Kat Eye Studio

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August’s Fun Finds

Lately I’ve been adding to my arsenal of iPhone apps and accessories, and thought I would share a few fun finds…

A New App

I’m a sucker for an app that helps me integrate interesting geometric shapes with my photographs of trees, and my latest find is Tangent. It has a wide range of shapes, patterns, colors and blending modes that create interesting effects on your photographs. I’ve been playing around this weekend, figuring out how to integrate it with my creative workflow. Here’s my favorite creation so far, called Rising:

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Apps Used: ProCamera, XnSketch, Tangent, Aquarella HD, Image Blender

A New Case

20130818-104213.jpgI’m always looking at interesting iPhone cases at the store and wondering if I could live with the design every day. Instead of buying another artist’s case, I decided to take the idea of “living with my work” to a new level and created a custom clip case for my iPhone 5 through Decal Girl. It took a bit of experimentation to find an image that worked with the aspect ratio of the case. The real thing has a little bit of color shift from my original image, Vanishing, but came out great otherwise! Decal Girl is having a sale right now, use code BACK2SCHOOL for 25% off.

A New Magazine

20130818-104150.jpgI ran across this new mobile photography magazine for iPad over the weekend, iPhotographer. I decided to subscribe after looking through the free preview issue. It’s beautiful, interactive, and looks like it is going to be a great resource for those of us loving the world of mobile photography. You can purchase single issues for $3.99 or subscribe to the year for $18.99. Check out the free preview issue through the Apple Newsstand on your iPad. I already can’t wait for the first issue to come out!!

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Going BIG!

I’ve waited. I’ve practiced. I’ve experimented. I’ve made sure I knew how to get my prints to look the way I wanted to before going BIG, as big as my printer can handle. I finally took the plunge this weekend and printed my first 17×22″ print. I chose to print my favorite tree image from Spring Break, The Last Tree.

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Even though I wanted to understand the ins and outs before I printed this big, this print was a bit of an experiment, too. The Last Tree is an iPhone 5 image edited in the Noir app. I love Noir for its dramatic monochromatic effects, but the app doesn’t save full resolution files. The info in the app says it does, but that must apply only to phones at the time it was first released (2011) and doesn’t apply to the newer, higher resolution iPhone cameras. I needed to “upsize” the file to increase the resolution, and for that I used the Big Photo app. I was a bit skeptical I would get anything useful out at the end, but the final file came out surprisingly well-processed.

I stepped up to the big print, printing first on 13×19″ paper to verify the new file would look ok, then printing the image on the 17×22″ paper. I was so excited to see the finished print! It came out great. Doesn’t it dwarf my usual prints on 8.5×11″ paper?

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The next step was framing. I had purchased some 22×28″ frames and accompanying mats (see my resource page for sources), so that I would have a way to present larger prints. The image at left is the final framed print, temporarily hung on the wall of my family room to give a sense of the scale. The final scene is a bit monochromatic, and the print looks surprisingly small given the size of the frame, but I think it could be a great addition in the right location. In this location, I prefer the color of the painting that usually hangs in above the couch (on right).

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So now that I have this print all matted and framed, what am I going to do with it? I’ve no idea! I’ll find a place to hang it in the house, and maybe it will go into an exhibition someday. Until then, I have achieved one of my goals to print as large as I can with my printer, I’ve learned a bit about increasing file resolution with apps and I am ready for the moment I need to print BIG.

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Living with my Work

From photons to pixels to print – same day. One of the things I love about being able to print my own work is that I can, almost real time, print the work I am creating. Often I create something and love it so much I just want to enjoy it off of the computer. Or, I tried something new and I want to see how it translates to paper. I want to hold it in my hands, feel as well as see the texture. I can do that now that I have a printer.

A couple of months ago, I started a weekly “print practice.” My goal is to print one or two pieces a week, to get better at editing for print. Get a feel for the effects of different papers and really learn this part off the process. I’ve stuck with it most weeks, and I’m definitely I improving. I really love my prints.

The problem became how to display them. I thought about my magnet boards, but they are really not big enough to hold multiple large prints. I have a bunch of old frames in the garage, but they would need some repainting to match my studio and they are standard sizes. I would either have to start printing standard sizes or get mats. The thought of changing things out of mats and frames all of the time wasn’t appealing either.

So it was synchronicity last week that when I finally put away my painting easel and created some free wall space, I ran across these magnetic photo ropes on Photojojo. I bought three in red, on a whim, hoping they would work in the newly empty space.

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They are awesome! I can print and hang within seconds, easily changing images out. Each rope comes with eight super strong magnets, which work great even for the heavy fine art papers I’m using. It’s still a clean, uncluttered look, even with many images on display.

Now when I sit in my comfy chair, this is my view. Nice view, huh?

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I’m already learning a lot. It’s interesting to see how some images, loved in the moment, quickly fade away and I want to replace them. Others last longer. Some images don’t translate well from screen to paper, or need a little more work to translate well. After looking at them in different light I can see how I might need to adjust them. I’ve already changed up what’s displayed here several times in the last few days. It looks different this morning than it did when I took these images on Saturday.

In David duChemin’s workshop he encouraged us to “live with our work.” I understand why. We are more picky, we improve, when we have to look at it every day. How do you display your work?

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