Steve’s Snap & ZapChallenge: Selfie

My hear sank when I saw the prompt from Steve this week.

Selfie.

Oh no

I hate selfies as they are so unflattering.  So I got my daughter to take this photo of me when I got all dolled up for my son’s graduation dinner.

It is time to move on from the selfie I have been using as it was before my marriage break up.  I did the usual thing and went and got a radical hair cut – I cut all my curls of.

So  I wont go into all the gory details of my editing to save an overload of images of my face.  I have narrowed it down to 2 photos.

As you can see I got rid of the wrinkles and mottled skin tones and blacked out the background to soften my face.

Then I used these great app that I found out through another wonderful blogger called Glaze.  Here you can find some more great photos with this app:

http://movethechair.wordpress.com/

It gives an oil painting affect and best of all it is free.  So I thought I would go for an oil painting.  I love watching the Antiques Road Show and look at all the portraits that are centuries old.  So here is my version.

So I am asking which version is your favourite.

The photoshop version or the oil painting.

Thanks for your imput.

Thanks for visiting.

Snap & Zap: Let Me Take A 100 Year Old #Selfie…

For each Snap & Zap I will suggest a new theme so take a new photo or use an existing photo and edit it with any software you like, so…

1. Create a new post showing the original
2. What edits have you made?
3. What software/techniques have you used?
4. Link back to the current week’s page

The theme for this “Snap & Zap…” is Selfie.

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Snap & Zap: Reflections.

I must have known about this challenge last night as I spent some time playing with my apps on my iPad.  I have a lot of photos of reflections.  Some are really bizarre as they are taken down at Cornwall Park.

I just wanted to see where I could take this one.

I went to Photoshop Express and saturated it with a vibrant filter.

Then I headed to FX Distressed which added some texture.

For my final image I used the ansel filter.

Actually I must make a confession.  I can’t remember what filters I used.  It was just fun to see where I went.

Then I went for a gothic look.  This is the original image.

Here I tried to find my inner artist with the ArtWorks comic filter. It didn’t end up exactly how I wanted.

So I headed to Photoscape and used one of their filters.  It blurred the edges a bit.

Then my favourite.  Tangled FX.  Such an interesting spooky affect.

For each Snap & Zap I will suggest a new theme so take a new photo or use an existing photo and edit it with any software you like, so…

1. Create a new post showing the original
2. What edits have you made?
3. What software/techniques have you used?
4. Link back to the current week’s page

The theme for this “Snap & Zap…” is Reflections.

This is a great challenge to try out new filters and generally just to have fun.  I get a bit carried away and forgot to write down the filters I used.  Too much to think about when the creative juices are working.

Snap & Zap: Me, Myself and Eye…

Thanks for visiting.

 

Snap & Zap: Trees

Time for some more editing fun.

Time for Steve’s challenge to see what I can do with this photo.

When I start to edit a photo I just go with the flow.  I use a lot of filters on my iPad just because I want to see where it leads me.  I have no idea what I will end up with and that is where the fun is.

So yet another photo taken at Cornwall Park.  Yet another reflection.  So lets see where I go with it.

First stop was Snapseed, mainly to extract the photo so I can use it in other apps.  I added the HDR people filter for this image.  It lightened up the bottom of the image.

Then the old lens filter to focus on the tree itself.

Then onto Distressed FX  for the Ansel filter.  I love how it blurred some of the branch details in the foreground.

And the vanilla filter – just because I liked the effect.

Then I hopped over to Photoshop Express to add a silver filter.

Then for a bit of fun I inverted the image which really focused on the tree.

And finally onto my final image with the spring filter.

So I ended up with the strong blue colour again. But it gives a totally different look to the trees.  I have lost all the details around the top of the image to make it look like the tree has fallen down, instead of it being a reflection.

So, which image is your favourite.

Snap & Zap: When You Can’t See The Woods For The…

Steve’s Snap & Zap: Droplets

This is always a fun challenge by Steve.

For each Snap & Zap I will suggest a new theme so take a new photo or use an existing photo and edit it with any software you like, so…

1. Create a new post showing the original
2. What edits have you made?
3. What software/techniques have you used?
4. Link back to the current week’s page

So for this week Steve has given us droplets to work with.

The first image is the original.

So it was of to my favourite app Snapseed for the Drama 2 filter for definition.

Then I added the fine HDR filter.

Then I went to another really cool app – ArtWork for the comic filter.

Then to PhotoShop Express for my final edits.  This one is the dream filter.

Then the carmine filter.

Then the vignette filter.

And a vivid filter.

Just so I don’t forget I added the memory filter.

Finally I added the carmine filter for my final image.

Snap & Zap: My Disco Needs Me…

Today is also a huge day in Australia and to a lesser extent here in New Zealand.  Melbourne Cup day. A horse race which stops a nation, literally.  So good luck to all those with their workplace syndicates.

Thanks for visiting.

Steve’s Snap &Zap: Autumn Leaves

Good morning from another sunny and calmer Hastings.

The theme from Steve for his challenge is song titles so I have chosen Autumn Leaves – appropriate for this time of the year for those of you up north.

Snap & Zap: Cigarettes & Chocolate Milk…

This song seems to be rather popular with new recordings every decade since it was first sung –

“Autumn Leaves” is a much-recorded popular song. Originally it was a 1945 French song “Les feuilles mortes” (literally “The Dead Leaves”) with music by Hungarian-French composer Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert, and the Hungarian title is “Hulló levelek” (Falling Leaves). Yves Montand (with Irène Joachim) introduced “Les feuilles mortes” in 1946 in the film Les Portes de la nuit.^[1]

I won’t go into all the versions but you can check it out on Wikipedia.

My favourite is Susan Boyle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn_Leaves_(song)

So the first image is the original.

Then it was of to Snapseed for the nature HDR filter.

And the old lens filter.

Then I added a glow with the Photoshop Express app.

Finally I added the vignette to give a more surreal look.

Thanks for visiting.

Steve’s Snap & Zap Challenge: The Great Gatsby

Good morning from Hastings.

I was saddened to see that Sonel has closed down her photo editing challenge.  I really loved that one as it made me be more adventurous and daring with my photo editing.  Steve was also upset but decided to set up his own challenge.  The Snap & Zap challenge.

Here are rules copied from his blog.

Each week I will suggest a new theme so take a new photo or use an existing photo and edit it with any software you like, so…

Create a new post showing the original
What edits have you made?
What software/techniques have you used?
Link back to the current week’s page
The theme for this week’s “Snap & Zap…” is Movie Titles.

So this week’s theme is Movie Titles.

So what else could I do except The Great Gatsby.

This is one of the photos taken from the vintage car show in Napier last February.

First I went to GIMP for the cartoon filter.

Not much difference other than some more definition.

I wanted to get rid of some of the unwanted detail on the bottom right so I used the vignette 2 filter in FX Photostudio Pro.

Then some colour to make it look more vintage.  I ended up choosing Crystal River  to make it more over the top.

Finally I added a frame and then used the Andes font to add the film title.

This could almost be Daisy hiding her face from the cameras.

Check out Steve’s post here.

http://steve-says.net/2014/04/01/snap-zap-stand-by-me/

Thanks for visiting.