This painterly image by Yuriy Leskiv (AKA Hocklander) was found in the Objective Scenes Flickr group. It was made with Camera+, AutoPainter, PSexpress, and Filterstorm.

Through The Viewfinder (or TTV) photography is created by taking a photo through the viewfinder of another camera. This works great with the huge viewfinders on older twin reflex cameras, but the tiny camera on mobile cams provides great opportunities to shoot through all sorts of viewfinders. It’s also a great way to provide a fresh look to your mobile photography.

The above photo was shot on through the viewfinder of an old AnscoFlex cam using my iPhone 4 and Camera+.

A rare specimen; an endangered species.

That’s the owner sitting on the right.

This shot of an old Chevrolet was taken using the Camera+ app. First I applied the Clarity preset to enhance the detail then the Sunkiss’d preset, which I dialed down until there was just a little bit of warmth added to the image. Finally, using the radial tilt shift in InstagramI, I blurred the image except for the headlight to focus attention there and simulate a shallow depth of field.

The iPhone is a great camera for capturing candid photos of strangers on the street. I don’t know of a more discreet camera. For this shot I used the Camera Genius app’s Big Button feature, which allows you to use the entire screen as the shutter button. I was able to shoot this from the hip by just tapping the screen without worrying about hitting a particular spot for the shutter button. The sun was harsh and in the original image the subject had really dark shadows around the eyes. So the first step was to open the image in FilterStorm to make a curves adjustment to lighten up the eyes. I applied this with a mask on the eyes so that the rest of the image was unchanged. Next step was to run the Camera+ Clarity preset to bring out more detail. Finally I brought the image into Cameramatic for the black and white conversion and the frame. Cameramatic has become my favorite app for black and white because it has some presets but allows you to really customize the processing.

Camera+/Pictureshow

For this shot of the Embarcadero Center in the Financial District of San Francisco, I placed the iPhone on the ground, centered across the walkway. I snapped the shot with Camera+ when a person walked into the frame. The first step in processing, as is often the case for me, was the Clarity filter in Camera+. I saved the image and re-opened in the MagicHour app where I used the Red X-Pro preset but removed the border and the texture.

Next to Bruno’s on Mission Street.

Camera+/Pictureshow