Finally have my iPhone 6!

At last I have my iPhone 6!  So here is my first manipulated picture from it. Hong Kong does Christmas in a big way.  I hope to get some good pictures over the next couple of days but in the meantime I took some closeup pictures of the Christmas trees in the the shopping mall close to me and manipulated them using the iColorama app only:

Dog Lovers

I'm a real sucker when it comes to taking pictures of dogs. I was sitting outside a trendy cafe today and next to me was a lovely French lady with her two dogs but I didn't realise when I first sat down that it was going to be such a great location.

This was because anybody walking past who was a dog lover couldn't resist smiling at her lovely boxer and the little chap wrapped in a blanket on the chair. I asked her if she would mind if I took a picture of her dogs and whipped up this quick dog portrait for her in iColorama:

'Animal Attraction'
In the meantime I propped up my iPad on a reading stand and managed to catch some great pictures of passers by. I incorporated some of the ladies to create this picture. The apps I used were Procamera, Snapseed, Superimpose, Laminar Pro and iColorama.

Animal Attraction

ArtRage on the iPad

I have always enjoyed using ArtRage on the PC and although it doesn't have all the tools on the iPad, it's an interesting option to add to my arsenal of manipulation tools.

In Hong Kong Park the other day I took a picture of a butterfly which I thought would be good spiced up using ArtRage. I took it back into iColorama at the end, blended it with the original and applied the Coherence Style which is slowly becoming one of my favourites:

Diana App on iPad

I had some fun today messing with the Diana app which shuffles through the photos in your camera roll and combines them. A lot of the shuffles don't work but occasionally you get a winner. I cleaned out my camera roll first and cropped and improved the photos I wanted to use. I also added extra textures to the camera roll to improved the chances of a good mix.

Here are my favourites:

I can't understand what blogger is doing to this picture. The original is beige not yellow!

I further enhanced the last one using Superimpose and iColorama.

iPad Street Photography

I went out today with my iPad to take street pictures. No phone but let's try and make the most of what I have.

Hong Kong is just the most interesting place to take photographs because there is so much street activity. Canteens right on the street, shops with complete open fronts.  As well as this it has the advantage of overhead walkways and trams.

So today I got a couple of street shots and also managed to get a seat in the front of the tram so I could take pictures.

'Watching the World Go By'

When I was taking this picture, I was waiting for an interesting couple to come around the corner but they must have stopped. Anyhow I loved the cat sitting outside and took a couple of pics nonetheless. When I got home I just loved the way both the cat and man on his stool reading the newspaper were both eyeing the passing man up and down.  The photo was pretty busy so I decided to grey out most of the picture and give it a blur leaving the man and cat intact.

I took it into Snapseed and had to crop it quite a lot and then enhanced it a little, using the Selective Adjustment just to brighten the man on the stool who was quite dark. Then into iColorama to turn it black and white and to give it a blur under Effects. I then took it into Superimpose with the coloured version as a background so that I could use a mask to bring the coloured objects back in.

'Letting the World Go By'

Outside the Western Market there is a painting which I suppose is a Trompe-l'œil. So many people walk past it without even seeing it so I stationed myself across from it and started taking pictures every time somebody walked past. I got two interesting shots and decided to use this one which was of a man totally engrossed on his mobile phone. I wanted to do something interesting so did the usual clean up in Snapseed and then into iColorama where I used option number 8 under the Form>Escher. I then used a brush mask to bring him back in.

'Dreaming of a Better World'

Then it was onto the tram to see if I could get any good pictures perched in the front of the upper deck.  There was another tram in front and I loved the way this chap was staring into the distance on a tram which was going to 'Happy Valley'. I started off in Snapseed but this time finished it off in Noir.

Christmas Bauble
Finally I wanted to get a picture where quite a few of the walkways were showing with the other tram still in front. I also wanted to try and get some of the Christmas decorations that are now lining some of the walkways. I took the picture into iColorama and greyed out everything except the closest walkway and then I turned it into an old Christmas Bauble again under the Form Effects.

Not bad for a day's work.

Frustration can't get iPhone 6 in HK

I am very frustrated by the fact that I am unable to get hold of an iPhone 6 here in Hong Kong. The process of getting one is just impossible and a source of huge frustration. The only way to get one through Apple is to sign onto their website at 8am every morning and try and reserve one for that day but by the time I have got through they are all gone. I have now been doing this for three weeks solid. I go through 3 phrases (1) total anxiety trying to get all my details and Apple's texted code onto the website in record time (2) complete deflation when once again they are all gone (3) complete rant at Apple at such a mindless pursuit.  Can I please just put my name down on a list and order one??!!! 

UPDATE: yippee, yippee, as I use my iPad for my training business, Apple are letting me buy an iPhone through their business section. Thank you, Apple, thank you!

Anyhow it means that I cannot take mobile pictures and enter them onto mobile photography sites and I have to make do with taking my camera out and just manipulating the pictures on my iPad to get practice.  Here is an emerald pigeon that I took at the Aviary in Hong Kong Park which I manipulated in iColorama after seeing Heide Hoffmann's tutorial on YouTube and then applying the new Coherence Effect. I thought afterwards that I should have tried the new record feature but will try that next time.