iPhone Art Gallery

An exultation of photos are featured in this gallery by some of iPhone Diva's favorite contributors. These iphoneographs blew my socks off! OK, I wasn't wearing socks, but if I had been, they'd be history.

Jack Davis sent this lovely photo of "just a feather found on my lawn". The apps are a mystery, but knowing Jack, he probably used every app in the app store and a few he made up himself.

Bob Wright puts his own special spin on this photo using Pixel Blend app after the last iPhone Diva post. Way to go, Bob!

Judy Norton has this to say about her vintage garden shot: "Photoforge just updated to Photoforge2 and I love it! It has many of the elements of the original, plus a simulated Hipstamatic right inside the app with many film, lens, flash changes. I think I can entertain myself for days just with this app! This was originally a color pic from a garden in a community near here. I made many versions, but I like this one." I do too.

Robin Robertis immortalizes the spirit of our late friend, photographer and trickster, Jack Palmer, in this art photo. She apped it with Autopainter and Pixel Blend. We miss you, Jack.

Fab New App - Pixel Blend

There is a fantastic new app out for the iPad (and coming soon for the iPhone) that I am so excited about. Back in the day, hubby Dewitt and I loved the Polaroid emulsion manipulation process with Time Zero/SX70 film and cameras. Basically, we'd use crochet hooks and other tools to "smoosh" the emulsion around before it hardened to create a painterly effect. There is a new Time Zero film out now and you could conceivably still do this process in its pure form.

Dewitt and I are hopelessly (hopefully?) digital these days and have tried a variety of apps to try to recreate the "smooshing" process we loved so. And were mostly unsuccessful. Until now.

Pixel Blend is an app whereby you can "smoosh" and manipulate your digital "emulsion". And there is a variety of tools to create painterly effects like the crochet hook, dental tool, and more. The old SX-70 emulsion moved more when it was warm or hot. And the creator of Pixel Blend, Michael Valdez, has included temperature choices so you can choose a more movable emulsion.

And if you have no idea what Time Zero, SX-70, or Polaroid emulsion manipulation are? No worries! Just think of this as the coolest app for painting your photos into impressionist works. Check it out here: Pixel Blend app.

I love shooting feminine window displays - I'm sure there's some deep psychological reason or maybe not. Maybe I just think they look pretty. At any rate, here is one of my SX-70 emulsion "smooshes" of a hatbox and pearls in a window. I think I shot it at Epcot Center in Orlando when our kids were little.

Fast forward about 15-20 years, and I shot this mannequin detail in a Seattle wedding boutique window.

I just finished "smooshing" this one with Pixel Blend. Oh yes, did I mention that you have a lot more control with the app than we did with the film? I can't wait to play with this app much, much more. Give it a try and send me your pix for posting. Happy smooshing!

Sunset Strolls With the iPhone

Summer is here finallly, though you wouldn’t guess it by the amount of snow on the peaks here in Tahoe. Still, it is warm enough for an evening stroll along the lake shore. ProHDR and Tiffen’s Photo FX optimized this photo (with a little added sharpening from Perfect Photo app.)


I couldn’t resist going a little app happy on this shot, so added the “stars” in IRIS (noise effect).


Jon Leland, a regular contributor to iPhone Diva, shares his own sunset strolls along Richardson Bay near San Franciso. ProHDR and Camera + were his go-to apps for these lovely shots.


Head on out for an evening walk with your iPhone. Even if you don’t get any shots you like, you’ll be sure to get some great mind photos or “neurochromes” as John Barclay calls them. And fresh air, and exercise, and stress reduction, etc. And if you do get some pix you like, send them along to iPhone Diva so we can take a walk in your neck of the woods.

Autopainter Turns iPhone Photos Into Paintings

“What are you doing?” Dewitt asked as I sat staring intently at my iPhone. “Painting,” I answer.

Autopainter and Autopainter II are two “crazy good” apps for creating photo art paintings. You choose an image and a style of painting such as chalk or felt tip, click start, sit back and watch it work.

I admit that I feel a little like a dog watching a ceiling fan, but it captivates me as it underpaints, brushes, and details. And that’s not so different from those minutes in the darkroom spent waiting for the image to magically appear in the chemical bath.



It’s a little disconcerting at first to see how great an image it fashions from my photos with little to no effort on my part. Still, the best images require more tweaking and blending with the original. Thankfully, I still have some artistic work to do.



And even with all the advances in apps and equipment, there are still two things I have to do as a photographer; the two most important things: choose what is in the frame and when to click the shutter (tap the screen). Composition and decisive moment.

All the apps in the world won’t save a photo if composition is faulty or the moment is missed. Just sayin’.....

The images in this post were blended with the original in either IRIS app or DXP app. In this photo of the bird's nest, I created a mask and painted the egg back in from the original. Try it for yourself - send me your favorites.

iPhone Photojournalism

Recently I accompanied my girlfriend Karen down to Kalaupapa peninsula here on Molokai. We hiked down the highest sea cliffs in the world to take the tour of the infamous leper colony, where so many Hawaiians were exiled during a most shameful period of history.

Karen was slated to write an article for the LA Times and I brought along my trusty iPhone. As always, the tour was moving and emotional, while the natural beauty of the place was jaw dropping. And the iPhone apps helped me enhance the feeling of this most spiritual place. The best camera is the one you have with you - and for me that's most often the iPhone.

When one of our fellow tour members suffered total camera failure, she heard Karen oohing and aahing over the pix on my tiny phone. She looked around the busload of people, then asked me, "Would you mind sending me some of your photos? This is a once in a lifetime trip and I'd love some shots for the memories."

They were in her email before she got back to the hotel. Now that's the power of iphoneography.

I double exposed a hymnal sheet with a shot of the St. Francis church and added texture in IRIS.



I used Artista Oil, Artista Sketch, and Pic Grunger to create a fresco look in this photo of the Virgin Mary and infant Jesus.

ProHDR, Camera + and texture from ?Iris maybe to enhance the fragility of land and lifetimes.

Dare To Break The Rules With Your iPhone

I love attending the Merrie Monarch hula festival and competition. It's sort of an annual Hula Olympics if you will. As the official photographer for our Halau (hula school or group), I used my "big girl" cameras to document the event each time we participated. And along with the documentation, I got to take loads of artsy pictures - slow shutter speed motion blurs being my favorites.

This year we did not go to Hilo for the competition - not enough young girls nor the substantial amount of funds to make it happen. So I was resigned to watching the 3 night extravaganza on television. This is no hardship, as you can actually see much better when the cameras are zoomed in on each group than when sitting in the stadium in person. Alas, no smell of flowers, no thrum of excitement in the crowd, and no photos. Or so I thought.

Karen Messick, a digital diva in a class by herself (see link to her iphoneography site in my links) took some photos off her TV of the royal wedding. She apped them beautifully. And that got me to thinking....

I fired up my iPhone 4 and began shooting the Merrie Monarch on my flat screen TV mostly with the Slow Shutter Cam app. I shot tons of photos. And loved a lot of them.



Then another great photo master, Tony Sweet, (see link to his site on Visual Artistry in my links) told me about a cool new site called Zapd - where you can create and upload a blog in minutes from your iPhone. It was love at first site. (Although to be a little picky, it crops to a square format, so I'm going to ask them if it might be possible to have one that is a rectangle.)

I uploaded several of my hula motion shots to Zapd - Click here to view the gallery. It took me just minutes. Most the photos were apped only with the Slow Shutter Cam app, with a little optimizing in IRIS app. Two were "painted" with the new Autopainter app. It's obvious which ones. Check them out and let me know what you think. Be sure to download the Zapd free app - what a great way to share vacation photos or family events quickly and elegantly.

As we say in Hawai`i: A`a i ka hula. Dare to dance. And dare to break all the photo "rules".

iPhone Guest Gallery: Other Realities

Exploring other realities, the world just outside our ordinary view, has long been a theme in my photography. Which is why I am so excited about these most recent submissions to iPhone Diva. These iPhoneographs are incredibly inspiring, allowing a glimpse into three distinct parallel universes. Enjoy!

Robin Robertis shares her most recent photo art piece entitled "Sisters". I'm waiting to hear which apps and will update this post as soon as I know. Right now, I'm just loving the image.

Shock my pic app enhances Brian Kavanaugh Jones's unexpected (and very cool) perspective in this photograph.

Duncan Berry's offering showcases the Average Camera app, which is one of my new favorites. It shoots a number of shots during which you can move the camera and create multiple exposure art. Love the enigmatic feel of this piece.