Wednesday 23 January 2013

snapseed and snow

Snapseed is seriously cool. No more so when combined with snow photos, which are notoriously difficult to get right.

You stand in a winter wonderland, take hundreds of photos, get home for a closer look and find that they don't really capture the experience. All that white with a bit of detail (trees, fences, figures, buildings), it's hard to get the depth, the softness, the crunchiness of it all. Plus mobile cameras tend to record snow as grey.

Here's Anglo's edits of some photos she took in her local park, The Arboretum in Lincoln, England. Grade II listed and Victorian, the park is landscaped on a steep hill, with lots of nice period features like lampposts and fountains to contrast the brightness. And trees - oh yes - the trees.

The park was opened in 1872 with 25,000 people in attendance. Attractions included brass band recitals, Professor Renzo’s Performing Dogs and Mr Emmanuel Jackson, the Midland aeronaut in his new balloon.

original image: the terrace houses are on a steep hill,
as is the park
edit 1: Snapseed's new Retrolux filter  to make everything soft and warm.
Evokes a faded photo found at the back of a drawer 
edit 2: another Retrolux treatment, with strong contrast to make the
red bricks pop out from all the white
edit 3: two Retrolux filters applied in succession, give a twilight feel to the image
original image
edit 1: cropped to 16:9 (tall and skinny), then Snapseed's
Grunge filter added to blur the path and the avenue of trees,
making the lamppost the main event
edit 2: not so skinny, and made high contrast with
Snapseed's Grunge effects
edit 3: tall and skinny again, black & white and very faded.
Add the glass plate frame effect for the complete vintage feel
Original image, love how the trees frame the lamp here
edit 1: Snapseed's Grunge effect to make this a very blurred and
faded photo, again an attempt at making this look like a vintage postcard!
edit 2: Retrolux filter with a blue tint, for a
fantasy version of the wintry landscape
original image, I was actually focussing on
the dogs, but when I got home I saw the
white witch and the stone lion!
Just one edit: closely cropped, I tried to capture a storybook feel with SnapSeed's
Grunge filter blurring all but the two figures. I still wish I got a better
pic of the dogs though, they were so full of bounce
Original image
Just the one edit here - Snapseed's Vintage Filter 7 to make things more
muted. Cropped to square to get rid of the crowd on the right,
making the photo about the girl and the movement. 

The Snapseed website: Snapseed.com

Find Anglo on Instagram | EyeEmTwitter Google+ Flickr
Links to Anglo's Vintage Blog (shabby chic pics)
Links to her company's Facebook (HDR photos galore)

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9 comments:

  1. Hi Angela
    edit 3 on the terrace houses is superb!I have discovered snapseed on htc and used it in my last few uploaded onto EyeEm :o)

    Keep up the good work x

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  2. Adrian - thank you very much. My biggest problem is deciding which edit is 'the one', hence the inclusion of a few in this post. I admire these photographers with a clearly defined style who always do - say - crisp black and whites or soft, subtle browns - their photos look great as a gallery - I just cannot commit to one approach. Maybe one day...

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  3. just remember though that behind the one good picture that you see there could be hundreds of experiments and edits to find "the one". My Sue laughs at me for taking and editing so many but sometimes that's what it takes to create the best image. I used to like creating sepia images but i'm now liking the soft b&w and have played with a few like that hence the robin shot on EyeEm. I think you have to experiment with all styles until you find your niche, but will look forward to your efforts along the way :o)

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  4. Thanks again Adrian! I'll have to check out that EyeEm photo. Must say I love that you don't have to be square with EyeEm, a lot of these photos would not work as squares.

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  5. Great collection of images and edits Angela. Snapseed is 'the' app isn't it.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you very much Paul for taking time to comment - I was lucky enough to have a hospital appointment when the mega snow hit Lincoln so I was in the right place at the right time to take these. Snapseed is a really sophisticated editing tool and the interface is a pleasure to use - great design all round IMO.

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  6. Just gorgeous--and impossible to choose a favorite edit.

    I've been lazy about updating my iOS in order to download Snapseed. Your post has given me new motivation!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Lorraine. I can never decided on THE edit. And thanks very much for sharing on Twitter. I had a fantastic hour in the park, and will be sharing some other photos with more illustrative edits on my vintage blog, along with the story of the park, which has lots of adorable Victorian details.

      Angela.

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    2. Wonderful. I look forward to reading your post on Vintage Copywriting.

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