On the fly at the beach: Hipstamatic and Glaze

Watching the Dredger ~ Captured with Hipstamatic: Doris Lens, Sussex Film Processed: Glaze, Snapseed, Leonardo

I have been asking myself~ "Why am I just shooting images with my iPhone lately?"
and my answers have been~ I guess because I have been busy and its with me....also its very easy to be "stealth" in public places and not feel weird pointing a "Big Camera" at people to catch a candid shot...so there's my answer...why I love image making with my iPhone, it suits my preference of image making right now....and I just love processing images on the fly! I am not tied to my computer for processing.
Hipstamatic has been my go to shooting app lately because its easy to use in public. I like the big screen view finder and a few of the lens - film combos. For some reason I am loving the square format right now.
The week at the beach is just about over and I have enjoyed trying to capture the last images of summer at the beach wherever I went with the family. The beach images below were captured on our last day on the beach while the beach replenishment crews were fast at work.

Watching

 I really enjoy the natural color palette at the beach! When making images on the beach I try to find interesting scenes or people. I watch and when I have a clean back ground, or people isolated from others,  I quickly grab a shot, always cognizant of getting the horizon line as level as possible.

Surf Fun

On the boardwalk one night at dusk I split off from the kids to capture the rides as the sun was setting and the evening sky was still blue..that's the best time to capture images as the lights are on the rides but the sky is not black.

Captured Hipstamatic: Jane Lens, Ina's 1969 Film Processed: Glaze, Leonardo, and Snapseed

On the Fly with Hipstamatc ~ Union Station ~ Glaze

"Going Home"     Captured: Hipstamatic: Jane Lens, Ina's 1969 film Processed: Snapseed, Glaze

Yesterday I led an iPhone field workshop for Capital Photography Center in Union Station, Washington, DC. I had a great group of participants some of whom were already very talented photographers. During the shoot, I used Hipstamatic to capture images. "Hipsta" is great for capturing images on the fly of people. The feature in Hipstamatic that makes it so good for me, is the large screen shutter option. I like making the viewfinder screen large by double tapping on it when it is small. Then I walk around with Hipsta ready to fire by just touching the large screen.
My next all day iPhone photography processing workshop will be November 24, in the Baltimore DC Metro area, sponsored by Capital Photography Center...so if you are interested click here for more information.

I enjoy catching people doing what they do....moving through life. When I find an interesting composition with great light light as in the opening image just outside of Union Station, I will position myself and wait for just the right moment as I did in the opening image. Other times I am walking and moving shooting from the hip as I did when I captured "On the Move" below and "Morning News."
Glaze was my choice for processing. I really enjoyed processing and abstracting these images into colors, shapes, forms and textures, less literal than the actual image...but visually interesting, using the medium of pixels in digital photography as a starting point. If I painted with oils or acrylics, this would be the way I would paint! Lots of layers of texture and color!

"Waiting "  Captured: Hipstamatic: Jane Lens, Ina's 1969 film Processed: Snapseed,  ImageBlender, Glaze

"On the Move"   Captured: Hipstamatic: Jane Lens, Ina's 1969 film Processed: Snapseed, ImageBlender, Glaze

"Shoe Shine Stand"    Captured: Hipstamatic: Jane Lens, Ina's 1969 film Processed: Snapseed, ImageBlender, Glaze

"Umbrella Man"  Captured: Hipstamatic: Jane Lens, Ina's 1969 film Processed: Snapseed, ImageBlender, Glaze

"Morning News"  Captured: Hipstamatic: Jane Lens, Ina's 1969 film Processed: Snapseed, ImageBlender, Glaze

New App in town Leonardo! and ...Yes, I am a Glaze Artist!

Captured: Hipstamatic~Jane Lens, Inas 1969 film Processed: Snapseed, Lens Light, Leonardo, and Glaze

Well it's been an interesting and busy week! I made a retail product out of a few of my beach series images and they are selling well! (It's the retailer in me I suppose) The little 2 x 2 $6.00 ceramic tile, fridge magnets, are really cute! I actually ordered more beach tiles and put in a new order with my "Big Flower" Glazed iPhone images from the summer.

I was officially called a "Glaze Artist" by the developer of Glaze. Well that and a nickle will get ya some coffee...but really that's fun to be recognized by the developer of the App as a "Glaze Artist!"
Some folks that promote software get spiffs but I don't I just like to share products I enjoy....and there is a new one in the App store that is Fabulous as a "Photoshop" quality processing app for your iPhone. It is called Leonardo and is by the developer of PhotoWizard and Superimpose, both of which I also enjoy. Hipstamatic launched a new Black and White film that is free so go shopping for that as well!

I took a little country ride last night and made a few Hipsta shots using the Jane Lens and Ina's 1969 film. They were not very good out of the iPhone but I knew what I was going to do with them so it didn't matter much.  I liked pulling into a farmers field road in the Jeep and snagging a quick shot of the lone tress in the corn field! I emptied my Camera Roll this week down to 120 images and I wanted a few new images to play with!  Below was the original shot...I loved the light on the land behind the trees, the trees themselves and the old three board fence...Snapseed and Leonardo added the pop and Glaze added the painterly effect and LensLight added the moon! TouchRetouch took out the contrails in the upper right hand corner and across the sky.

Before

Also this week I worked with a blind woman and her iPhone, helping her use apps and understand photography a little bit. She is working on a book for blind people and a chapter is on using the iPhone camera and a few selected apps that work really well in Voice over mode. When I was studying before I went to work with her I looked at images on line that were uploaded by blind people and a lot of them were blurry. I wanted to understand why and when I put my iPhone in Voice over mode to use it as the blind people did I quickly understood. The action to fire the shutter requires two taps! Well there ya go, thats just not a good thing...so I tried Clear Cam knowing that it fires six shots and pick the sharpest one and indeed Clear Cam is Voice over accessible in all its menus and seemed to solve the problem. So she will be adding that into her book as an app to get for the Blind Community who want to share images. I must say it was an education for me as well. Patience is required so much more!!!
Tomorrow is my HDR workshop with the Big Camera in downtown Baltimore....and next Sunday I have three spaces left for my iPhone field shoot in the Historic Union Station in Washington, DC.
Here's a link for that if you might be interested in joining in the iPhone photo fun! Click here.
And... one more before and after from last night's country ride....

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.

Summer Bouquets ~ Hipstamatic ~ Snapseed ~ Mextures ~ Glaze

Summer is in full bloom in my neck of the woods with the Hydrangeas, Daises, and Day lilies brightening the landscape! The garden has really been beautiful as a result of early and frequent spring rains. So now I am on to making images with flowers. I started a week ago at the beach with some beautiful hydrangeas, and now at home with a broader assortment. I picked a couple vases worth of flowers and decided I wanted to create iPhone images of them.
The opening image started the idea. I had picked a few daisies, Hosta and Loosestrife in the morning from my garden to adorn the kitchen window sill and selected a simple vase. I enjoyed looking at them every time I went to the kitchen sink and then I said, I wonder what I could do with them and the iPhone. I decided to take them into my living room where the walls are painted a deep Wedgwood blue (backgrounds matter) and sit them on top of my tall Polk vintage speakers by the window (light matters).
After arranging the flowers, (composition matters) I made two shots and was satisfied with the images from Hipstamatic using the  Jane Lens and Inas 1969 film with no flash, just window light. Then the processing began...into Snapseed for a little saturation, ambiance, white balance adjustment, sharpening and structure. I knew I was heading toward getting a few images out of Glaze so I really pump up the image before running it into Glaze. I make several iterations in Glaze and use the custom feature to come up with some interesting looks to begin blending and masking in ImageBlender..then maybe back into Snapseed for some more color adjustments, selective adjustments, and sharpening. Then I will add a texture from Mextures and run another Glaze file and blend again...so what you see here is many blends and many different files to get the look that suits me. I posted this on FB and many of my friends liked it. I was encouraged to create another image. So back out to the garden....with another vase, clipping a few more blooms Astilbe, Goldenrod, Hydrangea, Lavender and Geraniums. Once again staging the vase in the same place in my living room I captured another file to work with. Now I wish I had more blooms to work with...but as the garden progresses I will continue to work on using this place in the house for a stage to capture a few more bouquet images. If you live in the area I will be conducting an all day iPhone workshop in Chesapeake City, Md on July 13...have a few more spots open if you would like to join me click here for my iPhone Workshop.

Original Capture

Processed file