Fonthill, Pennsylvania

Driveway, Fonthill, Bucks County, Pennsylvania

This image goes back a few years when I visited Fonthill in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with my friend John Barclay.  John runs workshops and photo tours out of Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

According to Wikipedia Fonthill was the home of Henry Chapman Mercer from Doylestown, Pennsylvania.  Constructed in the early 1900's with 44 rooms and over 200 windows...The home contains many decorative tiles the Mercer made during the Arts and Crafts movement as well as artifacts from his world travels. Next door to Fonthil sits the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works also built by Henry Mercer...

If you ever find yourself in the Bucks County, Pennsylvania area stop by - well worth your time.


I will be making a presentation at the Photography Club of Lower Fairfield County in  Stamford, Connecticut  on Wednesday night, January 18   Click here HERE for information. Hope to see you there...

 

Happy New Year

Knowlton, Quebec, Canada

All the best for 2012........

Coney Island Pier

Coney Island, Pier

I have processed this image several times and even posted it once but was never satisfied with the final outcome - was looking for a bit more ambient color to give the effect of waves rolling over the rocks. This morning it was Snapseed Structure that finally made it work for me. That and oversaturating in Filterstorm then brushing in the result locally.

Learn something new, go back and re-process - you never know what will happen.

The original image was made with ProHDR, Filterstorm, Dynamic Light, Rays and Photoforge.

Olympic - Hurricane Ridge

Olympic National Park - Hurricane Ridge

Had to re-post this one....Tried the blogger application yesterday and it posted in what seemed like very low resolution....might need a bit of practice with Blogger before doing that again.

At any rate I went old school using Photoforge, Classic Pan and Snapseed for Structure....

Whoops

Saturn 6, Coney Island

 When I left to drive to Carmel, Indiana the other day I inadvertently left my iPad and iPhone hard drive at home....this makes today's post a 'best of' - or in other words the best of what I have with me....a few images from Coney Island.....

Coney Island

Carousel, Coney Island

Steps and Shadows

Steps and Shadows, San Diego, iPhone4

Outdoor Rock Show

Rock Show, iPhone4

'Forget all about that macho shit and learn how to play guitar'........John Mellencamp

Portree, Isle of Skye

Waterfall, Portree, Isle of Skye, Scotland

Image Management:

iPhone 3Gs
Prohdr - handheld
Photoforge
perfect photo
filterstorm

Missoula, Montana

Missoula, Montana

Ain't That America

Ain't that America

Not a good deal of time this morning. Heading out to the walking dunes near Montauk out on Eastern, Long Island.

Found this image on Shelter Island yesterday after turning down a 'Dead End" street near the water. Most likely will re-process at a later date as part of my American Flag series....

Image Management:

ProHDR - handheld
Photforge for Watercolor
Photostudio
Perfect Photo
Iris
Filterstorm

Hobby Horse

Hobby Horse, Quebec

Photographed using the iPhone4

prohdr-handheld
photostudio
artista oil
perfect photo
photoforge

Blending and Brushing

Homage to Van Gogh

I continue to search for new and different ways to blend images using filterstorm and iris. If only someone would devise an application with layers an entire new world would appear. The makers of Photoforge are claiming to have layers with blend modes in their new application being launched in a few weeks - this boy is hoping that is a reality.

Up until now Filterstorm and  Iris have been in the forefront of the blending with opacity, brushes and size. One difference for me is that in Filterstorm you can add another image to blend with just a few strokes of the stylus. Iris takes 8 moves to get to the same place.

Filterstorm's opacity dialog is always accessible and you are able to make changes while not losing the blend ability. With Iris you need to say 'done' and then say yes to the apply mask dialog before brushing. Both have eraser features which is a good thing.

When you complete your blending with Filterstorm you hit the check mark to save that move,  and, you then have the ability to add another image rather easily.  With Iris you need to go through a number of stylus moves to get another image ready to blend.

I use both of these applications on a regualr basis. I like many of the FX in Iris and find myself adding them in quite frequently. Another plus with Iris is that the blend modes readily available as you work through the image.

I would highly recommend trying both of them to see what fits in your work-flow. Me, I am goign to continue to pursue blending and brushing with a few other appications as well as getting deeper into Filterstorm, Iris and the new improved Photoforge (when released).

I am off on a drive to Toledo and Indiana tomorrow. Have a great weekend...

Merry Oldsmobile

I can not stop working on my iPad2. I did have the first version but for some reason I simply never got into it. I was superstitious about changing from processing on the iPhone - why, I have no idea. Hard to change those old habits. Another old habit I got into was using the same applications from day to day and expecting different results -and we all know nothing ever happens using that model.

The past few weeks I have working mostly on blending technique to include double and triple blending using photostudio, photoforge, Iris, Filterstorm and most recently, thanks to my friend and fellow iPhone addict, Teri Lou Dantzler, the Blender Application. And by the way when I just went to her blog to copy the address for this blog I was blown away by her latest iPhone creation...check it out

OK, on to today's image:


Captured with prohdr handheld then it was sharpened in Photoforge. I then made several blending layers: Photostudio for pencil paint 1, and then another using pencil paint 2 (twice). Used Dynamic Light for yet another layer of Relief pushed to the max. Then I made a separate blending layer using color sketch in Iris and yet another using SketchmeeHD. I also made an ancient canvas layer in Photostudio to use to add final texture. Remember to always make a preset wherever possible so you can repeat this if necessary. I also make screen-shots along the way that I file with the original blend layers. In terms of shameless self promotion I teach my folder structure in my iPhone workshops.

After making all these layers I use Iris and Blender to put them together to create what I am after. Sometimes it takes a glass of wine to get there - sometimes it just happens. As a final touch I take the image into Filterstorm and add the texture (ancient canvas in this case) layer underneath the original. Then you paint with your finger at a low opacity and desired brush size to paint in the texture to your desired level. If you paint in too much texture take the eraser at low opacity and lightly rub it out. Filterstorm is very powerful in this respect. There are many ways to do this but I choose Filterstorm simply because it allows the ipad to work in horizontal and vertical mode depending on the image. Iris does not allow this and frankly they should change that in the next upgrade.

Upcoming Events:

May 21: Apple Store, Indianapolis, Indiana - 8AM-10AM Music and iPhone Presentation
September 9-10: Renaissance Fine Art and Design Gallery - 2 day iPhone Workshop
September 11: Gallery Show opens at Renaissance Fine Art and Design Gallery, Carmel, Indiana
October 9: gallery Show opens at Gallery 20 in Toledo, Ohio -Benefit for 1Matters.org.

Roger Daltry

Roger Daltry

'There are places I'll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends, I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I've loved them all'....John Lennon
  
Next Saturday, May 21, I am making my first presentation at an Apple Store in Indianapolis, Indiana. The presentation is called 'Music and iPhone' and it joins these two parts of my life together. The concept for this presentation being my particular journey through life, coming from a small town, Atlantic City,  working in the music business for 40 years, and, over the past three years pursuing my lifetime avocation - Photography. The iPhone has been a large part of that transition.

As most of my music archives were shot with film I decided to re-process a few of these images in the iPhone and iPad in an attempt to make the transition from music to iPhone. In truth much of the fabric of my life has been songs and photographs. John Lennon, Henri Cartier Bresson, Arnold Newman, Irving Penn, John Prine, Yo Yo Ma, The Byrds to name just a few. I relate to different time periods and moods in my life with lyrics and/or images.

The image today is Roger Daltry, re-processed using the iPad2.

Original captured with a Nikon F series camera on Ektachrome Slide FIlm
scanned into the digital world using an Imacon/Hasselblad 343
sharpened in Photoforge
SketchmeeHD for texture
Dynamic light for underlying Orton effect
Photostudio for pencil paint 2
Artista Haiku for texture
Iris for blending
Filterstorm for mask blending and local tonality

The Rose

Captured and processed in the iPhone4

TrueHDR
Iris for Ipad - blending and creating texture with presets
Photoforge for sharpening
Photostudio for pencil paint 2
Filterstorm for blending and local tonality of final image

Lafayette Graveyard

Stopped by the Garden District to see the Lafayette Graveyard but they had the locks on the fences. Only image I could make was by shooting through the fence...


Iphone4 - Camera+ on tripod
2 exposures blended in True HDR
heavily sharpened in photoforge plus vibrance and saturation
then old photo for black and white look
old photo then sharpened in photoforge
then filterstorm for final blend and sharpening

Carousel Redoux

Still playing around with blending option and textures.

This time Paintmee was used for the initial blending
The original was a Noir image - very much blue-black (pre-sharpened in Photoforge)
both were blended in Iris
the horses were painted back from the Paintmee Original
Sharpening and local tonality in Filterstorm

Iceland Farm

I am still playing with the new Iris and finding more and more to like about it everyday.

This image today is a redoux from a trip to Iceland last summer. Mostly used various applications to create textures and then blend them in Iris - not to mention creating a few textures in Iris. I used Photostudio Pencil Paint 2, Sketchmee and Photoforge on this image. Finished it off with Filterstorm and painted in various parts of several images to create the final look.

Filterstorm and Iris are a very powerful team when used in tandem.

Images originally was captured in ProHDR - hand held.

PS: I left the image slightly askew - not sure why - it just felt correct.

Off to New Orleans tomorrow for two days of shooting at the Jazz Festival...

Iris and Cape Cod

So I continue to play with the new Iris Photo Suite for iPad.

First I did a smudge (using the smudge tool in Photoforge) on the original image.  Next I loaded the smudged image into Iris and put a grunge texture on top of the smudge before making that the base layer to blend with another image.

Went back and loaded the original image and blended both together using the opacity brush to blend back in a bit more of the original color in the water. Finished it off with a frame and sharpened both the boat and object off to the right which was a docking buoy.

Old Hotel - Hudson Valley

It was raining on Sunday when I photographed this structure - need to go back this week with some better light....also need to get inside... did a good bit of post processing playing around with textures - always something new to learn...

Captured and Process using the iPhone4 and iPad2

ProHDR (5 images)
autostitch
autopainter
Sketchmee for texture
Artista Haiku for textures
Iris for blending
Photoforge for sharpening
Filterstorm for local tonality, composite work and blending

Now a bit of self promotion. I entered a PDN photo contest with one of my studio portraits. Trying to get some votes. If you have some time please click on the link below and vote for my image... thanks

http://facesphotocontest.com/bin/Rate?image_id=1009411490http://facesphotocontest.com/bin/Rate?image_id=1009411490