Vintage Toy

Camera App used: 645pro

Additional apps used for post processing:

Snapseed - for a little drama effect with de-saturation.

Portrait HD - JixiPix new app is meant to create beautifully painted portraits, but it's also well suited for any other kind of picture. I had no portrait picture at hand so I tested it on this one.

Blender - to blend the Snapseed version with the Portrait version. Reason was, I wanted to restore some detail on the camera lens which had been lost due to the painting effect. So I erased that part from the Portrait layer and lend it with the Snapseed layer at 88% in normal blending mode. I chose 88% because I wanted to keep part of the canvas texture still shining through on the lens.

Snapseed again - to add a little bit of drama again as well as some fine tuning of light and colors.

PhotoToaster - for the frame

A+Signature - for the copyright watermark.

A few days ago I was finally holding my latest toy in my hands, a genuine Kodak Retina IIIc vintage rage finder camera from the early 1950s that I auctioned on eBay. It came with its original manual as well as with its Certificate of Import and Ownership. Doing a little research I found out it must be a pre-1956 build after it's serial number. The camera is is great condition. The body shows only little traces of wear, all mechanical parts work smoothly and the selenium light meter reacts vividly to light changes. Today I rode out on my bike to do some first shots with the camera. Now I'm curious to bring the film to the photo store for development.

The camera is all mechanical and that's great! It's massive metal body feels great in my hands.

Below is another photo that I took with the 645pro. It's unedited. 

Looks like I'm on my best way to become an addicted vintage camera collector....

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Tiny Aliens

Camera Apps: Hipstamatic, CCD,
Extras: Ollo Clip 3in1 Lens System, Macro Lens

Additional Apps used for post processing:
PhotoForge2 - for the usual High Pass versions needed for re-sharpening the photos.
PhotoWizard - for the Emboss effect needed to work out the structure in the main picture. I was blending the embossed version 4x with the previous version in Blender to get the structure effect that you can see in the main picture (top)
Photo fx Ultra - for various enhancements and cropping operations. but especially for the Day for Night effect.
Blender - for many blending operations.
ArtistaSketch HD - for clean sketches of the photos needed to blend in Blender to bring out details in the picture. Pencil sketches are very useful to enhance the outlining in pictures. I usually blend them in either Multiply mode or Overlay mode. You must play around with it and see for yourself what works for your picture. I cannot provide you a basic recipe here. What works for one picture does not necessarily work for another picture as well. That's the experience I made.
TouchRetouch HD - for touch-ups. Strangely there had been some ugly spots left on the drawings created with ArtistaSketch so I removed them before using the sketch version in Blender.
Laminar - for it's great light system used in the picture where the mother plant deploys an egg from one of the cocoons.
iPhoto - for local softening. I love iPhoto for it's "brushes" that can be used locally in pictures. If you want to apply an effect on the whole picture you can choose that option in the brush settings.
LensFlare HD - for the light effects in the blue pictures. Sadly, working with LensFlare is a pain in the ass because it has no undo function which is very annoying to me, but in the end I managed to obtain some useful results nevertheless.
Pixlromatic - for some of the frames.
A+Signature - for the copyright watermarks

Well.... two days ago I looked at one of my wife's flower pots purely by chance which let me discover a beautiful miniature "forest" of some strange little plant I never saw before. So I decided to photograph it. I made over 200 photos, but only few had been really useful. First I shot with the 645pro - the camera app that currently provides you the very best picture quality available on the iPhone. But the 645pro pissed me off once more because it ruined a countless number of really good shots as it crashed again and again. It might provide the best picture quality, but that's useless if the app is crashing that often. So I switched to CCD, which is the other app that saves dRAWs in TIFF format. It's a pure and rather simple camera app without all the fancy camera-simulator-wannabe-pro stuff that comes with the 645pro, but at least it works reliably. It never crashed.

The night scene of that little jungle of alien plants... I really love that miniature world in that flower pot! The night effect had been created with the "Day for Night" effect in Photo fx Ultra. The rays of light had been added with LensFlare HD. The frame was added in Pixlromatic.

Alien Mother deploys an egg from one of the cocoons... Donno what strange little plant that is but isn't it fascinating how it grows in sort of a miniature jungle and how it multiplies itself? Other plants use the wind to distribute their seeds in the world, or use even living animals to carry the seeds to a location far from the mother plant. But this little plant deploys the seeds from cocoons it carries underneath. I only discovered this as I did some shots with the macro lens of the Ollo Clip. Here the iPhone plaid out it's big advantage of being slim and small, compared to other cameras, because there was only little space left in the flower pot to put the camera down enough for shooting from the ant view low over ground. The light effects had been created with Laminar first, then with LensFlare HD.

Hipstamatic shot of the tiny jungle. Combo used was John S lens with Ina's 1982 film

Another Hipstamatic shot made with the Ollo Clip Macro Lens. Combo John S / Ina's 1982.

The original CCD photo used to create the main picture on this page. I cropped it to 1:1 format using Squaready.

The flower pot, where that tiny little alien plant grows... Photo made with CCD, cropped and framed with Pixlromatic.

I'm sorry for not being able to provide you in depth step-by-step instructions about the making of of the pictures on this page but I really plaid around a lot with many different apps until I obtained satisfying results. But don't hesitate to contact me in case you got questions. I'll be happy to assist you with anything you want to know.

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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).

Madame, mir hun Iech gär!

Camera App: Hipstamatic with Melodie lens + Dream Canvas film
iPhone model: 4S
Accessories: Ollo Clip Wide Angle Lens

Apps used for post processing:
Moku HD - for the painting effect
VinstageScene - for the old photo effect
iPhoto - for fine tuning, repair and duo tone effect
PicGrunger - for the metal structure and metal frame
A+Signature - for the copyright watermark

I borrowed the title for this picture from Luxembourg's former Prime Minister Pierre Dupong, who welcomed our former Grand-Duchess Josephine Charlotte with the very same words on April 14th, 1945 as she finally returned from exile in Canada, where she spend the war time with the grand-ducal family. The words "Madame, mir hun Iech gär" translate as "Madam, we love you".

Through all of her life, the Grand-Duchess was extremely popular in Luxembourg. So is her son, Prince Jean, later Grand-Duke and father of the actual Grand-Duke Henry. He landed with the Irish Guards in Normandy June 11, 1944 and fought his way with that unit through to Belgium. He entered the City of Luxembourg on September 10, 1944 together with US troops. As soon as the population identified Prince Jean, they left the buildings and cellars where they sought shelter from the still ongoing fights between the Americans and retreating Germans. But as soon as Prince Jean stepped off a US military vehicle, the streets had been crowded with the cheering masses, giving him a very heartily welcome. It was an important moment for the moral of the population. Prince Jean was back home again, the Germans fled from our American liberators.... But still the war wasn't over as the Battle of the Bulge was yet to come in the hard Winter of 1944/45.

Grand-Duchess Charlotte was born January 23, 1896 and died July 9, 1985 at the age of 89.
I made the photo that served me for the creation of this picture last summer as I took the occasion for a photo walk through Luxembourg City while my motorbike was the garage for maintenance. It shows the Memorial of Grand-Duchess Charlotte with Notre Dame Cathedral in the background. The beautifully sculpted bronze statue stands at the "Place Clairefontaine", next to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the center of Luxembourg-City. Designed by the French artist Jean Cardot, it got inaugurated April 29, 1990, by the grand-ducal family in presence of Prime Minister Jacques Santer and other officials.

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Dandelion

Camera App: Hipstamatic with Ina's 1969 film + JamesM lens, flash off
iPhone Model: 4S
Accessories: Ollo Clip Macro Lens

Apps used for post processing:
Moku Hanga HD - this is JixpiPix' new app! It comes with the same good user interface known already the other apps made by JixiPix. I love this app! It offers a lot of new creative possibilities to every iPhonoegrapher.
Blender - one of my all time favorite apps. Like so many times before, I used this app a lot on this picture too.
Photo fx Ultra - to enhance the colors as well as to create a pencil version.
PhotoForge2 - for a High Pass Filter. I saved that version to blend it in Blender with the previous color version. This was done to enhance contrast and sharpness. Then I was blending that result with the pencil version I had created with Photo fx Ultra to bring out the Moku structure a little more.
TouchRetouchHD - for a minor correction. I removed a simple black spot from the picture.
Squaready - to crop off the original Hipstamatic border. I cropped it off so late because I wanted to keep it first, but then I found it didn't look good on that picture anymore.
Camera+ - for the Vintage border.
A+Signature - for the Copyright watermark.

Well, it's finally Spring time and with all the Easter Bunnies hopping around also the Dandelion is blooming. I love that plant! It's blossoms are beautiful and it's semen is a little masterpiece of Mother Nature when it ripens and flies off on tiny little "parachutes" to secure the continued existence of this wonderful plant. Also one can make a very tasty salad from its leaves and tea from it's roots. Dandelion is a very valuable herb used in medicine by Native Americans, Chinese and Europeans. If you're interested to learn more about the values of the Dandelion I suggest you following this very informative Link to a page of the Medical Center of the University of Maryland.
I had a lot of fun making this picture. Once the blossoms will be gone, this and many other Dandelion will sure end up in my salad bowl ;o).

The photo serving to create this picture was made of the lower one of the three blossoms.

Black Wheel of Power

Camera: Canon EOS40D with 17-85mm EF USM kit lens.


RAW file developed in Canon Digital Photo Professional.
Photo processed on iPad2 with the following apps:
SimplyHDR-HD, Photo fx Ultra, Blender, FilterStorm Pro, Snapseed and TouchRetouch HD. Unfortunately I cannot provide details about every step I took to create this picture because I was playing around with a lot of apps but in the end I wasn't satisfied with the results so I went back to the beginning and restarted from HDR version made with SimplyHDR-HD. I used Photo Fx Ultra + Blender to work out the colors because I wanted to have a deep black wheel. I resized the picture in FilterStorm Pro, added some structure in Snapseed and removed some unwanted white spots with TouchRetouch HD.
A+Signature was used for the copyright watermark, as usual.


This is one of the big power wheels of steam engine 5519, photographed as the engine was in the shed. Railroad friends may find more information at the website of 5519. Unfortunately the website is in German only but you may find photos of the engine in action if you click on the word "Foto" in the top row of the page.

This picture is based on an analog photo I made a few years ago, in 2005 maybe. I happened to just return with the old switcher engine 910 which is visible in the background, as 5519 rumbled onto the turning table.

In World War II, as the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg had been occupied by the Germans, the Reichsbahn ordered a set of 20 steam engines of the class 42 at the "Wiener Lokomotivfabrik Floridsdorf (WLF)" in Vienna in Austria but the engines couldn't be delivered to the Germans anymore as the war then ended. So the national railroad company SNCFL received these engines by the end of 1948, beginning of 1949, registering them as class 55. Engine # 5519 had been build in 1948 in Vienna Floridsdorf. It's "Fabriknummer" (serial no.) was 17615. Initially, the German Reichsbahn had planned to let it run unter the number 42 2718.
In service of the SNCFL this type was mainly used to haul coal and ore trains. It remained in service until the early 1960s as the costly steam engines got replaced by new class 3600 (electric) and the new classes 1600 and 1800 (diesel).
I still remember 5519 rotting away in the town park of Bettembourg, as I was a boy of 14. But 8 years later some railroad enthusiasts made an incredible effort to restore and save it. Now good old 5519 lives a new life again as a very popular tourist attraction, hauling tourist trains to Germany, France and Belgium.


Btw: if you're interested to have a ride then please contact the operators from their website. You may order tickets over the Internet.


This is the Instagram version of my picture. I really cannot say which version I like most, the original size, or the square size. Decide for yourself:

Questions? Send me an email to (quaffit(at)gmail.com) or leave me a comment ;o)!
Note: Please replace (at) with @ in my email address. This is a simple measure to prevent spam bots from harvesting addresses.

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First Haircut

Camera: Canon EOS100 with 35-135 USM lens, film unknown,
Year the photo was made: 1996

Apps used for post processing:

MobileMonetHD - for a soft color version of the original photo.
Blender - to blend the original photo with the MobileMonet version.
AritstaOil - for an oil painting simulation of the Blender result.
ArtistaSketch - for a pencil simulation of the Blender result.
Blender again - to blend pencil version with oil version.
PhotoForge - for an Overlay version.
Blender again - to blend the Overlay version with the previous one to enhance details and contrast of the colors.
Snapseed - to bring out the structure a little more, plus enhancing vibrancy.
FilterStorm Pro - to enlarge the picture canvas.
TouchRetouchHD - for some touchups.
Snapseed again - for the irregular black frame.
A+Signature - for the handwritten copyright watermark.

This is my first picture created on the iPad2... Being much happy with FilterStorm4, Snapseed and Iris on the iPhone4 I was now impatient to test the iPad versions. I was playing around a lot with FilterStorm Pro because I wanted to add more details to the girl's eyes and mouth but in the end I dropped that idea again because I wasn't satisfied with the result. I must say I was quite disappointed about FilterStorm Pro because of it's file management system. This could have been done much simpler. Working with layers is a bit complicated at first but once understood how it works the system offers a lot of possibilities. Of Iris I was also disappointed because of one big flaw: when opening a picture it's automatically being set to a lower resolution of only 2048x1461px (in this case the original resolution was 3156x2236px) and there is no option included to change that - neither in the iPad settings nor are there app settings to switch on maximal resolution support. I wonder what's that's now good for? So if you want to get your loaded picture back to it's original resolution you must adjust Iris to it. However, I did not notice a visible loss of quality after re-adjusting and saving my picture as I tested Iris. Another flaw in Iris on the iPad is the missing landscape mode. I prefer using my iPad in landscape mode for editing pictures.

The original photo for this painted simulation was made in the summer of 1996, I guess it was by the end of July, as my then four years old daughter Anna-Katharina had her first haircut at the same hairdresser who cut my hair for 30 years since he gave me my first haircut, as I was four years old too. I scanned the original photo and optimized it in PhotoShop already a few years ago. Although I always loved PhotoShop I preferred editing my pictures on my iPhone after I discovered the apps for it and now with an iPad2, picture editing is an even greater pleasure.

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The Sun goes down over Luxembourg City Main Station

Camera App: BracketMode

Additional Apps used for post processing:
ProHDR - for a HDR picture that served as the base to do this simulated oil painting.
SimplyHDR - to enhance the first HDR picture further.
Blender - ... and Blender again... I don't remember how often I used Blender on this picture until I received the desired result. I blend the second HDR with the first one, and the results I also blend again and again.
ArtistaOil - for an oil painting of my HDR picture.
MonoPix - for a black & white layer. Blending in a b/w layer in Overlay mode enhances contrast and colors.
Photo fx - for a pencil drawing with strong outlines. I blend that one in to bring back some details in the oil painting which looked nice but a bit too blurred, after my taste.
TouchRetouch - for some touchups. There was a flag on the right edge that was way too close to the edge so I removed it.
PicGrunger - for the canvas effect. I used Burlap for texture, Aged for effect and Block Party for style, but set the slider to full left (zero) because I only wanted the texture.
Camera+ - for a little more Vibrancy. I saved that result, then re-imported it to apply the magic Clarity filter. The result was stunning! The overall picture got much brighter and the details of the darker areas came out nicely. But the picture was too bright now so I went back to Blender again to blend it with the previous version in Normal mode.
I then transferred my results to the PC to check them on the big screen. I discovered the texture coming out a bit too strong so I went back to my iPhone again to blend it with the non Burlap version in Normal mode. The result was what I expected to get - great!
Camera+ - again, to add the Vintage frame.
SP PhotoTada - to add the Taveler frame. All other sliders set to zero (= full left). But then I discovered the frame overlapping the Vintage frame a bit too much so I went back to the Vintage frame version and loaded it in...
FilterStorm4 - to add a 27% white frame without inner shadow. Then I went back to...
SP PhotoTada - - now I could add my desired framed without it overlapping too much.
TIP: If your desired frame is taking too much of your picture, create a place holder frame in FilterStorm first. A place holder frame is a sizable, flat uni-color frame that FilterStorm adds AROUND your picture, not over it. Then apply the frame you really want to have. That frame will then be placed over the place holder frame, not over your picture, so it will look like the frame was added around the picture, not over it. You better do a test with the desired frame first. Save that result and estimate how large it might be, then add a place holder frame in FilterStorm of about the same size. Save the picture and you are ready to add your final frame! If you aren't satisfied maybe because the place holder frame was too large just go back to FilterStorm and try again with a different percentage frame.
A+ Signature - for the usual copyright watermark.

Last week as the weather was still sunny I took the occasion of a break at Luxembourg main station to take some shots. I made the photos for this picture from the foot bridge that goes over the tracks. Because it was in the afternoon there wasn't much action at the station and now as there is winter, the sun was already very low. It was big fun to work on this picture today. It took a little while to get it done but that was mainly because I did a lot of testing and tried a lot of things before the outcome finally was what I expected.
Below are the photos that served to create this picture. They could have been better, had I taken my time to set the exposure measuring point manually in BracketMode.

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The Beast in my Whiskey Bottle!

Camera App: Hipstamatic with Lucas AB2 lens, Blanko Film, Jolly Rainbo 2x flash (set to 1st position).

Additional Apps used for post processing:
SimplyHDR - for a HDR version of the Hipstamatic photo. That version came out darker than the original photo was.
ProHDR - to make a HDR version from the darker SimplyHDR result + the lighter original photo. Looked really great!
PhotoWizard - this cool app had been mainly used to create this picture. First I applied the FX effect Symmetry X-Axis, then Whirl (slider full right), then X-Axis again. As I turned my iPhone by 180° I looked into the throat of a flaming beast, ready to swallow me - huh. I then turned the picture by 180° in PhotoWizard and saved it. Did some color and contrast adjustments and imported the previously saved picture as a second layer which I blend in Overlay mode. I must say that PhotoWizard offers the same blending options than my beloved Blender app does so if you own already PhotoWizard, Blender isn't necessary.
PhotoWizard - to apply Pattern Border #4. I then discovered some white spots in the black irregular border which had been remains of the white photo border and which I disliked.
Squaready - to crop the picture off the original white Blanko film frame. Saved the result as a 2048x2048 PNG file.
FilterStorm4 - to add a 27% black frame to replace the previous white frame. The reason why I prefer FilterStorm for this operation is that FilterStorm really adds a frame to the edge of a picture. It does not overlay the edge, like most apps do.
PhotoWizard again - now I could apply Pattern Border #4 and I really liked the result.
TouchRetouch - for minor touchups. I removed some white spots from the nose of the beast, which had been remains of light reflections on the liquid to make it look more like a nose.
A+Signature - for the usual copyright watermark.

Yesterday afternoon, the weather being foggy, wet and dirty, I enjoyed a gulp of Jack Daniels Old No.7 Whiskey, which is my preferred brand. Oh yes I know, Whiskey experts will now protest and say the only real good Whiskey is being distilled in Scotland and Ireland, but frankly, it's a matter of taste and albeit I do also love very old Whiskeys made in Scotland and Ireland I love the rather rough taste of good old Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey even more. Jack Daniels belongs to Harley riders like the milk belongs to the cow, doesn't it?
Already the beautiful amber color of the tasty liquid is fascinating to look at so I came to the idea to play around a bit with my now almost half empty bottle of  Old No.7 and the iPhone. I made some shots through the bottleneck down to the liquid with the Hipstamatic and I loved the photos. The first ones had been a bit pale so I tried the first notch of the Jolly Rainbo 2x flash which nicely enhanced contrast and colors. I also made some QuickPix shots from the exterior of the bottle, and then I started playing around with apps like TinyPlanets and iDroste, but iDroste kept on crashing all the time when I was applying it's effect so I guess it doesn't like Tennessee Whiskey too much and I continued playing with TinyPlanets and TinyTube, but I didn't like the results too much either.
I finally had big fun trying the various effects included in PhotoWizard. Symmetry and Whirl are really cool! After using them I looked into a tunnel (on my picture) and I wondered what else I can do with it until I turned my iPhone upside down and suddenly I gazed into the open mouth of a flaming beast with additional fangs waiting down in it's throat to swallow my poor soul and rip it into pieces.... Holy Cow! Yes there's a beast in every bottle of Whiskey, so beware! If you empty the bottle to make it disappear from it, you'll have it swallowed and then it takes control of you... and... ya know... so... just to give you a warning:

DON'T SWALLOW BOTTLE BEASTS AND DRIVE !!!

Btw: I wrote this blog entry 100% sober and my now about half empty bottle of that good stuff distilled in Lynchburg, TN had not been emptied that much as I made the pictures - I swear! 

The Beauty of Destruction, part 7 - Old No.3

Camera App: BracketMode

Additional Apps used for processing:
ProHDR - to create a HDR picture from the shots made with BracketMode. Hower, I later discovered the HDR picture being partially unsharp which was the result of too much movement as I made the photos with BracketMode. So I decided to redo my picture, this time using only the darker photo of the set made because it was sharp all over.
SimplyHDR - to enhance the HDR picture created with ProHDR. If you want to create an HDR picture with an app that works with a set of photos make sure you don't saturate too much or your picture will look extremely over-saturated if you load it in yet another HDR app that works with single pictures, such as SimplyHDR. I was already much satisfied with the first result SimplyHDR came up with after loading my picture so I accept it the way it was and saved it.
Grungetastic - to experiment with because my the HDR version looked too boring to me. Testing various settings I finally stuck with Gritty 2 which I adapted to my likes. I pulled almost all sliders back to the left for zero effect except but for the tone slider which I left in its position. But Grunge 1, Grunge 2 and Papers had been set to full left and Borders had been set to No Border.
Blender - to blend my HDR with the Grunge version in Overlay mode, 50/50. Nice result, saved it.
PhotoForge - to create a version with High Pass filter because I wanted to add a little more sharpness. Sharpness could also have been added in Grungetastic but I haven't tested that feature yet.
Blender again - to sharpen my picture by blending it with the High Pass version in Overlay mode, 50/50 settings. Usually 50/50 looks right. To my taste more than 50% is overdoing the effect a bit.
After saving that result I was loading it again in Blender together with the HDR version before applying the Grunge effect because the picture looked a bit too greenish to me. I reduced that effect by setting the slider to 27% only, HDR loaded on the left side, greenish version loaded on the right side. Now I only needed a frame.
Grungetastic - I loaded my picture again in Grungetastic because I wanted a particular frame that I liked. Again I applied the Gritty 2 effect, pulling this time ALL of the sliders to the left, including the Tone slider, but for border I was choosing Border #13 (counted from left to right).
TouchRetouch - for minor touch-up. There had been a bright red little something laying underneath the wheel, disturbing the overall picture a bit so I removed it.
A+Signature - for the copyright watermark.

My latest picture from the "Beauty of Destruction" series shows wheel #3 of the now wrecked old electric locomotive #3609 of the National Railroad Company of Luxembourg, SNCFL. You can still see a number "3" pained in white on the wheel's glide bearing box. Attached to that box was also the speed gauge, a part that transformed the mechanical information received through the revolutions of the axle into electric tension to feed the Hasler-Bern speed indicator with in the cockpit. Also well visible are the wheel rim markings as broad yellow stripes (now bleached after long time weathering). The wheels on this type of engine had not been made in one piece but consisted of a wheel body and a rim that was shrunken onto the body in the workshops. For this purpose, the rim was heated up to a certain temperature because heating metal means the material will expand in its dimensions, hence the inner diameter got bigger and the wheel body could be inserted. Then the completed wheel was slowly cooled down, the rim shrunk again and got fixed in that way to the wheel's body. The reason for this type of railroad wheel simply was cost reduction because it was less expensive to replace a set of rims than replacing a complete axle with full body wheels. But like the advantage of this type of wheel was it to easily shrink a rim onto a wheel body, the disadvantage was that the rim could loosen again especially during a prolonged application of the brakes. Then the cast steel brake pads heated the rim up through friction. In the result the rim was loosening and turning on the wheel body. Under extreme conditions a wheel could be falling apart, with the certainly disastrous result of a heavy derailment of a train. To avoid this, the engineer had to check the markings on the wheel especially when preparing an engine for the day. The greatest railroad disaster as the result of a broken rim was the derailment and crash of the German high speed ICE 844 train "Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen" in 1998. The link goes to a video report on YouTube taken from a German TV documentation. I added this one because I couldn't find a suitable English report. But even if you don't understand German, the pictures show it all. In case of the ICE884 the train did not derail because a rim was overheating but because there had been fissures in it which had not been discovered due to technical inspections not being made.

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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