Guest Post: My workflow by Dixon Hamby

For the past several years I have been taking photos of the pole art and people in my hood - Capitol Hill area of Seattle. My processing has changed as the apps have been updated, but it is basically a very simple process.

First I take photo, either with iPhone camera app or one of my new favorite apps QuickPix.

Next I open it in Camera+ and Edit/Clarity. This filter is amazing not just for sharpening and color enhancement, but also for pulling out shadows.

The next step depends on the image and I sometimes skip it. In this case I want more brilliance so I opened it in Filterstorm and added the filter Enhance. I use to apply Curves with Mask in Filter Storm, but Camera+ pulls out the shadows so well I rarely add that step anymore.

Also I don't always apply this app. Depends on the image. I use ColorSplash which turns the image to B&W and you simply paint to add color. I use a stylus for this step.

And if I want a more contrast grainy look I use Adobe Photoshop Express. Using Contrast and Sharpen filters.

So there you have it. Not all of the #streetart images go through all these steps. Some I only shoot, Camera+/Clarity and Crop.

More of my streetart images can be found here. Keep on shooting and apping.
Dixon Hamby

Update on Thursday, May 26, 2011 at 6:29PM by Glyn Evans

I'd just like to say a big THANK YOU to Dixon Hamby for this guest post.

New iPhone Photo App: Color Splash

Color Splash, the original, and some may say the best colorization app for the iPhone has recently been updated to version 1.6.

So what's new?

• Images are displayed in better quality and higher resolution during editing
• Added AirPrint support for wireless printing (requires iOS 4.2)
• Photo metadata is preserved in saved images (requires iOS 4.2)
• Improved handling of high resolution images
• Bug fixes and performance improvements

App Store Link: Color Splash; Price: £0.59/$0.99/€0.79

Price drop: ColorSplash

*** ON SALE: 50% OFF for a limited time only ***

App Store Description: ColorSplash lets you quickly and easily give photos a dramatic look by converting them to black and white, while keeping your chosen details in color. This effect draws the viewers' attention to the colored areas, creating striking images.

*** Winner of the 2009 Best Photo Manipulation App Award ***

App Store Link: Color Splash; Price: £0.59/$0.99/€0.79

Price drop: ColorSplash

For a limited time, ColorSplash, the excellent app that lets you quickly and easily give photos a dramatic look, known as a "cutout" or "selective desaturation", is currently on offer, priced at £0.59/$0.99/€0.79

This effect converts your photos to black and white, whilst keeping your chosen details in color, drawsing the viewers' attention to this colored areas.

App Store Link: ColorSplash; Price: £0.59/$0.99/€0.79

My photo, by Glyn Evans

I've called this photo "Flying the Flag"

On my flight to PMA 2010 I took several photos as the plane began to descend in to LAX.  As you can imaging trying to keep the iPhone level was impossible, and so the following photo was the result.

So how did I get from this photo to the one i've called "Flying the Union Jack"?

First I used Straighten Image, to, you guessed it, straighten up the photo.

Then I used ColorSplash, bringing back the colour of the Union Jack on the wing tip of the Virgin Atlantic flight, before finally processing it in CameraBag, using the Colorcross filter.

And so that's how I created my photo, so if you would like to share your photo with the rest of us, then send me an email and I'll reply with details on how to submit.

App Update: ColorSplash version 1.4 released

The fantastic ColorSplash app from Hendrik Kueck has just recieved the following minor updates:

• New and improved tutorial videos (see new tutorial video below)
• Email image from within the app (requires OS 3.0)
• Copy image to the clipboard (requires OS 3.0)
• App settings are now accessible inside the app

AppStore Link: ColorSplash - Price £1.19/$1.99

ColorSplash SALE

** ON SALE for the first time ever and for one week only. Grab it now for 50% off **

Description from the AppStore: ColorSplash lets you quickly and easily give photos a dramatic look by converting them to black and white, while keeping your chosen details in color. This effect - known as a "cutout" or "selective desaturation" - draws the viewers' attention to the colored areas.

Editors Comments: If you don't have this app, then grab it now whilst it is on offer, you won't regret it.

AppStore Link: Burst - Price £0.59/$0.99

ColorSplash and Juxtaposer updated

Two of my most favourite app got an update today, ColorSplash and Juxtaposer.

ColorSplash now lets you share your ColorSplash creations with your friends and the world, by allowing you to upload your images directly to the following social networking and photography sites:

• Facebook
• Flickr
• Twitter (via TwitPic)

Check out the video below that shows the new features of ColorSplash.

Juxtaposer also now let's you upload your images directly to the same social networking and photography sites:

• Facebook
• Flickr
• Twitter (via TwitPic)

In addition to the above, Juxtaposer now adds the following features:

• Optional brush size slider inside the app (can be enabled from the Settings app)
• Workaround for a bug in Apple's Photos app on the iPod touch which would display some saved images as low resolution / blurry
• The automatically saved previous session can now be deleted
• Improved saving of sessions (faster)
• New app icon

AppStore Link: ColorSplash - Price £1.19 ($1.99)
AppStore Link: Juxtaposer - Price £1.79 ($2.99)

ColorSplash video from Hendrik Kueck

If you've not yet bought ColorSplash from developer Hendrik Kueck, then check out this video of the app in action.

I know I bang on about this app, but it really is that good, as its 5 stars and position at the top of the photo app group proves.

Has ColorCanvas grown up?

Yesterday saw the release of ColorCanvas Plus, the paid for version of ColorCanvas from developer Big Canvas Inc. and offers the following features:

1. Three different mono-color filters (normal, enhanced, and hi-contrast).
2. Three brushes (color, mono and tint)(our earlier version only included color).
3. Fast response time to your finger movements.

So how does it compare to the free version, ColorCanvas?

Whilst its does have some nice features like being able to colour tint your photo with a good pallet range, and allow you to increase the photo's contrast, it is still let down by its clunky interface and like its freebie version still saves landscape shots as portrait with large bands of white top and bottom, and output is only 240 x 320!!

How does it stand up against the competition, ColorSplash?

It doesn't!! With its poor interface and low resolution output, there is still only one app worth buying in this category, and that is ColorSplash.

AppStore Link: ColorCanvas Plus - Price £0.59 ($.99)