Take Photo: iPad

Showing posts with label iPad. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Giveaway! Clean That Screen with WHOOSH! Screen Shine

Did You Know?

30% of a virus can be transferred from your screen to your fingers.
The average cell phone is up to 10 times dirtier than a toilet seat.
18% of mobile phones are contaminated with staphylococcus.
16% of mobile phones are contaminated with fecal flora and E. coli. (okay fess up, you know you take your device in the bathroom with you!)

I didn't know all of those Fun Facts, all I knew is I wanted to find a cleaner for my iPhone and iPad that would get results. I don't use a screen protector because I like the feel of the iPhone/iPad screen when working. However, one of the results of being an avid iPhoneographer is that we edit a lot on our devices. That's hundreds and thousands of swipes with our grimy little fingers on our screens.

I had been using a screen cleaner with a microfiber cloth, but it just seemed to smear the oily finger prints around rather than remove them completely. It always looked like there was a bit of a film on the screen.

Quite by accident I stumbled upon a product called WHOOSH! Screen Shine. I ordered it and was totally blown away by the speed and degree of clean I got using it. The kit I ordered contained a Desk size 3.4 oz spray bottle of Screen Shine, a Pocket/Purse size 0.3 oz and two 6"x6" anti-microbial, microfiber cleaning cloths. The screens were sparkling clean in half the time it used to take me and the formula seems to make the fingerprints less noticeable as I continue to use my device.

I was so excited about the product, I ordered a DUO+ set and sent it to my son. He received it and sent me this text (left).

When I find something I like I love to share and so I contacted WHOOSH! to see if they would sponsor a giveaway on Art of Mob and they loved the idea.

So, wouldn't you love to try it? It's not limited to your mobile devices - you can use Screen Shine for HDTV's, eyeglasses, computer screens, GPS, camera screens and other consumer electronic screens.

Well guess what folks?! I have a GIVEAWAY!

If you live in the USA or Canada, just leave a comment below and I will select a winner by random draw on Monday, July 28th at 8:00 am PDT.

You will receive the fabulous DUO+ package of Desk and Pocket size courtesy of WHOOSH!

UPDATE: Congrats to OCGal - You are the lucky winner. I will be in contact by email. Thanks to all for entering.

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Tutorial "We are the Dance"

Below is a step by step tutorial for the creation of this image "We are the Dance". This edit was done on an iPad 4.

We are the Dance © Geri Centonze

Below is the original image (shot with iPhone 5s using native camera app) after cropping in Snapseed - It was a figurine I saw in a model home which I held against a blank wall to get a solid background.

Next step was to invert the image in Adobe Photoshop Express. The Invert filter can be found under Looks in the filter menu.

Next step was to open the above image in Snapseed and convert it to black and white and increase the contrast.

The next step was to take the above image and open it in Pixology. Here I applied two of the Pixology textures along with a texture (below center) from the Susan Tuttle iPhoneography course. Pixology allows you to add any of your own images to use as textures and you can alter the blend modes as well.

To add movement to the piece I opened the above image in FocalLab and used the Motion Blur setting to apply just a bit of blur mainly to the lower part of the figure.

The above image was then taken into Path on where I added the text. With Path on you can swipe any path on an image and then the text will follow the line of your path. You can also combine fonts for a whimsical look, as I did here.

I thought the above result was a bit harsh, so I opened it in Stackables where I applied one of my custom filters.

Next I took the softened result of Stackables and combined it with the previous image using the Sketch Club app to layer and blend. You could use any app that allows for blending. I also like the above as a stand alone piece.

Finally I opened this newly softened combined image in Snapseed where I increased the Detail a bit to pull out some of the texture.

We are the Dance © Geri Centonze

Apps Used:

Snapseed

Adobe Photoshop Express

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Pixelmator for iPad is Here!

If you watched the recent Apple Event you saw the demonstration of an iPad app called Pixelmator that was not available the day of the event. It was projected to be released in late October and it has just hit the App Store.

I haven't even had a chance to try it out yet, but wanted to give you a head's up in case you're interested in reading more about it.

Information from The App Store - For iPad Only $4.99

Pixelmator takes full advantage of the latest iOS technologies, giving you speedy and powerful tools that let you touch up and enhance images, draw or paint, apply dazzling effects, or create advanced composition amazingly simple. Once your images are ready, share them to celebrate your work with the whole word.

Creative tools• Get started with dozens of beautifully designed templates
• Enrich photos with an effect, a frame, or create gorgeous collages
• Add a word, phrase, or caption
• Make the text look beautiful with advanced typography features
• Easily add, create, combine, and edit shapes
• Effortlessly apply shadows, fills, and strokes

Powerful and full-featured painting tools• Paint with Pixelmator as you would on canvas
• Choose from realistic to stylized brushes of all sizes and shapes
• Use different brush sizes and adjust the stroke opacity

Professional-grade color correction tools• Dramatically improve less-than-perfect images with a single tap or swipe
• Choose from eight different color correction presets
• Adjust levels, curves, brightness, contrast, and much more
• Remove color cast and set the right white balance
• Designed with friendly interface features for intuitive ease of use

Retouching tools• Correct wrinkles and repair scratches
• Make flaws vanish from your photos, remove or re-arrange objects in a composition
• Blur, sharpen, lighten, or darken specific areas
• Get rid of the red eye effect with just one click
• Distort or transform to subtly improve or give images a completely unexpected look
• Combine different tools and effects for an endless number of ways to refine your images

A real effects machine• Loaded with dozens of breathtaking effects you can play with
• Give your pictures a stunning, retro-artistically illuminated look with Light Leaks
• Take full control over the image colors with Hue and Saturation
• Create charming and authentic-looking pictures of days gone by with Vintage effect
• Liven up your photos with some sparkling Bokeh lights
• Convert images into perfectly toned black and white
• Use more gorgeous effects for more amazing pictures
• Combine different effects for unique, near-effortless artistic creations

Advanced image editing with layers and selections• Pixelmator is a complete layer-based editor
• Quickly and easily select any part of an image
• Edit and apply special effects to portions of your pictures
• Select and remove unwanted elements
• Cut and place objects from one image to another

Layer Styles• Instantly customize the look of your images, text, and shapes right when you create them
• Easily add non-destructive layer styles like shadows, outlines, color, gradient fills, and much more
• Change the layer style at whim until you get the look you’re after

Compatibility• Open and save images using PSD, JPEG, PNG, PDF, and many other popular formats
• Open and save Photoshop images with layers
• Send your images directly to the Photos app
• Store and access images in iCloud Drive to open with other apps

iCloud and Sharing• Let iCloud automatically store your edited images and seamlessly take your work to all your devices
• You can completely skip the manual saving of your documents thanks to Auto Save
• Email your photos right from Pixelmator
• Publish your images to social applications like Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook

Built exclusively for iPadPixelmator is meticulously thought through and created from the ground up for iOS 8 and iPad. Designed to take advantage of iOS 8 features and technologies. And engineered to leverage the full power of 64-bit architecture, ARC, Grand Central Dispatch, OpenGL ES, Core Image, and Core Animation to deliver state-of-the-art performance and responsiveness.

Psykopaint Now Available for iPad

The Psykopaint app for iPad released on the App Store today. It's free with an option to purchase the complete brush set for $5.99. I went for the full toolkit and purchased all the brushes. You can read my first impressions at the end of the article.

Description from the App Store

Psykopaint is the most insanely awesome painting experience ever made. Using unique 3d technology and our own mad rocket painting science to allow anyone of any age, planet and skill level to express their creativity and spread it with the universe. Psykopaint sets a new benchmark for realism in painting apps, simulating real light environment. Just rotate your iPad around to see the light changes affecting your painting just like in real life.

Try if for free and purchase additional brushes to your liking.

MOST-REALISTIC PAINTING EXPERIENCE
Experience for the first time on any platform real time 3d painting.
Stack layers of paint and use different materials that reflects the light differently just like in the real world. Open up a whole new range of expression inaccessible before like Impressionism and Impasto. The position of the light update according to your iPad orientation. It’s like holding a real painting!

COMMUNITY
With a community of a million painters on the web. We’re one of the biggest digital painting community around. And because everyone uses the same tool, it sets up a benchmark for painting skills and will show how badass you are.

PAINTING FOR AMATEURS…
Do you suck at painting? No problem?
Use a photo to make a stunning painting with no skills.
It will automatically select the colors so you don't have to worry about it and can focus on expressing yourself. It's magic!

…AND PROFESSIONALS
We brought a fine mix of everything: Brushes that give you fine control or expression, crazy brushes for inspiration, brushes for details, some for the heavy duty. Make your pick!
Long press to sample and mix color using the innovative pipette system. Create your own color palette rapidly.

UNIQUE BRUSHES
Most realistic Watercolor simulation based on real physics (paper absorption, texture, granularity… but leave the rocket science to us and the fun to you).
Paint in the style of Monet, Van Gogh, Pissaro or Gauguin (More to come)
Try the Spray can that drips according to your iPad orientation.
Ink that spreads organically the faster you move your brush.
Realistic pencils that are realistically effected by the surface below. Much more alive than your regular painting app.

PHOTOPAINTING TO THE NEXT LEVEL
Use the colors of a famous painting like Mona Lisa or Starry night to influence the colors of your brush.
It will match the color spectrum of your original photo to match the one of a famous painting. In other words: It’s awesome.

UNIQUE CUSTOMIZABLE 3D INTERFACE
Trying to push the barriers of creativity.
Navigate thought the app via an intuitive 3d interface, so you always know where you are. Customize your wallpaper and more soon.

Customize your Wallpaper

STUNNING 3D ENGINE
Psykopaint create a unique 3d engine from scratch especially designed for painting.
For a look never seen on any painting software on any platform at incredible performance. And it’s an iPad exclusive!
This will allow you in the future to 3d print your work with layers of acrylics using the same technology that have been used to reproduce Van Gogh paintings by Oce (Canon Group).
Might be offered as a service later on. We’re working on that.

COMPATIBLE WITH WACOM INTUOS PEN
Psykopaint partnered with Wacom to offer support for the intuos pen. Have control of brush opacity and size using the pen. It simply feels natural.

My First Pieces & First Impressions
Psykopaint is really unique in its appearance. It feels like you're walking through a gallery and studio. Swipe to the left on opening to find the menu where you can select your Surface from Canvas, Wood or Paper. You can also choose your own wallpaper to customize the Attelier to your liking.

Because Psykopaint is also a community, you can create an account to share your work and follow the work of others. If you happen to have a Wacom pen, you can connect it in the settings area and configure your notifications.

It's often necessary to be a little patient while this app loads to different menus. I think it takes a lot of juice to power the 3D painting software. I particularly noticed accessing my Camera Roll and Publishing to the gallery both caused quite a lag.

The app is complete with an opening video that shows you an overview of Psykopaint. Basically after you have opened your image or canvas, select the type of tool from Spray Cans, Paint Brush, Pencils, Watercolors and Paint Guns you can then refine further by selecting one of the styles on the lower left. (Spray Cans included with Free app, others available for purchase).

The top slider below the tool style controls the size of the brush and the lower slider controls the opacity of the brush.

On the lower right you can choose between using the colors from your original photo, or one from a famous painting like the Mona Lisa or Starry Night. The top triangular slider below these selections controls the amount of saturation of the color and the lower slider controls the visibility of your original image.

Tap and hold any color on your image to initiate the ink drop tool. You can use it to mix custom colors. You will notice two rows of circles in the lower center of the painting screen. The circle on the top right that looks like a lens will allow you to go back to painting from the original photo if you happen to switch over to using the palette. At first I had trouble figuring out how to get back to painting from the image, so keep that in mind.

Overall I really like the app. As mentioned it did lag a bit, but I guess it's more like a real painting experience and shouldn't be rushed! I particularly like painting on wood as I did with the photo below. It adds a nice texture to the work.

What I'd like to see in future updates

Ability to undo more than the last stroke
Crop Tool
Basic Adjustments for Contrast, Brightness, Detail
More cool brushes!

Note: Both of the images were painted in Psykopaint, but I used Snapseed for adjusting contrast and detail and tones.

What are your first impressions???

Photo App Friday Giveaway - Stackables for iPad is Here!

Attention all iPad users - here's your chance to win one of five promo codes for a FREE copy of Stackables for iPad. This version, just released on The App Store was built from the ground up for users of the larger screen and fully optimized for iPad. To celebrate the launch Stackables is currently on sale for 50% off for a limited time - just $0.99 on The App Store. My readers have a chance to win a free copy - keep reading to find out how to enter!

For those of you who like to layer your images with lush textures, light leaks, bokeh effects, grit, grain and more, you'll love Stackables for iPad. You can also save your custom formulas, share them and even submit them to the developer for possible inclusion in a future update!

Selecting several of the in-app formulas here are nine different versions of my image.

Stackables Edits

More information from the iTunes Store

MAIN FEATURES:

150+ unique effects (many with multiple variations)
20+ professional adjustment tools
Unlimited layers. Modify, rotate, rearrange, hide and delete layers.
18 blend modes with live preview
29 preset formulas, dozens of user-created formulas and the ability to save your own edits as formulas and share them via email

OTHER:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and email sharing options. Also supports iOS’s “Open in Other Apps” protocol.

Supports PNG format

Supports all image aspect ratios

URL Scheme "stackables-ipad://"

SUPPORTED RESOLUTIONS:

16MP (4000 x 4000) on iPad mini Retina, iPad 3G, iPad 4G, iPad Air

9MP (3000 x 3000) on iPad mini, iPad 2

To enter the giveaway, just leave a comment below. Five winners will be randomly selected on Saturday, April 12th at 9 am PDT. Good Luck!

UPDATE: Congrats to the winners
woolane
Mike Cooney
Sue
lalaithbru
Jana Crowell Malachowski

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QuickPics Photo Manager - Temporarily FREE!

You may already have a method for storing your images whether it's in the cloud, on a computer or saved to a flashdrive or desktop computer. But how about organizing your images on your iOS device? There's the built-in system that is provided in your Photos app, but what if there was a way to tag, sort and even name each individual photo?

QuickPics does just that! This is not an app for storing, but rather for organizing the images on your device...and right now it's temporarily FREE! I'm not sure how long this offer will last, so be sure to download QuickPics as soon as possible. You've got nothing to lose.

Once you install QuickPics on your device, open the app and it will search for images. Then it will automatically sort them by date. You can add tags and even individual names to files. If you store a lot of images on your iPhone or iPad this will come in handy. For example, you could tag your texture images and then easily find them when you need them. If you save a lot of personal photos you could tag them by person or event.

Although QuickPics doesn't store the images in the cloud, it can be synched to iCloud, Google or Dropbox.

QuickPics includes editing tools by Aviary, so if you just want to bump up the contrast or crop, you can do that right from the app. You can also share to Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and email or text an image directly from the app.

If you still like having a physical photo as a reminder of a special person or event, you will soon have the ability to order prints from the app and pick them up at a major retailer or have them mailed to you. Below you'll find a quick tutorial.

Attention Android Users: Go to the QuickPics website to sign-up for notification about the QuickPics Android launch!

iOS Users - Get QuickPics on the App Store today

ColorTime Releases Major Update

ColorTime just released a major update, and it's now FREE to download. Thanks to developer, Jerome Dewhurst, I had a chance to try this app out before the release so I've been playing with it for a few weeks and highly recommend it. Although it is a universal app, it's designed primarily for the iPad. The video below shows you just what ColorTime can do.

Here are a couple of versions of an image I edited with ColorTime (below). With this app, it's not a matter of applying a filter, but rather adjusting an Shadows, Midtones, Highlights, Contrast and Saturation using a very intuitive user interface.

The one issue I had a little trouble with at first was the Select button. A sold white square means you are applying the changes to the entire image, a light square with a black circle in the middle adjusts only the outer edges of the image and the unedited center can be moved and made larger or smaller. The reverse, a dark square with white circle in the center indicates that adjustments are applied only to the center of the image. Finally there is a Brush which allows the user to mask a particular area for applying changes. To activate the Brush, select the paintbrush icon under Select and press your finger on your device screen until the red dots appear and then move your finger to paint in the area you would like to work on. Once you get the hang of it, it's really quite simple and quite clever at that!

Be sure to press the center Modulate Color button which is designed to cycle through various color grades. Press it again to stop the cycling and you can save as is, or further edit the image to your liking.

Press Release

Based on a new GPU accelerated graphics engine, ColorTime 2.0 is the first app for a mobile device that allows 1080p HD video to be color graded in real-time.

The powerful grading tools in ColorTime enable consumers to make their images and HD videos look beautiful and professionally finished. The gestural interface transforms the iPad into a color grading panel, enabling color and tone to be accurately manipulated in the highlights, midtones and shadows.
VertexGrade technology allows grades to be applied to organic, freeform selections.

KEY FEATURES

NEW***Color grade 1080p HD video in real-time***

Accurately manipulate: Shadows, Midtones, Highlights, Contrast, Saturation.
Apply unlimited changes to: All the image, Inside of a shape, Outside of a shape, Long-press and drag to paint a selection.
Use different brush sizes to make your selections.
MODULATE the colors in your image - explore beautiful new looks.
Save your grades and sync them with iCloud.
Share to social networks.
Crop and rotate your photos and video.
ALL OPERATIONS ARE NON-DESTRUCTIVE and reversible

Unique Color Gesture
The most natural way to manipulate color in your photos.
Just touch the screen and drag. ColorTime's unique gesture interface allows you to effortlessly change color and brightness of the shadows, midtones, highlights and contrast in your photo.

Full Screen Realtime Editing
Fill the display with your image and watch it change in realtime. ColorTime uses a new graphics processing engine so that you can manipulate up to 16.7 Megapixel photos or 1080p HD video in real-time full screen.

VertexGrade Technology
A powerful and non-destructive way to selectively change parts of your picture. VertexGrade technology allows you to long-touch and drag to select part of your photo or video. You can then change just the area selected. Make as many selections and as many changes as you like, it won’t slow ColorTime down.

Interactive Shape
A versatile way to add a vignette or create a unique look.
ColorTime’s inbuilt shape allows you to assign one look to the inside of the shape and another to the outside. At its simplest, you can darken the edges of an image to create a vignette, or go further and create your own unique effect.

Modulate Mode
Need inspiration? Let ColorTime generate some looks for you.
Press the play button and ColorTime will smoothly animate the color in your photo or video.
ColorTime uses an algorithm to assign an almost endless sequence of unique looks.

Grade Manager
Save your favorite grades.
ColorTime will sync your top 5 grades across your iOS devices using iCloud.

Social Integration
Share your creation on Facebook, Twitter, Email, Vimeo, and others.

About the developer:
Jerome Dewhurst is a consultant color scientist for feature-film productions, with experience spanning from blockbuster movies to smaller independents. Specializing in color grading and digital intermediate technology, Jerome’s current interest is in bringing professional motion picture imaging technologies to consumers. ColorTime is the first such product, exploiting multi-touch and an innovative new gesture, to give the consumer a tactile grading experience somewhat akin to what a professional colorist experiences using a grading panel costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Take Photo

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Giveaway! Clean That Screen with WHOOSH! Screen Shine

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Tutorial "We are the Dance"

Monday, November 23, 2015

Pixelmator for iPad is Here!

Monday, November 16, 2015

Psykopaint Now Available for iPad

Description from the App Store

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Photo App Friday Giveaway - Stackables for iPad is Here!

Monday, November 9, 2015

QuickPics Photo Manager - Temporarily FREE!

Friday, November 6, 2015

ColorTime Releases Major Update

Press Release