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.

Three New Images

Digital Dude here. Sorry it's been so long between posts. I've been working on a number of projects. One of my favorites -- my weekly photos of celebration which (if you are on the digitaldivadigitaldude mailing list) you already receive. If not, go to www.celebratewhatsright.com and sign up.

Here are three recent fun iphone shots.....

First, a shot of a bass sitting next to a wall at a hotel in Honolulu

Next a shot of my son's dog on the beach in Malibu

Finally.... a shot of my big toe as I waited for a doctor's appointment

As you can see, the iPhone is ready to entertain you no matter what situation you are in! Enjoy!

Best Straight iPhone Shot Ever!

Digital Diva here with the best straight iPhone shot ever. No photoshop, no cool iPhone apps. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Except maybe supernatural or divine creation having nothing to do with the photographer. The Dude gave a coffee cup to his Diva for Christmas this year that says "Dog Mom" on it and has a ring of paw prints on its inner circumference. I zapped a cup of coffee in the microwave and pulled it out to find this perfect paw print in bubbles on top. When I hollered to the Digital Dude to come look, he gasped and said "Did you get a picture of it?" I did. Proving that the Best Camera truly is the one you have with you. Ahhhhhh, the paws that refreshes.

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.

Art at 35,000 feet!

Hi, Digital Dude here at 35,000 feet, somewhere between Philadelphia and Las Vegas. Ah, time to tweak some images!

Started with a shot I’d taken out the window as we landed in Philly two days ago.



Then I searched out a shot of sunflowers that I had taken a long time ago in France (with a big boy camera)





Put the two together using DXP (Double Exposure) with the Inverse blend mode. Notice how the original color come through only in the lower left where the water of the first photo is almost black. Also in the upper quarter of the frame both left and right, where there are dark trees in the first photo.





Next, I brought the image into Photogene, where I change the levels and bumped up the saturation and sharpness.





Finally, I brought the image into Fotomuse and added both a layer (which, in this case, gave it a golden hue) and a mottled black boarder.



There, that didn't take long. Ooops, got to go, we're landing now!