So this is from the travels this weekend on a backroad that lead to basically the site of the next great horror movie. This slaughter house looks to have been abandoned a while back, giant holes in the walls, gates half broken off hinges ( all the things that make for a great backdrop for a slasher film )
To finish this image I used the Filterstorm app. I added some sharpening to give the corrugated siding some more pop. After that I went for the B&W conversion, used the Luminance filter to adjust the curves a bit to give it a darker feel. Lastly, a slight vignette to channel the focus in on the lettering.
So a new app came out recently that was on the basic side, but had a cool nostalgia vibe to it. It is called Palm Lab. It has a simple interface (an old developing pan). You choose from some preset filters that come in bottles. Some of the presets have a neat effects; others, not really doing it for me. The image below was created using the app’s B&W preset, and it has a pretty cool look to it.
The effect turned out a nice high contrast B&W image.
I think this app has a lot of promise. The option to lighten or increase the effect of a preset would be nice, as well as a way to mix the presets together to increase the number of total effects capable.
All in all a fun little app for $1.99
Man moving sure does wipe you out, but finally we are almost settled in. The shot is of the oak tree in the side yard of the new house. I used one of the artistic filters in the E-P2 ( yeah you guessed it, the Pinhole filter). It gave a nice vignette framing to the tree, and added a slight saturation that made for a nice overall effect.
Image was framed using Photogene
This is one more shot of the cool looking shed that had the great color. Of course B&W being my favorite medium of late I decided to play around a bit. I started off the conversion using Filterstorm’s B&W conversion, then dropped it into TiltShift to give it a different look, and added a bit more contrast and vignette. Also, trying out a smaller size image again to see if the new improvements in Photogene can reduce the image down without having grainy results.
One thing that is tough to do is judge what amounts of adjustments are being provided in all these apps. You have the slider and that is it. There are no % values that float above the sliders as you go, so most of it is off feel. But it sure does make it hard when someone asks what I did to finish these images 
. My best response so far for this was ” I just adjust until I am happy with it ”
On the same drive from the other day, I came across the old shed. I couldn’t figure out what type of metal this thing had for siding, but it sure did make a cool patina of colors. The boarded up windows sealed the deal.
This was finished using the Filtstorm app. They recently updated this app with some very cool features, and a better UI than before, and this is fastly becoming my new favorite app. Only thing still missing is the ability to contract frames for images, but that is just being picky on my part. The also added so cool FTP features and the ability to save at native resolution, or close to it ( I haven’t fully tested that part)
So out and about this weekend, I came across what I had been looking for, for a while now. The final image to complete my Strong Roots series that I had been working on since last October.
This one was done completely in camera using one of the EP-2′s artistic filters that are pre-programed in “Grainy Film”. So this is a straight shot, added a frame in Photogene and that is it.
I found this little guy in the front yard of my new place. It’s color had faded so I decided to go with my favorite conversion, B&W…
The image was finished in a new program I picked up called Tilt Shift Generator.
Used the program to blur the edges, and vignette it a bit.
Finished with the Photogene app for the frame.
Shot with the E-P2 14-42f3.5-5.6 in macro mode
So today was a busy day of driving and working and driving some more. One good thing about it is that some of the areas I get to go are on the backroads of nowhere, and some cool stuff can be found in the middle of nowhere
I found the truck below right at the last second as I was rounding a corner. It was obscured by some bushes, but once I saw it I had to shoot it.
I finished this image using Photogene. I am really missing the efficiency of my Silver Efex pro, but I am trying to make due with tweaking presets built into Photogene. So to finish this image I first used the Bleach preset, which hardens the edges, and desaturates the image a bit. From there I went into the individual sliders and dialed up the contrast, dropped the exposure a small touch, desaturated it all the way, and finally did a small S-curve using curves to get the final look.
Today was one one day off this week so I grabbed all the gear and headed west out to the Carrizo Plain. I have shot out here before when we still had a lot of wildflowers on the ground, and wanted to see what it looked like during the dry season. I was cruising down the road when I saw an old friend, so to speak. The abandoned tractor I found and photographed for my Life @ 50 project. So I figured I would stop and shoot for a bit. Caught the 2 images you see below.
Captured with Olympus E-P2
Finished in Photogene
Title says it all, have a great weekend everyone
