Mobile Tutorial

November 24, 2015 by Kat

It all starts with the photograph… (new ProCamera feature!)

No matter what I do in the end, my art starts with a photograph. That’s why mobile is so fantastic, because I always have the camera with me when I see something interesting. And it’s also why the camera app I is so important, because its functionality greatly influences the photographs I can capture with my device.

It’s no secret that I love the ProCamera app. It has the functionality I want in a camera app (more than I need, actually), as well as being quick and easy to use. (If you want to learn more I’ve shared some basic features in this blog post and there is more in my book.)

And the app just keeps getting better… Now you can adjust your camera mode priority order and it translates to a custom Quick Action with 3D Touch on the iPhone 6s! Yay! So when I do press on the ProCamera icon, I have the modes I use most popping up, for quicker mode selection and access:

Even if you don’t have an iPhone 6s, you’ll want to customize the order of your camera modes, because it rearranges the order of the modes for selection within the app at the same time. Here’s how:

From the ProCamera main screen, tap the mode selector icon (two arrows), then scroll the mode selector bar all the way to the right and select the menu (three dots). (And ignore my messy studio! No time to clean it up right now.)

When the “Rearrange Camera Modes” menu opens, use the grab bars on the right to slide an individual mode up and down relative to the others. Put your most frequently used modes at the top of the list. You can also turn off any modes you don’t use, by moving the selector switches to the left (they turn white when they are off). Tap “Done” when you finish ordering your modes.

You can see my priority order: Photo, HDR, Night and QR Code Scan. I don’t want to turn off Video and Selfie, but they are at the bottom of my list.

Now, when you open the mode selector from the main app screen, the modes are in your prioritized order:

And when I open the Quick Action menu from the home screen using 3D Touch, the menu is customized, with my choice of modes in priority order. The highest priority is closest to the icon, so I don’t have to move as far to select it. Yay!

This means I can get open the right mode in the app quicker, allowing me to capture the moment. Awesome.

I knew that apps would start giving us customization on the Quick Action menu. And I’m not surprised that ProCamera, which is so well supported, is one of the first and most useful.

OK, your turn. Go forth, customize, and photograph!

October 31, 2015 by Kat

Late Sunrise (New Stackables Formula)

Time changes tomorrow! Don’t forget to move your clocks back tonight. I am personally very happy to get that hour of morning light back. It’s been hard to get out and hike in the mornings and still get in to the office at a reasonable time. I have to get out on the trail before sunrise, so I’ve seen a lot of sunrises lately.

This has made for some interesting autumn photographs in the early morning light, though. And I’ve been enjoying some of the heavily textured nature looks I’ve been seeing around Instagram, so I created this Stackables formula called “Late Sunrise” that I’m sharing with you today.

To download the “Late Sunrise” formula for your own use, do the following:
1. Make sure the Stackables app is installed on your iOS device.
2. On your iOS device, download the formula file from this link. (This is a Dropbox link, and you may be prompted to save the file to your Dropbox account, if you have one. Go ahead and save it to your Dropbox and then download from there.)
3. When you go to download or open the file on your device, use “Open in…” and choose the “Open in Stackables” option.
4. Stackables will open and ask if you want to import the formula, click “Import.”
5. To use the formula, load a photo and then go to Favorite Formulas (the ones with a heart!). You will see the imported formula there.

Here is the original photo, before applying the formula. Big difference, huh? I just love what you can do with post-processing!

Here are a couple of different images, using the same formula…

For this next one, I modified a few of the layers, removing, lightening and/or rotating them. Don’t forget that you can continue to make adjustments after you apply the formula! It’s one of the great features of the Stackables app.

Today sunrise was at 7:47am where I live. It was the latest sunrise until late December/early January, so I get a little reprieve on the morning light. I don’t know how those of you further north do it in the winters! People around here complain about the rain, but I think it’s the short days that get me the most.

I’m very happy to “fall back” to tonight!

October 17, 2015 by Kat

On the Other Side (Mobile Tutorial)

I have been loving the recent change of season. Autumn is one of my favorite times of year. It’s the combination of light, color, and emerging bare branches which inspire me creatively. It’s been fun to get back into editing and experiment with a few new techniques, so it’s time to share a Mobile Tutorial from a recent edit.

I created this piece, “On the Other Side,” yesterday morning and it’s the perfect candidate. I was looking to see how abstract I could go and still retain the feel of the light on leaves. I like the balance of contrast, color and abstraction I was able to achieve in the final piece.

Here is how I created it…

I started with an image captured in ProCamera with the iPhone 6s. (If you missed it, see my first impressions of the iPhone 6s here.) I composed for the lines of the main branches, knowing I could eliminate the branches from the tree behind in post processing.

My first step in post-processing is eliminating those extra tree branches using Handy Photo.

Next step is start altering color and effects. The colors are just too… real. I altered the color using the Tone effects in iColorama. This is an amazingly full-featured app that I am trying to use more. You can get lost in it, there are so many effects and options.

Continuing with artistic effects in iColorama, I experimented with different effects and ended up here:

I liked the shapes and the smearing of the color, but this has gone too abstract. You can no longer tell what it is. Time to reign it back in by blending with other images. To create some alternate images for blending, I started with Autopainter, one of my go-to artistic apps, on the toned image from iColorama:

And also ran the toned image through Autopainter II, for the chalk effect:

Now it’s on to blending using Image Blender. First, the iColorama output with the Autopainter output:

And then with the Autopainter II output:

It’s getting there. There are several problems I need to fix:
– The leaves are still too abstract, so I want to add some shape to them.
– The color is too blue-purple, so I want more warmth.
– The bottom open area of the image is too patchy, with some abrupt transitions, so I want to fill it in a bit.

I can solve the first problem, the abstraction, by blending the image back with one of the original photographs to add the structure of the leaves. Then, I can use color filters and textures to shift the color and fill in the open area. To do this I used a couple of texture apps in sequence. First, textures in XnView Photo FX. You can see how the color has started to shift and the texture has evened out the background.

And finally, with Radiance and Grunge layers in Mextures, adding further texture and shifting color to achieve the final state:

I just love the transformation you can create with a few apps on a photograph. It’s magical!

If you would like to learn more, you can preorder my book on Amazon, Art with an iPhone: A Photographer’s Guide to Creating Altered Realities. It includes information on these and other apps, tips on blending, and much, much more. Thanks for your support to make the book a success!

September 23, 2015 by Kat

Making Room for New Things to Grow (+ new formula)

On Saturday I went on a long-anticipated hike. Most of the summer, one of my favorite hikes has been closed while the Greenbelt Land Trust worked on forest restoration. They promised, “An opened viewshed, outstanding legacy oak trees, and vibrant riparian areas.” The intent was to return the forest to its historic state, as an oak savannah. Over the years, the conifers had overrun the oaks.

I was a little worried. After a few months of hearing wood chippers in the distance, would my favorite place even exist? What was it going to look like? I headed out on the trail with some anxiety.

What I discovered was a mix of completely unchanged trail, followed by surprising views to the south. It was a stark contrast entering the areas which had undergone forest restoration. The ground cover was gone and the forest dramatically thinned. There was light and openness where there hadn’t been in the past. You could see the shape of the old oaks; see how they had struggled higher and higher for light in the dense forest.

My emotions on the hike alternated between sad and exhilerated. The forest I had known was becoming something different. I felt a loss of the old while being energized by the new.

Part way through the hike I realized this experience was analogous to any change in life. Sometimes old things, things we have loved and cherished, need to end to make space for new things to grow. This can happen at the pace of nature or can be sped up, nurtured in a new direction, as in the case with this forest or in the case of intentional personal work.

The feeling of loss with change is natural. With that loss, it’s also important to look at the possibility that comes with the new. For this forest, it’s enjoying the increased sunshine, the views, and the sight of those lovely oaks against the sky which makes the loss of the old bearable.

I look forward to seeing what this forest will become, now that space has been made for different things to grow.

And I think of my own personal landscape and wonder: Are there places I need to clear out some old stuff, allowing the space and sunshine for new things to take root?

You can download the Stackables Formula I created for these images, named “Mulkey Ridge” after the hike.

Follow these instructions:
1. Make sure the Stackables app is installed on your iOS device.
2. On your iOS device, download the formula file from this link. (This is a Dropbox link, and you may be prompted to save the file to your Dropbox account, if you have one. Go ahead and save it to your Dropbox and then download from there.)
3. When you go to download or open the file, use “Open in…” and choose the “Open in Stackables” option.
4. Stackables will open and ask if you want to import the formula, click “Import.”
5. To use the formula, load a photo and then go to Favorite Formulas (the ones with a heart!). You will see the imported formula there.

Have fun! I’d love to see what you do with it.

September 18, 2015 by Kat

iPhone Book is one step closer! (+ app review)

I heard from my editor yesterday… I should be seeing the galley proofs of my iPhone photography book in a couple of weeks. Yay!! I cannot wait to see those proofs, and I’ll be sure to give you a sneak peek when I do. It’s such a long process, I almost forgot I wrote a book over the last few months. (Well, not really, but I tried not to worry and obsess about it too much.)

With this reminder that a real book is in the works, don’t forget you can preorder it right now on Amazon, and it will show up in your mailbox in January when it ships. Preorders are hugely important to its success, so I appreciate each and every one! Thank you!

On another note, today’s image is edited with the Formulas app, which is from the same creators as Stackables, one of my favorite apps. The Formulas app is a simpler version, with a list of preset formulas you can apply which include layers from the Stackables app.

The good is that it is very simple to use: Select a formula, adjust the intensity (0 to 100), and then either save or apply another formula on top. You can also add a frame in a similar tone. Super easy. Today’s image was edited with the Glazed formula at 100% followed by the Orange Zest formula, at a lower intensity.

The bad is that you have no other adjustability. You can’t rotate the formula or change blend modes, either for a single formula or more than one applied. Super frustrating, if you like a little control.

The formulas are very much monochromatic and highly textured, so if that’s your style this is a great app to add to your arsenal.

If you like a little bit of flexibility and control, as I do, then it’s probably not a great app for you. I’ll stick with Stackables, where I can experiment and adjust the layers to my heart’s content.

That’s the beauty of mobile photography, there is something for everyone. You just have to find the right apps!

August 4, 2015 by Kat

Bald Hill: New Stackables Formula

Last week on a morning hike I came up the side of Bald Hill into this gorgeous light, just peeking over the hill. The clear blue sky and morning light inspired me to take a few photographs, which in turn inspired me to create a new Stackables formula. This formula increases the light contrast, warms the bottom portion of the image and creates a beautiful “blue jean” sky. Today I’m sharing the formula along with a few example photographs edited with it, and hopefully it will inspire good things for you too!

To download the “Bald Hill” formula for your own use, do the following:
1. Make sure the Stackables app is installed on your iOS device.
2. On your iOS device, download the formula file from this link. (This is a Dropbox link, and you may be prompted to save the file to your Dropbox account, if you have one. Go ahead and save it to your Dropbox and then download from there.)
3. When you go to download or open the file, use “Open in…” and choose the “Open in Stackables” option.
4. Stackables will open and ask if you want to import the formula, click “Import.”
5. To use the formula, load a photo and then go to Favorite Formulas (the ones with a heart!). You will see the imported formula there.

You can see the formula has a different result depending on the exposure and color of the sky. Experiment with exposure as you capture your images and see the variation in the results.

If you find that the textures don’t look right for your image, play around with rotating the texture layers. For the image below, I rotated and lightened Layer 3 in the formula.

Have fun! Let me know what you think, and tag me if you share any results on Instagram. I’d love to see what you do with it!

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