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News,  What Apps Are We Using This Month?

What Apps Are We Using This Month? with Jaz Oldham

Welcome to TheAppWhisperer’s new section, “what apps are we using this month” series, where we discover which apps you are particularly enjoying. Kicking us off today is non-other than Award Winning Mobile Artist, Jaz Oldham.

I am Jaz Oldham and I live in Yorkshire with my husband and children. I’m currently self employed but in September I will be attending university to study for a degree in creative writing.
All my images are shot and edited on an iPhone 11. I use just a few editing apps , SNAPSEED being my favourite because of its wide range of tools.  I have used it in some way or other to edit most of the images here. Quite often I will begin by using TouchRetouch to refine the image by removing anything I do not want in the picture. My photos are always shot in colour but if I’m converting to black and white, I use either SNAPSEED to desaturate them or use the Black and White tool. HIPSTAMATIC can also be used for this purpose. Both Apps give great results.
Ball Boy was shot on the beach and included the horizon which I removed using a combination of  TouchRetouch object removal and the healing tool in SNAPSEED .The next stage was to smooth and  even out the finish to the background so I used the cloning option in TouchRetouch. Any remaining flaws were cleaned up by using the selective tool in SNAPSEED , it’s one of my favourites , I love that it enables small detail changes in your chosen area- which can make a great difference to the overall look of the image.
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‘Ball Boy’ ©Jaz Oldham
Leeds Lights was taken using the HIPSTAMATIC double exposure setting – it’s a great way to get a double exposure instantly, as opposed to applying one post shot,  as you can do  in SNAPSEED. I wanted the image to be more vibrant in a few specific areas – I did this in SNAPSEEED using the brush tool,   there are a selection of brushes performing different editing tasks. The image also required a little straightening up using the rotate tool.
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‘Leeds Lights’ ©Jaz Oldham
 I have set  HIPSTAMATIC to shuffle the lenses and films after each shot, I have also chosen ‘save original’ – so that I get a version of my image without any edits applied, this enables me to play around and build up an image of my own choosing.
HIPSTAMATIC is great for when I want a little more creativity or artistry in my image. ‘Rose’  was shot using the phone camera and edited in HIPSTAMATIC. I settled on applying the Jane lens and the BlacKeys XF film, I really like the mood which they have created, I altered the brightness and the texture until I was happy with them, there are a number of ways to do this – some of the lenses and films allow you to adjust their strength by means of a slide button and if you require further adjustment there are  many  tools available via the editing menu. It’s great to be able to see all the details about the image in the ‘Photo Info’ and, like SNAPSEED, if you create a look you like, you can save the effect and  try out on other images. HIPSTAMATIC gives me the opportunity to be experimental with the look of my photos.
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‘Rose’ ©Jaz Oldham
I have tried iColorama recently-  it is a ‘must have’  for the creative photographer, I am still getting to grips with the basics but am sure it will be fun exploring the many options for creating art images. There are lots of tutorials available. I’ve only attempted very simple edits and really like the look achieved for  ‘Thinker’ which was shot in portrait mode and edited in iColorama. First, I chose ‘Style’ and from the options , I chose and applied ‘Toon’ followed by ‘Flat 2’. Flat 2 details were adjusted by opening the slide buttons in the bottom right corner. It’s a simple start to experimenting with the App, but very effective. I will definitely be exploring this App further.
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‘Thinker’ ©Jaz Oldham

To read our other interviews in this series, please go here.

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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]