Posted on 6 Comments

TWiP: On the go

This Week in Pictures (TWiP) at Polka Dot Cottage

My photos this week have taken on a bit of a pinkish hue. I recently re-installed an old favorite app (Pixlr) and have been treating my mobile photos with a filter that tends to soften all of the colors and give them a hint of purply pink.

When I first got into Instagram, it seemed everybody was using filters and frames and such, but I think that has changed. Most of my contacts are either skipping the filters altogether, or are using filters with a light hand so as not to be obvious.

I still prefer for there to be a clear difference between my DSLR shots and my Instagram shots, so I’m still using filters and frames on mine. This may change someday, but I kind of like the vintagey look. Besides that, a little creative filtering and framing can really do wonders for an otherwise meh mobile photo. Or it can totally destroy it and make it look fake. It’s easy to go overboard!

My Instagram pictures are anything but “insta” usually. I tend to run them through a few apps before posting them. The exact steps change as I discover new things, or as my tastes change, but here’s how I did most of them this week:

  1. Take the photo with Samsung Galaxy S5 native camera app.
  2. Edit in Snapseed: crop to square, tweak brightness, saturation, white balance, etc. to make photo as nice as possible and realistic as possible.
  3. Edit in Pixlr: apply “doug” filter and “paper” frame.
  4. Post in Instagram

Previously, I was on a streak of doing all of my editing in Snapseed. After getting to the nice realistic stage, I’d add frame #11, and vintage filter #2 (but I’d remove the vignette and bump up the saturation). Then I’d upload to Instagram and often add the “clarendon” filter at a very low opacity.

As you can imagine, with this workflow I don’t take a lot of Instagram pictures when I’m in a rush.

Of course, sometimes an image is really nice as-is (this is especially true with outdoor shots) and I post it without much of this fiddling at all!

I’m curious – do you use Instagram, and if so, is there a method to your madness, or do you just post randomly?

So, what is This Week in Pictures?

It’s a roundup of the photos I shot with my DSLR for Project 365 (one image each day for all of 2016), plus some phone snapshots I posted on Instagram during the previous week.
Ready? Cast your mind back to this time last week…

Saturday

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365: 2016 79/366 – I think it’s safe to say that the boys and I have developed a minor addiction to these Yasso bars. When they go on sale, I stock up! Still, I’m pretty sure these will be gone within a week. [Taken with my phone at Shoprite.]

Sunday

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365: 2016 80/366 – Usually when I go to the airport to meet a flight, I have uncooperative kids with me, or the flight has landed early and I have no time to waste. This morning, neither of those things was true, so I got to stop and take a few airplane pictures. I wish I’d brought my DSLR and my 250mm lens, but my phone actually did ok in its place. [Taken with my phone at Newark Airport.]

Monday

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365: 2016 81/366 – Pink clouds! The sky changes so quickly at this time of night, it always feels lucky to me when I am paying attention at the right moment to see something pretty.

Tuesday

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365: 2016 82/366 – I had a nice visit with my parents today 🙂 [At my parents’ house.]

Wednesday

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365: 2016 83/366 – Unexpectedly had a lunch date with Neil today. I just love Indian food, especially when there’s a buffet and I can load up on all. of. the. starches. Potatoes, rice, naan… Frankly, I could have a basket of naan for lunch, and nothing else, and be completely satisfied. I think I need to have just a simple salad for supper tonight 🙂 [Taken with my phone at Begum Palace.]

Thursday

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365: 2016 84/366 – I had a couple of important phone calls this morning, complete with reading glasses and note taking with a fancy pen. I’m not lefty. I just needed to work the camera with my right hand 🙂

Friday

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365: 2016 85/366 – What a great way to spend an afternoon: hanging out on the bed with my 16-year-old, listening to music, breeze blowing through the window, he working on his made-up language, me working on my crochet blanket.

Thanks for taking a peek at this week’s photos! If you want to see this stuff as it happens, please feel free to follow me on Flickr and/or Instagram.
I may already have plans to blog about some of these things in greater detail over the coming week, but be sure to leave a comment if there’s something in particular you want to know about!

SAME WEEK PREVIOUS YEARS (2009, 2015)

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Posted on 6 Comments

6 thoughts on “TWiP: On the go

  1. Wow! You are almost done!! It looks gorgeous. 🙂
    And yes. Yes, second cups of coffee do count… sometimes you have to recharge your batteries and coffee plays a significant role with this. 🙂 Happy Easter!!!

    1. Thanks, Jamie ☺ Happy Easter to you, too!

  2. Nice pictures! My mom had the same pitcher as the one in your sweet moms cabinet which is now in mine!

    1. Neat! I don’t recognize that pitcher, so I suspect it’s one of the things she got last year while cleaning out my grandparents’ house.

  3. I am in love with your nightstand crochet mat (and blanket)! I do use Instagram. I am pretty simple with it. I take photos with my fairly new iPod touch. I only add a filter (via Instagram) if the lighting is way off. I love having it as a daily expression through photography. I also want it to be a tool to promote my Etsy shop, but I keep it very personal and hopefully just create and not too sales-y. 🙂 I got an app to add text but so far haven’t used it. Guess I should get on that! Here’s my Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lostandlovely/

    1. I’ve seen you on Instagram 🙂
      I hear you with trying to use it as a promotional tool without being too sales-y. It’s not easy! I’m still trying to find the right formula myself.

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