Tag Archives: photography

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge-Week 9-Double Exposures

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snappyhappy-galactic

This week’s photo challenge will be a difficult one for me, I think.  Welcome back to Week 9 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge hosted by We Live in a Flat and Firebonnet.  This challenge is discovering ways to create double exposures.  We Live in a Flat describes them this way:

If you have a film camera that allows you to expose the same frame twice to different subjects, you will end up with a photo that comprises the two scenes overlapping each other. Photos taken using this method are called double exposures. And in the case where there is more than two times the frame is exposed, the result becomes a multiple exposure.

I love the link to the video tutorial for good double exposures on We Live in a Flat’s site, especially the end of the tutorial that explains how to quickly create a double exposure in Photoshop.  However, since we are focusing on photo apps, I decided to try that same technique in my new app Leonardo, which also allows for double exposures.

It does seem that photos often look better with this technique in black and white; also I’ve noticed that photos where at least one photo is not too “busy” also work well.  So here goes…

I chose to use a photo of the Houston skyline, already adjusted in Afterlight and Mextures.  Then I took a quick photo of my husband’s eyes, again edited in Afterlight and converted to black and white.  As a “half” photo, I also knew the blending would be easier, so cropped the eyes appropriately.   Then I pulled both photos into the Leonardo app.  Here they are:

Leonardo-Eye-12-Snagit

Leonardo-Choose 2 photos to blend

Then, using the “blend” mode offered in the lower right-hand side of the screen, I selected the “burn” mode from the choices given.  This one seemed to blend the two photos best.  Once that was selected I fine-tuned the opacity on the eye photo so that the eyes blended better with the sky.

Leonardo-Eye-11-Snagit

 Leonardo-Adjusting the Opacity Levels

Having the original of the eyes in black and white caused them to be blue like the sky, achieving just the effect I was after!  Success!!  Here is the final photo.

Final-Eye-in-Sky

App Challenge Image
Eyes in the Sky

Mobile Device: iPhone 4s
App Used:  Afterlight, Mextures, Leonardo

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge-Week 8-Mirroring

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Welcome to Week 8 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge.  Working on filling up my grid with host We Live in a Flat (and co-host FireBonnet).  Host We Live in a Flat states:

“Mirrored photos can be gimmicky. But that is not to say there is no place for them in mobile phoneography. The mirror, after all, is a well-used metaphor in so many occasions and samples of literature.”

This is not something I have ever tried with my mobile photography – or for that matter tried at all, although I have seen some wonderful examples used at We Live in a Flat on a regular basis.  Be sure to check them out!

Leonardo App

I decided to try using the app Leonardo  for this effect.  It was mentioned on Instagram, and I did more research than usual on this app, as the purchase price was $4.99, higher than most iPhone/iPad apps.  Research and reviews gave me a “thumbs up” decision to purchase, and I am so happy I did.  This is a fantastic app, much like a mobile version of Photoshop.  You can create layers and mask effectively.  This is a total editing app!  One thing I really like, and had not been able to find thus far, is the ability to adjust perspective.  This is especially useful with architecture.  The app also has many filters and effects, including the mirror effect of this photo challenge. I chose a recently taken architectural photo that I thought would lend itself well to this effect.

Original-Mirror-1

My Original Photo
Washington County Courthouse, Texas

And the completed mirror effect, with all edits done directly in the Leonardo app.  Edits included basic editing (lighting, contrast, cropping, sharpness, etc.), and additional edits of mirror effect, light leaks, and poster filter.  Hope you enjoy the final results!

Final-Mirror-1

App Challenge Image
Guardian Lions

Mobile Device: iPhone 4s
App Used:  Leonardo

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge-Week 7-Sketch Effects

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Well, as I was very busy building my new Shopify website, I initially missed weeks 7 thru 10 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge.  But I want my photo grid complete with host We Live in a Flat (and co-host Fire Bonnet), so am going ahead and competing entries for these (and back dating so they are archived in order).

Week 7 Photo Challenge:  Art-Sketch Effects

We Live in a Flat gives a more full description of sketching via Wikipedia:

Sketches can be made in any drawing medium. The term is most often applied to graphic work executed in a dry media such as silverpoint,graphite, pencil, charcoal or pastel. But it may also apply to drawings executed in pen and ink, ballpoint pen, water colour and oil paint. The latter two are generally referred to as “water colour sketches” and “oil sketches”. – wikipedia

And yes it is true that we now digitally have the ability to turn our photos into sketches (and watercolors, and oil paints, etc.).  I really like the look of the Camera360 app that she tested, so added it to my growing group of photo apps on my iPhone.  This one was free!

It took me a minute to figure out where the “sketch” effect was in this app.  You have to select the big + button to enter the effects store.  From there they list the different effects offered; all are free.  Once selected the effects you like are installed onto your main effects screen for use.  A total of nine sketch effects are offered.  I liked “surreal”, “years”, “color”, and “light”.  Did not particularly care for the rest.  And, ways to save are a little odd in that you export to your camera roll, and if not careful with your “finger placement” on your phone screen you will just re-save your original.

Here are the final results.  I used a photo taken of Peyton this morning on a neutral background.

Original Photo
Sketch #1-Surreal
Sketch #2-Years
Sketch #3-Color

I think I like sketch #3-Color best.  I think a darker subject would have worked out better for this effect, although there is quite a bit of contrast between Peyton and the almost white background.  The “Years” sketch is also nice, although it really just looks like a b&w photo conversion, rather than a sketch.

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge-Week 6-Color Filters

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We are now at Week 6, the mid-way point, of the ongoing 12 week photo challenge being hosted by We Live in a Flat and Firebonnet.  We Live in a Flat gives a good description of this week’s new challenge, color filters.

One of the easiest things to do with a photo app is to apply a colour filter. Tap to apply and there you have it, a boring photo given a little extra zing. Minimal effort.

I have to agree that applying a color filter, or other types of artistic filters, is one of the easiest things to do with all the new photography apps for phones and notepads.  In fact, it’s almost too easy to get carried away with all the options out there.  Sometimes the hardest decision to make is choosing which readily available photo technique to apply to your photo, or knowing when to put the proverbial paintbrush down and leave well enough alone.

100 Cameras in 1

This is a fun little app that I have explored before.  See my review from March 2013 here.  This app lets you apply those color filters with an easy tap of the finger.  The neat thing is that you can apply filter on top of filter, for almost unlimited choices and final look to your photo.  It is straightforward and simple to use, developed by world renowned photographer Trey Ratcliff.  If you have never had a chance to visit his site, you should do so.  He offers great photography tips & tutorials.  Since I have reviewed this app previously, I won’t review it again here, but as we are discovering color filter apps this week, I thought you might be interested in this one.

Mextures

This is my latest discovery, happened upon quite by happy accident this week while cruising through instagram and reviewing comments there.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I discover this!  An app that lets you create your OWN filters.  The Mextures app has more than 80 original high resolution textures made specifically for photographers by photographers.  You can choose from pack selections such as Radiance, Grit & Grain, Light Leaks, Emulsion, Grunge, Landscape Enhance, and Vintage.  Within each of these packs are numerous filters that you can apply to your photo.  And with each individual application, you can adjust the opacity of the filter.  But here’s the best part…rather than the old method of deleting a filter if you don’t like it, your filters are applied in true layers the way they are in Photoshop, so that you can rotate, hide and adjust the opacity of them as needed, seeing results in real-time  (via the eye symbol, again as in Photoshop).  Isn’t that so very cool?

And if all this isn’t enough, you can also choose to capture your favorite filter combinations and save them for later application on another photo.  Or not. Also within the formulas screen there are “guest” formulas that you can apply with a quick tap of your finger to your photo.  Want to explore them more?  Simply open the layers tab on any given one and you can see how many/which packs/opacity level the guest used to create the unique filter.

This is the app for anyone who wants ultimate control over their photo filter!

Here is my entry for the week.  Original photo (the same one used for the 100 Cameras in 1 sample).

Color-Filter-400x400

Original App Challenge Image
A Break in the Clouds

Mobile Device: iPhone 4s
App Used:  Snapseed, Mextures

And here is my final photo, altered with the advanced filters from Mextures.  Let me know what you think!

Color-Filter-2.1-Web

Final App Challenge Image

Want to have fun and participate in the photo challenge, or just visit the other entries?  Just click on the Snappy H’appy Logo at the top of this post!