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Snappy H’appy – about running the photo challenge

Thought I’ll write a bit about some lessons learned from hosting this photo challenge. 

#1 Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want
My expectations of photo challenges in general is that I hope it will build a sense of community among all the participants since we’re all doing this project together. The first photo challenge I hosted, I felt did not do this well enough. There wasn’t much interaction between the participants with each other.

So this time, I thought a co-host would be a good idea. And Meghan from Firebonnet.com did a wonderful job of visiting all the participants and in some cases having even more conversation with them than I managed to.

I don’t really like to impose, but this time I did also ask that participants try to visit and leave a comment on the host, co-hosts and other participants’ blogs. And I did observe greater levels of interaction this round of challenge compared to the last.

#2 Find ways to make sharing easier
There are two key things that I wanted to improve upon with this challenge – (1) making it easy for me to help you to (2) share your challenge content.

The most efficient way of sharing is the use of LinkyTools in blog hops. But I didn’t really want to do that. A recent Linky Tools breakdown caused many blogs to end up with pages with broken image links. Definitely not the best user experience to have for both the blogger and the readers. Also, Link Tools has no SEO benefits for the users who submit their links to the blog activity. But given that we are all in the same photo conversation, the exchange of links and any SEO boost that come with them I think is beneficial for all parties so like in the first round of the challenge, I persisted in collating all the participant links and publishing them on each post.

The problem with this is that it is pretty manual work, and I was usually behind on it for my first photo challenge. I have to say that the Phoneography Monday Photo Challenge by Lens and Pens by Sally and Michelle’s Weekly Pet Challenge are two of the few challenges that also take on the extra effort of collating the links. This definitely helps to drive the conversation, versus leaving the links to languish on the comments, because it does get tedious for a participant to come back and filter them out to visit. At least, I feel so.

What I came up with was the idea of the Photo Grid, that helps participants track their progress visually and allows other users to easily visit each of their photos for the different themes. It was also more efficient for me to collate the links as they came in (as long as you remember to leave them in the comments on the right post ;) ) rather than wait for the end of the week to do so like in the first photo challenge. By then, it becomes quite a chore hunting around for links :P It has made this work more efficient, although the posts still end up late sometimes due to me spending more time or less writing the post for each specific theme.

I know you have shared on your blogs that there are some themes you enjoyed more and some less. It was the same with me, some I enjoyed writing more, some I was less enthusiastic about but thought it would help to make a complete set of challenges for people exploring the different features in photo apps. So I am sorry that some times I am late and it throws you off at times. I do apologise!  :)

#3 Find ways to make the challenge more engaging
You would think that the Photo Grid appears to be more effort to me this time round compared to just copying and pasting links. But I assure you that it is effort that I find worth doing. For one, more participants have completed or are on your way to completing the full set of challenges compared to the last challenge. You guys are just so awesome for doing this the whole way with me and Meghan!

I also thought that it would help to provide some app suggestions for each theme to help you along, but in fact, a lot of times you have already some of your own favourite apps up your sleeves to share, which is really fantastic! I love that this makes the challenge more of a two-way conversation. I’m learning from you, as much as you’re learning from me. ;)

There were some failures as well. Chiefly the late posts. And also starting some activity on Pinterest, but not being able to sustain it the whole way. So I thank you for your patience and tolerance in this learning process!

Now I’ve rambled enough. Below you’ll find the photo grids. This was supposed to be the finale post but, I think Zeke’s Adventures and perhaps Sassmuffins and Forestwoodfolkart may be intending to complete the full challenge still. Zeke’s Adventures had an accident and a few rough weeks, which is why they need more time.  So I guess we’ll hang on a bit until you guys are done. ;)

For the finale post, if you can let me know the one photo that you are most happy with that you created for the challenge, that would be helpful for me to highlight in the finale. ;) Thank you so much!


Congratulations for reaching the end of the Snappy Ha’ppy Photo Challenge!
Hosted by weliveinaflat.com and firebonnet.com 

Completed Photo Grids

[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]

[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]


[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]


[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]


[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]


[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]


Photo Grids
pending completion

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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.


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” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

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

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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! ;) 

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 11 – Text on photo

Ten Uses for Text on Photos

1) Make a notice
Left – Made with Studio; Right – Made with Moldiv

2) Add your brand/credit/attribution to your copyrighted images.Add a credit for your pictures
Left – Made with MOldiv; Right – Made with Studio

3) Supplementary text help to enhance or explain the photo

Left – Made with Moldiv; Right – Made with Studio

4) Label or title your photo

Left – Made with Moldiv; Right – Made with Studio

5) Add a mantra or make a quotograph/quotogram
 
Left – Made with Studio; Right – Made with Moldiv

6) Add balance to a photo
Both made with Moldiv

7) Text as part of the design
Both made with Studio

8) Tell a story
Both made with Moldiv

9) Embellish your photo collage
Left – Made with both Moldiv and Studio; Right – Made with Moldive

10) Make a festive e-card

Left – Made with Studio; Right – Made with Photoshop


Welcome back to Week 11 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet ;)
This challenge asks you to (1) share a good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device and share with us the result. This week it’s time to add text to your photos!

Some all-in-one photo apps like Picsart easily help you add text to your photos. There are also dedicated text apps for this function like Phonto and Over. My two favourite are Moldiv, a collage app and Studio, a design app. Let’s take a look at them.

Moldiv

add text to your photos using moldiv

Moldiv is a collage app that I’ve featured in the Snappy H’appy cutouts post before so more details on that link. I also like the app for it’s selection of fonts and customisation options :) The following screens give you a quick overview of the text features.


Click on Edit Text and the following options will appear: 
This screen shows the Stroke/Shadow presets in the Edit Text section. 
This screen shows the available tag patterns to choose from, should you need a background for your text.

But if you prefer your text on photos to look less home-made or crafty and more designy, then the Studio app may be more up your alley.

Studio Design

Studio bills itself as the Instagram for design. That’s why the splash page for the app is the image feed from other users that you may follow.

Like Instagram, the button right at the bottom screen center lets you take or load your photo to begin. Or you may choose to start on a clean slate if you just want to play around with the text or design elements Studio has, without the photo.

The studio user interface can be more complex. Design elements like text are added as layers over your base image, if you have one.

There is a free library of overlays to choose from, and there are also more free and in-app purchases that you can download from the Overlay Market. For this post, we look specifically at the available text options that come with the app installed.

If you want to input your own text, you have the option of using “Text” or “Text Crops”. Voice/Thought Bubbles are useful background for your text if you desire ;)

And if you’re feeling uninspired for that day, riffle through the “Mantras” and “Social Jive” sections for pre-made phrases.


This screen above shows a text crop being used. It’s kind of obscured by the text bubbles though. Sorry about that!

This screen above shows a Text layer overlayed on top of the Text Crop layer.

This screen shows the edit options for Text.

You can choose to save to your Gallery/Camera album or to share on your social media accounts. 

 The result:


Get Inspired!


Go get it!
Photo apps for your mobile devices

iOS devices

  • Design apps
    • Studio Design free, in app purchases [ iPhone ]
    • Rhonna Designs paid [ iPhone | iPad ]
  • Collage apps
    • Moldiv free, with in app purchases [ iPhone | iPad ]
  • Text apps
    • Path on paid [ iPhone | iPad ] – lets you draw a line where you want the text to appear
    • Phonto free [ iPhone | iPad ]
    • Over paid [ iPhone | iPad ]

Android devices


Host Challenge Photo

Photo of the week
Edited with Photoshop. Last week’s photo to illustrate the training post. Photo was taken indoors at night so the quality wasn’t too good. 

Apped Photo

Edited with Snapseed and Studio. In Studio, added the round badge to focus on Donna’s volleyball smacking paw (‘cept there’s no volleyball, lol), and the text which I sized bigger than the original.  


Now it’s your turn to share!

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 4 May end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog. (You can follow my format above if you like).

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 a Pop or Splash of colour, but if that is not your cup of tea, you are free to choose other app effects for your app-ed 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!


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” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

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

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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! ;) 

Mobile Photo Challenge Week 10 – Editing for A Pop or Splash of Colour

How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
Picsart Colour Splash effect, black and white, followed by light sepia for the monochrome portions.

It is easy to assume that selective colouring, as a technique,  should be used to accentuate a photo by giving it a pop of colour. This means most of the photo remains as black and white or some other monochrome of a consistent tint, so that the one coloured area/subject of that photo becomes the focus of the photo.

Selective color is a post-processing technique where most of a photo is converted to black and white, but some parts are left in color…  The selective color technique emphasizes parts of the photo and draws more attention to the subject.

The subject impresses if it’s something eye-catching standing out of the sea of monochrome, like a glowing jewel in the ocean.

How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
PicsArt Coloursplash effect, photo further tinted in VSCOcam to give the monochrome portions a blue tone
How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
PicsArt Colour Splash, with further colour adjustment in Snapseed

But then again, sometimes we like to take a closer look at some of our subjects and they could take up much of the frame. And so we could end up with a sweep of colour, not just a pop. And I think that’s fine too ;) Helps you focus on the colourful subject and helping the background to recede… further into the background ;)

It’s actually a pretty useful tool when you don’t have specialised lens to render a busy background into gentle bokeh that your subject can stand out from.

How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
PicsArt Colour Splash, further adjustment in VSCOcam to warm up the monochrome. How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
PicsArt Colour Splash effect, monochrome colour adjusted in VSCOcam.How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
Picsart Colour Splash effect, green colour

And perhaps in some cases, the colour or lack of it helps differentiate the still from the moving -how the leaves move in the wind, how the duckweed ripples on the water.

Black and white helps create a kind of stillness in the picture, and coloursplash lets you show the viewer the subject in it’s original colour and it’s spatial relationship with the background. The challenge is to find the visual harmony between the two.

How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
PicsArt Colour Splash Effect, temple detail


snappy happy photo challenge logo black and whiteWelcome back to Week 10 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet ;)

This challenge asks you to (1) share a good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device and share with us the result. This week we are back to the theme of Colour and we encourage you to explore creating photos with a pop of colour or more than a splash of colour. It’s all up to you!

Let’s look at the Colour Splash function in some apps, shall we?


Camera360

Before when I was using the iPhone, I was pretty happy with Camera360‘s options for black and white with a pop of colour. Mainly because it offers an easy one tap and you’re done solution :P

There were two sections you can go to do this, unfortunately, I am unable to provide the screenshots since I no longer have an iPhone. So fiddle with your iPhone abit and you should be able to find these two sections that let you determine the primary colour you want to colour your subject appear in your black and white.

In my case, I chose black and white with some shade of blue and tada! Pop of colour dog toy ;)

*Note, while camera360 is available for Android, the Android version appears to be lacking one of the two sets of colour splash sections in camera360 for iPhone. So I would not recommend this for Android.


PicsArt

Now for android, PicsArt is the app I like for the Colour Splash effect.

Unlike Camera360 mentioned for iPhone above, PicsArt lets you select up to three colours to show up in your black and white. And that’s cool because most things do appear to be more than one colour. Consider this rosy flower with its sunny yellow heart ;)

How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
Just a screenshot to show you the different colour swatches selected for each photo. 


Get Inspired!


Go Get it!
Photo apps for your mobile phone

iPhone/iPad

Android


Host Challenge Post

Photo of the weekHow to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
Tiny purple flowers using Panasonic FZ35.

App Challenge PhotoHow to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color
PicsArt Colour Splash, followed by PicsArt Orton FX filter.

Here’s the colour swatch selected:
How to edit mobile phone photos to get B&W pics with a pop of color


Now it’s your turn to share!

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 27 Apr end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog. (You can follow my format above if you like).

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 a Pop or Splash of colour, but if that is not your cup of tea, you are free to choose other app effects for your app-ed 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!


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” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

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

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

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

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 9 – Double exposures

double exposures photo phone apps

If you have a film camera that allows you to expose the same frame twice to different subjects, you will end up with a photo that comprises the two scenes overlapping each other. Photos taken using this method are called double exposures. And in the case where there is more than two times the frame is exposed, the result becomes a multiple exposure.


double exposures photo phone appsWelcome back to Week 9 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet ;)

This challenge asks you to (1) share a good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device and share with us the result. We’re back to the theme of Light. This week, let’s explore Double Exposure.

Double Exposure

Because double exposure means that the frame has been exposed to light twice, you can generally expect the final image to be pretty bright/light.

double exposures photo phone apps

A pretty comprehensive video tutorial on double exposures ; )

So let’s take a look at how to create such photos using photos apps, shall we?

Since double exposures means precisely that, exposure to two different images. You need start with two photos.

How do I pick the two photos?

In my case, I generally think about what sort of visual story I would like to tell, and also whether the photos complement each other in terms of the composition.

Set One | By subject matter
double exposures photo phone apps
This set of two photos are both taken at Nara Park in Japan. Nara Park is known for a few of its iconic Japanese temples and the deer that roam freely in the park. The two photos couldn’t have been more different, except that together they are two halves of the story that is Nara Park. Both photos are pretty balanced. Photo 1 has two deer, one on each side of the photo. Photo 2 shows a temple squarely in the middle as the focal point.

This is how the photo turned out using the app – Double Photo. The two deer end up framed within the silhouette of the temple, whose facade has been covered up by the forest detail in the deer picture. The sky remains dominant, with bits of foliage peeking through the swirling clouds.

double exposures photo phone apps

Set 2 | Photos with complementary or contrasting colours/brightness values
double exposure photo phone apps
This set of photos I picked because they both have a focuse area in the image that is a bright, warm orange or yellow colour.  The bright colour in one and the dark silhouettes of the other are very different from each other and should create something of interest visually. It is also typically good practise to pair a photo taken at a shorter distance with a longer short so that the resulting image does not get too busy due to both photos having the same level of detail in them, which cumulates when overlapped.

I flipped the close up of the flower in PicsArt, before blending the two images. This ensures the warm yellow core in both images are aligned. I ended up with bright pink trees under a darkening sky, the focus still being on the setting sun behind the trees, the glow of which is now amplified by erratic yellow stamens emanating from where the sun is setting. I like how the two colours – yellow pink and blue work together in this case.

double exposure photo phone apps

These are just two examples of how to pick photos. There are many possibilities and you may even choose to go abstract with your choice of photos.

double exposure photo phone apps
Composite of 4 different double exposure photographs to show the dog in it’s environment.

 Double Photo

DoublePhoto is a very basic app that lets you load the two photos you have chosen speedily. You can choose either the “screen” or the “lighten” blend modes to blend the two pictures. The blend mode – Lighten – picks out the lighter colour in the two photos and displays that, the screen mode multiplies the brightness in the photos. Play around with the blend modes and you should see the differences between the two modes visually.

double exposure photo phone apps

PicsArt

Unless your photos line up perfectly with each other, you may find that you want tweak one or two of your chosen photos. The PicsArt app comes in handy because of it’s all in one functions.

The following set of screenshots shows you how I flipped the flower image to align the focal points of my two photos to the lower left corner of the photo, before I set the blend mode. Again, since the frame should have been exposed twice, you should be choosing either the “lighten” or “screen” blends modes for a lighter/brighter image.

double exposure photo phone apps
double exposure photo phone apps
double exposure photo phone apps

PS Touch

PS Touch is another powerful app, which takes a little getting used to. So there is a learning curve there. But if you are used to having layers and blend modes, plus the other basic functions available to you in Photoshop, then you will appreciate PS Touch.

This screen shows you where the photos layers and blending options can be found. Since the frame should have been exposed twice, you should be choosing either the “lighten” or “screen” blends modes for a lighter/brighter image.
double exposure photo phone apps

Assuming I wanted Donna’s eyes to peek out of the flowers, I have to move the top layer to position the eye exactly  there there is a break in the flowers. I then need to trim the layer below so that the two layers  will overlap neatly without the bottom layer peeking out from under the top layer to the left and top of the image.

This screen shows you where the Crop tool can be found to crop the image. double exposure photo phone apps

When you are done, click the arrow on the top left to go back to the Project page. You will be prompted to save the project you were working on.

This screen shows the project page, where you can save the project as a picture file to your Gallery.
double exposure photo phone apps


Get Inspired!


Go get it!
photo apps for your mobile devices

iPhone

Android


Host Challenge Post

Photo of the weekdouble exposure photo phone apps

App challenge photo
filtered with VSCOcam T1 preset and tinted pinkdouble exposure photo phone appsdouble exposure photo phone apps
double exposure photo phone appsdouble exposure photo phone apps
Snapseed Black and White, EyeEM and Snapseed Retrolux effects used respectively for the last three photos.


Now it’s your turn to share!

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 13 Apr end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog. (You can follow my format above if you like).

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 Double Exposures, but if that is not your cup of tea, you are free to choose other app effects for your app-ed 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!


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” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

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

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

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

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Forest Wood Folk snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Living with my Ancestors snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

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

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 8 – Mirroring


App: Camera360 

Mirrored photos can be gimmicky. But that is not to say there is no place for them in mobile phoneography. The mirror, after all, is a well-used metaphor in so many occasions and samples of literature.


snappy happy photo challenge logo black and whiteWelcome back to Week 8 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet ;)

This challenge asks you to (1) share a good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device and share with us the result. We’re back to the theme of Collage. I’m stretching that to include the feature – Mirroring.

Mirroring

The mirroring feature in photo apps reflects your photo vertically or horizontally so that you have the original photo and its reflection in the final image.

camera360 - dog head one
App: Camera360 

PhotoMirror app - butt in
App: PhotoMirror

While it is a novelty to play around with Donna’s body parts ;) haha, I find the theme of Nature particularly interesting using this feature.

Camera360 - mirror feature - blades of leaves
App: Camera360

What is originally organic now becomes artificially symmetrical. Intricate patterns are formed that are not found in real life. And suddenly you realise that, everywhere you look, there are all sorts of interesting patterns to be found both in nature…

Camera360 app - sniffing the leaves - mirror feature
App: Camera360 

… as well as in the man-made world.

PhotoMirror app mirror effect hand vase
App: Paper Camera
PhotoMirror app mirror effect hand vase
App: PhotoMirror. One hand versus two in solidarity, the same subject but two images with two different stories.  

You can find patterns in something as nebulous as the shadow, telling the story of the interplay of light and dark.

camera360 app mirror effect dog and shadow
App: Camera360 

And there is no need to be constrained by the idea that it needs to be symmetrical. A mirrored image can still be cropped to give a more interesting frame.

camera360 app mirror effect dog sniffing leaves
App: Camera360 

An all-in-one app like Camera360 for iPhone (the version I Have on Android does not have this feature) will give you mirroring functions at a tap (in the Funny section of the app). However, it may not give you that many options in terms of tweaking the mirrored image.

MirrorPhoto

The MirrorPhoto app is interesting because it gives you some leeway in controlling your mirrored image.


The app MirrorPhoto allows you to select from 6 types of mirror effects, the format of the photo (with regards to dimensions), the distance between the subject of your original photo and it’s reflection and it has a cropping function.

PicsArt

The app PicsArt does not give you as many mirroring styles as MirrorPhoto, but it has some pretty powerful features that I like. I like the slider that controls the displacement of the image (#5 on screenshot below). I also like the Masking brush (#6 on screenshot below) which allows you to paint over and reveal the original image. I don’t imagine I would use it very often, but just having the option means you have more possibilities with the app ;)


PicsArt screenshot. Distortion > Mirror effects

As an example, I have the mirrored photo of a low angled shot of a flowering tree here:


Mirrored with PicsArt app.

And a version of it with the lower right cornered erased to show a branch of the plant to break the symmetry of the mirrored image.


A portion of the original image revealed in the lower right corner. Can you see?

This feature is very useful for creating reflections in water, as demonstrated by this video:


Get Inspired

9 mirrored photos/edits on Instagram using the iPhone app MirrorGram

– 01 Dog
– 02 Skateboard
– 03 At the pool
– 04 Yokohama Chinatown
– 05 Head
– 06 Playing with Buildings
– 07 Decimated landscape
– 08 Ride
– 09 Bring on the SF Adventures


Go get it!
Photo apps for your mobile devices

iPhone 

Android 


Host Challenge Post

Photo of the week

Donna leaping up to touch nose. Photo cropped with Snapseed and filtered with EyeEm.

Photo mirrored with PicsArt

Bokeh and Light streaks added using Cameran app because I wanted to draw attention to her motion.


Now it’s your turn to share!

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 6 Apr end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog. (You can follow my format above if you like).

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 Mirroring, but if that is not your cup of tea, you are free to choose other app effects for your app-ed 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!


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” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

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

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

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

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 7 – Turn your photo into a Sketch

The graphite pencil has a long history and with it, the art of sketching.

Sketches can be made in any drawing medium. The term is most often applied to graphic work executed in a dry media such as silverpoint,graphite, pencil, charcoal or pastel. But it may also apply to drawings executed in pen and ink, ballpoint pen, water colour and oil paint. The latter two are generally referred to as “water colour sketches” and “oil sketches”. – wikipedia

And of course, with mobile app and digital imaging technology, we now have features in our apps that lets us turn photos into sketches. Personally, I find this very useful for blogging. Some photos that don’t work so well as photos actually don’t look half bad as a sketch! ;P


snappy happy photo challenge logo black and whiteWelcome back to Week 7 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet ;)

This challenge asks you to (1) share a good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device and share with us the result. We’re back to the theme of Art effects this week – Sketch effects

Most of my photos filtered with the sketch effect is done using Camera360. Whatever complaints I have with the app, the Sketch effect in it is seriously useful. The photo usually comes out looking rather refined as a black and white sketch. I love it because ugly, unwanted details in the background are usually diminished.

Camera360 photo app – Sketch effects

sketch of dog with bone
Above: Can hardly see the ugly storage boxes behind Donna, yah? ;P

Camera360 also gives a more refined black and white sketch effect. See if you can guess for the picture below, which one is the result from Camera360, and which one is not.

camera360 vs paper camera app - dog and tv sketch up

Camera360 is a free app that offers 15 categories of Multi-effects. You can access them by tapping on the Multi-effects button (screen i) after you have loaded up your photo in the app. From there, pick the Sketch option (screen 2) from the Effects menu. You then will get a choice of 9 sketch effects (screen 3). My favourites are Surreal (which is black and white) and Colour.

camera360 sketch screenshot
Screenshots from Camera360

Surreal gives you a black and white sketch like this: camera360 app - dog on floor sketch

And Colour gives you a result that is somewhat like a refined colour pencil sketch:camera360 app dog in crate sketch

I like that in both cases, the original ugly photo now looks more like a work of art.

The Sketch options in Camera360 are limited to nine filters. There is no option to tweak any of them. Just tap and apply, that’s it.  Simple to use, but doesn’t really give you any sort of experience or appreciation of the art of sketching.

Paper Camera photo app – Sketch effects

The paid app, Paper Camera, is more interesting in this respect. Offering 14* different filters, Paper Camera also gives you the option to play around and experiment with variables like – strokes, vignette, edges, contrast, brightness and lines.

*Out of the 14 filters, I only found 2 of them useful. I don’t really think I will use the other 12 that much as the styles didn’t appeal to me ;) You can see the filters in their video on their website here if you are thinking of whether you want to buy it.

paper camera app sketch up screenshot 1
paper camera app sketch up screenshot 1
Screenshots from Paper Camera. This screen shows the Sketch Up filter being applied. The slider bars under the Variables -Strokes, Vignette, Edges, Contrast, Brightness and Lines – can be adjusted to tweak the intensity of the variables.  

The result – you can create something that ends up looking more like a rough sketch, instead of a finished sketch that Camera360 always gives you.

paper camera app - dog on floor sketch up
Above: Donna on the floor using Paper Camera’s Sketch Up filter. You can control the strokes, lines and edges. It looks very much like a rough sketch, doesn’t it?

camera360 app - dog on floor sketch
Above: Donna on the floor using Camera360 Surreal Sketch effect. The sketch looks like it is coloured in and the strokes are not determinable compared to Paper Camera. 

Here’s a another result from Paper Camera Sketch Up filter. This time with the Vignette effect. I do have an issue with the vignette which did not white out the edges of the image like I expect it to.

paper camera app - shopfront sketch up
Just for fun, you may remember the original photo from last week’s photo challenge, for your reference here:
shophouse in kyoto

Paper Camera also has colour sketch filter options. I found that the filter Pastel Perfect worked well for some of my photos. Here is the same shopfront rendered with Pastel Perfect. Notice the the strokes across the photo:paper camera app - shopfront sketch pastel perfect
Compare that to the same shopfront using Camera360 Sketch effect – Colour in the photo below. The photo is outlined to look like a sketch but without the strokes. I think it looks more like an inked comic in this case, rather than a colour pencil sketch. camera360 app - shopfront sketch

Further experimentation with Paper Camera showed that it delivers well when it comes to rendering more of a vintage, stylized effect for photos of flowers.

camera360 vs paper camera app - hydrangea sketch vs pastel perfect
Paper Camera – Pastel Perfect filter (left); Comic Boom filter(right)

But because Paper Camera tries to replicate the the lines and hardness of strokes when it comes to sketching, details will be obscured like in the result below. You get the rough sketch of the shape of the dog but miss out much of the details.

paper camera app dog in crate pastel perfect

Where it comes to getting a result that looks more finished and pleasant, I definitely still do prefer Camera360. Below you an see clearly Donna’s sleepy expression and her eyes, as well as the gentle detail in the curves of her side and in her paws.

camera360 app dog in crate sketch


Get Inspired!


Go get it!
Photo apps for your mobile devices

iPhone users

Android users

  • Apps reviewed in this post – Camera360 Free, Paper Camera Paid Only
  • Sketch Guru – wrote about this in the watercolour post, it has pencil sketch filters too. 

Host Challenge Post

Photo of the Week 
hand wall vase
Hand, edited with Snapseed, VSCOcam M3 present (adapted) and Photoshop. 

App Challenge Image 
hand wall vase sketch
Hand, Paper Camera Pastel Perfect filter, using the original photo, not the edited Photo of the Week. 


Hand, Paper Camera Pastel Perfect, using the edited Photo of the Week. The hand does not stand out as cleanly from the shadow as the image filtered using the original photo. I prefer the former because of the raw quality of the sketch and because the feathered bud comes out clearer than the latter.


Now it’s your turn to share!

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 30 Mar end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog. (You can follow my format above if you like).

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 Sketch Effects, but if that is not your cup of tea, you are free to choose other app effects for your app-ed 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!


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” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

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

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| LivingWithMyAncestors.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| ForestWoodFolkArt.wordpress.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

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

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 6 – Colour Filter

Hi all! Really sorry for the late post this week! So I am happy to extend the deadline to the next Sunday rather than this Sunda if you need more time. Hope it helps!! Let me know if you prefer to continue with Week 7 next week or the week after. Thanks! 


One of the easiest things to do with a photo app is to apply a colour filter. Tap to apply and there you have it, a boring photo given a little extra zing. Minimal effort.


Above: Filtered App: Aviary. 

Above: unfiltered 

So why is it that some people prefer unfiltered?

Welcome back to Week 6 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet ;) This challenge asks you to (1) share a good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device and share with us the result. We’re back to the theme of Colour this week and we will look at Colour filters

Our awesome Snappy H’appy crew includes co-host Meghan (Firebonnet) and also Melinda (1stWorldDog)Christy (Sassmuffins)CompletelyDisappearGretchen (Zeke’s Adventures)Meg (Little Dogs Laughed)Blogagaini and Mary (RoxyTheTravelingDog).

If you didn’t join us in the last five weeks, well hurry up, because there is just 7 weeks left in the challenge! It’s not too late to join in the fun. Backdated posts for the previous weeks are optional. For more details about the challenge, check out the Photo Challenge page. Now then, let’s talk about Colour Filters.

Why indeed do some people prefer unfiltered?

1) The filters may cause you to lose detail and that may not be desirable in some cases.


Left, unfiltered. Right, filtered with EyeEm app.

Compare the photos above and it comes obvious that details in the shadowy parts under the roof is lost in the photo on the right. In this case, I do not mind the loss of detail because I prefer the focus on the flower detail decorating the roof. I also like that the loss of detail added to the depth of the photo. But depending on the photo, the loss in detail may not be desirable.

2) It makes the photo look unnatural

The filters are not custom to your photo and sometimes may give the photo an over-exposed or overly yellow, pink, green or blue tint (depending on the filter used).


Above, unfiltered.  

Above, filtered with Aviary app, with the Arizona filter to give the scene a romantic vibe. My gripe with it is that the sculpture on the right looked over-exposed so that the detail on it is largely faded out. 

Above, the Aviary filtered photo with the levels changed in Photoshop to decrease the exposure/brightness. Can easily be done within Snapseed or VSCOcam as well.   


Above, unfiltered.  

Above, applied Clyde filter in Aviary app to give it more of a warm, old world feel.  

Above, again tune down the brightness of the Clyde filtered photo. Again this can just as easily be done in Snapseed or VSCOcam.

For my two set of shopfront photos above, I do feel that the Aviary filters make my photos too over-exposed so normally I continue to adjust the photo in photoshop or Snapseed/VSCOcam on my note.

3) Counting on the filter to enhance your photos may make you a lazier photographer

Thing is, you and I are not professional photographers. And a lot of times, we take photos not because the light is perfect, the setting is just gonna give us an amazing photo, etc, etc but because we saw something that we want to take a memento of that we can share with others either immediately on a social network on the phone or later when we meet up with friends.

This means, our photos taken on the spur of the moment, usually with no luxury of time for careful consideration, will not be the greatest thing made since sliced cheese.


Above, unfiltered.  

So if adding a filter can give you a leg up, why not?


Above, Aviary app, Sentosa filter. This filter remains me of the colours used in some movies ;) 

A look at Statigr.am tells me that 76% of my Instagram photos are unfiltered. The truth is, a large number of them are processed, just not with Instagram filters. Like Instagram, the Aviary app (used for the photos above in this post) provides a selection of different cool and warm filters that can be applied to enhance your photos. However, use the same filter too often, and your photos will all turn out with the same colour tone. Consistent… but maybe a little boring after some time.

Looking for more natural colours?

So by and large unless I want to achieve a specific vibe using colour filters, I usually use Snapseed and VSCOcam to tune up my photos while keeping them closer to their natural colour.


Abouve: Unfiltered 

Abouve: Processed – App: Snapseed and VSCOcam. 

Developed by the Visual Supply Company, hence the app name, VSCOcam appears pretty popular among the photographer/designer crowd. It has editing capabilities like Snapseed and I find the two complementary to each other since they each have their own strengths.

VSCOcam offers some additional features that Snapseed does not have including fade and tinting options. You can choose to tint the photo overall or just the highlights or the shadows. You can check out the highlights tint and shadows tint tutorials on their website.


Get Inspired!


Go get it!
Photo apps for your mobile devices

iPhone users

Android Phone users


Host Challenge Post

Photo of the Week (unfiltered)
App Challenge Image (VSCOcam F2 preset) 

Unfiltered

VSCOcam (C1 preset)


Now it’s your turn to share!

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 29 Mar end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog. (You can follow my format above if you like).

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 Colour Filters, but if that is not your cup of tea, you are free to choose other app effects for your app-ed 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!


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” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

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

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

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

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

Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge Week 5 – Light Leak Effects

How often do you apply a light leak filter on your photos?
How many ways to Sunday can you do it?

Welcome back to Week 5 of the Snappy H’appy Photo Challenge hosted by weliveinaflat and firebonnet ;) This challenge asks you to (1) share a good photo that you took or edited last week, (2) run it through a photo app on your smartphone or mobile device and share with us the result. We’re back to the theme of Light this week and we will look at Light Leak Effects.

Our awesome Snappy H’appy crew includes co-host Meghan (Firebonnet) and also Melinda (1stWorldDog)Christy (Sassmuffins)CompletelyDisappearGretchen (Zeke’s Adventures)Meg (Little Dogs Laughed)Blogagaini and Mary (RoxyTheTravelingDog).

If you didn’t join us in the last four weeks, there are 8 weeks left in the challenge, so feel free to join in the fun. Backdated posts for the previous weeks are optional. ; ) For more details about the challenge, check out the Photo Challenge page. Now then, let’s talk about light effects.

Light Leak, what is it exactly?

A light leak is a hole or gap in the body of a camera where light is able to “leak” into the normally light-tight chamber, exposing the film or sensor with extra light. This light is diffuse, although parts within the camera may cast shadows or reflect it in a particular way. For most purposes this is considered a problem. Within the lomography movement it is seen as a positive effect, giving photos character. – wikipedia

Light leaks, especially those big stripes of red on a photo could be a little cheesy but some light leak affects can also have a dreamy, romantic feel or a dynamic city feel that this video tries to incorporate.


A Day In Surabaya from Hifatlobrain on Vimeo.

App #1 – Pixlr Express’ Leaks and Leaking Overlays

If you like simple and straight forward, Plxlr Express has Light Leak texture maps that are easily applied to the image at the tap of a finger. You can find them in the Overlay section in two categories – Leaking HD and Leaks.


Applied the Ovverride Leaking HD filter, Fade not 100%, in Pixlr.

App #2 – PicsArt Lights

PicsArt has  a selection of Lights Effect, which when set to the Screen setting can imitate the diffused light leak effect.


Under Effect > Lights, Light 18 is applied to the photo with a screen setting (see dropdown menu at the top of the screen) to create a dreamy atmosphere.

The screenshot below shows you the other controls that lets you flip, rotate and make more or less transparent the light leak or light effects being applied to the photo.

App #3 – Snapseed Retrolux

If you like slightly less control, retrolux in Snapseed has a randomize function that applies retro effects, including light leaks when you “roll the dice”. Or you can start out with a preset and customise from there. Within the different Retrolux effects offered by Snapseed, swipe your finger up or down and you will call up the menu that lets you adjust brightness, saturation, scratches, style strength and yes, light leaks within the Retrolux effect you have chosen to apply.


Image with added light leak from Retrolux in Snapseed


With a heavy hand, I repeated layering Snapseed retrolux filters and ended up with a photo that is quite different from the original, but whether it looks better or worse than the original is debatable and down to the individual.

In the instance of this cat photo, my preference is for the original without the Retrolux filter. A general rule of thumb, if it distracts from the photo’s subject and focal point, than it’s perhaps better to do without. But if it enhances the photos, achieves your motive of a cohesive vintage or lightleak inspired photo set and helps focus the eye on the subject, than why not? ;)

Light Leak photos do not have to be light and dreamy

Lomography photos can be colourful with intense lights and darks as well.

Within the Lights section of Picsart, there is a dropdown at the top of the screen that offers different blend modes. Earlier in this post, we selected the “screen” setting to create a dreamy light leak effect using one of the filters available. The dropdown has more than just Screen settings, so you can always experiment and choose the setting you prefer for a different effect.


Light 20 is applied to the photo with the overlay setting (see dropdown menu at the top of the after screen) and that created more a dynamic and colourful photo, rather than a light, dreamy look for the building interior.

So now I’ve showed you the different ways, I use the apps on my mobile device to create light leak effects on my photos. Here are ten more photos from other people to give you further inspiration!


Get inspired!

 
Ten Light Leak Photos –
different subject, different approach, by different authors of the images. ;)
[ Flowers 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Close ups 1 | 2 |  Scenes 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]


Go get it!
Photo apps for your mobile devices

iPhone users

Android Phone users


Host challenge post

My photo of the week

This are the only thriving flowering plant in the garden below the flat right now. Everything else is drying and dying as we are experiencing a dry spell at the moment.

App Challenge Image

PicsArt, Light 18, using the Overlay setting. I like how it looks kind of mystical with the tops of the foliage reaching out to the light beams shooting down. ;) I edited the original photo with Snapseed before applying the light filter in PicsArt.


Now it’s your turn to share!

Create your challenge post from now until Sunday, 16 Mar end of your day. Post your Photo of the Week and your App-ed version of that photo on your blog. (You can follow my format above if you like).

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 Light Leak Effects, but if that is not your cup of tea, you are free to choose other app effects for your app-ed 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!


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” ]
weliveinaflat's Snappy H'appy Photo Grid

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

Challenger| 1stworlddog.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
1st world dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| Roxy The Traveling Dog
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Roxy the Traveling Dog snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

Challenger| Zeke’s Adventures
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Zeke's Adventures snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| sassmuffins.com
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
sassmuffin snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

Challenger| Blogagaini
[week 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12]
Blogagaini snappy happy photo challenge photo grid

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

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

 

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