A Stroll Along The River.
Most photographers will tell you that they always have a camera with them....well most of the time. It does begin to feel, if you do it for a living or are passionate about photography as if a camera is attached to your hip. Some believe, in this day and age of fast media that you should have a camera on you at all times, just in case you come across a newsworthy event. Now, what if you go out for a stroll and don't think or forget to take a camera. Well fortunately most of us essentially have one in our pockets at all times in the form of a camera phone.
This happened to me yesterday. I had been doing a bit of DIY at home and found that I had ran out of paint. As it wasn't a bad day weather wise, we actually had some bright blue sky in Leicester, I decided to take a walk canal side along the River Soar to my nearby DIY superstore that shall remain nameless. Before reaching my destination I came upon the old sluice mechanism at Evans Weir. I already had an idea in my mind for my Phoneye shot of the day but when I came upto the weir, the dappled light on the old rusted cog was just too good to resist. Serendipity, mmm. I'm just glad I had the means to capture what became my shot of the day. Read on to see how I adjusted the image.
This happened to me yesterday. I had been doing a bit of DIY at home and found that I had ran out of paint. As it wasn't a bad day weather wise, we actually had some bright blue sky in Leicester, I decided to take a walk canal side along the River Soar to my nearby DIY superstore that shall remain nameless. Before reaching my destination I came upon the old sluice mechanism at Evans Weir. I already had an idea in my mind for my Phoneye shot of the day but when I came upto the weir, the dappled light on the old rusted cog was just too good to resist. Serendipity, mmm. I'm just glad I had the means to capture what became my shot of the day. Read on to see how I adjusted the image.
#35 Rusting Wheels Of Industry
Shot on 4th Feb 13
Shot on 4th Feb 13
I took a range of photos from different angles but found that the wide angle of the camera lens caused bad flaring in the sunshine. This is a common problem with camera phones and sometimes a protective cover can help as the hole cut out in the back for the lens acts a bit like a lens hood. Unfortunately I don't have a cover yet. This flaring led to me being drawn round to mainly face on to the large cog wheel while standing in the shade of nearby trees which were kind enough to assist with the dappled light.
I was a bit miffed that the light was so strong and causing problems for the Nexus 4 and standing face on to the mechanism from the path I found myself thinking how I would edit this one. I liked the colour and texture of the structure but felt that there was more to be had and that the cog wheel was a little lonesome. I continued on my way to get my DIY supplies, all the while with the cogs in my head going round and round.
I was a bit miffed that the light was so strong and causing problems for the Nexus 4 and standing face on to the mechanism from the path I found myself thinking how I would edit this one. I liked the colour and texture of the structure but felt that there was more to be had and that the cog wheel was a little lonesome. I continued on my way to get my DIY supplies, all the while with the cogs in my head going round and round.
Shot showing sluice mechanism and strong sunshine in scene.
Thinking of adding to the image gave me the idea of duplicating the wheel. This would not be that difficult if I was on the computer but phone editing would be a different matter. It was then that I remembered the Photo Editor App. I had tried this out a few weeks ago but never got to grips with it. What I did remember was that it had a few serious tools for phone software. Another great attribute to this app is that it allows you to zoom in on the subject while editing, much like full blown image editors. Other apps don't allow for this and it can be a reason that you are hindered in editing your image.
So I ended up selecting my chosen image. As I shot quite near straight on I thought that I would be able to mirror the image to aid in duplicating the cog wheel. Unfortunately when you mirror an image, it flips it from a selected point. This will of course include everything in the image being copied. This can be a good thing and lead to some nice symmetrical effects, but in this case the can and rubbish in the bottom right of the image would be mirroring each other in a way that just wouldn't happen.
So I ended up selecting my chosen image. As I shot quite near straight on I thought that I would be able to mirror the image to aid in duplicating the cog wheel. Unfortunately when you mirror an image, it flips it from a selected point. This will of course include everything in the image being copied. This can be a good thing and lead to some nice symmetrical effects, but in this case the can and rubbish in the bottom right of the image would be mirroring each other in a way that just wouldn't happen.
Chosen unedited image.
In the Photo Editor App I cropped around the mechanism to take out the sky and outer edges of the walkway in the background. In the Photo Editor App I selected
- Colour tab, set contrast to +10
- Correction tab, set colour temp to 6000k
- Colours curves tab, select red tab on curve and I pulled down lower part of curve to darken reds
- Effect II tab, Mirror X set to horizontal and setting of 38%. This flipped the image and moved the flip to the left u til the cogs approx touched.
- Effect tab, unsharp mask set to amount 60, radius 5 and threshold 6
- Clone tab, set brush to hardness 15 and size 50 then using selection circle pick the area you want to clone from and simply paint over the area you want clone out, ie the cans and some rubbish
- Took final image into Pixlr Express App and applied frame.
Final edited mirror image with cloned out can
Although not perfect I'm pleased with the result and if I didn't have my phone with me it would have been a chance missed on the day. If I continue to use the Photo Editor App I think I would invest in a stylus as its a bit tedious trying to use the clone tool as sometimes you lose the source circle under your finger. Otherwise it is an App with lots of promise.
Photo Editor by dev.macgyver is available free (adverts) on the google play store. I can't seem to find it for iPhone.
Any questions or queries. Drop me a comment or email and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
See y'all next post.
Photo Editor by dev.macgyver is available free (adverts) on the google play store. I can't seem to find it for iPhone.
Any questions or queries. Drop me a comment or email and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.
See y'all next post.