Cropped Clovers

Sometimes, if a photo doesn’t work, its because you need to be closer to your subject so it fills the frame. In the photo above, I was most interested in the clover at the bottom with balls of water on it. Unfortunately, I didn’t move in closer for the better shot. I don’t even know how much closer I could have gone with my iPhone. What I ended up with was a lot of extra space that doesn’t add to the image in this case.

To improve the image, I cropped very tight with Snapseed. Then, I used Tangled FX for the painterly edit.

On another note, I’ll be heading out of town again tomorrow. This time, I’m going to the bay area for an engagement session. Hopefully, I’ll remember to take some photos with the iPhone during it.

Tranquil Sunset

May this photo bring you some peace today

Ocean Views

You can all take your seats in front of the tv today. I think I’ll take these instead

New Years Ride

In just a few weeks, Monica has whipped me into shape and got me riding independently with confidence. I’ve gone from being nervous and uncomfortable on the horses to riding bareback with no hands and my eyes closed lol. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer my eyes open and a saddle!

If it wasn’t for photography, I wouldn’t have had this amazing opportunity to learn to ride horses and appreciate them for the incredible animals they are. We met online by chance and I found out she wanted photos for her business in exchange for as many riding lessons as I wanted.

If you’re interested in horses, or mustangs in particular, Monica has a  fb page, United Mustangs of America.

Shot with camera+ and edited in Snapseed.

I’m 30?

It’s my 30th birthday today. That sounds weird to me. I never thought I’d live this long haha.

Hills Along the Border

This was shot on the California side of the OR-CA border. Behind me was the amazing view of Mt. Shasta and the valley, but it was really hazy and the sun wasn’t in a good position. This view wasn’t bad, but didn’t compare to the shot behind me.

Shot with camera+. Edited with Snapseed, ShockMyPic, and ImageBlender. After using ShockMyPic, I used ImageBlender to lower the opacity of the shocked version on top of the Snapseed version, making for a slightly more subtle shock.

If you missed the post yesterday about Hueless and the free promo code giveaway, go look now!

The Last CA Coast Shot

When I left the central coast 2 weekends ago, the weather was absolutely perfect. I couldn’t leave town without stopping by one of the beaches to get that fresh ocean air one last time because I had no idea when I’d make it to the beach again. Lucky for me, we’re actually heading out to Brookings today on the Oregon coast to escape the heat in Ashland.

I don’t think I edited this at all. The colors were already great and I loved the composition. Shot with Camera+

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.

Spoiled Sunrise

Today I woke up way too early and there actually wasn’t any fog when I looked out the window, so I thought I’d head out for a sunrise shoot. Everything was clear while I was driving to the beach, but when I got there, it was socked in with a thin layer of fog. So much for that idea.

I drove around for a while thinking I’d find some beautiful light somewhere. There were a few moments when I saw something I liked, but I couldn’t pull over on the freeway. I finally just stopped at a native garden near my house. I couldn’t think of anything cool to shoot around here. I’m pretty bored with my surroundings now. I’m even thinking of running down to LA for a day this week for the change in scenery, even though I hate LA.

The original image was ok. Kinda blah if you ask me. I tried to use LensLight to add some rays and interest. These are 3 different versions I came up with using the app. I need to play with it some more before I review it, but its cool so far.

 

This Old Tree

I’m back after a little break from this blog. I felt like it was taking to much time away from me and I wasn’t getting enough out of it, so a little r&r was needed. I do appreciate all the kind things people have been saying lately, but I’m still not sure if I’ll be posting everyday like I have for the past 3 months. We’ll see how things go.

SLO Fields

Yesterday was a challenging day and by the time the golden hour started I decided I needed to just jump in my car and catch the sunset somewhere. The problem was I didn’t know where I was going. Normally thats how I operate, but not at sunset because there is only so much time before the light is gone.

I cruised by the beaches, but didn’t feel like shooting there AGAIN (trust me, it does get old.) I headed inland to San Luis Obispo with an idea in my mind that I’d find a rural spot with a field against the mountains. It was a little tougher than I expected to find something like that in good light.

As I was driving, that little voice in my head said “Turn around!” So I flipped a u-turn and pulled off on some random road and drove back a little ways to find an open field just before the sun went down. This would be a great spot for a portrait session if it wasn’t on private property.

Both images were shot with ProHDR and I made only minimal edits in Snapseed. In the second image, the sun had stopped shining on the field, which meant a slightly slower shutter speed was used. Thats why the wind through the grass gave it a cool painterly effect that you can see better if you click on the image and zoom in.

Laetitia Vineyards

I went out yesterday thinking I’d do some HDR with my d7000, but so far I’ve only processed the hdr from my iPhone. This is out at Laetitia Winery. Theres no shortage of wineries around here. Thats one of the perks of living between Paso Robles and Santa Barbara.

The image was created with ProHDR. The one above was processed with Snapseed and SimplyHDR. After I processed with Snapseed, there was a lack of focus and the image looked dull. I like how you can change the lighting of an image by applying tints in SimplyHDR. It definitely fixed this one.

This second image is the same one from above. Created with ProHDR and edited with Snapseed before painting it in PhotoViva. I left the original sky alone, but needed to reduce the noise with FilterStorm. I also tone mapped the whole image while in Filterstorm. I tried to take it a step further by using Percolator on the sky and blending it in with ImageBlender. The circle watercolor look didn’t quite mesh with the painted ground. No harm in trying though.

 

Little Flowers

Just a little succulent blooming in the garden. It caught my eye in another part of the yard, but it was in shadows. I picked up the little bonsai planter its in and moved it into some more interesting light. Don’t be afraid to move your subjects to better light if you can!

 

Edited with Snapseed.

Stay Still!

“If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

-Robert Capa

I downloaded cinemagram today and I’ve been playing with it all afternoon. Its pretty fun and adds even more creativity to the iPhone. Basically you shoot a short video and select a portion of it to be animated while the rest is a still picture.

I already have a few more that I like, but I’ll wait til tomorrow to share some more cinemagrams.