Create a Botanical Illustration with Apps

In this tutorial, I will explain my workflow for taking this photo:


and turning it into this one that has the quality of a botanical illustration:




Step 1 - Diptic


Insert the original image in both the upper and lower frames of a Diptic 2-photo square layout. (This step is optional - I did this to make my image look like a circle of flowers)


Next, flip the bottom image so it creates a mirror image of the top one and then decrease the white borders. Save results. (This could also be done by using any of the apps that produce mirror images)


Step 2 - Snapseed


Open Image 2 in Snapseed and adjust Tuning Brightness -10, Ambiance +20, Warmth +25.  Apply changes and adjust Details: Structure +50. Apply changes and save.


Step 3 - Tangled FX


Open image 3 in Tangled FX and adjust to your liking (to view one of my customized Tangled FX formulas, check out this post). Save changes.


Step 4 - Painteresque


Open Image 4 in Painteresque and use Painteresque2 Style - Save changes.

Step 5 - Tangled FX 


Open Image 5 and run it through Tangled FX one more time.  Save changes.


Step 6 - Snapseed


If needed make final adjustments to Tuning: Brightness -10, Ambiance +20, Saturation -10, Warmth +20. Apply. Finally apply a Center Focus and adjust Blur Strength +40, Outer Brightness -60 and Inner Brightness +35. Save Final Changes


Here are a couple more samples using basically the same technique. If you find your edited image is too strong, you can always tone it down by combining it with one of the earlier stages using a blender app like Image Blender.





The Whole Story - Jane Schultz

Better known as @phot0bug on Instagram, Jane Schultz is the photographer featured in today's edition of The Whole Story. If you'd like a chance to be featured, just tag your mobile photos with the hashtag #the_whole_story on Instagram. 


The Photograph



You can’t stop looking me, staring at me 
Be what I be, you can’t stop looking at me 
So get up out my face, 
You can’t stop clickin at me 
Writin’ ’bout me, tweeting ’bout me, 
I can’t stop, it’s what I gon’ be, 
My swagger’s in check 
(The Real California a Milk Song -Cher Lloyd) .



The Whole Story by Jane Schultz


This image is part of a collaborative series with my friend Adam, @atmytime. The series concept was to bring together our very different styles to portray cows in unlikely places, something that made us break out in laughter when we first thought of it. As an East Coaster, I supplied the abandoned BBQ backdrop. My Texan collab partner supplied the angus with edits. I then added wings, blending and painting. And so this exemplifies the edit process. I added textures and painterly touches, including self made textures, using numerous apps including Procreate, Sumo Paint, aremaC, and ArtRage. My finishing touches involved Filterstorm and a set of lyrics. This image was truly a collaborative process, from the combination of images to the editing and conceptual elements.

The Photographer


© Jane Schultz
Jane Schultz - An intellectual property, wife, and mother, residing in the East Coast of the U.S. Over many years, I have been immersed in a passion for photography and music. With no formal training in art, I am self-taught in photography, moving from DSLR work to primarily mobile imagery. I have no set style, but let the creative process take me and my image wherever it goes. At times, the process becomes like a dreamscape, going wherever my inner reach takes it and pouring out what can't otherwise be said.  Mobile artistry has provided me with a creative medium to lose myself in, and a wonderful opportunity to engage with many talented artists. I administer the ig_artistry feed on Instagram, which seeks to foster originality and emotional content in art.


Find Jane:  Instagram / Instagram 2 / EyeEm / iphoneart / Flickr


tadaa Filter Friday Competition - Zeitgeist Filter Released

Today marks the release of the 3rd and final filter for the tadaa Filter Friday competition. The latest filter is Zeitgeist - "Travel back to the olden days with the latest in blast-from-the-past technology!"

Download tadaa - it's FREE. Then open the app and go to the Awesome section and scroll over to the Challenge column. Shoot or edit existing images using the Zeitgeist filter for a chance to have your photo printed on canvas and featured in the tadaa community.

Of course I wanted to experiment with it - below are a few of my quick edits. It reminds me of the photos we used to take with Kodak Instamatic cameras back in the 1970's.












Published in iPhoneLife Magazine!

I'm excited to announce my first print article for iPhone Life Magazine. The upcoming March/April issue features an article written by yours truly, "Unleash Your Inner Van Gogh - 9 Apps That Add Painterly Effects to Your Photos". In the article I mention nine of my favorite painterly apps and demonstrate their effects on a single image.

iPhoneLife is available as a single issue or you can subscribe for the whole year for only $12.99. You can download the app for free and subscribe through the app.

In this issue you'll also find a Productivity App Roundup, The Best of CES 2014, Innovative iPhone Photography Apps and more!



The Whole Story - Photo by Elena Bouvier

Have you ever encountered someone like Sybil? Have you ever wanted to know more? I am pleased to feature this beautiful image and story by Elena Bouvier.

For a chance to be featured just tag your Instagram mobile photos with the hashtag #the_whole_story.


The Photograph

::Sybil:: © Elena Bouvier
::Sybil:: © Elena Bouvier


The Whole Story by Elena Bouvier


:: Sybil ::

I heard her, before I saw her. 

Her eyes were closed 
her song moved through me 
like a bow across a cello.

Finally, she felt me watching 

and listening, smiling softly. 
She returned the smile 
and I asked what the tune was,
"My heart song".

I extended my hand,

I'm Elena, who are you?
She took my hand with both of hers,
warm and content.
I'm Sybil.

Sybil, it's a pleasure to meet you.

Do you have somewhere safe to go?
Oh baby, I've got lots of places.
Don't you worry 'bout me!
I've got the streets in my bones.

I haven't seen Sybil

since October 9. 
Hopefully, she went 
somewhere warmer.


Sybil is part of the portfolio "Anonymous America 

:: Anonymous America ::


(From the mind of a documentarian and the heart of an artist.)


Born out of haste, the desire to record a fleeting moment, I made my first street candid, Help Me, with the very shallow-focus Hipstamatic Tinto1884 lens reminiscent of plastic cameras like Diana and Holga. Enamored with the small circle of clarity directing the viewer, challenging the viewer, I began to deliberately use this lens for street scenes.

Initially, I believed this portfolio was about giving voice to those living on the edge of society, the invisible Americans. The homeless, the addicted, the veterans, the mentally and emotionally unstable; the people encountered every day asking for help, or simply seeking relief in some quiet corner.
I recognize now that these images are more than this; they are examples of how we choose to see the other, who we choose to see with clarity and respect--and who we choose not to see.



The Photographer

Elena Bouvier
Elena Bouvier - I am a documentarian and storyteller, an editorialist and voyeur. Photography is the constant that ties my past to my future. It is an action; a way of being and thinking that informs, distracts, consumes and enriches my experience of this life. It is a habit, a process so familiar that it sometimes feels like muscle memory. I push the shutter to document, to collect with clarity the moments and things that will be transformed by time, memory and sentimentality. Often, my images strike me as visual metaphors of where I was emotionally when I physically made the image.

I am a free-spirit who has cobbled a career from painting murals, gardening professionally, hosting and producing a lesbian feminist radio program, book conservation, as well as editorial and free-lance photography. I have a BFA in photography from Moore College of Art and Design and an MFA in Book Arts and Printmaking from the University of the Arts. I was also a Fulbright Fellowship recipient to Germany.

Find Elena:  Website / Instagram / Backspaces / Flickr / Fine Art America


ColorTime Releases Major Update

ColorTime just released a major update, and it's now FREE to download. Thanks to developer, Jerome Dewhurst, I had a chance to try this app out before the release so I've been playing with it for a few weeks and highly recommend it.  Although it is a universal app, it's designed primarily for the iPad. The video below shows you just what ColorTime can do.




Here are a couple of versions of an image I edited with ColorTime (below). With this app, it's not a matter of applying a filter, but rather adjusting an Shadows, Midtones, Highlights, Contrast and Saturation using a very intuitive user interface.

The one issue I had a little trouble with at first was the Select button. A sold white square means you are applying the changes to the entire image, a light square with a black circle in the middle adjusts only the outer edges of the image and the unedited center can be moved and made larger or smaller. The reverse, a dark square with white circle in the center indicates that adjustments are applied only to the center of the image. Finally there is a Brush which allows the user to mask a particular area for applying changes. To activate the Brush, select the paintbrush icon under Select and press your finger on your device screen until the red dots appear and then move your finger to paint in the area you would like to work on. Once you get the hang of it, it's really quite simple and quite clever at that!

Be sure to press the center Modulate Color button which is designed to cycle through various color grades. Press it again to stop the cycling and you can save as is, or further edit the image to your liking.

© Geri Centonze



© Geri Centonze

© Geri Centonze

Press Release


Based on a new GPU accelerated graphics engine, ColorTime 2.0 is the first app for a mobile device that allows 1080p HD video to be color graded in real-time.

The powerful grading tools in ColorTime enable consumers to make their images and HD videos look beautiful and professionally finished. The gestural interface transforms the iPad into a color grading panel, enabling color and tone to be accurately manipulated in the highlights, midtones and shadows.
VertexGrade technology allows grades to be applied to organic, freeform selections.

KEY FEATURES

NEW***Color grade 1080p HD video in real-time***
  • Accurately manipulate: Shadows, Midtones, Highlights, Contrast, Saturation.
  • Apply unlimited changes to: All the image, Inside of a shape, Outside of a shape, Long-press and drag to paint a selection.
  • Use different brush sizes to make your selections.
  • MODULATE the colors in your image - explore beautiful new looks.
  • Save your grades and sync them with iCloud.
  • Share to social networks.
  • Crop and rotate your photos and video.
  • ALL OPERATIONS ARE NON-DESTRUCTIVE and reversible

Unique Color Gesture
The most natural way to manipulate color in your photos.
Just touch the screen and drag. ColorTime's unique gesture interface allows you to effortlessly change color and brightness of the shadows, midtones, highlights and contrast in your photo.

Full Screen Realtime Editing
Fill the display with your image and watch it change in realtime. ColorTime uses a new graphics processing engine so that you can manipulate up to 16.7 Megapixel photos or 1080p HD video in real-time full screen.

VertexGrade Technology
A powerful and non-destructive way to selectively change parts of your picture. VertexGrade technology allows you to long-touch and drag to select part of your photo or video. You can then change just the area selected. Make as many selections and as many changes as you like, it won’t slow ColorTime down.

Interactive Shape
A versatile way to add a vignette or create a unique look.
ColorTime’s inbuilt shape allows you to assign one look to the inside of the shape and another to the outside. At its simplest, you can darken the edges of an image to create a vignette, or go further and create your own unique effect.

Modulate Mode
Need inspiration? Let ColorTime generate some looks for you.
Press the play button and ColorTime will smoothly animate the color in your photo or video.
ColorTime uses an algorithm to assign an almost endless sequence of unique looks.

Grade Manager
Save your favorite grades.
ColorTime will sync your top 5 grades across your iOS devices using iCloud.

Social Integration
Share your creation on Facebook, Twitter, Email, Vimeo, and others.

About the developer:
Jerome Dewhurst is a consultant color scientist for feature-film productions, with experience spanning from blockbuster movies to smaller independents. Specializing in color grading and digital intermediate technology, Jerome’s current interest is in bringing professional motion picture imaging technologies to consumers. ColorTime is the first such product, exploiting multi-touch and an innovative new gesture, to give the consumer a tactile grading experience somewhat akin to what a professional colorist experiences using a grading panel costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Painterly Mobile Art Monday No. 22

Looking through the Painterly Mobile Art Flickr Group is like strolling through an art gallery. It's really amazing to see all the work being done using only mobile devices. Please visit the group page on Flickr and if you're inclined to edit in a painterly way with your mobile device, please join us!

Toy Soldiers: Battle of Waterloo reenactment 2013 © Sean Hayes
Toy Soldiers: Battle of Waterloo reenactment 2013 © Sean Hayes

Little Red Barnhouse © Trevor Wilson
Little Red Barnhouse © Trevor Wilson



© Erika Brothers
© Erika Brothers

hats © jun yamaguchi
hats © jun yamaguchi

Reach © Andrew Lucchesi
Reach © Andrew Lucchesi 
Fue en un cabaret © Patty Larson
Fue en un cabaret © Patty Larson

© Wayne Greer
© Wayne Greer

© Julie Toupin
© Julie Toupin

The Four Winds Street © Dr. Pajchiwo
The Four Winds Street © Dr. Pajchiwo

Metamorphic Camera © Chad Rankin
Metamorphic Camera © Chad Rankin

© Robin Robertis
© Robin Robertis

In the Garden © Andrea Bigiarini
In the Garden © Andrea Bigiarini

Vanity © Mariko Klug
Vanity © Mariko Klug

Embrace your inner woman © Trish G
Embrace your inner woman © Trish G

Tallinn © Vadim Demjianov
Tallinn © Vadim Demjianov

Still life with wooden bowl © Brett Chenoweth
Still life with wooden bowl © Brett Chenoweth

Norristown Farm © Lou Liuzzi
Norristown Farm © Lou Liuzzi

Lifecycle 3 © Dani Salvadori
Lifecycle 3 © Dani Salvadori

Old olive tree © Vanessa Vox
Old olive tree © Vanessa Vox

fishing expedition © rakusribut
fishing expedition © rakusribut

Flowers Vase © Craig Huller
Flowers Vase © Craig Huller

The quiet hunting © Natali Prosvetova
The quiet hunting © Natali Prosvetova

Wake Me Up When It's Warm Outside © Bobbi McMurry
Wake Me Up When It's Warm Outside © Bobbi McMurry

Painted Dandelion © Leon
Painted Dandelion © Leon

Looking Out © Kathy Clay
Looking Out © Kathy Clay

Red on Red © Roger Guetta
Red on Red © Roger Guetta

© Paula Broom
© Paula Broom

Towards the Marsh © Sarah Jarrett
Towards the Marsh © Sarah Jarrett

The Summer Heat © Allan Copson
The Summer Heat © Allan Copson

Who? © Cristian Margarita
Who? © Cristian Margarita