Monday, August 15, 2011

Fat Bike... Fat Bob... Fat Fun...


Camera App: iCameraHDR

Extras: Ollo Clip 3in1 lens system, wide angle lens used.

Additional Apps used:

iCameraHDR - to create a HDR picture of the previously saved photos. I prefer to save the photos before I process them. That way I won't loose much time when taking photos and I can take all of my time for processing later.
Artista VintageScene - to create a grunge picture from the HDR picture.
FilterStorm - to blend the HDR picture with the grunge picture. I simply erased the bike from the grunge picture so the bike alone remains in detail and color while the rest of the picture will not.
A+Signature - to add my copyright watermark.

Today I finally took the occasion to take some new photos of my steel horse after it got fitted with a pair of all black Rush exhaust pipes + the black Screamin' Eagle exhaust shields and a high performance Screamin' Eagle air cleaner. Now it finally sounds like every Harley should sound; a roaring beast always on the jump to be unleashed but tamed by its rider.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Beautiful Mourning



Camera App:
Hipstamatic + Melodie lens + Dream Canvas film


Additional Apps used:
Artista Oil - to create an oil painting layer.
Grungetastic - to create a b/w grunge layer.
iCameraHDR- to create a HDR layer from the oil layer and the grunge layer. 
Dynamic Light - to create the sephia effect and enhance contrast.
FilterStorm - to darken the sephia picture and to add a 25% black frame.
TouchRetouch - to remove some white spots.
A+ Signature - to add my copyright watermark.


This picture is based on one of the Hipstamatic photos that I made on yesterdays photo walk through Luxembourg City. I ended my walk at the Limpersberg cemetery where I discovered some very interesting sculptures on huge family graves. This sculpture is part of such a grave. I borrowed the title for my picture from one of my favorite Heavy Metal bands "Machine Head" who got a great song with the same title "Beautiful Mourning":
...
This lifetime in sorrow
God let the angels die
This is our last goodbye
In love and death we cry
Our last goodbye 

...

Mourning Angel


Camera App: 
Hipstamatic + Ollo Clip lens system + Melodie lens + Dream Canvas film
Additional Apps used:
Dynamic Light - settings "FX Motion" 50%
Blender - to blend the Dynamic Light layer with the original picture. Settings: Normal 50%
FilterStorm - to blend the layer created with Blender with the original layer, adding it as a second exposure, then erasing the Angel from the blurred layer created with Blender.
ToonPaint - to created a toon layer.
Blender again - to blend the ToonPaint layer with the layer previously created in FilterStorm. Settings: Normal 50%
Iris - to crop only part of the picture.
FilterStorm again - to add a regular white border and for adjusting brightness and contrast.
A+ Signature - to add a copyright watermark.

Today's photo walk through the center of Luxembourg-City also brought me to the old cemetery of Limpersberg, which is part of Luxembourg-City. There are many old and pretentious graves to be discovered, so I made some photos. One sculpture that caught my interest was this beautiful angel sculpted from white marble. I made the original photo with Hipstamatic+Melodie lens+Dream Canvas film-+Ollo Clip and it looked already good but I wanted to make something special out of it so I end up with this after playing around with some of my favorite apps on my iPhone. I finally got a chance to fully test my Ollo Clip today and I must say that it's really worth the money. I love that neat little thingy! To make this picture I used the wide angle lens.