Quaffit's Art of iPhoneography: photo fx ultra

Showing posts with label photo fx ultra. Show all posts

Monday, August 6, 2012

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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Sunday, July 15, 2012

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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Saturday, June 23, 2012

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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