Creating Custom Textures with fxPhotoStudio

As I have been preparing for a tutorial today, I needed to use a texture blend. However the texture I wanted was a frame in fxPhotoStudio so it needed to be created.
One the the textures I already had in my iPhone Texture Album was a blank white canvas, so I imported it into fxPhotoStudio and started to apply different filters to it. Below are a few choices that I really liked and now have saved for future use.

Imported blank canvas photo into fxPhotoStudio 

Old Sketch Texture

Crumpled Paper Texture

Nior Blue Texture or Border

Burnt Paper Texture or Border

This time I added Dirty Picture 2 after applying the Burnt Paper

Then I decided to create a texture with Burnt Paper, then Rusted Metal 2 and finally Dirty Picture 2.

The possibilities are endless. I will use a few of these in a future blog.


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Learn how to create artistic iPhone Photography images with easy to follow online courses. Next course starts September 3rd. Please see side bar for more information. Come join me on Google+ Hangouts. Circle me and I will invite you to join in the fun.

Selections with a new App - AnyShape Photo Editor

Double Vision!!!

Heard good things about a new app called AnyShape Photo Editor today. (It is free for a limited time!) So I downloaded it and gave it a try. It is a simple app (I like the simplicity) that allows you to create a selection by placing points around an object. After the selection is made you can add effects to the selection or invert the selection to add effect to everything else. Then you can save and export the selection to be used in other creative ways. I used the truck image I processed earlier this week and created a playful double vision version.

Any Shape App
I used many selection points to select, emboss and save the truck so I could then place it in the image again as a double.

I also used Image Blender and Filterstorm to create this post.

Only two spots left in Iphoneography 101... hurry and sign up now!
Learn how to create artistic iPhone Photography images with easy to follow online courses. Next course starts September 3rd. Please see side bar for more information. Come join me on Google+ Hangouts. Circle me and I will invite you to join in the fun.

Annual Birthday Photo

Teri Lou Dantzler, self portrait

Every year my mom insists on taking my photo on my birthday. I have a collection of well 47 of them. My birthday was last month, my mom and I weren't together to celebrate and I failed to take my photo this year. Of course a few days after my birthday when we were talking on the phone mom asked me if I took the famous photo...I told her the truth.

Today I was getting ready for the day and decided to capture an everyday moment - putting my hair back. So hard to capture an expression that I like on my face. I must have taken 30 images changing the angle, zooming in and out, looking at the camera and away. The biggest difficulty was holding the camera still enough so the image wasn't too blurred. Always something that seems to make a difficult project seem impossible.

I finally captured one I liked. I think my mom will forgive me for being a bit tardy this year.

Hipsta capture

Snapseed

Blender

Dynamic Light

fxPhotoStudio

Touch Retouch

Filterstorm

Please see sidebar and pick a location or two you would like to participant in an iPhone Photography Workshop in 2012. Thanks!

ONLY TWO SPOTS LEFT! iPhoneography Classes Available Now! - next class starts November 21st - only six student per session. FYI - prices will increase in 2012.

If you would like to learn how to capture and process iPhone images beyond a basic snapshot take an Online iPhoneography Course with Teri Lou. Two courses are available iPhoneography 101 and iCreativity. Click on the direct links in the upper left hand column of this blog for information, pricing and schedule.

Creative Blending with Various Apps

Using Juxtaposer I combined two of the below blended images and continued to play.

In my iCreativity course I share many different ways and concepts of blending. I believe that realizing the possibilities is how my artistic vision has grown the most. There are many apps that allow for blending. Below are a few options.

Above are two Hipstamatic photos I took of this portable Candy Store. I took them with the iPhone on a tripod so they would line up perfectly. I will refer to them as 'the originals'.

I blended the two originals in Autostitch and this is the image I got.

I blended the two originals with Filterstorm to get this image.

I blended the two originals with Blender in Normal Mode to get this image.

I will share many more ideas and concepts in my iCreativity class, sign up for the Sept 12th class and get FREE fxPhotoStudio for the iPad - which now includes masking.

 iPhoneography Classes Available Now! - next class starts September 12th - only six student per session. If you would like to learn how to capture and process iPhone images beyond a basic snapshot take an Online iPhoneography Course with Teri Lou. Two courses are available iPhoneography 101 and iCreativity. Click on the direct links in the upper left hand column of this blog for information, pricing and schedule.

Following my Passion

I am constantly inspired and motivated to create a new iPhone/iPad processed image by many different things and people. My mentor, Harry Sandler, fellow iPhoneographers and my students are a constant in my life and I am very appreciative of them. I see wonderful images all day long on Facebook and Flickr, and I am introduced to new photography apps almost daily. I could be overwhelmed by it all but most times at least I am not. Instead I find that I am constantly creating self induced deadlines so I can keep learning.
I started a list this morning of things I needed and wanted to do this week. It is long and most likely to carry into the following week. That is just fine with me, because I have discovered that since I have found my passion, great opportunities keep coming my way. Although the opportunities are great, it is the people who present those opportunities or are now a part of my life because of them that I am most grateful for.

Noir

Juxtaposer

Filterstorm

PhotoStudio

PhotoForge

Scrapbooking on the iPad

My crazy daughters!!!

This afternoon I was thinking of strong, capable, nice women and was reminded of this poem, one of my favorites. It is hanging in my hallway on the way to the kitchen. I thought it would be fun to take a photo of the poem for a montage that I was planning to work on. I thought I was going to use it as the background or place it in the corner of my latest work. I also went upstairs looking for texture papers to shoot, never can have enough of those. Then I sat down and opened up Montage on my iPad and started adding various images. Nothing was blending the way I hoped, so I started concentrating on just framing the poem. As I framed it I was reminded of the days I was into scrapbooking (yes I have all the papers, punches, stamps, stickers, glitter....) and thought I would create 'a page' with  Montage. It was fun to build one element after the other, framing, sizing and placing. The main difference is that I didn't use scissors or glue, and I could resize the image to fit, so much easier. It is also very cool that I will always have this page with me on my iPad. I will admit that I used some photos from the archive files just as I would have if I was doing old fashioned scrapbooking so my daughters were not shot with the iPhone (me bad). The photo came from a Mother's Day about 5 years ago - a wonderful memory!

Montage - placement, sizing, text and clip art

Filterstorm - blending, framing and sizing

Grungetastic - framing

PhotoStudio - framing and rotating

Poem by Eleanor Roosevelt

Please note: I have created 'Pages' for my online iPhoneography classes - see box in upper left column. There you can find information on each class I instruct and a simple Buy Now button to sign up. Of course you can always contact me with additional questions prior to signing up if you like. Remember iPhoneography 101 starts again on Monday, May 9th. Space is limited. 

Montage and Filterstorm Blending

Composting your images together can be very powerful way to tell a story. You can take different elements from different time periods and blending them together in a way that might make sense only to you. The trick is to find some way to make them blend in a harmonious way. With this collage I chose to process all my elements with the same tones to create the harmony. I used the combination of the apps,  Montage for sizing and placement and Filterstorm for blending. I also used a couple texture files.
Today was a day to experiment and see what different elements looked like together. Next time I will purposely shoot some images to create a piece that speaks to more than just me....

Montage

Filterstorm

Blender

Grungetastic

Impression

Dynamic Duo - Iris for iPad and Filterstorm

I was at the cafe this evening sitting in a comfortable chair when I saw the sky light up and dramatic clouds, so up I got and off I drove to my favorite yellow truck.
I knew I wanted to once again play with a Hipsta Stitch and I used the whole camera roll shooting this image in 9 frames. When I stitched it I was a little disappointed with the framing edges so I knew I had to be creative.
So where to start. I really wanted to practice and play with Iris for iPad and Filterstorm. What is wonderful about both of them is the power to blend. Both have there own special purpose: Iris is needed to blend at different modes and to add Fx effects whereas Filterstorm is needed to accomplish the task of brushing on the blend.
So I needed to create different versions to blend with. In order to accomplish this I used PhotoForge for one version, PhotoStudio for two of the blends, AutoPainter for one blend and Iris for one blend. However I used some of the blend more than once. All in all I blended 9 times adding different elements each time. I also cloned out some unwanted trees in the background.
My hope is that you realize the power of blending and are motivated to try it for yourself.
I have a feeling you haven't seen the last of this truck!

Two more things:
First of all very few people guessed the apps used in this weeks mystery post and no one guessed correctly, bummer. The apps used were: Bad Camera ArtistaSketch, Blender, Filterstorm, Grungetastic,and Photo Forge. I may have a contest again next week.
Secondly, I wanted to mention that you have one more day to take this month poll - see side panel.

Roslyn Riders - For the Love of Horses

Today's post was captured while riding my bicycle. I processed it with many textures, from my own iPhone captured texture file, blended and masked. This is a handheld Hipstamatic stitch. The borders got too crazy in this one to keep them - bummer!

Hipstamatic
AutoStitch
Iris
Sketchmee
and opps I forgot the others.
Impression

Take your iPhone images to the next step with the power of blending, brushing and masking. Teri Lou is offering her first online advance course starts today! Ask for more information at teri@terilou.com

First Spring Flowers

Yesterday, as I was driving home, I turned the same corner I have for 18 years and  saw these beautiful blue flowers like a carpet in this yard and along the fence line. I have never once stopped to stop to capture them with my camera. However, once again, because of the way the iPhone has changed my approach to photography I decided that I would.

How has it changed you might ask? "The iPhone has shown me what is possible with both capturing the image with camera apps such as Average Cam and Slow Shutter to all the options of brushing and blending apps such as ArtistaHaiku and ArtistaOil together in Iris. I feel freer to artistically express myself."

In iCreativity, the new class that starts tomorrow, my goal is to Motivate and Inspire your artistic self to not only see what is possible but express it in your own individual way. Contact teri@terilou.com for more information.

Sammy's Masterpiece

I am proud to present Sammy's first app'ed image. She captured it with her point and shoot - still trying to convince mom and dad that the iPhone and iPad is a must for her creative talents to blossom!
I transferred her original image to my iPad so she could play with a few apps. I introduced her to PhotoStudio and within a few minutes she was creating. Sammy is 14 and a true prodigy of the tech world. Unlike many adults who want to know what every button does before they tap a single one, Sammy was ready after a few simple directions.
After she was happy with her image in PhotoStudio, I showed her how to brush and blend in Filterstorm and before you know it she had created this masterpiece!
I would love to have the opportunity to teach more of her age group and high school students. The raw enthusiasm and desire to play is so refreshing and rewarding to an instructor like myself.
Thanks for spending the evening on the couch with me Sammy. I can't wait for lesson two!

Carpenter Museum

Carpenter Museum built 1914

I was driving through my hometown yesterday looking for hearts, when I decided to stop and capture this local historical house. It is another example of me waiting 18 years to capture something I have driven by several times.

For me, the iPhone has opened up my eyes and my heart to more possibilities. This image is a reflection of the artist I have become. This time when I was driving by the house I saw it an opportunity for me to practice creating a vintage photographic look. What I would normally see as a rather dull scene, without much color in the yard, on the house or in the sky, now became a challenge.

I will admit that I went in several wrong directions before I found just the right apps to do the job.  Most were creating a muddy mess. After I got the image to glow I still needed to spend time finding the right frames. I also spent time in Filterstorm with the brush and eraser.

ProHDR - 11 images

Autostitch

Vintage

Iris

Filterstorm

PicGrunger

Impression

This image's processing technique will be part of my Advance Course that I am preparing for now.

iPhoneography 101 Course - Learn to use the apps of the iPhone to create photographs beyond a basic snapshot. This online course allow you to work at your own pace while having a professional standing by to provide assistance, answer questions and offer critiques. Starts March 12th - sign up now! Contact instructor: Teri Lou at teri@terilou.com

Postcard of Coney Island

Coney Island

I met up with a photography club of a friend of mine during my trip to the east coast in October. We went to Coney Island, in New York. I had never been before and loved using the opportunity to capture it with my iPhone. I will admit that I was the only one there with an iPhone in a tripod holder and it caught lots of attention from the club members and the  visitors to the park. Actually I enjoy it when people stare at me in amazement because it gives me the opportunity to share my passion with them. Usually I invite those staring to come over and take a look. I will show them what this little device has captured and most of the time they are very impressed. I will say that I have even convinced a few of them to purchase the iPhone for themselves.

When capturing this image I was using the ProHDR app. If you look closely at the swinging ride in the distance you can see some ghosting of the riders. As I processed this image I wanted to give it an vintage feel.  So I used the Vintage effect in PhotoStudio with others and blended them with the original in Iris. As always I resharpened my image in PerfectPhoto after I apply effects to keep the image sharp and not fuzzy.

For fun I chose to mirror the original.

Same image with simply a mirroring effect found in Photo Studio.

ProHDR
PerfectPhoto
Photo Studio
Photo Wizard
 Iris
PerfectPhoto

 

iPhoneography classes from beginner to advance are available in either classroom style of via the internet. Please contact me for further information. teri@terilou.com Please join my Facebook Group iPhoneography with Teri Lou

Self Portrait II

Sittin on the Dock by the Bay

I was driving along the Eastern Shore in November, on one of my last days of a 6 week photographic journey, looking for the Chicoteaque Ponies on the north side of the island. I had spent the morning on the south end of the island capturing a fantastic sunrise when someone told me I could get better photos of the ponies on the north end of the island. What I failed to ask is what city would I be near to find access to the north end, so I followed the coastline to the best of my ability hugging the shore. 

It was one of my favorite days of my journey since I love exploring and am never really lost with Garmin, my GPS. This is one of the out of the way locations I found that day. It had rained that morning and the dock looked like it was about to sink into the bay. However the best part was this bright yellow chair just waiting for someone to sit in. So I took advantage of  "analyzing..." while using the ProHDR app, ran into the image and sat in the chair. 

I had a gorgeous view don't you think?

Perfect photo for sharpening
 Plastic Bullet x3
Iris for blending and masking
Focal Lab
 Sketchmee
 Iris more blending
Perfect Photo for final sharpening

iPhoneography classes from beginner to advance are available in either classroom style of via the internet. Please contact me for further information. teri@terilou.com Please join my Facebook Group iPhoneography with Teri Lou

iPainting - The Red Flower

Red Flower iPainted

I am experimenting with different things to iPaint. I have found that some images work well and some do not. Sometimes it will take hours of work before I discover that it is not working. I try not to get frustrated and instead move on to a simpler image. That is one of the reasons I decided to revisit this red flower.

The original image was captured with the Hipsta camera app. I use the app PhotoForge for all my painted images. For this one I first used the largest brush on everything except the vase and the flower. I then zoomed in closer to the outside of the vase and flower and with a smaller brush painted right up to the vase and flower. I continued to zoom in and use a smaller brush on the vase and the flower. As I made the brush smaller, I also re-blended the surrounding areas to add more brush strokes. It also seems inevitable that I will create brush strokes that go against the grain. When I do I just swipe them clean with multiple strokes in the correct direction.

At this point I find it important to see if all the pixels were painted. So after I save the image in PhotoForge which can take up to 1 hour, I open the image in PerfectPhoto and zoom in looking over the entire image for missed pixels. Sometime it will take me 3-4 times before I am happy with the results.

I thought I would just stop there but instead I went on to process the image a bit more. I am going to get technical here so you may have questions. I wanted to get more texture back into the image so I used the app PhotoCopier and found that the Photo Penn worked well for texture. I then brought the same image twice into Iris, one for the base layer and one to blend with the base. I blended them in screen at 85% to lighten up the image. I then sharpened both the original painted image and the new textured one in Perfect Photo. For the final touch I blended the original painted image and the textured one in Iris because the texture was too harsh. This time I blended in normal at 85%.

I used the app Diptic to combine these images to show the different steps.

Perfect Photo for sharpening

PhotoForge for painting

PhotoCopier - Photo Penn 

Iris for lightening and blending

Perfect Photo for sharpening again

Impression for copyright

iPhoneography classes from beginner to advance are available in either classroom style of via the internet. Please contact me for further information. teri@terilou.com Please join my Facebook Group iPhoneography with Teri Lou

iPainting using the iPad

Painted Mr. Bart using the iPad

As I have stated before, I have always wanted to paint, and now I have become the artist that I was only dreaming of. I think it is necessary to explain that I use my finger as my brush when using the iPad for these paintings. Every hair is a stroke of my finger. I sometimes will go over the same area 3-4 times to paint the hairs just in the right place. I paint with many different size brushes, usually from bigger to smaller to keep the small details intact.

After  I think I have completed the painting, I save it. Saving can take up to an hour depending on how much you have effected the original pixels. After saving I open the painting in the app Perfect Photo to see which pixel I haven't smoothed out. Usually there are many at first. I then reopen the painting in PhotoForge and repaint trying to remember where all the missed pixels were. Usually by the 4th or 5th try I have succeeded and am ready to complete the image with some blending and framing.

I am offering my services to paint your pet for an introductory fee of $99. If you are interested please contact me and I will put you on my schedule.

The original image before Bart was painted.

iPhoneography classes from beginner to advance are available. Please contact me for further information. teri@terilou.com Please join my Facebook Group iPhoneography with Teri Lou

Bryant Park on a snowy morning

Bryant Park, NYC

In December I took a trip to NYC so I could experience a bit of the Christmas season there. My hotel was right across from Bryant Park, a perfect location to see all the sights. I arrived late in the afternoon so it was dark and cold before I could venture out. An ice skating rink, large blue lite Christmas tree, vendor booths and a restaurant were in the park and it was full of people. I captured a few images but found it difficult to capture it well with the people walking into my shot.

I then ventured on in the direction of Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I had a terrific time mingling with the people while walking with my head up and mouth agape in awe of the big city decorations, sights and sounds. As I returned to the hotel it started snowing, which was absolutely beautiful. No where else is quite like NYC.

The next morning I decided to wake up at 5:00am so I could be out the door at 5:30am and hopefully beat the crowds to some of the more famous locations particularly Rockefeller Center. When I arrived, the only people in sight were about 5 security guard protecting the tree. So I took out my iPhone and started to extended my tripod legs when one of the guards rush over to tell me that "no tripods were allowed". I laughed. How could my tripod with an iPhone cause any problems at 6:00am? A rule is a rule so I hand held some images and slowly walked back to the hotel.

 

When I arrived back at Bryant Park I saw this postcard like scene. The table and chairs looked as if they were just waiting  for a couple to arrive. The snow from the evenings fall was just enough to cover the ground and give it a crisp appeal. So for this image I set up my tripod and went "click". (Well not really but you get the picture!)

Captured with Pro HDR
PperfectPhoto to sharpen
Artista Haiku
Iris to blend in multiply
Iris to apply auto level
PerfectPhoto to sharpen

iPhoneography classes from beginner to advance are available. Please contact me for further information. teri@terilou.com Please join my Facebook Group iPhoneography with Teri Lou

iGehry Building at MIT

Extensively smudged iPhone image

This image was captured at MIT in Boston and is one of Gehry's famous buildings. I used the ProHDR camera app on my iPhone4. I chose to process it using smudging in PhotoForge. When you smudge, you are using the 'paint' from the photograph. Smudging is like painting to me. I have the palette all full of colors and now I get to create my artistic piece. This process is done on my iPad with my finger.

I fell in love with this concept of painting my images at a PhotoShop World workshop. I loved the how you could use Corel Painter and a Wacom tablet to achieve this wonderful look. However I don't own Corel Painter or a Wacom Tablet, so I never painted my images. Besides who wants to sit in a desk chair at your computer and paint? Not me! So now I get to curl up in my favorite chair in front of a warm fire with my iPad and smudge to my hearts content. I hope an app for painting images with different brushes is coming soon. Anyone know of one?

As you see by the long list of processing techniques, it is really an involved image, very time consuming! Much patience is needed. I am very happy with the result! What do you think?

Smudged in PhotoForge
ShockMyPic
Artista Haiku for sky
Iris Blend
Smudged sky in PhotoForge
PhotoStudio for Vintage
Bad Camera blended in Iris
PhotoForge for selective sharpening

iPhoneography classes from beginner to advance are available. Please contact me for further information. teri@terilou.com Please join my Facebook Group iPhoneography with Teri Lou

Target Billboard

Target Billboard - Times Square, NYC

This morning I wanted to post a different type of Hipstamatic image. This is actually 5 Hipsta's captured from a busy street corner last month. I purposely captured the images knowing that I wanted to stitch them together afterwards.
If you plan on stitching images together, you must be sure to overlap the captures by at least 1/3 and preferably 1/2 with bordered Hipsta's. These images were captured with the Dream Canvas film and therefore the border is very wide. If you don't overlay enough the stitching program won't have enough detail to know where to stitch. Personally I do most of my captures for stitching with a tripod. This way the iPhone is steady and oriented from the same location.
I use the app AutoStitch for all my stitching. It works wonderfully. You can also crop the stitch within the app. However with this image I like the black border and left it as is.

iPhoneography classes from beginner to advance are available. Please contact me for further information. teri@terilou.com Please join my Facebook Group iPhoneography with Teri Lou

Red Flower

Captured with the Hipstamatic Camera using the John S lens and Dream Canvas film.

I find it very interesting where I will take photos with my iPhone 4. This image was captured in the restroom at Longwood Gardens in Philly about a month ago. I was there with several iPhoneographers. One friend announced that there were the most beautiful red flowers in the bathroom and started showing off all his photos. Promptly all of us went to find our own red bathroom flower to capture. I must note that the restrooms there are very usual with 17 private rooms. The above image was my favorite straight Hipstamatic shot.

Image after processing within the iPhone 4

I will admit that I am not sure of all the apps I used for processing this image. I do know that several from fxPhotoStudio are apparent. After adding a effect such as Vintage I would have blended the effect back into the original photo using Iris. I also know that I use PhotoPerfect for sharpening.  I use the app Impression to add my watermark to my photos.

I found it most interesting that even though we all started with this basic red flower in a vase, everyone went in to different direction when processing it. Proving once again that art is in the eye of the beholder. 

iPhoneography classes from beginner to advance are available. Please contact me for further information. teri@terilou.com Please join my Facebook Group iPhoneography with Teri Lou