Another Pine Cone Photo

Remember the photo of a pine cone that I posted a few days ago? (It's here, if you don't remember.) Well, when I was photographing it, I also took some macro shots. Here is my favorite:



I am entering this photo into 3 challenges: LEM - theme is Anything, Macro Friday, and Texture Twist.




And I thought I'd give you a little peek into my "studio" for this shot:



I used my dad's Nikon D80 for this shot, but I use this setup for my Samsung, too. I'm not a professional photographer, so I don't have any reflectors or tripods or shutter remotes or basically any fancy equipment at all. I sit with the window behind me (shades tilted if the sun is too bright) and I use food to keep my camera steady. This time, it was a bag of barley. Sometimes, it's rice or flour... Whatever I can find that is solid but slightly soft, so I can settle the camera into the perfect angle.

It's all about cheap, quick, and easy for me right now. Maybe someday I'll own a DLSR and I'll have a mini-studio set up in a more permanent location. Until then, I'm doing it my way... On the coffee table!

SOOC Saturday & Texture Twist

Here is my SOOC shot for Marvelous Mommy's link-up:





And here is the edited version for Texture Twist:



I used a couple different textures from Kim Klassen to edit this photo. I believe (but am not certain) that I used golden and 2 layers of sweet treat, all with different blending modes and opacity. I am also entering this into Tara's LEM Challenge because this week's theme is Anything.




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iPhoneography

I am going to be featuring a different app
each week when I post my iPhone photos.



This week I am going to tell you about Camera Fun Free,
which is a shooting and editing app.

When you open the app, you can take a photo with the in-app camera, or choose a photo from your camera roll. If you use the in-app camera, you also get to preview your photo with the selected effect. Since I have the free version of this app, I only have 3 photo effects - canvas, sepia, and sketch. The sepia is a little bit too orange-y for my taste, and the canvas texture is so overdone that doesn't work with many photos (landscape and sky shots look okay). However, the sketch effect is very cool for abstract, high-contrast or infrared-type photos.

After you select a photo effect, you can then send to twitter or fb. One drawback - the new photo with the effect is not automatically saved. You have to remember to tap the "Save" button or you will lose the photo.

Here is a photo SOOP and with the 3 different effects applied:


And here are some more photos that I've used the sketch effect on:


Okay, that's all for today! I've got plenty of wedding planning to keep me busy.

iPhoneography and LEM - Reflections

iPhoneography

I am going to be featuring a different app
each week when I post my iPhone photos.



This week I am going to tell you about instagram,
which is my favorite editing app.

When you touch the instagram button, you automatically get taken to the Feed, which is where you see the photos that your friends are posting. The other options are: Popular, to see the photos with the most Likes in the past hour; Share, which is how you share your own photos; News, so you can see if anyone has recently Followed you or Liked your photos; and @yma367 (your username), so you can see your own photos and edit your account settings. (If you use instagram, search for me and Follow please!

When you click on the Share button, the camera is instantly opened, or you can choose to view your Camera Roll to select a previously taken photo. There are currently 14 filters: X-Pro II, Lomo-fi, Earlybird, Sutro, Toaster, Inkwell, Walden, Hefe, Apollo, Poprocket, Nashville, Gotham, 1977, and Lord Kelvin. I usually use X-Pro II, Walden, and Nashville. When you import a photo from this app to your computer, the size it comes out is 612x612.

Here's a few before and after shots using this app:

X-Pro II


X-Pro II

1977

Nashville

I am entering the photo above into the LEM Photo Challenge because the theme this week is Reflections.


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And now for the Scrabble Tile Word Challenge (theme - photography) and Sweet Photo Challenge (theme - vintage). As you can see, I made my Scrabble tile words and gave them a vintage look. I am also using this photo for the Texture Twist because I used the free November3BW texture from Isabelle Lafrance.




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Okay, one last photo for tonight! A SOOC shot for Marvelous Mommy.

Come back tomorrow to see my edit of this photo!

Saturday 6, 5, 1

So, the smart thing to do today (and for future Saturday posts) would have been to plan out which challenges & memes that I wanted to link up with, and use just 1 or 2 photos to enter all of them... Like I tried to do last week.

Apparently, I used up all of my mad condensing skillz last week.

Welcome to "6 photos, 5 challenges, 1 collage," aka "Amy is uncoordinated."



I used a textured frame from Shadowhouse Creations.


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Come back tomorrow to see
my edit of this SOOC photo!


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The theme for Tara's LEM challenge this week is blue.


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iPhoneography

I am going to start featuring a different app
each week when I post my iPhone photos.



This week, I am going to tell you about Project 365,
which is my favorite iPhone photography app.



I love this app because it organizes of all of my daily photos. It also stores the photos so that I can delete them from my photo album. When I open the app and click on a date, I have the option to either add a photo from my album or take a photo with the in-app camera. If you import a photo from this app to your computer, the size it comes out is very small - 320x318. (Why the extra 2 pixels? I have no idea.)

My iPhone photo for today is one of Jon knocking icicles off our gutter/roofline. (Don't get scared, he wasn't hitting them violently with the shovel. No one's eyes were poked and no ice was flung in any direction.)

(I am also entering this into
Faith's Simplicity Photography Challenge
because the theme is weather.)

Here is the comparison with the SOOP (straight out of phone) photo
and the edited (with pse8) photo:

Saturday Link-ups

How many photography memes and challenges can I link up to in one post... using one photo?

Well, one photo in 2 versions.

Let's see!


SOOC + watermark + resize for web:
Yes, I used the pop-up flash. Deal with it.


Edited photo:


SOOC for Marvelous Mommy's SOOC Saturday.
Black and white for Tara's LEM Photo Challenge.
Added texture for Kristy's new meme, Texture Twist.
(I used the Silent Night texture from Kim Klassen.)





Okay, so 3 link-ups is not a lot. I'm just proud of myself for configuring this photo to fit all 3 challenges without complicated processing or wordy explanations.

Oh wait, I forgot iPhoneography!

Here's a random sky shot that I love. It was processed using the instagram app. (I know I said that I would write about my favorite apps, but I didn't have a chance to do do that yet. Next week!)



It's so colorful that I am going to enter it into Faith's Simplicity Photography Challenge, since Colorful is the theme.

Okay, now I'm done.

SOOC Saturday & LEM Photo Challenge

My SOOC photo today is of some Valentine's Day candy. Jon and I don't celebrate this "holiday" because our dating anniversary is just 2 weeks away. The candy is from a gift bag from his job. Not actually from anyone he works with, but a leftover gift bag from a wedding.



And I have to admit, this photo is not entirely SOOC. I ran it through noiseware and watermarked it. I think I deleted my actual SOOC shot after editing because I was very unhappy with my shoot photos from the other morning. I've long since outgrown my camera, but I have to make do until the money to buy a DSLR camera drops out of the sky and into my bank account.



I am submitting my edited version of this photo into the LEM Photo Challenge because the theme this weekend is Valentine's Day. There's also the Scrabble Tile Word photo challenge, which has the same theme.