Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 12 – Mix It Up

Welcome back to the last week of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge, hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet. This week’s theme is Mix It Up because in this last week, you will have the liberty to do whatever you like with your photos. The only thing we ask of you is to try to and see if you can use at least two out of the 11 different image edit options that we covered in the last 11 weeks.

This means you still (1) share at least one good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device, apply 2 or more effects on the photo and share with us the result. So if there’s any topics covered in the last few weeks that you would like to explore further, this last week is the week to do it!

And since this is the last week, I thought I go back to looking at photography and building a photo story.

Now in the last few weeks, we have gradually moved from photography to image editing, dabbling with double exposures, adding text effects and also colour splash. We were looking at singular photos. But most times, we like to delve into detail. We like to take multiple pictures and share them.

To present them in a stylistically consistent package to tell a story can be an art. I am of course not a master of that, but the following are some ways, I try to do this.

1. Use photos of similar colour family to make a collection. Notice that these are all photos taken at different times and in different countries and of different subjects. But the colour unites them to tell a story of the colour pink and its appearence in nature.

2. Besides images of similar colour, you can also use the same image editing style for the photos in the same collection. I ended up with a bunch of photos taken in a temple that I wasn’t too pleased with. But layering them using double exposure techniques gave these photos additional complexity and brightened the colour. The layered photos create a visual story of the motifs within the temple that I am pleased with.

4. Or simple use photos taken within the same period of time with the same context. In this set of photos, the light and colours remain consistent since they were taken in the same environment in the short span of time where Donna was fooling on the floor and I was fooling around with stickers in my hand. This means that I have a set of photos that have consistent colour and light levels and that gel together as a group.

4. But that doesn’t automatically mean there can’t be variation in the filters you use on the photos. Below, the set of 4 selfies depict the same dog taken in the same setting, but two photos with a warmer colour temperature and two with a cooler colour temperature and placing them alternately in a square format, I was able to achieve some variation in the colours to create interest but still have enough consistency remaining for the set of four to gel together as a whole rather than look jarring because the colours are different. Repeat elements in the visual, in colour or style to create consistency.

5. Create an action sequence. And help guide the eyes to travel through the photo from top to bottom or left to right, depending on the action. 
I chose to use the collage feature in Moldiv  to stitch the photos together quickly to create my collection. Other popular collage apps include Diptic (paid). Collage options can also be used in some of the other apps covered before like PicsArt.

Now it’s your turn to share!

You can choose to collage a collection of your photos like what I did above, or you can choose to explore using multiple effects on 1 or more photos out of what we have covered in the last 11 weeks. It’s all up to your creativity and also the photo that you chose to work with.

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 11 May end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog.

Pic 1 – Your Photo of the Week can be taken with any equipment – a regular camera, a DSLR, a smartphone, hack even a pin-hole camera if you so choose!

Pic 2 – Pic 2 is optional. The theme this week is to use 2 or more effects on the photo. In all cases, it would be helpful if you can name the app effect used so we can understand what you are doing ; )

Add the challenge badge and link your post to the host and co-host sites. Be nice and visit with some of the other challengers for this week! :) And do remember to leave me your blog post link in the comments below, in case I do not receive the pingback/trackback from your link.

For more information, you can read in detail more about the challenge and the instructions at the About page here. You can also grab the badges here.

Questions? Feel free to pose any questions in the comments below or email me at weliveinaflat@gmail.com. Next up, what happens after you have linked up? Why you start getting your challenger photo grid filled up!

Got Get It!

This week, it’s your turn to share with us an app that you love or use fairly often! Tell us why you like it!

Get Inspired!

And since we’re getting back to the basics, here are some of the type of photography that I like.

• Bright, airy pet photos and action shots
• Distinctive colours that are not as bright
• Cats from different angles
• Expressive dogs
• Clean, high key photos
• Anything goes on this account!

Host Challenge Post

Donna and I discovered trees with seeds wrapped in cotton last week. I made a study of the tree and it’s parts from various angles, and also our interaction with it. I decided that the photos should have a blue-green tint in the highlights and an orange tint to deepen the shadows, so as to give the set of 5 photos a consistent colour treatment. However, the first photo does stand out from the rest because of the strong backlight and contrast as well as being the only picture with the vignette applied.

All the bits of cotton on the grass.
Apps used:
1. Snapseed to adjust light values,
2. VSCOcam mellow filter to colour correct,
3. Moldiv to stitch the photos together

Original photos:

Just Moldiv to quickly stitch up the five pictures to show you their original colour. The photos don’t gel as well because of the dark shadow for the parts of the tree taken against the backlight of the sky, versus the other photos that are more evenly exposed. Using the same colour filter across the photos helped to create a more consistent mood across the photos in the 1st set above.

Challenger Photo Grids

Every week, challenger grids get updated with the new photos! At the end, you get to grab your grid off this blog for your own pleasure. :D Meanwhile, you can view one another’s photos on the blogs by clicking on the linked numbered weeks above each challenger’s photo grid. I will try to keep it up to date as quick as I can ;)

Host| weliveinaflat.com
[ photos tagged “snappy happy” ]

Host| firebonnet.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| completelydisappear.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| Little Dogs Laughed
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

Challenger| Claim your photo grid, join the challenge today!

Next week, we’ll get Snappy H’appy with Creative Mixes for your photos! Thanks for checking out this Photo Challenge and making it all the way to the end of the post! ;)