Just Playing Around

I have two Easter Lilies on my dining room table, waiting for me to deliver them.  While I’m it makes me happy to give them away, and I think that they look pretty, I can’t wait to get them out of my house.   Why?  Because the smell of two of them is overwhelming!

That didn’t deter me, however, from taking the opportunity provided by some beautiful late-afternoon sunlight streaming in through the windows to take some snaps.  And, since I had just downloaded more iPhone apps to play with, this was the perfect time.  I was trying out both Camera Awesome and Camera +.  Awesome is free, + is not.   I’m not sure which one I like better, nor have I figured out whether they have the same features.

This particular shot was taken in Camera+.  After testing out many of the editing features — the usual iphone array of filters, presets and frames, I stuck with some basic edits for exposure and saturation.   I was pleased with the final product.   Then, I decided to experiment with another post-processing app I had downloaded:  Repix.   Think brushes.  Lots of brushes!   I tried nearly everyone available in the app.  Some I removed, some I left.   I don’t recall exactly what I kept, but it wasn’t until I was nearly finished that I discovered how to use the Erasure tool at a lower opacity and what awesomeness one can do with the “silk” brushes.  I was pleased with my final product — something that looked entirely different from the photograph that I shot.   I like the abstractness of this, yet it has enough definition (I think) that you can tell that it is a close-up of a flower.    Repix let me then open it in Instagram for posting.

I later brought it into Photoshop Elements.  Initially my intent was to simply add my copyright/signature, but I ended up playing with some additional filters.  It looks a little different, but I’m not sure which I like better.   I like the definition in the IG version; but I also like how the PSE version is more abstract.  I had applied the vignetting in Repix and it looks okay in the Instagram version, but it needs more smoothing in the PSE version.

Which to you prefer and why?   All feedback appreciated.

Easter Lily:  Instagram version

 

Easter Lily

Frame in the PSE version is made from two layers of Kim Klassen’s texture kk_2303, with lots of adjustments to the saturation.

 

 

Sunday Quote, 2013, Week 12, Thich Nhat Hanh

We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.
                                                                 – Thich Nhat Hanh

Understanding The Nebula: The Cloud of Unknowing

Weekly Photo Challenge: My neighborhood, My phone camera

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a new phone (think mid last decade), so never have I had a decent phone camera! That changed last weekend when I finally decided to buy a phone that was usable as, you know, a phone. Although I know I can use Siri’s voice commands to dial, I’m thrilled to be able to have a working keypad on my phone. Besides, I found Siri’s “I don’t know what you mean” comments to be so similar to a petulant teenager’s comments that I quickly tired if her. It was fun, though, finding out her (its?) responses to very unkind things said to her. Try it for a laugh!

One thing that I will not tire of quickly, though, is the camera on the iPhone 5. I’ve been clicking away all week. I thought my very first shot, snapped as we left the nearby phone store, was appropriate to this challenge. (I was NOT driving.) It isn’t the best shot, but it is my neighborhood!

I created this post on the phone too. That’s definitely something that I’d rather do on my laptop next time I’m writing this much text!

Next: Explore the many cool iPhone photography apps. Do you have a favorite? I’d love to hear your recommendations in the comments below.

Find out how others documented their neighborhoods in this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge.