Doing HDRs with the 645pro (beta)

Camera App: 645pro beta

Other Apps used for post processing:

Mobile HDR - to create a HDR picture from 3 files. Most iOS HDR apps use only 2 files, one overexposed and one underexposed. Mobile HDR aims at creating HDR pictures from your bracket shots made with a DSLR. Because the 645pro currently offers the best picture quality available on the iPhone I wanted to see if Mobile HDR can be useful for photos made with the iPhone too. The answer is YES it can! But to create the files necessary for the HDR picture one must use some tricks because the 645pro offers no bracket mode shooting. So I did the following:

1) I used the 645pro film with the richest colors, which is the FC5 film.

2) I used the Neutral Density #1 filter with 100% efficiency. Currently that filter is only available in the actual beta version of the 645pro but that version is to be released soon. It runs rock stable and comes with a lot of improvements. So if you don't already have the 645pro on your iPhone I recommend you buying it. It's definitely the best camera app available, and it's a pleasure to work with it. 

The 645pro saves your photos in TIFF format as well as in JPG formt. The TIFFs are the RAW files, unprocessed, no film effects, no filters. Development of RAW photos shot with a DSLR is usually done in a so called "RAW converter" but no such app exists for the iOS devices so development is done in the 645pro itself, that's why it's called a dRAW file - a developed RAW file. The JPG file (of the same photo) is the photo with the configured effects applied, such as films and filters used.

3) In case of the old Diesel engine (above) I also created a black and white version in MonoPhix HD as well as an overexposed version in Laminar.

4) To create the HDR picture in Mobile HDR I used the black and white version created in MonoPhix HD, the JPG version from 645pro and the overexposed version made in Laminar. To create the overexposed picture I simply adjusted its curve by pulling it a bit outwards on a spot set in the middle of the line.

Here you see the original photos and the finished HDR picture

Screenshot from Laminar showing the adjusted curve 

to create an overexposed photo.

The black and white picture created from the TIFF file

using MonoPhix HD.

After importing the files into Mobile HDR the processing

 screen looked like this.

Here's yet another HDR picture created in a similar way than the picture on top of the page. In this case I created an underexposed version of the TIFF file to use with the set of 3 photos in Mobile HDR. Then I created a black and white version from the HDR picture in MonoPhix HD. I also tried Snapseed but I liked the result from MonoPhix HD more. Then I was opening the color HDR and the b/w HDR in Blender. The color version on the left side - the b/w version on the right side. Blending mode was "normal", with the slider set 25% to the left. This enhanced the colors and de-saturated the picture a bit at the same time.

As usual, a copyright watermark was added in A+Signature.

If you got questions please feel free to ask. You may also find me on Facebook. Just search for "quaffii" or "Gaston Graf".

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Summertime...

Camera Apps used: 645pro, BracketMode and Hipstamatic with Jane lens + Ina's 1982 film

Additional Apps used for post processing:

And now I'm in trouble, cause I don't remember all the steps I took to create the pictures on this page, except for the Hipstamatic shots which are left unprocessed. For the rest there was:
iPhoto - for local corrections. I love iPhoto for that feature!
Photo fx Ultra - for color corrections, fog effect and other.
Blender - to blend the different versions to obtain different results, as usual. For instance, I added the frame in Camera Awesome but blended the result with the previous version to reduce the frame effect by 50% because I found it too strong.
Snapseed - very useful for the detail functions, like "structure" which is about the same as the pseudo-HDR function of other apps is. I did two versions, one using SimplyHDR and one with the "structure" function in Snapseed and the outcome was about the same. Also Snapseed is great for creating b/w pictures. The b/w version of the above picture had been created using Snapseed with neutral filter but 25% of grain setting.
Pixlromatic - for various retro filters which I mixed in Blender. Don't remember what combination I kept in the end, I'm sorry.
LensFlareHD - to enhance the sunlight reflections in the chrome on the headlights, the fuel level indicator cap on the gas tank and on top of the rear view mirror. I did not add it to the reflection on the handle bar close to the risers and left it as it is. To place such light reflections precisely, move them in bigger size with two fingers to the destination, then use the controls panel to adjust size, brightness and rotation. After saving your picture, LensFlareHD reduces it a bit from 3264x2448 to 3072x2304 but you can easily get your original resolution back. Load any photo that has original size on the left side in Blender, then load the version you created with LensFlareHD on the right side. Pull the slider all to the right in "normal" blend mode and save your picture. If you check it with apps such as ExifWizardPro or the free PhotoSize you will see that it is back to original resolution.
ProHDR - I did some photo sets with BracketMode but in the end I disliked the outcome of the HDR picture as I put them together in ProHDR so I used only the overexposed version for this photo.
A+Signature - for the usual copyright watermarks. I also use it to mark my Hipstamatic shots with lens/film combo so I don't need to repeat this again and again when posting the photos to various Facebook groups.

The day before yesterday I felt for making some new pics of my bike, especially because it now has the Metzler Me880 Marathon tires mounted and because it had a different derby cover for a while. Usually it wears the Willie G. Skull derby cover but mine had been scratched so I wanted a new one but that one needed some time to arrive so I used the cover with the big bad Nr.1 on it. It's nice, but I like the skull cover much more. Yesterday I finally changed the cover and I made some more pics.

This is the b/w version I created using Snapseed. 

No filter but 25% of grain. I like that!

The photo from yesterday, with the Willie G. Skull derby cover. Photo made with the 645pro camera app. This time I was finally able to snap about a dozen shots before the damn app crashed again. I guess it's having a memory problem. If you close all apps that ran in the background, then reboot your iPhone the 645pro runs fine, until a given moment when it crashes again. And that's when the memory is filled up. I hope the developers will get that problem solved soon.

 Hipstamatic photo with the Bad Nr.1 derby cover

 Hipstamatic photo with the Willie G. Skull derby cover

Hipstamatic photo of the Willie G. Skull derby cover in detail.

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Steam Radio

Camera Apps used:
645pro - for the main picture on this page (above) as well as the b/w version of it (below).
Hipstamatic and Hipstamatic D-Series - for all other pictures.


Accessories: Ollo Clip 3in1 lens system, Macro lens.

Additional apps used for post processing:
PhotoForge2 - for the usual High Pass filter
ArtistaSketch - for a clean sketch to enhance the outlines in the picture a bit.
Blender - to blend High Pass version with the original photo for smart sharpening. Later, Blender was used again to blend in the sketch version to enhance the outlines. Setting was very low to avoid overdoing the effect.
SimplyHDR - for a slight HDR effect with a smooth result.
Photo fx Ultra - to enhance the picture further. Filters used: Polarizer and Fog.
Pixlromatic - for the Janine film effect and later for the Dim frame.
Photo fx Ultra - I loaded the picture again to apply the Day for Night filter. I used only slight settings to tone down the colors a bit with a dark blue overlay.
PhotoToaster - for the vignetting. I love PhotoToaster for vignetting because it allows precise control of the effect.
TouchRetouch - for some minor touchups plus removing the actual date stamp in two of the Hipstamatic photos made with the BlacKeys B+W film.
A+Signature - for the usual copyright watermarks plus insertion of new dates in the previously mentioned Hipstamatic photos.


The main picture of this article shows four of the glass tubes that work in an old radio. It's a Loewe Opta Venus-Stereo Type 4771W build from 1959-1960. My set is still working fine, although its case would need some good restoration work to be done because it's in quite a bad condition. But the electrics still work fine. I thoroughly cleaned the interior before snapping my photos and I was amazed of the brilliant sound quality once more as I switched the radio on again after such a long time - WOW!

You can get additional information about this radio type at the RADIO MUSEUM.

This is the original manual, photographed with the Hipstamatic on top of the radio.

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I enjoy experimenting and I love the Hipstamatic so I tried a lot of combos and D-Series types. But I made the main picture with the 645pro attached to my tripod because I used it in low light condition to get the light effect from the glowing tubes and the light bulbs inside of the radio. I was setting the 645pro to night mode and I used the timer to avoid touching the iPhone. You can see some more Hipstamatic pictures below:

This is the version that I shared on Instagram. No post processing. Just a straight Hipstamatic shot.

Combo: MattyALN+BigUp

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Hipstamatic D-Series, Dreamy. 

The transformer is behind the tubes.

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Hipstamatic D-Series, Dreamy. 

The turn-able ferrit antenna was used to eliminate disturbing parasite noises when listening to long wave and .medium wave stations.

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Hipstamatic D-Series, Dreamy. 

The electric current selector. You had to set the tension manually by loosening the screw and moving the little metal arm to the correct position. The circuit was protected by a little melting fuse of  0.6 Ampere also shown in this picture. The big tube partly visible on the far left reads "Made in Germany". Sadly, in our modern times everything's made in China, or other Asian countries now. The tubes had been manufactured by Telefunken in Germany.

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Hipstamatic with Loftus/DC combo + Ollo Clip macro lens.

This picture show one of the resistors. This one has a value of 2 Kilo-Ohm with a tolerance of 10% up and down.

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Hipstamatic with Loftus/DC combo + Ollo Clip macro lens.

The external antenna connector, slightly damaged.

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Hipstamatic with Loftus/DC combo + Ollo Clip macro lens.

Detail of the ferrit antenna. Copper winding around an iron core.

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Hipstamatic with Loftus/DC combo + Ollo Clip macro lens.

Detail of another resistor above some diodes.

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Hipstamatic with Loftus/DC combo + Ollo Clip macro lens.

The top of one of the tubes.

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Hipstamatic with Loftus/DC combo + Ollo Clip macro lens.

Detail of the middle part of one of the tubes, glowing.

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Hipstamatic with Loftus/DC combo + Ollo Clip macro lens.

Detail of the lower part of one of the tubes.

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Hipstamatic with Loftus/DC combo + Ollo Clip macro lens.

Another detail shot of a tube.

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Hipstamatic D-Series BlacKeys44.

I love that camera!

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Hipstamatic D-Series BlacKeys44.

Details of the wires on top of the transformer.

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Hipstamatic D-Series BlacKeys44.

A b/w shot of the complete ferrit antenna unit. Note the strings running on pulleys to turn the antenna when you turn on the radio knob.

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Hipstamatic D-Series BlacKeys44.

The tubes with the transformer and one of the stereo speakers.

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Hipstamatic D-Series BlacKeys44.

Tubes, ferrit antenna and the connectors for an external antenna (left) as well as for a tape recorder (right).

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645pro for the original photo, but the b/w version was made from the finished color version using Pixlromatic. I applied two b/w effects here: Agatha and Joyce. Used the Clip frame.

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If you got questions about my pictures please don't hesitate to contact me. Additionally you may find me on Facebook as well as on Instagram. Just search for "quaffit" :o).

Mud Bike...

Camera App: iPhone standard app in HDR mode
iPhone Model: 4S

Additional Apps used for processing:

ProHDR - to create an enhanced version of the already saved HDR picture made with the iPhone camera app. I did the ProHDR version from the two photos the iPhone camera app saved.
SimplyHDR - to enhance the HDR picture further.
Photo fx Ultra - for the filters Polarizer, Fog, X-Ray. I did a black&white X-Ray version, not a blue one.
Blender - to blend the different versions I created with Photo fx Ultra.
Camera Awesome - for the frame.
A+Signature - for the copyright watermark.

Spring is finally coming, with more and more days to ride my bike again - yeah! But sometimes it happens you start your day on dry roads, ride to the place you meet your friends, ride up to Ed's High Chapparal bar for a drink, and when you come out the door again you discover it had rained the time you was inside. Because it had rained only slightly we decided to continue our journey nevertheless, but on the way to the old town of Echternach the roads became really wet. I did not rain anymore, but the water spray from our own bikes as well as from the cars on the roads covered us up in mud. Because my feet had already been soaked I did not put on my rain clothes anymore. Having arrived at home with sunset, the mud dried quickly but the bike was still too hot to wash it so I decided to clean it today. But before I started cleaning I made some photos of the dirty gas tank with the Harley Davidson logo on it. Today was really a nice day. Did only a 77.6km ride but that one was really big fun, making me feel really good.

At Last!

Camera: iPhone 4S
Camera App: Bracket Mode

Apps used for post processing:
Pro HDR - to create an HDR picture from the shots made with Bracket Mode
Photo fx Ultra - for most of the work. I don't remember all the steps I took to create this picture. I had been playing around with a bunch of apps, but in the end I found Photo fx Ultra provided me almost everything I needed.
FilterStorm Pro - to remove some noise in the sky as well as for some minor touch-ups using the clone tool.
Photo Toaster - for the frame.
A+Signature - for the copyright watermark.

After a long time of total abstinence I could finally ride again today - Yeah! The last time I danced with my big beautiful doll was on November 20, 2011, which means I had to wait for this moment exactly for three long months. What a pleasure to fire that baby up again, hearing the gnarling Big Twin again on low rpm, purring like a cat at 3000rpm, roaring like a beast beyond the 4000... But I rarely pushed it that far today. Weather was beautiful and sunny, but still it was cold, and still there are wet spots on the roads, especially where they pass in the shadow of buildings, hedges or the woods. Such places are to be passed with care because they can be slippery. Had no adherence problems though. I enjoyed a nice little 50 miles tour across country roads with a photo stop on the road between the villages of Schandel and Grosbous. How nice to hear the buzzards screaming in the air as I shot my photos, but even nicer was it to hear the cranes again! I heard them long before I saw them but then I spotted a huge flock of cranes flying north. They return, which means winter's on retreat, and I can ride again more often - Oh Yeah!

I did no photo shooting for weeks because the weather was so bad and today I wanted to finally play around with the Hipstamatic again but I got badly disappointed by it because it did not stop crashing after I shot only a few photos. So I dropped it to shoot my 1:1 format photos with the 6x6 camera app as well regular format photos with Bracket Mode. After I returned home I realized that the Hipstamatic hadn't finished the processing of my full film roll yet. It kept on crashing until I finally did a reboot of my iPhone. It's too sad - the more new updates with new lenses and films the Hipstamatic developer team releases, the more unstable the Hipstamatic becomes. I remember a time when I had much fun photographing with the Hipstamatic on my old iPhone 3GS. Less lenses, less films, rare crashes, but much fun!

At least I could make some photos with the new Hipsta pack Americana lens + US1776 film:

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Turn of an Era

Camera App: iPhone4S camera in HDR mode.

Apps used for post-processing:
Iris - for cropping
ProHDR - to enhance the original photo further.
Photo Toaster - for the X-Pro effect.
TonaloptiaHD - for a black&white version.
Blender - blending the b/w version with the color version in Overlay mode neatly enhanced colors and contrast. It's a basic procedure I use quite often to enhance photos.
Pixlromantic - this app comes with a great basic bundle of effects but if you want to have them all it becomes more expensive than the legendary Hipstamatic with all of its packages. However, Pixlromatic is absolutely worth the buy. I used it on this picture to give the clouds a more dramatic appearance by using the Bluegrad light filter.
FilterStorm Pro - to de-saturate the picture a bit as well as for adding a vignetting effect. I prefer FilterStorm Pro for vignetting because the effect is well adjustable. Photo Toaster comes with a collection of vignetting effects too but all effects are too intense for my taste. I prefer a subtle transition from edges to center.
Photo Toaster again - for the frame. On the other two photos I used Photo Toaster also for the scratches on the photo of the building entrance. The scratches on the second photo had been added using King Camera because I did not want the same scratches on two different photos. King Camera's advantage is it to allow a combination of up to 3 textures which can all be adjusted separately.
A+ Signature - for the usual copyright watermark.

The sadness continues.... times are changing at the old Railroad Yard in Luxembourg-City. The old buildings have to make room for the new workshops that are urgently needed for maintenance and repairs of modern trains and locomotives. The above picture shows one of the "devastators" feasting on the debris of Roundhouse #1. The building in the background (left) is doomed to be demolished too. The pictures below show the old office building where I reported for service since January 2nd, 1990. I intentionally applied the Cross Process effect on this set of photos because I love it. Although many photo apps come with X-Pro effects, not all are really usable (to me). But I love the effect as it is provided by Photo Toaster.
Tip: If you think an effect is too intense you can change the intensity in an app that supports blending in Normal mode, such as Blender, Iris, PhotoWizard or FilterStorm Pro. Just lay the picture version with the effect over the version without effect in Normal mode. You may then adjust its intensity by moving the slider. It's like making the effect layer more or less translucent, letting the original picture shine through.

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Rue de la Concorde (in Arlon, Belgium).

Camera: Canon EOS40D with17-85mm EF USM kit lens

RAW file developed and cropped in Canon Digital Photo Professional.
Apps used for postprocessing on the iPad:

First I created two versions of this picture in Canon's DPP, one slightly overexposed + one slightley underexposed. I saved the files in 16bit JPG format and transferred them to my iPad using PhotoSync. This neat little app is a real must-have for quick and easy picture transfers between iPad+iPhone+Computer. You can send from any iDevice to any other iDevice where the app is running, plus you can send from your iDevice to your Windows PC or Mac. In case you have no WiFi connection, you can do the transfer over a Bluetooth connection. Tip: Alternatively you can use Apple's Camera Connection Kit for iPad (MC531ZM/A) for quick photo transfers from iPhone to iPad. The kit is meant to connect either your digicam, DSLR or SD-Card to the iPad but if you connect your iPhone to it instead, the iPhone is being identified as a camera, allowing to transfer your photos to the iPad.

ProHDR - to create a HDR picture from the two original photos.
SimplyHDR - to enhance the HDR picture further. I was choosing a color overlay with a warm center (brownish, orange) and cold borders (gray). This nicely enhanced the picture but like the center was brownish and orange, also the lantern glasses and the roof of the last house on the picture had been tinted orange, which I didn't like. More about the lanterns later in this listing.
Photo fx Ultra - for a pencil drawing of the first HDR picture made with ProHDR.
Blender - to blend the pencil drawing with the SimpyHDR version. This nicely enhanced the outlines of the buildings. Blending the pictures in Overlay mode keeps the colors but enhances details in the picture.
TonaloptiaHD - for a black and white version of my picture. I switched from MonoPhix to TonalOptia because the developers of MonoPhix dropped color filter support in the HD version. I really have no understanding for that. The HD version appears very unfinished to me. I wrote to the developers but got no response. So their app is history now for me and I'm glad there is Tonaloptia, which includes various color filters plus a train load full of options to fine tune your picture. I was choosing a yellow filter on the b/w picture.
FilterStorm Pro - I noticed the lantern glasses and the roof had been tinted orange too so I opened the color version of my picture in FilterStorm Pro where I added the b/w version of it as a second exposure. Using the masking brush I masked off the lanterns, or to say it in other words, I brushed the b/w lanterns and roof free in the color picture so the b/w parts came trough. But now these parts had been b/w, which still didn't look right.
Blender - I was blending the new version, which had the b/w parts in it, with the color version in Blender, Normal mode, to add a little bit of color again to the b/w parts to let these parts look realistic again.
Photo fx Ultra - to apply a dreamy effect to my picture. I used the SoftFX effect No. 10 for it. This created a very dreamy version of my picture, which was what I wanted to have because I intended to reduce the effect anyway.
Blender - to blend the dreamy version with the non-dreamy version 65/35 in normal mode. Then I was loading this new version in Blender again to blend it with the pencil version which enhanced details a little more. I used only a 12% slider setting in Normal mode, color picture on the left side, pencil drawing on the right side, slider set 12% from the left.
Camera+ - for the beautiful old-fashion paper frame. I just love that frame!

March this year I did a photo walk with a friend in Arlon, a little Belgian town only a few miles from the border with Luxembourg. At that time I still had no clue about iPhoneography so I made my photos mostly with my DSLR camera. The photo that served as the base for this picture didn't even look good enough to me for making something special out of it in PhotoShop. But thanks to the iPad and the wonderful apps that exist I could finally make something out of it that I like. The buildings shown in this picture represent the typical architecture from the end of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century in Southern Wallonia (also known as "Le Pays de la Gaume), as well as in the Eiffel and Luxembourg.

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The Beauty of Destruction, part 6 - Torch Cut

Camera App: BracketMode

Additional Apps used for post processing:

ProHDR - for an HDR picture made from one single photo. Reason: Because I had no tripod at hand I unfortunately moved a bit too much for ProHDR to align the two photos correctly, which resulted in an unsharp HDR picture. So I did an HDR from a single photo, choosing the darker one for it because the contrast and details had been much better on the molten metal surface than it was on the overexposed photo where that surface was almost white. White pixels contain no information thus they are useless for further processing but underexposed pictures may still be corrected for as long as there aren't too many black pixels included.
I saved two versions from ProHDR - one with low contrast but lighter and one with strong contrast but darker. Then I created an HDR picture again from these two versions in ProHDR. The result was a much better HDR picture than the first one. I also tried SimplyHDR, but no matter what settings I tried I wasn't satisfied with the outcome.
MonoPhix - to create a b/w version of my HDR picture. I prefer MonoPhix for this job because it allows to use color filters. I used a Yellow filter on the rusty surface to obtain a maximum of details. Blue is the complementary color of red, which means that a picture containing much red will turn very dark if you apply a blue filter. On the other hand a red filter applied on a red picture will let all red surfaces appear almost white while a red filter applied on a blue surface will let this one look almost black. Green is a more neutral filter so in most cases a green filter gives nice contrasts to a b/w picture. I was choosing a yellow filter because it gave me a lighter picture than the green filter gave me but still the picture had nice contrast and was rich on details. Don't believe me? Try it out and see yourself ;o)!
Blender - to blend the b/w version with the HDR version in normal mode. This de-saturated the picture a lot because I gave it only 27% of the HDR version.
ArtistaHaiku - for an outlined ink version, almost no color.
FilterStorm4 - one of the most powerful apps available for picture editing on iPhone and iPad recently had an update which motivated me to work with it and test the new version. I loved FilterStorm since I used it the first time because of it's well thought and ergonomic design. Beginners might feel a bit helpless at first because of the many features it offers but once you're used to it you don't want to miss it anymore. I opened the version created in Blender and I added the Ink version as a second exposure. Then I applied a Gradient mask, placing the big circle in the middle of the lower half on the right edge and pulling the small circle over to the the middle of the upper half on the left edge. This revealed the Ink layer partially, with a soft transition from right to left into the de-saturated HDR layer. But like the transition was soft and straight I saved this result and I reloaded it as a second exposure again to the de-satureated HDR version. I did this to apply a mask because I wanted the torch cut piece of steel standing out sharp from the Ink background. I loved the outcome of this and now I needed a suitable frame.
KingCamera - I loaded my picture into KingCamera because this app comes with some very nice frames and structures. The one that I liked is 9th from left in the line of frames. It has no specific name.
PicGrunger - for a slight Grunge look. I chose Aged effect, Strength set to about 25%. Style: Palooza, Texture: Original.
Perfectly Clear - After transferring my picture to my laptop computer I found that it could use a little more contrast which I changed in  Perfectly Clear. Usually this really cool app tends to brighten a picture up so I set Exposure to full left, Contrast and Vibrancy to full right plus I gave it a little more Sharpness.
A+Signature - after I was done with my picture all I needed was to add my copyright watermark but this time I wanted to give it an extra touch of my handwritten initials. A+Signature is just perfect for that job. You may add any handwritten or drawn markings to your pictures, scale them, turn them and place them wherever you want. To use the same stuff again and again you can even store your creations in the app catalog.

My new picture shows a steel part that was once holding one of the huge electric motors of old electric locomotive 3609, now cut apart with a powerful torch as the old lady got wrecked.

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The Beauty of Destruction, part 5

DEVASTATORS 

 Master (with prey)   

    Slave (at rest).
                                 

Camera App: BracketMode
Extras: Ollo Clip 3in1 lens system, Fisheye lens

Additional Apps used for post processing:
ProHDR - for HDR pictures made from the photos shot with BracketMode
Squaready - to crop a 1:1 format part from the original picture.
ToonPaint - for an outlined colorless version of the HDR pictures.
Blender - to give the colors back to the ToonPaint sketches. I really like the outcome of this experiment.
FilterStorm3 - for the simple frames.
PhotoWizard - for the Devastator Master picture. I had been really amazed about the outcome of the Mirror effect on the original picture, which was the one of the right. Because the space in front of that monster looked quite empty I decided to add some "prey" to it. However, this demolishing machine was not involved in the wrecking of the old locomotives!
Superimpose - to add the piece of wreckage from old electric locomotive #3609 to the picture of the Devastator Master. Superimpose is a mighty blending tool, perfectly suited for compositions.
A+Signature - for the copyright watermark.

After the demolition team had left the place I had the occasion to get some nice shots of their machines and equipment. I was playing around a bit with my apps and this was the outcome of it.

The Beauty of Destruction, part 4

Camera App: BracketMode

Additional Apps used for post processing:
ProHDR - to create a HDR picture from the photos made with BracketMode.
SimplyHDR - to enhance that HDR picture further.
PhotoWizard - to create a nice Crayon version of the HDR picture.
Blender - to blend crayon with HDR 50/50 in Normal mode.
Pixlromantic - for the frame called Sand and a b/w effect called Tom. I saved both versions, color+Sand and Tom+Sand, then I blend both in Blender to reduce color saturation a bit.
PhotoForge2 - for a High Pass effect.
Blender - to blend High Pass with the Pixlromantic version 50/50 in Overlay mode to enhance sharpness.
FilterStorm3 - to apply a mask because I wanted more sharpness only on the molten and burned steel surface.
TouchRetouch - for some minor corrections. There had been a few drops of burned steel that appeared just as white spots in the background so I removed them.
A+Signature - for the copyright watermark

Old electric locomotive #3609 is laying in pieces, her body brutally ripped apart by the claws of a huge wrecking machine; her entrails cut apart by a cutting torch.... This had been a part of her braking system. The part in the background is one of the brake blocks, which had been made of cast steel.

In previous posts I described how to use a Pencil version of your picture made in Photo fx to blend it with the normal version in Blender to receive a nice outlining effect. I now discovered an even better solution because PhotoWizard includes a really beautiful Crayon filter that gives you a beautiful picture you can either use as it is or use it to blend it in Blender. But PhotoWizard has much more to offer than just that. Another app that I recommend because of its nice filters and frames is Pixlromantic.

Below is the Instagram version of this picture. Additionally to the effects described above I used the Sophia effect which gave the picture a blueish tint on the burned steel. Also I did not sharpen the burned steel surface but I did not apply one of the typical Instagram filters either cause I did not like any of them on this picture.

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The Beauty of Destruction, part 3

Camera App: BracketMode

Additional Apps used for post processing:

ProHDR - to create the basic HDR picture from the photos made with QuickPix
SimplyHDR - to enhance that basic HDR picture.
AutoPainter - to create an Aquarell version.
ArtistaHaiku - to create an ink version, almost an ink drawing with only the outlining and just a little bit of color.
Blender - to blend the Aquarell version with the ink version, then used again to blend the result with the HDR version. I wanted to give my picture a touch of a painting, not pure HDR and no pure painting either.
FilterStorm3 - for a Vignette effect. I wanted only a slight vignette effect so I needed an app that allows full control over it's intensity. FilterStorm3 does a perfect job here.
Camera+ - I used the Vibrant effect here to enhance the colors. In Camera+ this effect can be adjusted with a slider.
iDarkroom - for the Black frame.
A+Signature - for the copyright watermark.

Yesterday I still had time before driving my first train of the day so I took my profit out of the situation to take some more shots of the scrap yard where the old electric locomotives 3609 and 3612 are currently being wrecked. This picture shows a now broken porcelain isolator apparently (but not necessarily)  from the roof top of either of the two old engines.

The Beauty of Destruction, part 2

From the ashes of old number 3608 reborn, the Scraponator rises to take revenge...

Do you see what I see? Do yo see the face in this picture? Yellow glowing slot eyes in a metal face? Or do you see a head on top in the middle, with two black teddy bear eyes, a round nose and a golden piece of jewelry on top of the nose... A face with an open mouth? Yes? No?

The above picture is the result of intense playing around with apps today. I photographed the remains of old electrical locomotive number 3608 today again to create another picture for my series about the Beauty of Destruction. I had been playing around a lot with Artista Haiku, Blender, SimplyHDR, Iris, PhotoWizard, FilterStorm, Snapseed, PhotoForge2, Camera+ and other apps and after I finally created a nice looking version of my picture I loaded it into PhotoWizard by curiosity to try other things. Here I used the Simmetry effect, and I had been very astonished about the results. Then I suddenly discovered when I turn my picture upside down it will look like an evil face of some sort of a machine monster. I wanted to add a nice looking frame and as I tried some frames from different apps I suddenly got aware of the presence of a head with a face in this picture. Do you see it? I DO!

The techniques applied in today's picture had been my basic techniques I almost use in every picture. Taking the photos with BracketMode, then creating a HDR picture in ProHDR.... enhancing that HDR picture in SimplyHDR... creating an ink drawing in ArtistaHaiku, blending in Blender again and again.... trying different settings until the whole thing looks the way I want it to look like. It was really big fun to play with my apps today. Sometimes creating an iPhoneography picture is a bit like riding my Harley - I start from somewhere, but I never know exactly where the road is leading me to. But the thrill about it is it to go finding out what's over the next hill...

Below is the final version of my picture after playing around with a bunch of apps but before application of the Simmetry effect. The frame that I added later was taken from the Steam Punk app SP PhotoTada.

The Beauty of Destruction, part 1

iPhone Model: 4
Camera App: BracketMode


Addtional Apps used for post processing:
ProHDR - to create a HDR picture from the shots made with BracketMode.
SimplyHDR - to enhance the previously created HDR picture. SimplyHDR provides a lot of settings, thus permitting to adjust a picture precisely after one's taste.
ArtistaHaiku - to create two ink versions of my SimplyHDR version. Like all the great apps made by Jixipix also ArtistaHaiku provides a lot of settings to control the effects. After I found what was looking for I created another version with less colors but a stronger structure effect.
Blender - as usual, Blender is one of the most important apps in the process of creation of my pictures. I used it many times again to try different blending effects with different versions of my picture. First I used it to blend the two ink versions in Overlay mode, then I was blending that result again with the HDR version in Overlay mode which gave me a structured ink version with enhanced colors. Then I blend that one again with the original HDR, this time in Normal mode, to reduce the ink effect again, because I wanted more of the original colors in my picture. Sometimes you'll have to play a lot with slider and blending effects in Blender until you found what you like. You should always save a result that you liked so you can use it again to try something different with it. If the result of an effect appears to be too strong for your taste, then just blend that result again with the previous version to reduce it again. You will mostly, but not necessarily use Normal mode to reduce an effect, adjusting the slider until you are satisfied with the result. 
Tip: To see the differences clearly just move the slider quickly from one side to the other, then adjust it to the desired intensity level.
VintageScene - after I was happy with my picture I was looking for a suitable frame. I rarely like standard frames provided by the apps but prefer to create my own. So I created a Grunge version of my picture in VintageScene. That version had a greenish-gray color. 
Snapseed - to create another frame with an irregular black line and a white outer frame. My idea was it to replace that white frame with a structured frame again. The base for the structured frame was the Grunge version I previously created in VintageScene.
FilterStorm3 -  is one of the best apps available to deal with layers and masks. In FilterStorm I imported the Grunge version as a second exposure, then I applied a mask over the white border to bring out the edge of the Grunge layer. One of the nice features in FilterStorm is the option to show the painted mask in a red translucent color which gives you pixel precise control over its application. If you run a bit too far with your Brush, don't worry. Just use the Eraser to paint that part back.


After I had finally painted my frame I had to discover that the greenish-gray tone didn't go well with the colors of my picture so I decided to de-saturate the frame. In FilterStorm3 this is easily done. Just choose the Hue/Saturation option from the list of filters, pull the slider down to a value that you like (in my case -65%) then choose the Brush in the right side to paint on your mask. Confirm the operation after painting and you're done (Don't forget to save your result indeed).
A+Signature - to add my copyright watermark. It's my favorite app to add such watermarks, especially because it comes with a huge number of fonts and because you can create any objects or words to use. Just paint hearts, flowers, handwritten words or whatever with your finger, then add it to the database for later use if you want to re-use it again. You can easily adjust the size and color of your object, add an outline of shadow and turn it any way around.


Before transferring my pictures to my laptop comuter (I prefer using PhotoSync for this) I checked if the picture size was still anything close to original size by using the very handy little tool app called PhotoSize. I discovered that a handfull of pixels got lost on the way from the original photos to the final picture. Size was down from 2592x1935px to 2588x1927px. This happened as a result of ProHDR aligning the photos that served to create the HDR version of my picture because I didn't use a tripod as I made the photos and no matter how steady one's holding a camera in one's hand, the human body is always moving a bit. I brought picture size back to original size by using Iris, which is my favorite, but you may also use FilterStorm or any other app that offers that option. I prefer Iris for that kind of operation since it allows me to type in the dimensions by numbers, which allows to define picture size on the pixel precise.


After transferring the pictures to my laptop computer I wasn't satisfied with the look of the colors yet. For that reason I opened my final picture in Perfectly Clear to enhance it, which worked well for me. Again I transferred that picture to the laptop computer to check it on the big screen. Checking your work is important because on a big screen you can see things you can't see on the tiny iPhone screen. Also pictures displayed on the iPhone are being optimized for best possible viewing experience so they usually look better on the iPhone than they look like on any other computer. To enhance colors I opened my last version - the one that I optimized in Perfectly Clear - in FilterStorm again. I applied two different saturation settings, one with 27% and one with 45% and saved both, then I transferred both to the laptop computer to compare them. I finally decided to stick with the richer colors, hence I used the version saturated by 45%. 


Do you like it? The most important thing about creativity of any kind, be it photography, iPhoneography, real painting and drawing, sculpting... whatever you do, the most important thing is that YOU are happy with your creation, no matter what the rest of the world says. It is of course even more satisfying to receive positive feedback from other people, especially those you share your passion with, but it's not a must. Just think over the question if you want to produce artwork for the masses, or artwork for your happiness? Frankly, my own happiness matters more to me than the taste of the masses does and the creation of this picture was giving me much fun.

This composition shows you only 8 of the steps it took to create my final picture (on the low right) from the two original photos (on the top left).


Sadly, the reasons behind this picture are not that fun at all, especially not for railroad fans. Currently there's important transformation work going on in the Railroad Yard of Luxembourg-City. The old roundhouse is being demolished and two of the old electrical engines, numbers 3609 and 3612 fell victim to the cutting torches. I made quite a bucket full of pictures of the remains of the two old engines yesterday as my work of the day was done and daylight was still good enough to make pictures. Sadly I had no time for photographing as the slaughter begun. Only the night before I came along the place on the end of my shift and I saw this:

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