iPhone Monday

I am loving the camera apps available for the iphone! I downloaded four more of them last night and wanted to share some examples for anyone who is interested. They are so much fun! (Keep in mind that these were quick samples I created last night when I first got the apps; the editing isn't exactly perfect.) Best of all, you can use these apps with fresh photos OR with photos from your camera roll (which is what I did for all the images below).

1. Pic Stitch. This app allows you to make collages with your iphone photos. And it's free! It's very straight forward and easy to follow. The app offers effects, too - I used the same effect for all four photos so they'd look cohesive.



2. Impression. This app allows you to put a watermark on your iphone photos. There are many different fonts to choose from, and you can move the watermark around to place it anywhere on your photo. You can also make the watermark as large or as small as you'd like. This one costs $1.99.



3. 100 Cameras in 1. This app has TONS of effects and filters, and you can continually keep adding effects until you're happy with the results. Each time you create an effect, you can continue with that altered image and the app will provide 100 new filters. Once you're happy, you save the image. It gives very "artistic" effects to your photos. I paid for the $1.99 version because it got great reviews; the free version didn't have very good comments. My image is rather dramatic and needs work, but it gives you an idea of the grungy, artsy effects you can achieve.



4. BeFunkyFX. This is another app that has different effects to choose from, and I downloaded the free version which gets great reviews!. It's very simple and straightforward.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

This week's Scavenger Hunt Sunday prompts are new, life, fragrant, pink, and obvious. Happy Easter!

1. New. Our lily of the valley flowers are just barely starting to bloom. I've been keeping a close eye on them day by day.


2. Life. This can be interpreted in so many ways. For me this past week, "life" has been filled with lots of art work. Which makes me happy. Excuse the bald girl...I'm so intimidated about drawing hair. I'm going to stare at this poor girl for a few days and get the courage to give her some style!


3. Fragrant. This lilac bush down the street looks beautiful and is very fragrant!


4. Pink. I believe this is a crabapple tree...? It is so gorgeous, and stands in front of a house that's empty (for sale) in our neighborhood. This was good news for me, because I didn't feel funny standing in the yard for 10 minutes taking photos!


5. Obvious. I love that our flag in this photo provides a subtle backdrop for our azalea bush, yet it's very obvious. My intention was purely to capture the pink blooms, but then I happily noticed what was in the background.

Ceramic Leaf?

I had fun with this week's Photo Art Friday submission. I played around with this image I took of a leaf stuck in a fence, and after lots of layers it started to look like it had been glazed and fired in a kiln. I used lots of texture in this one - on the leaf itself, I used a reverse layer mask and a fabric design (public domain). I also used Bonnie's "Dream Wonder" texture at Saturation/100%, and also a free film grunge texture (Flickr, I think?) and a couple passes through Radlab. I love the freedom of playing with Photo Art in PSE - you can try anything your heart desires with just one click! And every single "mistake" can be corrected. It's such a stress buster for me...Happy Friday, everyone.

The Gladdest Thing

I will be the gladdest thing
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one.
~Edna St. Vincent Millay

Here are a few more of the gorgeous spring photos I've been capturing...I can already see the beautiful pinks and purples peaking (and starting to fade) in our area as I drive around running errands. It has been spectacular for the past ten days and I will miss these spring colors! But, at least summer will bring many more flower opportunities.

Nature's Scriptures

The eager shoots of hostas peek out from the earth, bursting with secrets...nature's scriptures scrolled tightly inside. ~Sherri Brannon

We have a very shady property, so all of our hostas are most definitely "bursting" this week. I took this image a week ago, and already they've quadrupled in size and volume!

Tethered Butterfly

The butterfly is a flying flower,
The flower a tethered butterfly.
~Ponce Denis Écouchard Lebrun

For Kim's Texture Tuesday this week, the prompt is "soft". I love the soft feel of this first photo I took a few days ago of our newly planted dogwood tree (planted last year). It's only about five feet tall at this point. I used Kim's "shine" texture at Soft Light/33%. I also put it into Radlab and used the Maple filter at 50%. There have been so many gorgeous photo opportunities on my street this past week, so I'm adding a couple more captures of spring in Virginia.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

The five prompts this week were clouds, sun flare, seven, high angle, and low angle. Click the button at the bottom of this post to see more submissions, or to participate yourself!

1. Clouds. There have been some pretty sunsets this past week.


2. Sun Flare. I have no idea how to achieve a proper sun flare photo, so I took my trusty point-and-shoot and, well...pointed directly at the sun. I have a feeling there's more expertise required than that, right? This was the most interesting shot I captured.


3. Seven. I put some of my art supplies in bundles of seven, thinking I'd choose one and go with it. But just one bundle looked very bare, so I tried it with all three bundles together. It looks much better, but now it looks like I can't count.


4. High Angle. There was nowhere nearby me this week for me to go way up high, so I did the best I could and put these plants on the floor and photographed them from above. Again, I feel like I'm taking lots of liberties with the prompts this week...lol.


5. Low Angle. I tried very hard to quietly sneak up on my sweet pup while she slept. I laid down and was just about to snap the photo at her eye level when she woke up and stared at me with her "smushy sleep" face. I have to say I was happier with this look than the "sound asleep" one. Such a cutie she is!