Dude Moving to Facebook & Diva On iPhone Diva

Dear Friends,

Digital Dude here. It's been a long time since I've posted. I apologize. Two things have happened. First, I've been made part of a Facebook group called Iphoneography (there are many of these) where folks post their iPhone shots. Hugely creative group and I'm learning like crazy. Unfortunately, it is a closed group so I can't ask you all to come join (wish I could). This group has taken much of my time and pulled me away from Digital Diva, Digital Dude.

Second, I've started posting my iphone photos on MY Facebook page almost daily. I don't go into the technical side there but I am putting up a LOT of images.

So, for all of you who have followed me here, go friend me on Facebook and follow me there. If you have questions on technique, just add a comment or shoot me and email and I'll answer.

Thank you all for your support. I look forward to seeing you on Facebook.

Pix for today -- Two shots with ProHDR. Blended back on itself in Multiply Blend mode in IRIS. Then painted in Artista Oil and blended with original in IRIS. Final tweaks in FilterStorm. Enjoy!

Digital Diva here. I will continue to post on iPhone Diva (iphonediva.com) and still welcomes submission from all her iPhone buddies. I am so excited to share all the wonderful things I've learned the last couple months on iPhoneography. Get ready for Mr. Toad's wild ride. To see new pix and my latest app review, click here.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Things Are Getting Sketchy with My iPhone

Digital Diva here! Interesting images when you combine a sketch (done in ArtCAmera app) with the original photograph. I used DXP with various blend modes for final photos.

The highest sea cliffs in the world seen from Mo`omomi Beach are in Moloka`i. Can you tell it was dawn when I took the original? No? Then can someone tell me why I got up at 430 am?


Flowers at midday, thank heaven.


Aspen trees photo was taken last spring - worked just now.

Through The Looking Glass

Digital Diva here with some questions to ponder. What is our personal creative vision? What themes continually drive our photographic expression? Who are we as artists?

Having just finished a fabulous photo seminar here on Molokai called "Rekindling The Creative Spirit" co-taught by Dewitt Jones, Rikki Cooke, Theresa Airey, and Jonathan Kingston, the Diva may be getting closer to an answer for herself. This annual event fills participants and instructors with inspiration and new techniques/ideas for going further in our photos. We come away rejuvenated; our photography gains new life.

Still, when we examine the themes that continually show up in our image-making, even as we explore new creative options, we may discover clues to an artistic identity; our photo vision if you will.

I gave a slide show for the class combining images from 15 years ago (film, what a concept), digital images from the last year and a half, and more recent iPhone images. All these photo media had distinct commonalities. My unifying themes were and are abstraction, simplicity, and other realities. With "other realities" taking top billing. I've always been captivated by the underlying realities that a camera can see even when we can't. Slow shutter speeds, camera movement, multiple exposure continue to dominate how I "see".

Can you look back and find some of your themes? What attracts you again and again photographically? As Rikki Cooke says, "What's turning your head?"

Here are a couple of iPhone photo art images that turned my head. Or were in my head. Or both.

A Rose is a rose is a rose until you iPhone app it!

Digital Diva here. The Dude and I were walking through Santa Fe last summer and I snapped a photo of climbing roses against an adobe wall, knowing that someday...........

Sure enough, I downloaded it into my iPhone and apped away. Can you guess which apps go with which photos? Some used more than one. Apps I used were Vihgo, Shockmypic, ArtCamera, and Photo Finish. (And one has Edgepix which sadly is no longer available.) Give it your best shot!

Rose 1
Rose 2
Rose 3
Rose 4
Rose 5
Rose 6
Rose 7

Enter The Matrix

Digital Diva here. As many of you know, I am a huge fan of the Ezimba iPhone app. It has more manipulations and filtrations than I've been able to explore. But I'm workin' on it.

My latest foray into the wilds of Ezimba took me to a section called Enter The Matrix. I entered and got happily lost layering matrix effects on various images. Piet Mondrian, a Dutch 20th century painter, is one of my favorite artists and these pieces echo his abstractions to me. This first image was a tree with falling snow.

Next, I matrixed a tropical sunset photo from the coconut grove beach here on Moloka`i.



This is the most abstract (and my favorite, since it feels the most like Mondrian.) The original photo was a blur or drive-by of fall foliage in American River Canyon between Placerville and Lake Tahoe, CA.

This is a matrixed fall aspen tree driveby or blur. I also layered it with an aspen leaf - double exposed in DXP app.

This laua`e fern image is from our garden here in Hawai`i. I photographed it on the sepia setting of my camera, then increased the contrast (a la Brett Weston) and sharpened it. Lastly, I brought it into the iPhone and it went through the matrix.
Sunrise at Moomomi Beach.

And the last image is a double exposure of a matrixed photo of Sierra wildflowers and a photo of butterflies - created with DXP app.

Somethin' Fishy Going On With My iPhone

Digital Diva here. Living on a tropical island means being surrounded by water filled with all manner of colorful fish inspires me to accentuate their color and form with my iPhone (and no, I did not take my phone underwater.) I did app the heck out of my fish photos with Vihgo, DXP, Photogene, Edgepix, Shockmypic, and probably more iPhone apps that I can't recall just now. My iPhone has become a virtual aquarium!