Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label DIY. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Flashback Friday - Making a DIY Macro Lens for your iPhone
Before I got an Olloclip - macro photography could only be accomplished using my homemade macro lens. For Flashback Friday, we'll take another look at how to DIY.
My wish list includes an Olloclip, but until I get one, I wanted to find a way to get some macro shots with my iPhone.
After viewing a few tutorials for making one, I decided to give it a try with a cheap $1.99 camera I bought at a thrift store.
I broke it open to remove the lens (with help from my husband). A ring dropped out of the camera so I have no idea where it was located, but I knew it would come in handy.
Next, I glued the lens to the ring with super glue. Sorry the shot is fuzzy, but I didn’t have a macro lens yet!
I then had to figure out a way to adhere it to my camera without going to a lot of trouble – this is a temporary lens until I invest in the real thing! I decided to use my kneaded rubber eraser to adhere it to my iPhone. I took a tiny strip and pressed it around the lens ring and it worked!
Ta-daa! I’ve got a macro lens!
Here are a few of my macro shots.
Below is an eraser without the macro lens
and here is the shot with the macro lens
I need a steady hand to get the really close shots so I’m looking into a tripod for my iPhone, but in the meantime if I enhance them a bit you can’t see the blur!
Here’s one enhanced with the Painteresque app.
Happy snapping!
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Read more »
My wish list includes an Olloclip, but until I get one, I wanted to find a way to get some macro shots with my iPhone.
After viewing a few tutorials for making one, I decided to give it a try with a cheap $1.99 camera I bought at a thrift store.
Below is an eraser without the macro lens
and here is the shot with the macro lens
I need a steady hand to get the really close shots so I’m looking into a tripod for my iPhone, but in the meantime if I enhance them a bit you can’t see the blur!
Here’s one enhanced with the Painteresque app.
Happy snapping!
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Textures - Make Your Own
There are some excellent apps for those of us who like to texturize our images. In no particular order some of my favorites are Stackables, Mextures, Distressed FX, Pic Grunger and ScratchCam FX. With these apps you upload your image and use one of the many presets or create your own using the various elements within the app.
However, if you have a blending app, such as Image Blender which allows you to layer images and change the blending mode, you can add your own textures to an image.
How to Create Your Own Texture
Take a photo of any surface that has a texture. For this example I chose a cardboard box in our garage. Other great surfaces are cloth, paper, stone, wood. Be on the lookout for textured surfaces wherever you go.
The above image could be used as a stand alone texture, but I decided to enhance it a bit using a few apps. I opened the image in Snapseed and made the following adjustments in the Tune Image module:
Brightness -50
Ambiance +50
Contrast -100
Saturation -100
Warmth +25
Apply changes and Save to Camera Roll
For the final step I loaded the above image into Effexy. Select the + sign at the top of the screen and then select Texture. From the Texture folder select Emboss to add a slight embossed effect to your image. Next, while still in Effexy, click the Texture Folder again to get back to the previous menu. Click the + button again and choose the Effex folder this time. From the Effex folder select Motion Lite and swipe your finger up to add a slight motion blur to the image. Save the image to your Camera Roll for use as your own texture.
Here is the texture applied to an image using several blending modes. I used Sketch Club to layer and blend the texture with one of my photos but you could use any app you have that allows you to add layers and adjust bending modes.
Method 2 - Hipstamatic and Brushstroke.
Shoot any flat surface with a random lens and film combination using Hipstamatic. The image below is a close-up of the palm of my hand using Hipstamatic Wonder Lens and C-Type Plate.
Open the image in Brushstroke and add one of the painterly filters. I selected Abstract A2. Save to Camera Roll to use as your Texture.
Apply the texture to your photographs using a blending app - experiment with blending modes. You can add the texture on more than one layer. In the image on the bottom right I first loaded my photograph, then added the texture layer set on Overlay blending mode at 100%. On top of that I added the texture again, this time using Normal blending mode at 60%. There is no right or wrong way - experiment and see what you like!
Add to Flipboard Magazine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)