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.

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.

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.

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!

Livin' in Those Little Latitudes

Digital Diva here and life is heating up in the tropics as I keep playing on my iPhone with Toonpaint, and combining images with the originals in DXP. Here's three more images.

Something fishy is going on here. Oh yeah, the blend mode is difference!

Hula dancing at the seashore on Moloka`i.


Anthurium and ferns.