Changes & free app

I have a few things to mention in today’s post. First, I decided I’m not waiting anymore for something to happen and I’m going to take a risk and try to make them happen. I’m heading north tomorrow, and after a few days in the bay area and Sacramento area, I’ll be moving to Oregon. I don’t have a job lined up and have hardly any money in my pocket, so don’t be surprised when I start asking you guys if you’re interested in buying prints soon. Wish me luck, pray, and send good vibes my way. I certainly need all the help I can get with this move.

 

Second thing I want to mention is Superimpose is free just for today. If you’re interested in blending images together, this one is worth a look. Check it out here.

 

Now, on to the image for today. For a little context, this large kiln is out in the middle of a redwood forest, about a half mile hike from the campgrounds. From the website:

In late 19th century, these ovens supplied a thriving industry: Limestone was ‘‘cooked’’ out of the rocks—a real stone soup—for use in building materials.

I believe they made mortar out there for the SF bay area if I remember correctly. It was almost impossible to get a wide shot of how large these things are because of the caution tape around them. If there wasn’t another hiker nearby, I’d have done what I had to do to get the shot

Shot with ProHDR, edited with snapseed and shockmypic.

 

App Review: ShockMyPic for Mac

Reblogged from David Pasillas Photography:

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I recently reviewed the ShockMyPic app for the iPhone, and they were nice enough to offer me a promo code for the desktop version. After someone else told me they really liked the Mac version, I jumped at the offer.

I'll start this review off with exerpts from the ShockMyPic help center because I think they sum up their app really well.

Read more… 404 more words

I reviewed the Mac version of ShockMyPic. Go check it out :)

Free App: Dramatic Black and White

If you want a good app for black and white conversion, pick up Dramatic Black & White while its free.

I reviewed this one a while back, here.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Edited with ShockMyPic

Central Coast Sunset

I walked up this big, rolling  hill to watch the sunset last night. Its the same location that my banner pic is shot from. The difference is this is an iphone version and that was from my old Nikon D60.

Shot with ProHDR, edited with Snapseed and FilterStorm.

Dahlias

For man, as for flower and beast and bird, the supreme triumph is to be most vividly, most perfectly alive.  -David Herbert Lawrence

What I like about this photo above is the way the flowers seemingly transition from perfection in the front to faded glory in the rear.

Yesterday was grey and ugly all day, which is great for garden pics. I decided to give 645 Pro another try after the recent update. These are a couple of the images I was happy with.

Both of these are unedited shots from 645 Pro. I’ve been putting off that review because I wasn’t happy with the app and the pictures I was getting with it weren’t very exciting. It looks like the update may have made a difference.

Another Fork

Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such.
Henry Miller

There always seems to be a fork in the road. It would be nice if there were signs letting you know what was up ahead.

Shot with ProHDR. Edited with Snapseed.

My First Matte Painting

I’ve become really fascinated with matte painting recently and wanted to give it a shot. I found this tutorial online and decided I needed to do it. You should click to see this much larger.

This is what I’ve been up to lately. Not shooting, but pushing my photoshop skills. I’m mostly self taught. As someone who spent way too long in school and then spent time teaching, I believe you can teach yourself just about anything if you have the desire.

It seemed like a lot of my teachers could have been replaced by a book. All they did was lecture straight from the book and hardly ever added anything unique to justify their salary. So, why the hell do I need to pay someone to read a book to me? I don’t. I’ll get the book and teach myself in the comfort of my home while listening to music.

Believe it or not, this started out as 2 daytime images of Florence and Cairo.

After turning it to a night scene, I painted in the fires, smoke, and lighting. It was really fun bringing the city to life and controlling the light. I’ve had this idea of painting with light for quite some time, and this is probably the first time I’ve actually done what I had envisioned a long time ago.

My finished version isn’t quite finished, but it was close enough for me to share. I think I want to crop some off the sides and add more smoke and fire. I’ll probably light up more windows too.

Cosmo

Here is another pic I edited really quick with FilterMania 2.

Free App: FilterMania 2

There’s a really cool app that was just released called FilterMania 2. It’s free this weekend and I recommend snagging it now. There are so many cool filters that you won’t find anywhere else. It’s got a lot to offer. The only thing I’m not crazy about is being forced to do the square crop.

These are examples of using just one filter at 100% opacity. Nothing fancy.

Worth Saving?

I didn’t love this shot after taking it. I didn’t really like anything I shot at this location, but I thought I’d try to create something decent. Thats really not a good approach to photography. Don’t go out and snap mediocre pictures with the hope that you can turn them into something cool in post processing.

Even after the editing, I’m not excited about this one, but I did experiment with new techniques. I shot this with ProHDR, edited with filterstorm and lenslight. I sucked detail out of the image by reducing noise a couple of times in filterstorm, which gave it a slight painterly look. Then I added some light and bokeh with lenslight.

Not crazy about it, but its better than what I started with.

Selective Color Contest

Just letting you guys know that CanvasPop is having a selective color contest. The top 2 photos get free canvas prints and an app for iphone + Mac. You can find the details on the CanvasPop facebook page.

I have nothing to do with the contest. I just saw it in an email today and thought I’d pass the word along.

Ramblings & Free apps

I’m still here, just not compelled to share iphone photos at the moment. WordPress has been odd lately. Somehow, I’m getting more views when I don’t post anything haha.

I’m experimenting with painting in photoshop right now. I’m watching old Bob Ross videos on youtube because he makes painting look so easy. I tried on the iphone, but it was a little challenging since I didn’t have all the tools I wanted.

I don’t care if you’re drawing with chalk on the sidewalk or sculpting with playdoh (my playdoh skills are awesome btw,) getting immersed in other creative activities is a good way to push your creativity.

Freebies

There are two long exposure apps available for free right now. Figures that would happen after Nick and Shannon’s long exposure collaboration ended! Slow Shutter Cam is one I’ve used a few times that works well. I can recommend that one. The other is Slow Shutter Plus and it looks ok except for the ridiculously low res saves. 640×480 on the iphone4, 852×640 on the 4s.

Garden Glow

We added a bunch of plants to the garden this weekend. At least it seemed like a lot when the cart was full, but getting home and planting them in the half acre yard made it seem like we barely got anything.

I shot this with camera+ and edited with snapseed, filterstorm, and imageblender. There was a natural glow on the plant that I wanted to enhance with Filterstorm. To do that, I added blur and set the blending mode to soft light. Then I lowered the opacity to something like 40%. It was still a bit much after I’d saved, so I used imageblender to blend it with the original because its a hell of a lot faster than trying again in Filterstorm and waiting for the 5 minute save process.

If you don’t have filterstorm, you can add blur with another app and use something like imageblender or superimpose. Just set the blurred image to soft light blending mode and adjust the opacity til it looks good.

App Review: ShockMyPic

 

ShockMyPic is an app I’ve seen a few other people use to make some cool photos, so I had to get my hands on it and see what it was all about. This app is incredibly simple and provides great painterly effects. There is also a very similar Mac version that I’ll be reviewing soon.