Iphoneography: Favorites of the Week

I thought I'd share a handful of my favorite iphone photos from the past week, and mention some of the camera apps I used for processing.

For my self-portrait photo, I achieved the split frame appearance with Filter Mania 2 (Elune filter). At some point I turned it black and white, but I don't remember which filter I used - there are so many! For the outer frame (which looks like torn paper), and the added floral decoration in the corners, I used Pixlr Express PLUS (which is free!)...they have tons of cool frames to choose from. The flowers are found in the "pattern" frame section.

For the photo of my art space, I used Snapseed for my basic editing. This is my go-to editing app, and it's free! I then used the fantastic Afterglow app, which I love for its subtle filters and awesome textures (more on that below). I use this app every day and am so glad I discovered it.

For my "faux snow" photo, I achieved the look of falling snow by once again using the Afterglow app. I first used Texture #22 to start getting the look of snow. The trick is to apply this texture repeatedly so that the appearance of snow dramatically increases...if you only apply it once or twice, the snow will be barely visible. This app also allows you to rotate the texture, which I did each time. I actually applied the #22 texture about 8 times in this image to get the look of heavy snow. The final step I took was to go to the Original filter section and apply the "frost" texture. This filter lightens the image considerably, which makes the snow stand out. I can't take credit for this wonderful technique - I learned about it from dogsitter80 on Instagram. Her IG photos are wonderful and she has inspired me with her creative processing.

For my focus photo, I used the Photo FX app, which I absolutely love. I has beautiful color filters (the Grads/Tints section) and I use it often to change the color of my skies in photos. If you have a photo with a dreary gray sky, you can do magical things with this app - the sky can be made to look lavender, coral, or a gorgeous cyan blue (and many other colors, too). For this photo, I like that it added a bit of color to an otherwise drab photo. For the text, I used the Swipe app...you swipe your finger across your iphone screen to determine where the font will appear. You can also situate your text at any angle you choose, which is a really nice feature. I was able to line my word up with the angle of the lines on the street.

For my final image of the trees, I first put the photo into iColorama S and used the painterly option (I believe it was option 2) to bring out the tree limbs slightly. I brought the opacity slider way down to make the painterly effect very subtle...by doing this, it simply accentuates the tree branches. I then put my image into an amazing app called Distressed FX, another new favorite. It has many distressed textures (and more subtle overlays) to choose from. It gives your image a very handpainted/mixed media/collage-like appearance. I love it!

If you haven't taken many photos with your iphone camera, I highly recommend it. It's a whole new world of fun and creativity. The possibilities are endless, but be forewarned - it's addicting! My instagram name is sherribrannon - please click on my name if you'd like to see more of my iphone photos. Thanks for stopping by! Iphoneography is something I like a lot, so writing about it will be an occasional feature on my blog. In no way am I an expert, but I enjoy writing about my happy discoveries while playing!