Photography - Panoramic Shots

"Panoramic photographs have an irresistible spaciousness that, for many photographers, amply justifies the cost of buying or renting a panoramic camera for landscapes, city scenes and even interior views..."

Panoramic Photography is capturing images on a wider format,so that it includes much more than what the eyes can see. The technique of Panoramic photographs is that it stitches multiple images from the same camera together to form a single, wide photograph (vertical or horizontal).To me, I think a panoramic photograph captures everything that you want around you in a photograph, all at once.

When I took my photograph, I used a wide angle type. A wide angle Panoramic photo is anything that looks like a wide angle photo, which shows anything less than 180 degrees. Wide angle panoramas can even look like regular images, except they are stitched from many pictures so they would have more clarity or resolution.

Q: What is you favorite camera? Why?

Tresidder, Jack, et al. The Kodak library of creative photography: extend your range. Kodak, 1985.

App Photo Editing- Day 4: Grunge Field Trip

Hello Everyone!

Well, we are down to the second to final post. *Sigh* sad times. Okay, back to happiness :).

For this post, I wanted to do something different from what I've previously done. In my other posts, I used techniques from chapters one, five, and four to edit my pictures. Although there are many different editing techniques found in "iPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps." by Dan Marcolina, I decided to go with techniques from chapter three for this post: Grunge. The author recommended using a sharp and clean image for this because the whole idea of "grunging" something is to make it a bit dirtier (Marcolina 28). With this in mind, I searched for a high quality picture with good natural lighting. At last, I came across a picture of a couple of my friends and I on the bus on a field trip.

Don't I look great? Haha. Anyways, in the introduction to this chapter the author states that grunging a picture "takes the story to another era or changes the narrative of the setting, adding an air of mystery or desolation" (Marcolina 28). Of course, I wanted to have a result that captured this idea with my editing. 

I currently have an Apple iPhone 5C which is the device used for editing. For this experiment, the author used an image of him in a bathroom mirror. There isn't much on why he chose this picture to edit but I loved the final product of what he had and I wanted to recreate it. He only used two apps for this experiment. The first one was Photoshop Express which is free on the app store and I've used it before so I was already familiar with it. The second app he used was PicGrunger which is $0.99 on the app store. 

The first step is to use Photoshop Express to "crop, brighten, convert to sepia, and sharpen" the image (Marcolina 43). Within the app, I did four things. I first cropped the window out of the picture to make it a bit more square. Because the image is already pretty lit, I only had to adjust the exposure to 10. From there, I used the memory filter which is basically what the app had instead of sepia. Finally, I sharpened the image to 90. This is the process of that:

The second and final step is to use PicGrunger to "apply scratches and sepia texture" (Marcolina 43). Surprisingly, this app was very easy to use. I expected that I would need to adjust everything or draw things but I was glad to realize that this was not the case. I simply opened the app, selected a picture, then I was asked what effect I wanted. To go more into detail, I first chose the scratched effect, which is shown below. It was a bit much to me at first so I then decreased the strength to 50. That was basically everything I did because the default was the "Gig" style and sepia effect that the author mentioned. This is what that very short process looked like: 

After this whole process, I got this as the final result:

Looks kind of vintage huh? Is it just me? Through this experiment I have expanded my knowledge in a couple of ways. First off, I know now how to use another app that gives a vintage feel to pictures and is very easy to use. I will most definitely be using that app again. I've also learned how making something a bit less clean gives it an entirely new feeling. I loved this picture as the original but I love the way the edit turned out because I feel like it came from an old war album or something. In my photography experience, I never used grunge before and now I love it.  I absolutely loved the convenience of this app and the final product was amazing. 

Here's the final process: It was nice and easy. 

What do you think of this result? Where does it look like it's from to you?

MLA Citation: Marcolina, Dan. IPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps. Berkley, CA: Peachpit, 2011. Print.

App Photo Editing- Day 3: Last Day Blur

Hello Everybody!

Happy New Year! I am so sorry that I haven't been on here for the longest time! I hope that everyone had a lovely New Year and is enjoying 2017 so far.

Alright, on with the post. The past couple of posts, I've used techniques from chapter one (masking) and chapter five (toon looks) from Dan Marcolina's book "iPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps". In this book, chapter four is all about the impact of blurring a picture and making it a vignette. I wanted to find a picture that I would want to edit and frame in my room as if it was taken and edited in a studio. As I was on the hunt looking through old pictures I found one from the last day of school last year. It's a picture of my best friends and me:

Before I continue, I'd like to thank the people pictured above for letting me use this for my blog. Thanks! Anyways, in a bit of an introduction to this chapter the author states, "Blurring an image can make it more effective. Because mobile phones start out being a bit soft, it is easy to make a blur effect seem natural. The effect also gives the shot a dreamy quality, which allows for a more symbolic interpretation" (Marcolina 44). With this in mind, I knew that I wanted to capture this with my editing.

I currently have an Apple iPhone 5C which is the device used for the editing. For this experiment, the author took an image of a Night-Blooming Cereus (certain "The Bean Trees"  connection there *wink wink*). Ahem, back to the post. The author took an image of a Night-Blooming Cereus and he used editing with soft window light and a little bit of color saturation which allowed the tiered plant to have new life (Marcolina 46). I wanted to recreate what he had done using the same technique. He only used two apps for this experiment which sort of surprised me. The first one was Photoshop Express which is free on the app store. Secondly was TiltShift. I was a bit on edge with downloading this app because it's $1.99 on the app store, but I knew it would help me in the future so I purchased it.

The first step is to use Photoshop Express to "Brighten using exposure and saturation along with slight sharpening" (Marcolina 46). Within the app, I did three things. First of all, I set the exposure of the picture to 20. Then I sharpened it to 25. Finally, I increased the saturation to 10. This is the final product of that:

The second and final step is to use TiltShift and using the circular blur visual guide to focus on what you want to enhance in the image. He then pushed the edges of the image into oblivion by using Gauss blur along with saturation and brightness (Marcolina 46). Within the app, I used the tools (shown below) to edit my image. The red circle you see in the image on the right is the visual guide used to show the area that will remain clear. As Marcolina did, I also used the Gauss blur. Firstly, I set the blur to 3. Under the "Slider currently controls" panel, this is the first option. Secondly, I set the saturation to 1.15. Under the "Slider currently controls" panel, this is the second option. Thirdly, I set the contrast to 1.05. This is the third option under the "Slider currently controls" panel. Finally, I increased the brightness to 1.05. As you might have guessed, this is the final option under the panel.

After this entire process, this is the result I had:

Through this experiment, I have expanded my knowledge in a couple of ways. First of all, I am now aware of how to use just some of the features of a brand new app. This can benefit me in the future if I ever need that app again. I've also learned how just blurring a picture can give a completely different vibe versus a plain picture. Although it didn't turn out exactly the way I planned, I still am satisfied with the result :).

Here's the final process:

I apologize for the image going off the page but I want to show the entire process so there's no stopping that... Oh my gosh! Only two more posts left! Is there anything you think I should've done differently for this experiment?

App Photo Editing- Day 2: Toon Looks

Hello Everyone!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday over this much needed break.

Alright, on with the post. In my first post, I used a technique that was mentioned in the first chapter of my book, "iPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps" by Dan Marcolina. As I continued reading, the second chapter is all edited pictures so there wasn't much I could do with that. Chapter 3 contained ways to "grunge" up a picture but I felt that none of the pictures I had would be able to capture that effect in the correct way. Blurs and vignettes are used in chapter four, but I (again) felt that none of my pictures would go well with this effect. Finally, I came across chapter 5: Toon Looks. I've always loved the way that old cartoons look (such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) so I knew that I'd have to give this one a try.

As a bit of an introduction to the chapter the author states, "Stripping away the detail and leaving just line and color is a nice way of adding interest to an uninteresting photo... It can help clarify your idea or give it ambiguity. Either way, the result is injected with a bit of humor or wit by the cartoon effect" (Marcolina 58). With this in mind, I didn't want to use a completely uninteresting photo and I wanted to do something on a bigger scale so I decided on a panoramic picture I took at a Seattle Mariner's game once:

Currently, I have an Apple iPhone 5C which is the device used for the editing. For this experiment, the author took an image of a Silk Orange Tree and wanted to enhance it using the toon look (Marcolina 69). I wanted to recreate what he had done using the same technique. The recommended apps that the author stated were ToonPaint, Blur FX, and DXP (which I used previously on my first post). In the app store, the full version of ToonPaint is $1.99. I didn't want to spend that money so I downloaded the free version of the app. BlurFX cost $0.99 which isn't that bad so I paid for it and I would be able to use this in the future. Since I already had DXP from the previous blog post, I did not need to re-download it, but to those wondering, it is a free app. 

The first step is to use ToonPaint to "Export black line and gray conversion" (Marcolina 69). Within the app, I set the black line to 50% and the gray to 100%. This is the final product of that: 

Next up is to use BlurFX and "Median-blur original image at about 65. Add saturation and stroke in some soft hints" (Marcolina 69). With picture number 2, I median-blurred the image to 65% (as said in the book) and in picture number 3, I increased the saturation to 100%. 

Finally, use DXP to "Merge steps 1 and 2 with multiply blend mode" (Marcolina 69). Once your in the app, you must load the blurred image (#3) from your camera roll, then load the black and white one (#1) using the "load for mask" button to get the final product. When I did this, I got: 

Through this experiment, I have expanded my knowledge in several ways. First of all, I am now aware of how to use two new apps which can benefit me in the future. I've also learned the impact that an edited image can have (as mentioned above). Personally, I love the way the image turned out. The sky is dark but the field gives that color right in the middle of the image and I find it beautiful. 

Here's the final process: (I skipped picture #2 because picture #1 and #3 were the ones that were blended)

What did you think of this process? What would you like to see next?

Side Note: The collage was made and  the numbers in the corner were added using PicsArt which is not mentioned in the book. I discovered this app on my own and it is free on the app store :).

App Photo Editing- Day 1: Black and White Mask

Hello Everyone!

My name is Angelina. Before I get into this post, I'd like to give you a little bit of background on myself. I've always been interested in photography. My mom has done photography for some of my old school events which has shaped my interest for as long as I can remember. In 8th grade, I was also Editor-In-Chief for the yearbook. I took many of the pictures that were used that year using my mom's Nikon D3100 camera so I would consider myself experienced. Like any teenager in our generation, I take pictures on my phone a lot. Whether it be at a concert, family event, at home, or taking a selfie, I use my phone to capture important moments in my life. Personally, I rarely use filters (unlike my dad who is a middle aged man who uses them to feel younger) because I like seeing the natural beauty in things. Because of this, I decided to get a book this quarter that will help me improve my skills in editing pictures because I can only crop and maybe fix some red eyes. "iPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps" by Dan Marcolina explains how to edit pictures using apps and I love my phone so it's perfect.

The first chapter of this book discusses the basics of picture taking. This includes angles, lighting, the shape of the picture, dimensions, and so on. Within this, the author states, "If the shot is at eye level, it gives the viewer a feeling of first person, as though it is something he is experiencing from his perspective" (Marcolina 4). Using this quote, I laid down next to my dog and took a picture of him while he was sleeping:

Isn't he cute? Hehe. Ahem. Back to the editing. I currently have an Apple iPhone 5C which is what I used for the editing. For this first experiment, the author, "converted the image to black and white to bring emphasis to the light pattern... I layered a blurred darker version with a brighter sharp one..." (Marcolina 17). He used a picture of a crystal doorknob but I'm using a picture of my dog. I wanted to recreate what he had done using the same technique. The apps the author recommended for this were Photoshop Express and Iris Studio. I downloaded both of these but I had some trouble with Iris Studio because it required some sort of login. With this minor setback, I decided to go with a different app also recommended for this called DXP. (FYI: all of these apps are free). DXP has the same editing tools as Iris Studio so it's okay as a replacement.

The first step is to use Photoshop Express to "Create a dark, sharp black-and-white version" (Marcolina 17). Within the app, I used the "Silvered" filter. From there, I increased the clarity to 43 to sharpen the image.

Secondly, using Photoshop Express create a darker, soft-focus version (Marcolina 17). Within the app, I reduced the clarity to -70 then I reduced the contrast to -40 to blur it and give it the soft-focus effect.

Finally, using Iris Studio (DXP in my case), "Overlay blurred image on top of sharp version using soft light mode" (Marcolina 17). Once you're in the app, you must load the sharp image from your camera roll then load the blurred version using the "load for mask" button to get the final product.

Through this experiment, I have expanded my knowledge in several ways. First of all, I am now aware of how to use two new apps which can benefit me if I need to edit pictures in the future. I've also learned how to get the right clarity and blurred effect using these apps so that a picture isn't too hard to see but still is noticeably blurry. Finally, using the author's method of overlaying the two pictures created with one editing app to get one amazing new picture that is an enhancement of the original has fascinated me. 

Here's the final process:

In our world filled with selfies, social media, filters, and more, how do you enhance the moments captured in your life? 

Side Note: The collage was made and the numbers in the corner were added using the app PicsArt which is not mentioned in the book. I discovered this app on my own and it is free on the app store :).

MLA Citation: Marcolina, Dan. IPhone Obsessed: Photo Editing Experiments with Apps. Berkley, CA: Peachpit, 2011. Print.