Olloclip Tutorial – Creating A Stunning Macro Flower Image, Using An Olloclip

This is my original shot, I took this with the Olloclip Macro lens attached to my iPhone 4.

After I had taken the shot using the Olloclip macro lens, I opened the image in Snapseed. For me, this is where I normally start my apping.

Within Snapseed I opened up ‘Selective Adjust’. Selective adjust let you modify only the selected areas you want to change and not the whole image.

Click on the + symbol (bottom) to activate and place your point where you want change.  As you are placing the point a pop out will show the area you are in.  To expand or detract that area use your fingers to make bigger or smaller.  Every point you place on the image has 3 options- brightness  B, contrast C, saturation  S.

Use your finger or stylus to swipe up or down on image to get to these options.  In this image I only used the Contrast option.

I then selected ‘Tune Image’ whilst still in Snapseed, use either your finger or stylus and swipe up or down for the options. Here, I chose Ambiance, this brings out the shadows and gives a bit of warmth to an image.

I then selected ‘Details’, as you can choose either sharpening or structure by swiping your finger on an image. I selected ‘structure’ as this helps in bringing out the details in the seed head.

Center Focus is a great way to gently stylize an image.  At the bottom of the page you can see the different preset options.  To get to the presents just click on bottom of page where the star symbol is. For this image, I chose the Portrait 1 preset. By default the center focus will show on your image with a blue dot and will be in the center. If the exact center is not where you want the focus to be, you can tap the blue dot and move it and also make the circle of focus larger or smaller by using the pinch method.  If the blue dot vanishes, just tap in the center and it will reappear.

With each preset there are 3 other options to use, to really make this your own preset.  Swipe up/down on an image,

Blur strength
Outer brightness
Inner brightness

In this image I have used all three of the options.

Here is the result of the changes made with the Olloclip macro lens and the Snapseed app. To me, it looks great without doing any other work, but I still wanted to get a different look.  So I continue…..

I wanted to blend two images together, the saved Snapseed version and a texture.  I keep a separate folder of textures that I use. I opened the images in Image Blender, in the blend option (top), I normally go though most of the blend types to see the look I want.

In this instance, I chose the Normal blend mode and played around with the slider (bottom). At this point I knew I needed to do some Masking of this effect on the seed head.

My preference for masking is in Filterstorm. Open the saved version from Image Blender.

Go to Filters- Add Exposure.

Adding Exposure will bring up your photos.  For the second image I chose the saved Snapseed version.

When the second image is brought in you need to select “Fit to Image” (bottom).

Select the brush symbol and then the Diameter of brush, softness and opacity.  I normally will start out with a low opacity and build it up if necessary.  To see what you have masked, choose the 3 bars (right bottom). Masking view comes up and you have two options.

When you are done, hit the Check Mark symbol (bottom).

This is the result at this stage. I saved this Filterstorm image.

I then opened the image in Photo FX Ultra in order to put more light effects on the flower.  I selected Light- Halo- Halo 1.  This made the seed head too dark but otherwise I liked the effect. I then selected the brush (top), which brings up another screen.

Next I selected the eraser, then brush size, softness and opacity. Finally, click on Paint and then select Done and you are back on the main screen.

This is the result at this stage.

Back in the Main screen, I selected the save symbol(top right), it will give you the following options, Add Layer, Save, Share or Email Setup.

I selected Add Layer for one more effect. For the next layer, I chose Light- Glow- Glow2. I then selected Save.

This is my final image, none of this would of been possible without the use of the Olloclip macro lens. I have created a unique macro image that is stunning to view and totally different to my original image. I am thoroughly pleased.