tutorial Archives - TheAppWhisperer

‘How I Did It’™ with Rad Drew – Creating Rich, Textured Layers with Stackables App!

04/04/201804/04/2018 by Rad Drew

It’s been so much fun creating and sharing mobile phone video tutorials in the new TheAppWhisperer section that Joanne Carter created called “How I Did It!™ with Rad A. Drew.” This will mark my third tutorial since the section launched on March 6. I’ve been overwhelmed by the comments and support for these tutorials! Thank you Joanne Carter, and thanks to all of you who make up our wonderful mobile photography community for such a warm welcome!

Today’s tutorial features the app Stackables – Layered Textures, Effects and Masks, (hereafter referred to as “Stackables” in this article) by developer Samer Azzam. Stackables is a companion app to the app Formulas – Photo Lab Effects and Custom Frames, also by Samer Azzam, which I covered in this section recently and can be accessed here.

In this tutorial I introduce many of the tools and features of Stackables. I demonstrate how to apply textures, filters, gradients, patterns, adjustments, and formulas, and how to adjust the variables of each of these effects. You’ll learn how to save your layers of adjustments as custom formulas that can be applied from both the Stackables app and the Formulas app.

‘How I Did It’™ with Rad Drew – Creating Captivating Images with DistressedFX

06/03/201806/03/2018 by Rad Drew

We have just mentioned this brand new section in our post here. We are delighted to publish our very first ‘How I Did It’™ with Rad Drew tutorial, this time with the iOS app – DistressedFX. Please take a look below…

Mobile Photography / Art Tutorial – Microsoft Selfie and Prisma: A Couple of Tips

04/11/201604/11/2016 by Jerry Jobe

We are delighted to publish Jerry Jobe’s latest mobile photography/art tutorial for our viewing pleasure. This time Jobe takes a look at two apps, Microsoft Selfie and Prisma. Take it away Jerry…(foreword by Joanne Carter).

“Some apps, quite frankly, don’t need a whole lot of explanation. A tap, a choice made, a slider, and you’re done. However, just because they are simple and popular doesn’t mean that you can’t get more out of them with a couple of tips about them. That’s why I am covering a couple of very simple apps today: Microsoft Selfie and Prisma. (One other commonality between the apps is that they are available for Android as well as iOS devices).”

Mobile Photography / Art Tutorial – Good Hydrations: How Much Water Do You Need?

26/10/201626/10/2016 by Jerry Jobe

We are delighted to publish Jerry Jobe’s latest mobile photography/art tutorial for our viewing pleasure. This time Jobe takes a look a new watercolour app – Paint Logue and compares it to some of the other current popular watercolour apps. Take it away Jerry…(foreword by Joanne Carter).

"How many hammers do you need? Given my ability to bend any nail, I definitely need a claw hammer. I’ve got a pipe wrench with a hammer head on the back, for those frustrating moments when the pipe fitting WON’T BUDGE. But since I’m not pounding dents into or out of metal, I have no real need for a ball-peen hammer. (Besides the fact that I love the phrase “ball peen hammer”. It’s fun! Say it with me: Ball Peen Hammer.)

Why am I talking about hammers when I should be talking about iPhoneography apps? It just came to mind when I saw that another watercolour app was available for free this past weekend. It’s called Paint Logue (yes, there is a space in the middle – it’s not Paintlogue) and it is by a company called Nine Curves. It was first released in September, but it’s already on release 3.1.

At first I wasn’t even going to bother downloading it, because watercolour effects are easily obtainable in many, many apps. To use my analogy, who needs another hammer? It would have to be very special, and Paint Logue is not a special hammer. So rather than go into depth with an app that isn’t that deep, I think I’ll compare it to other watercolour effects. In addition to Paint Logue, I’ll look at Waterlogue, Becasso, Aquarella, and my go-to app, iColorama.

I’ll be using this bicycle image that I captured last week at Disney World’s Animal Kingdom".

Mobile Photography / Art Tutorial – BlackCam and Black: Dark Horse Monochrome Apps

05/10/201605/10/2016 by Jerry Jobe

We are delighted to publish Jerry Jobe’s latest mobile photography/art tutorial for our viewing pleasure. Take it away Jerry…(foreword by Joanne Carter).

“There are many monochrome apps, and I’ve covered quite a few of them: Noir, Dramatic B&W, Ansel (now called Nova) and others. Some are merely editors, and some have shooting capabilities. Some vintage apps, like Vintage Scene, Lo-Mob and Superslides have some monochrome aids within them.

The two apps today (which, by the way, bring me to 150 different apps covered in tutorials since November 2012) are “dark horse’ monochrome apps in that they are not as fully-featured as some monochrome apps. However, each is surprising in its own ways. I am impressed with only one, however.

The first app is BlackCam by Pierre Gougelet, which is a shooter as well as editor. Gougelet is the author of Pixagram, covered last week. As I said then, his apps tend to fall well below the top tier of photographic apps. However, BlackCam is surprisingly good. It’s a universal app that sells for $1.99 on the App Store, and is also available for Android. (As a matter of fact, there seem to be some features, such as a grid, that are only available on Android).”

Mobile Photography / Art Tutorial – Up Against the Wall: Graffiti Me and Fotoffiti

20/09/201620/09/2016 by Jerry Jobe

We are delighted to publish Jerry Jobe’s latest mobile photography/art tutorial for our viewing pleasure. This time Jobe takes a look two apps, Graffiti Me and Fotofiffi. Take it away Jerry…(foreword by Joanne Carter).

"There are thousands of photography/art apps on the App Store, and some of them are extreme specialised. That’s the case with the two apps I’ll be covering this time: Graffiti Me by Bluebear Technologies Ltd and Fotoffiti by amioli. Each take your image, run a Threshold filter on it, and apply it to a wall as if you’ve stenciled it there. Each allow you to add extra paint and text. Each also run on both the iPhone and the iPad, but limit the iPad version to portrait orientation. And each will cost you about a dollar, if you don’t get them free on their frequent promotions.

Let’s start with a look at Graffiti Me".

Mobile Photography / Art Tutorial – Uptown & Co.: Graphic Curiosity

24/08/201624/08/2016 by Jerry Jobe

We are delighted to publish Jerry Jobe’s latest mobile photography/art tutorial for our viewing pleasure. This time Jobe takes a look at an app called Uptown & Co. Take it away Jerry…(foreword by Joanne Carter).

“I’ve been writing weekly tutorials for nearly four years now. I write them because I like to see my readers get inspired by them, trying new apps and techniques. I have not tried to monetise these tutorials, because I don’t do them for financial rewards. It helps me continue, though, when I’m able to pick up some of the apps I cover for free. I keep an eye out for free apps with another app called Apps Gone Free. I found today’s app through it becoming free for a day last week. (It normally sells for $1.99). Link to download”.

Mobile Photography / Art Tutorial – BeCasso: Painting for Powerful Devices

17/08/201617/08/2016 by Jerry Jobe

We are delighted to publish Jerry Jobe’s latest mobile photography/art tutorial for our viewing pleasure. This time Jobe takes a look at a painting app, BeCasso. Take it away Jerry…(foreword by Joanne Carter).

BeCasso retails for $1.99/£1.49 and you can download it here.

"Apps that give your images a painted look are numerous on the App Store. I’ve covered several apps that produce an overall painted look, like Glaze, Brushstroke, Waterlogue and Artista Impresso. I’ve also covered several that allow the user to control the painting themselves through brush strokes, like Mobile Monet, Adobe PaintCan, and (of course) iColorama.

DigitalMasterpieces has given us another one of the first type of painting app, and it’s called BeCasso. BeCasso creates oil and watercolour looks, but it’s not for everyone: it is limited to only the newest of devices. If your iPhone is before the 5S, or your iPad is before the Air, then BeCasso can’t be loaded to your device. (I fall into the latter category, since I have an iPad 4.) This is a pet peeve of mine. Although I can’t be certain that there are some algorithms that absolutely cannot be run on a device that is more than two years old, it certainly seems like developers can’t be bothered to work for anyone that can’t afford to constantly upgrade. All screenshots for this tutorial were captured on my iPhone 6S Plus".

Mobile Photography / Art Tutorial – Photo FX Ultra Part 2: More Filtering

28/07/201627/07/2016 by Jerry Jobe

We are delighted to publish Jerry Jobe’s latest mobile photography/art tutorial for our viewing pleasure. This time Jobe takes a deeper look at the app Photo FX Ultra (Part 2 – with Part 3 to follow next week). Take it away Jerry…(foreword by Joanne Carter).

Photo fx Ultra retails for $2.29/£1.49 and you can download it here

“When I started working my way through the filtering app Photo FX Ultra in the last article, I thought two articles would be sufficient to cover the entire app. I was wrong. So I will have to extend it to three articles, covering Lens, Photographic and Special Effects groups this week and finishing with Crop, Straighten and Light in the finale.

I will be using a simple image of a wall with some light falling across it, a light switch and a framed image. I hope that this makes the changes from the various filters easy to see”.

Mobile Photography / Art Tutorial with 100 Cameras in 1: Making a Game of it

31/05/201631/05/2016 by Jerry Jobe

We are delighted to publish Jerry Jobe’s latest mobile photography/art tutorial for our reading and viewing pleasure. This time Jobe takes a look at the app 100 Cameras in 1 by Stuck in Customs. Read Jobe’s thoughts about this app as he puts it through its paces (foreword by Joanne Carter). Take it away Jerry…

Stuck in Customs is free and you can download it here

"Photography and mobile art are fun pursuits. They can be all-encompassing, or a hobby that helps you pass the time in your down moments. Games can do the same. However, I find it strange that some would consider mobile photography and art a game. This is one of the quirky aspects of 100 Cameras in 1, a texturing app from Trey Ratcliff.

Ratcliff, on his website Stuck in Customs, offers several paid online courses in photography, including one that parallels his book on HDR. (I have not watched any of the free tutorials nor enrolled in any of the courses; that is not what I cover here.) His emphasis on HDR is surprising, considering that his app is a texturing app, like Stackables, Mextures, Photo Copier or Distressed FX.

100 Cameras in 1 is also odd in its connection to Game Center. As you use it, pop-ups tell you that you’ve earned a point for this and that, like saving a picture, accessing a menu item, and using particular filters. I, quite frankly, can’t be bothered with all that. The points seem to be their own reward, for you to “compare with friends”, and I can’t think of a greater waste of my time.

The bottom line, for me, is how useful the looks achieved though using the app are to me, and how easily I can achieve them. So let’s take a look".