Icelandic Church

Icelandic Church, iPhone4s Image

"A sense of curiosity is nature's original school of education"..........Smiley Blanton

Iceland, Vik Beach

Vik Beach, Iceland, iPhone4s Image

Sitting on the plane to Los Angeles and found this image on my laptop hard drive. I have made three trips to Iceland and always find time to get back to Vik. First off the landscape is wonderful but he real draw are the hot dog s you can buy at the petrol station about 300 yards behind where this image was made.....watch out Nathan's... At any rate I am off on an adventure in Asia - Hong Kong - Bali and Singapore. Part work and part photography.......Stay tuned for some new images.....

Red Church, Iceland

Iceland CHurch

Today's image started as a DSLR photo which was photo-synched over to my iPad2 for processing. Snapseed and Blender were used and then the image was synched back to my desktop where I added a texture and sharpening.

I like creating what I call the anti-postcard image.......The original image is below and was made through a bus window on a rainy day, hence the soft fog look....

Iceland Waterfall

Iceland, iPhone4s

'A strong person and a waterfall always channel their own path'...Unknown

Iceland, Black Sand Beach

Black Sand Beach, Vik, Iceland

There are many black sand beaches in Iceland. Today's image is from the town of Vik and the beach sits about 200 yards off the main road, which I might has only two lanes.

This image was made using an iPhone4 and the true-hdr camera application. It wasnot processed on the iPad or iPhone - it was processed on my mac computer using Nik's Color Efx4 and Photoshop CS6.

Did I mention the gas station located just beyond the beach has some of the best hot dogs I have ever tasted. It is always a must-stop on my itinerary when in Iceland. 

'The Last Pixel Show' has 4 spots open for the iPhone/iPad creativity workshop at The Palouse in Washington State. Click on the link above for more information. We will be covering all types of iPhone/iPad processing as well as the last day being spent on printing your images.

Iceland Church

Iceland Church

Just finished the weekend workshop at Foto Care in New York City. I was running through a few processing tips using today's image and was really liking the results. This is not at all rare in workshops as one usually starts pushing sliders to make sure the results show on the screen - and of course - happy accidents happen. This is something to remember - don't be afraid to push those sliders as far as possible to see the outer limits of what they do....it is a valuable learning tool.

I did a bit more work on this image this morning and decided to post to the blog. As I was moving rather quickly in the workshop all I can remember is PhotostudioHD, Artista Haiku, Sketchmee HD, possibly a bit of ArtistaOil, NIK Color EFX4, PhotoKit Sharpening and I did some retouching in Snapheal for the Mac. Not my usual workflow - hardly ever use this many applications......

The old adage holds true - if you want to learn something......teach it.....

check out The Last Pixel Show  for destination, one on one and online iphone/ipad training.

Iceland, Red Church

This iPhone4 image has been in the archive since last July. This image was made in Hellnar, Snaefellsnes, Iceland.

Since the arrival of so many iPhone/iPad applications for Mac it has become increasing viable to process image like this one on the big screen. And there is no way to express my the gratitude I am certain my eyes are feeling by doing this. Thant plus the availability of CS5 content aware and sharpening applications such as Pixel Genius.

This image wsas processed using developer Macphun's FX Photo Studio PRO and Snapheal. Macphun makes many viable applications for both iPad/iPhone and Mac... Additionally this image was sharpened using Pixel Genius in Photoshop along with the lens correction in Lightroom3.

PS: I also added a bit of noise in Photoshop.

On another note The Last-Pixel Show Workshop website is up and running at http://www.thelastpixelshow.org/.

I am also taking on a few one on one students at my home studio - if interested drop me an email at harry@harrysandler.com. The one on one classes are iPhone/iPad as well as basic Lightroom and Photoshop skills.

below is the original iPhone image:

Dramatic Black and White for the Mac

New application arrived on my screen this morning - Dramatic Black and White - an Application for the Mac.....We have all used this on the iPhone and iPad and now it is on the Mac. This application from the same people who bring us the Artista applications like Oil, Haiku and Grungetastic....Really good developers and they did not let us down with their new offering....They are definately ahead of the Mac App game at the moment....

So I thought I would process an iPhone image on my mac...I used the new Mac application to convert the original image (at the bottom of this blog page) to Black and White - there are a multitude of choices in the Mac App - good choices by the way from Black and White look to grain structure.......

Random Color Painted IN

I then took the image into the iPad and painted back in some random color using Filterstorm....Check out this app whether on your mac or mobile device....so much fun...

Black and White conversion below....

Processed in Dramatic BW on the Mac

Original Image below:

Double Cross

Iceland 2011

Iceland Impression 3

Iceland Impression #3

'Simplicity is the glory of expression'.......Walt Whitman

Iceland Landscape 7

'Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished'......Lao Tzu

Iceland Landscape

Iceland Landscape - iPhone4

Came across this one this morning from the Iceland trip in 2010.....

Iceland - Museum

Iceland - Museum

This image was made the first day in Iceland. It was just behind the hotel so I ran over and made a few images before the jet lag hit me....Sorry, but I do not know the name of this museum - I think it might be a children's museum  - possibly someone out there can help me with this.

Decide to keep it simple and straight ahead today.....

Graffiti

Iceland, Graffiti Kiss....

Found this image on a wall at a farm we were shooting at in Iceland....Of course I could not resist making a few changes....

Jokulsarion Glacier - Iceland

Deep in the heart.....

Only in Iceland kids - a floating ice sculpture that looks like the state of Texas....It never fails to amaze me what shapes these floating sculptures take on.....shapes in rock formations also comes to mind...makes you wonder....could that be 'W' floating behind in a dunce cap....

blog: http://hsandler.blogspot.com
Website: http://harrysandler.com

Iceland - Jokulsarion Glacier

Iceland - Jokulsarion Glacier

Jokulsarion is the largest glacier lagoon/lake in Iceland. It is in the southeast between Skaftafell and the town of Hofn.

ON my first visit to this glacier last year the water was fairly still with little or no movement in the ice sculptures (i like to call them sculptures because of the  natural shapes they take on). This time the water was moving fairly quickly so the 'sculptures' occasionally collided and broke into smaller pieces. These pieces then floated out to the ocean and were washed up on the black beach (images of this in another blog). Good news is when you finish making images at the glacier the black beach is just about 500 yards away - so one can go photograph the pieces as they wash up on the shore...will be posting black beach images later int he week..

Overall Iceland is a continual visual treat whether it be farmland, waterfalls, churches, glaciers or beaches. So many images in a place the size of Kentucky.....

website: http://harrysandler.com
Blog: http://hsandler.blogspot.com

Iceland - Kirkjufjara

Kirkjufjara - Iceland

Yesterday was the long ride back to reality from the Glacier Lagoon in on the south coast of Iceland...As expected it was the best day yet in terms of weather at least until we got closer to Reykjavik, where of course it was raining - what else is new....Generally the trip was good - would have preferred some new locations in the north but that was not in the cards this time around....next trip will involve a camper of some sort....wake up at the destination....stay longer with less cost....

The last stop we made was at Kirkjufjara which is a mix of black beach, wonderful rock formations and the ocean. As we pulled in I noticed this magnificent rock over to my left and decided that was my destination.... it worked out really well...this image is one of my top three from the trip...Today I am posting the iPhone version with the big boy image at a later date.....

This was processed with the help of a friend - Teri Lou Dantzler - who is fast becoming one of the premier iPhoneographers in the United States - and Iceland of course....

Iceland - Farmer Portrait

Iceland - Farm Portrait

A few days ago the farmer in this image gave us free reign to photograph on his property.

This portrait was made using the iPhone4 and Hipstamatic.

IMage Management:

iPhone4
Hipstamatic App
JohnS lens
Kodot Film
converted to Black and white using the monophix application

Iceland - Day 1

ON the Road to Budir

Finally got away from Reykjavik yesterday and drove to the town of Budir in the northwest corner of Iceland...All I can say is wow....total overcast and fog the entire way - my favorite light.....moutain peaks cover in fog - saturated colors....photographers dream....The only drawback was a bit cold and windy....but simply does not matter....Woke up this morning and got out around 530AM....did I mention the sunrise is at 4AM and the sun set around midnight...basically it never really gets dark - there is always a soft glow in the northern sky....

Traveling with Einar Erlendsson fromborgarfjordur moiuntain - West Icelandhttp://www.focusonnature.is/ makes everything really simple to deal with...Einar runs workshops every summer in Iceland with various professional instructors. Last Saturday I gave a one day seminar on the iPhone in Reykjavik and will be going back next year for another....

Landscape above was the last image of the day and the one below was made with my back to the hotel.....

Image Management - top image
True HDR hand held (well rested on a car window)
Perfect Photo
Photo Studio
Transfer

Below:
True HDR on tripod
perfect Photo for sharpeningFocus on nature

Backyard of Hotel Budir

Iceland

Arrived into Iceland last night around 11PM. The sun was just setting although it never really goes dark this time if year - except for maybe one hour per night, and even then not really completely dark....It is nice to be out of the oppressive heat in NY - temperatures here are 50-60 degrees.

Nothing much but rest today as tomorrow is my iPhone seminar at the Grand Hotel in Reykjavik (poster above - wish I could read it). This is being organized by my good friend Einar Erlendsson (Focus on Nature) who runs international photo workshops in Iceland. Also, I have no idea where the Grateful Dead and Buddy Miles listed in the poster came from...never worked for either of those acts...If you happen to be passing through Iceland stop by....

On Sunday we are off to the hinterlands of Iceland for 6 days of shooting.....so looking forward to getting in this marvelous countryside...Iceland is considered by most as the number one photography location in the world.

Stay tuned for some new images....