App Crazy

I think I have something like 45-50 photo apps on my phone right now. Thats after deleting a bunch that aren’t up to my standards. For this image, I used more apps than I ever have on a single image.

1. ProHDR
2. Snapseed
3. LensLight- Added the moon
4. FX Photo Studio- Created mirrored image
5. Tadaa- Added a couple of filters to get spacey/rainbow colors.
6. NIR Color-  Made a copy to blend in image blender at low opacity.
7. PhotoArtista Oil- Made a copy to blend in image blender for the painted reflection.
8. ImageBlender
9. FilterStorm- Separate curves adjustments for the sky and reflection

I’m pretty surprised I remembered all of that. You should click on it to see the large version.

So what do you think of the final outcome? Was it worth the trouble?

I also want to share a few blog posts that I contributed to recently. This one is on iphoneography, instagram, and being part of the in crowd. I’ve enjoyed my recent conversations with Shannon. She knows what shes talking about.

I did two posts for Mariam where I shared what I think helped me become not only a better  photographer, but a more creative individual. Here they are:  1 & 2. In the second post, I share a popular training website that offers 24 hour free trials to all of their videos. Go check it out!

Rural Road (tilt shift)

This is the road leading to Emigrant Lake by Ashland, Oregon. Its been sitting on my phone for a while because I felt like there was some way that I could edit it to make it more interesting, but I couldn’t figure out how. Then I kept taking better pictures that deserved to be worked on first. I finally got around to working on it yesterday and I think it came out better than I expected. I think the tilt shift saved this one because the scene was lacking focus before the effect was applied.

I recommend clicking to see it larger.

Created with ProHDr, edited with SimplyHDR and Snapseed.

Ashland Hills and a WIN!

Theres something about this scene from the hills near Ashland, OR that I like. There are a lot of little things that make this image interesting to me. The rocks and grasses in the foreground, the curves of the mountain road, and the hillside home surrounded by trees. No, its not perfect, but its interesting enough to share. I can’t wait to revisit this spot when the hills are green.

This was edited in Snapseed, then Dramatic BW, and finally blended with ImageBlender.

 

I recently entered this image into a phone photography contest. Ok, so I didn’t technically win the contest, but I got prize money for being a runner up. I should have shared the link and asked people to vote like others did. Between here and my facebook pages, I would have run away with it. Next time…

App Review: Filterstorm

I’ve had a few weeks to play with Filterstorm now and I still don’t feel completely comfortable using it. Its a deep app that others have said is like photoshop in your pocket. It certainly appears to be a powerful app, if you can master it, but there is a steep learning curve. This isn’t an app that I’d recommend for beginners. If you’re a professional photographer, or someone that has a grasp of most of photoshop’s features, I’d say give Filterstorm a try. No matter what level you’re at, watching the tutorial is a must!

Clouds and Trees

This scene almost looks fake to me because of the size of the clouds compared to the eucalyptus and oak trees.

I tried to edit this solely with filterstorm because I’m working on a review of that app, but it crashed right after I spent a long time masking in a curves layer (so frustrating.) I ended up using trusty, easy to use Snapseed. No need to mask anything and I can still adjust specific areas.

I did use filterstorm afterwards to clean up some noise, apply a very subtle vignette, and try the tone mapping feature. That app seems pretty complex and is going to require some serious attention before I can give it a proper review.