iPhone Photography Tutorial – How To A Stunning Composite SkyScape Image

I had taken this SlowShutterCam image of an illuminated fountain, moving the iPhone to create the rainbow colored texture, thinking to use it at a future date.

This is the second image, I shot this silhouette of tree branches against the evening sky with 645 Pro, I realized I could blend the two together to create something interesting.

I felt the texture image needed some softening so I brought it into BlurFX and chose the median blur at full strength, as I felt this worked best for what I was hoping to do.

Next, in Image Blender, I brought the two images together, with the tree branches as the topmost image using the Luminosity blend. I moved the slider to adjust intensity until I got the silhouetting I wanted enough to show the detailing of the smaller fern-like leaves. I also double tapped to call up the Mask/Arrange option, so I could slightly size-up and reposition the tree branches. I then saved the image.

I opened the blended image in PhotoToaster next, I wanted two things first: to bump up the saturation of colors and to increase the contrast, since I had an idea that I might need to maintain these at a later stage. I began by selecting the Contrast option, then called up the sliders (tap the circle) to fine tune Exposure, Temperature, Shadows, Contrast and Blacks until I was happy with what I had.

Still in PhotoToaster, I added a little texture, choosing Scratched. Again, I called up the sliders to fine tune.

Moving to the Effects filters I chose Cross Pro to further strengthen the silhouetting of the tree branches. Although the hues shifted a little, this was fine for me as long as the saturation remained strong for the next steps. I then saved the image.

Opening the image in Snapseed, I began applying Grunge textures (07) hence the earlier attention to saturation, adjusting Styles, Brightness and Saturation and especially Texture strength (and cycling through the Properties). I brought down the texture strength from what is seen here so it was only barely visible, since there was one more step to go.

Still in Snapseed I applied the Vintage filter, again paying attention to Saturation, Style and Style Strength and Properties until I arrived at the final image (Rainbow sky-final).

Then I was happy with the final image and here is it above. This image combined all the effects that I wanted to achieve and I was elated with it.


Links to Apps used in this article

BlurFX
Snapseed
Image Blender
PhotoToaster
SlowShutter Cam
645PRO