Japan Trip 2014 - Tokyo Streets

Street scenes from my last trip to Japan.  All taken on my iphone.

Using Multiple Filter Apps on my Phone

I have a confession to make.  I'm rather addicted to filter apps for the camera on my phone.  If there's an image I really like, I might put it through two or even three apps before I'm finished.

This photo below, I took on my iphone.  I took it, as I take most of my photos through the Camera+ app.  Camera+ isn't my favourite editing app, but I like it as a starting point as I can shoot as many pictures as I like and then edit later.  When taking shots of my little bundle of energy, multiple shots is a must.

I loved the pure joy in my daughter's face in this shot but wanted to really make the photo pop.  I didn't note things down as I was doing them, but I probably used either the "backlit" or "shade" filter (I find my camera phone often takes photos a little dark so this is usually the first thing I do) and the "magic hour" effect, dialled down in intensity.  I cropped the photo to a square as well.

After I saved the photo, I put it through the Snapseed app.  Snapseed is currently my favourite editing app, the downside being though that you can only take and edit one photo at a time.  Using the "tune image function" I've played with the brightness, the "ambiance", the saturation and the contrast.  It's so easy to use, you just swipe up and down to change the function and then across to change the intensity.  

I've then used the "tilt-shift" function to get the front of the image in focus and blurred the background a little.

Finally, I've put it through a third filter as I uploaded it to Instagram.  As the photo was a little on the yellow side, I've used the "Amaro" filter which has lit up the little one's face and added a cross-processed feel.  Cross processing was something I used to do in the darkroom, pre-digital days, processing slide film as a negative.  I always loved that look.

I have some other apps that I love to use, some results that you'll see on my instagram feed.

Do you have favourite photo apps?  I have a number more that I use regularly that I'll post about soon.

Lenses and Apps on my iPhone

I've had a little time to play with the iphone lenses I got for my birthday.  I've mostly been using the wide/macro, but then again, wide angles have always been my favourite.

I love getting really close to my subject and showing the world around them, it feels more intimate, shooting in their shadow almost.  This shot below was on the wide and put through the Camera+ app.  I actually shoot almost everything through Camera+ and use its simple light adjustments, cropping and sometimes filters.

I find you do loose a bit of detail with the lenses (let's face it, they really are just toys), but to be honest, I don't really mind the look.

I then put the photo through pixlr-o-matic to get this look.  I think I'd leave off the frame though.

You also get some distortion with the wide angle (see the curved water's edge), but again, I actually don't mind it too much.

I really want to play with the filters a lot more and fiddle around with a variety of apps before I go to Japan.  Are there any you'd recommend?

I've had a few people ask where I (well, The Man) got my lenses from.  They are from this store, but be warned before you click, if you're a bit of a gadget geek, this can be quite a dangerous place to look.... my wish list keeps getting longer and longer...

My Creative Space

On my desk, a few new toys... toys I was given for my birthday... toys I'm just itching to go out and play with.... some iphone lenses.

It's nine weeks until I leave for my next fabric shopping trip to Japan and this time, I'm going to do something that makes this ex-professional photographer have a little mini panic attack... I'm going to leave my camera behind.  The idea of travelling around that beautiful country without my DSLR actually seems quite silly, but while I'm lugging heavy loads of fabric / books / handmade papers / kimonos around I can't have it with me most of the time anyway.

So I've given myself a challenge, on that trip, I'm going to practice the art of "iphoneography".  There are a lot of great tips that I'm reading my way through here and some gorgeous inspiration here.

So to help me on my way, for my birthday The Man bought be three little iphone lenses, a wide angle / macro, a telephoto and a fish eye.  Fingers crossed for some fine weather this weekend so that I can go and start to play.

To see what other creative types have been up to this week, here is the place to go, or add your own to show us what you've been doing.