the iPhone's ability to process images using creative apps. The apps I have been using for a few recent abstract images are Decim 8, Glaze, Tangled FX, PhotoWizard and of course ImageBlender to mosh them up by arranging pieces from one to another, masking out and choosing blend modes. Then I run the images into Glaze and come up with a cool filter to "paint" and blend the colors together. The image above started as an iPhone picture of a stained glass window! Now that's some pixel bending!

After maaaannnyyyy processes I landed on the abstract below...which I liked.

This image has many layers using four images arranged one over the other in the app ImageBlender. The apps I used to get to this point include: Glaze, ImageBlender, PhotoWizard, Rollage Kyoobik, Tangled FX,

Then I ran the abstract above through a couple iterations in Decim8 and landed on the image below. I liked it! It looked like a spring field, a cool sky scape and a blue landscape...so I then wanted to mosh the colors up in Glaze and landed on the opening image.

Decim8 also gave me one more iteration I liked but I didn't feel it was as strong as the one I selected. The weight in the image is a little different and the sky effect is a little too bright by comparison. But I am not going to throw it away because I like pieces of it especially the pools of blue in the bottom, and may use it in another image blend later on. If you like surprises and abstracts try Decim8! for some unexpected image "fractures."
...............and if you can join me for my next day long iPhone workshop with Capital Photography Center, here's the link! CLICK HERE ....We will be covering lots of apps for shooting, processing and managing images as well as great iPhone info! Hope to see you there!

Creating Abstracts: Apps: Tiny Planet~Tangled FX~Glaze~ImageBlender

Wave

Yesterday I led an iPhone workshop in Washington DC at the National Gallery of Art. It was great working with new iPhone photographers. Along the way I captured a few quick shots. The moving escalators underground are cool with walls of lights so as we were moving I grabbed a couple shots.
The image above was the final result of that shot. I really am having some fun with this style or creating abstracts from pixels getting a painted look with Glaze as part of the recipe.
The sequence of images below will show you how I arrived at the image above I call "Wave"...that's what I think I really enjoy about the apps for the iPhone...I really didn't have an objective for the "final" image....I just started playing with the shot of lights in the tunnel. Once you know your apps you can use the what if game...like I did here...

Original Capture Hipstamatic Tinto with C-Type Plate

Above Image run through Tiny Planet

Tiny Planet Image with an iteration from Glaze

 

 

Above image run through Photo Wizard to distort and colorize

Above image run through Tangled Fx

One more iteration in Glaze

 

Final Image blended the last Glaze iteration with Tangled Fx version and ran one more iteration in Glaze with the blended image. Then a little saturation and contrast applied in Snapseed.

If I could only really paint like this!!