iPhone Photography Tutorial – ‘How To Enhance An Image And Use Layers With PhotoForge2’
Our new mobile photography tutorial section is in full swing and we’ve received much acclaim from the mobile photography community, thanks to all. If you’ve missed our previous tutorials you can catch them here.
We recently interviewed the creator of this tutorial, Gerry Coe for our A Day In the Life of … series, if you missed that you can read it here. Gerry’s images are simply wonderful and in this tutorial Gerry goes through the steps necessary to enable you to capture the stunning image below.
Read this easy to follow tutorial and see if you too can create a similarly wonderful shot. This tutorial purely uses the PhotoForge2 app and if you feel inspired to try to replicate this image, you can download the app here. It retails for $2.99/£1.99.
Final Image
The image above is the final image, the one that we are going to show you how to recreate.
Original Image
This is the original unedited photograph that Gerry took with the iPhone default camera of the Halfpenny Bridge in Dublin. It was taken on a typical Northern European dull and overcast day.
Photoforge2
Firstly, Gerry opened the image up in Photoforge2, he wanted to crop it so he clicked the Pen and Ruler at the bottom of the screen.
Crop
He wanted to remove the buildings so decided to crop it square.
Lining Up
He cropped the image and hit the tick on top left to process the image.
Fx
Gerry then selected the Fx button.
Pop! Cam
This opens up a new set of possibilities, Gerry wanted the Pop! Cam filter.
Options
This brings up a new range of options.
Paper
Gerry wanted a paper background but you can play around with them to see which one you like best.
Film
Next Gerry selected the film icon and choose Colormax Cool.
Cool Off
Then Gerry selected Filters and choose the Cooling option.
Darkroom
Gerry then went into the Darkroom Chemicals section and selected WashedOut.
Frame
The next stage was to select the Frame, Gerry hit the tick mark on top left.
Warning
One word of warning, the tick mark only processes your image at that point, if you want to save it you have to click on the Cloud icon at the top right. You can save to your camera roll or send it on to any of the other websites listed.
Saved
Gerry saved the image but felt it needed more work.
Channel Mixer
Re-open the image in Channel Mixer and change the color to a bright Orangey/Yellow.
Layers
Next, click on the layers icon as marked and you get this layout.
New Layer
Then click on New Layer and on the pop out menu click the picture icon, this opens your camera roll.
Import
Import the original retouched image.
Mask
When you click on that image a new pop out menu appears, click on the Mask symbol.
Pen
The image now shows a small version of your picture denoting that the mask is active, now click on the pen tool.
Mask Edit
Now we move into Mask Edit and you can then start to rub out the portions you don’t want and show the underlying image. The round dot at the top right reveals the different ways the mask shows.
Flatten
This shows the mask and the eliminated bits, and if you’re happy at this stage, Flatten the image and save to camera roll.
Final Image
Here’s the finished awesome piece of art again. We hope you successfully managed to follow that tutorial, please send us your similar examples, we’d love to take a look.
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
9 Comments
Veevs
Fantastic tutorial!
Joanne Carter
Thank you Veevs 😉
Gerry Coe
Thanks for the comment Veevs
Frank Hoekzema
Nice, i have not yet found a way to like this app but seeing what’s possible through this tutorial has got me thinking I may need to take another look!
Gerry Coe
Frank, I find that too with certain apps, then I see what someone else has done with it and I look at it again. Glad you liked the Tut. G
Sharif Shajib Ahammed
Superb Tutorial
Gerry Coe
Thanks Sharif.
Mark Allen
Excellent Gerry, I must get this and have a play…
Gerry Coe
Always a bit of fun Mark.