The Bare Bones of iPhone Photography

Hey there, Digital Diva here. One of my favorite artists is Georgia O'Keeffe. I've done some iPhone photos of abstracted flowers as homage to her paintings where I use Gooey Faces to "melt" the blossoms into pure shapes.

So when I came across this cow skull nailed to a post at Hui Hoolana during a recent photo seminar, it was all over.

Here's the straight photo; busy background, tilted awkwardly, not too interesting. Yet.
Straightened the skull in Photogene. Blurred out the background in Photoforge. Double exposed with abstract color pattern in DXP.
Sepia in Tiffen Cool FX, Double expose in DXP with background of abstracted lines.
Sketchmee? Tiffen Cool FX black and white.
Painted background to rust color and added border in EdgePix (sadly no longer available.)
Lightened, toned and bordered in VintageScene app.
And my favorite done in Vintage Scene with a little embossing of the skull itself done in TouchUp.

High Dynamic Range from PRO HDR app

Digital Diva here. I just can't believe what some of these apps can do (along with the iPhone herself). The Dude and I were walking through a Sedona, Arizona canyon a couple months back. We came upon one of those impossible lighting situations that is now possible thanks to the great HDR apps.

By tapping on a given spot on your iPhone, you can tell it where to focus and where to figure exposure. So for the first photo I tapped on the highlight in the far canyon wall that was harshly lit. So you can see that but not much else. For the second shot, I tapped on the dark shadows in the creek area but the highlights then blew out. Two really poor exposures overall, because there's just too many stops of exposure to hold it.

Enter PRo HDR app and the third photo shows the combined HDR photo. I added a little warmth, sharpness, and saturation in Photoforge and Iris apps. (I also like TrueHDr app for some images - just a trial and error approach seems to work for some images.)

Monet In Moloka`i

Digital Diva here. We just finished a fabulous week long seminar on our home island, See The Light taught by the Digital Dude himself, Dewitt Jones, with Jonathan Kingston, and Rikki Cooke. Of course, my iPhone got as much workout as my other cameras. A tasty new app the Dude told me about called MobileMonet has brought new light to some old favorite locations and subjects. For more about this past week's photo extravaganza, check out Jonathan's blog; The Nomadic Photographer.

Digital Diva here. Whew, the Dude and I have been traveling and just enjoying the beauty everywhere we go. We went to Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite and gave our Digital cameras a workout. I almost forgot to use my iPhone! But I did snap a few, and outside of a little Photogene optimizing, I left them alone. So unlike me. Here's a little taste of "what I did on my summer vacation".

HDR On The Prairie at Ballyneal

Digital Diva here with a travelogue piece on Ballyneal Golf Club. On a recent trip to Colorado, two hours outside of Denver on a magic golf course in the middle of nowhere (which is really SOMEWHERE special) the Dude and I played golf with 4 other dear photographer friends. And of course, documented the experience with our phones. And the Dude went full on HDR.

HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography has a specific look to it - sometimes I like it; sometimes I think it looks over the top. Still, I like when we can make the iPhone and other cameras "see" as much as our eyes do.

Dewitt used mostly True HDR app to put two exposures together. He tapped the phone in the shadows to open up detail and then tapped the phone on a highlight to expose properly for it. The resultant two images worked not at all until combined in True HDR.

(And news flash, I hear the new OS for iPHone is due out soon - which will have HDR capability built into the OS. Woo - hoo. Can't wait to try it.)








And if you want to see some really beautiful images by professional photographers Dick Durrance and Sue Drinker, check out the Ballyneal site.

Vintage Seen

Digital Diva here. One of my new favorite apps is called Vintage Scene. It allows for all kinds of grungifying to antique your iPhone photo art. This first shot is of Smileys Bar in Bolinas CA. It lends itself perfectly to this aging technique.


This was a relatively crappy shot of a tree with sun starring through it; was all blocked up and I opened the shadows and decreased the contrast in Photoforge, creating a crappy low contrast shot. Ah, but all is not lost. I knew when I took it that it would make a great antique looking image.

My handsome, talented son, Brian Kavanaugh Jones as he photographed Lake Tahoe, and I photographed him. No, this is not 1954, it was a couple of weeks ago.
Here in Lake Tahoe, a group of us have a picnic on the beach every Tuesday night. This forces us to go to the beach, because no matter where you live, it's easy to forget to partake of the great places we live unless of course we have company. After sunset, we spotted the M.S. Dixie paddlewheeler boat cruising across the lake. A perfect subject for grunging - it seems like it is from another century.

Finally, the Ahwahnee Hotel's dining room in Yosemite is as gorgeous and timeless today as it was when it opened in 1927.

Having a Fleuriffic Time With the iPhone

iPhone Diva here. The greatest thing about the iPhone (aside from the apps) is that I always have it with me. And so I take photos that I might never have even thought to shoot.

This group of flowers was planted along side the main Hwy 50 here in Lake Tahoe. The Dude and I were walking by and just had to stop and pay homage.

This first shot was made with the app Slow Shutter, for a kind of soft dreamy effect.


These tulips were sketched in Toonpaint and the sketch was combined with the original in DXP. Not exactly sure which blend mode, maybe multiply.


This wider shot of the road tulips really looks painted to me. I sure wish I could remember what apps I used for this. Alas, it may end up being one of a kind.


I went to my local Safeway store to buy some food and had to walk through the flower section. They had some lovely orchids and I shoved my iPhone right into their little faces. The flower manager came over and I thought "Uh oh. I'm in trouble." But no, she was excited about what I was doing and wanted to show me some other blooms that might be fun to shoot. Now that's customer service!!

I optimized the orchid in Photogene (color, levels, sharpness, etc) and framed it with the Crop n Frame app.

Sending Roses iPhone Style

Digital Diva here. There are some subjects that I have to shoot over and over. I can't help myself. Butterflies and fish. Flowers. Most especially roses. Roses have such symbology wrapped in their beautiful petals. Love. Romance. Apology. Vicious thorns combined with glorious scent. And on and on and on.

This photo was optimized in Photogene, then tweaked in an app called Timeless Photo. I love the vintage look of it.
My same rose photo was graphic artified in an app called addLib. I love it although you have to keep working with it to get an effect you actually want.
I shot this triptych with one of my favorite apps called Mosaic Lite. You shoot three images (or more depending on what "tych" you select before shooting. It takes a little work to get a decent image. This one is a little soft - it could use some sharpness. And yet, I like the dreaminess, too. Especially for the right collage or double exposure (see next photo.)

I combined my little Paris bride (see iPhone Diva blog entry Romance de Paris ) using the DXP app with the soft pink roses for this image. Expect to see more roses - as long as I have my iPhone.

Why I love summers in Tahoe.

Up before dawn with Lynette to shoot the sunrise at Emerald Bay on Lake Tahoe. First out of my pocket was my iPhone, and this the first image of the day. Just point and shoot. No tweaking at all.



After shooting many images from that spot, we wandered over to Eagle Falls and I took this photo. 3 image pano with AutoStitch. Coral ND grad added with Tiffen Photo FX. Then warmed up slightly in Photogene. Amazing. All on the phone.



Now much as I love my iPhone, this was a morning that continued to call out for my "big boy" cameras. This was the shot when the sun finally broke the horizon. Tripod, 2/3 sec shutter speed on each of three exposures (blended in Photomatics). 2 stop neutral density filter on the sky. Loved the result!

Getting an Eyeful of the Eiffel

Digital Diva here. The Eiffel Tower is the most iconic symbol of Paris. Yet on the day we visited it, we had a relatively uninteresting sky and flat noontime light. What to do? Whip out the iPhone of course and get app-happy. The first image is essentially boring - a sleeper of a record shot.
A little faux HDR with Photoforge helped jazz it up.
With Tiffen Cool FX app, I turned the shot into black and white, sepia toned. Frosted edging was added with ArtCamera app. I like this image.
Camera Bag app has my favorite faux infrared - somehow looks painted too in the sky.
My favorite image was made taking the HDR frame and adding PicGrunger app to make a old postcard effect.

Somewhere Under A Rainbow

Digital Diva here with a look at one of my favorite photo phenoms. Looking out the window in Hawaii, I saw this rainbow. I shot the iPhone photo right through the window streaked with rain. (Hey, no need get wet!)


Here is the HDR version done with TrueHDR app. You can faintly see some diffusion from the wet window, which actually makes it look more painterly.


Next I tried a faux infrared with Tiffen IR filter in PhotoFX. Believe it or not, we have rainbows like this on Moloka`i - it is called the land of the night rainbows. They happen during the full moon when it shines on the veils of upland rain. Sometimes they are pastel colors; more often I've seen the in varying shades of white. It is always awe inspiring to see the night rainbow.



Fnally, I combined the faux IR with the color shot and blended them in DXP, the double exposure app for this watercolor effect.