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Hey Look! There's a Rainbow in your iPiccy.

By
Industry Observer with ARFCO Media

These days my habit is to bop around several photo editing programs to get my images ready for the web. What I use depends a lot on the photos intended purpose, the original quality of the raw image and the role it's to play in the conversation or story.

Let's start with this image of Mt Rainier driving down Highway 167 to Puyallup the other morning. Nice image but kinda blah...

Mt Rainier, raw image from iPhone 4s.

One of my photo go to apps is iPiccy.com. Like many free apps online, it doesn't do everything, but it does do some things very well and that's why I use it...

It has a function called Rainbow and as I learn it I find it to be one of my most important tools!

I'm totally exaggerating the effect below to make the point... As you can see, there's a rainbow splash of blue, green, yellow, and red...

Photo of Mt Rainier to demonstrate the rainbow tool in iPiccy.

If you compare the image below with the first image on top there's a dramatic difference. All I did was crop the original then applied a little of the rainbow... 

What I did with the photo below was to align the rainbows angle by using the slider to rotate it so it was with the foothills before the mountain and the freeway. From top down I enhanced the blue sky a little, hit the mountain and clouds with a splash of very light blue, almost white. Then I added a little more green to the grass and yellows to catch the highlights. This wasn't about faking something, I just wanted a little more drama. I set the fade to about 85% so I used very little color saturation.

Mt Rainier... cropped with a little rainbow from iPiccy.

After you upload your select the rainbow tab...

The iPiccy Rainbow tool.

Now the app is ready and note the color band from blue on the left to red on the right. You can click on the little squares below the color band and adjust the color. You can slide the little squares left and right to change the rainbow band sizes and you can also click anywhere on the color band to creat yet another band of color.

Note as you follow down the column there's a slider labeled Angle. Using this slide you can rotate the rainbow from vertical to horizontal, like spining the rainbow around a circle. You can also select how much of the effect you use by sliding the Fade. You'll get the idea with just a little experimentation.

The iPiccy Rainbow tool.

What I love about this tool is you can zero in on different areas of your photo. This one was taken downtown Seattle at 3rd and Cherry. It was late at night and the street lights were casting a yellow light on the building. But I didn't have any street detail so I turned up the yellow (towards bronze) just a little to warm it up.

Looking down 3rd Ave at the Smith Tower on a spring afternoon I set the rainbow vertical and just ever so slightly enhanced the raw photo that naturally went from blues on the left to more yellows on the right to capture the highlights and what I was really seeing with my eyes. 

I love this one... I just set the rainbow to the colors already there and it created a little more depth. I love the little more blue I see in the building windows top left and the warmer creamier yellow on the building below. Again this was using just a tiny bit of it to help with the details.

This one is a little more dramatic. I set the rainbow vertical going for the blues on the left and the yellow on the right with a little green on the lower left to create mood and depth. This is South Lake Union just adjacent north to downtown Seattle. There is so much new construction going on here in this part of town. I wanted to capture some of the surreal you feel driving through here and exaggerate the depth of field and add a little more drama to the construction cranes. 

It's really worth it to take a little time to experiment. I also like the Fix Image tool, Orton Effect, Lomo, and several of the Vintage filter tools. As a blogger, like all of us, I'm always totally pressed for time. I love tools that help me get right to it and very close then allow me to take over from there and make my own adjustments.

 

Posted by

René Fabre

"Where there's conversation, there's opportunity."

Please Note - The views expressed herein reflect only the individual’s personal views and are not the views of the author’s employer.

The Blackberry Chronicles, a blog by Rene Fabre and his travels around the Greater Pacific Northwest and beyond. Connect w/ Rene Fabre on Google+. Rene Fabre on Twitter. Rene Fabre writes reviews on Yelp. Rene Fabre on Linkedin.com The Audiorium YouTube Channel by Rene Fabre. Facebook.com/renefabre Rene Fabre loves digital photography and here are his shares on Flickr. Rene Fabre is a musician and composer and shares some of his orginal music and recordings on Soundcloud. Rene Fabre shares his interests on Pinterest.

Comments (16)

Paul S. Henderson, REALTOR®, CRS
Fathom Realty Washington LLC - Tacoma, WA
South Puget Sound Washington Agent/Broker!

That is very interesting! I'm always looking to add to my toolbox when editing photos. hank you!

Jul 01, 2014 03:27 AM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Thanks, Paul... It is a really useful tool. 

Jul 01, 2014 02:36 PM
Joe Petrowsky
Mortgage Consultant, Right Trac Financial Group, Inc. NMLS # 2709 - Manchester, CT
Your Mortgage Consultant for Life

Sure does look like you are mastering was to get the best out of the photos that you are taking. Thanks for sharing the information.

Thank you for commenting on my post.

Jul 02, 2014 05:22 AM
Ron and Alexandra Seigel
Napa Consultants - Carpinteria, CA
Luxury Real Estate Branding, Marketing & Strategy

Rene,

This is an interesting tool, and one can let their imagination go wild with special effects, I always appreciate information like this.  Thanks, Rene.  A

Jul 02, 2014 07:49 AM
Gayle Rich-Boxman Fishhawk Lake Real Estate
John L Scott Market Center - Birkenfeld, OR
"Your Local Expert!" 503-739-3843

Rene`, as a fellow photographer, I am enthralled with this! I haven't used ipiccy in a long time. I changed to Ribbet because it could handle my large raw photo size. Experimenting (when you have the time) is one of my passions and it's fun to give yourself free reign when you have the "undo" button! 

I thought that all of your fixes were quite engaging. Since using ribbet, they are now aligned with Zazzle and I just got a photo of mine put on a canvas print as a closing present for my seller. I took this photo of a fishing lure hanging from a window rod and it was catching the late afternoon sun coming in from the left. A total abstract, and it caught the shadow of an old fashioned phone on the wall as well as the glint of the metal lure. (I am so thrilled with how it looks on canvas!!)I took this while shooting interior shots for the listing. The wife fell in love with it and mentioned something about having a "copy" of it. Well I now have a nice large closing gift for her. (And I think I'm going to reorder one for myself--I love abstracts)!

Fishing Lure Abstract-Gayle Rich-Boxman 2013 Copyrighted All Rights Reserved

Jul 02, 2014 04:13 PM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Thanks Gayle!... My other go to favorite app, Ribbet! Love your photo! Would love to see it on canvas. I too am working on a few to put on canvas. I'm painting my condo this summer and have a few photos in mind to put up as digital paintings.

Jul 03, 2014 04:23 AM
Roy Kelley
Retired - Gaithersburg, MD

I also use iPiccy.com for my photo editing. It is not perfect but I love the price, FREE!

These are the natural colors...

Photo: Meadowlark Botanical Gardens, 9750 Meadowlark Gardens Court, Vienna, VA 22181.  
Photograph by Roy Kelley using a Canon PowerShot G11 camera.
Roy and Dolores Kelley Photographs

Jul 11, 2014 06:06 AM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Hi Roy... Beautiful photo... True, iPiccy doesn't do everything, but it does some things very well! Me too, more so now then ever, use minimal processing. But, I do, once in a while, like to add some drama to a scene.

Jul 11, 2014 08:34 AM
Travis "the SOLD man" Parker; Broker/Owner
Travis Realty - Enterprise, AL
email: Travis@theSOLDman.me / cell: 334-494-7846

Cool, I've seen the name, and may have even gone to the site. But now I know more what to do there. THANKS!

Jul 11, 2014 01:47 PM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Hi Travis... I heard the name iPiccy and first thought, o'boy, another photo app. Then one day for some unknown reason I heard the name again and stopped by to check it out. I really liked it from the get go!

Jul 12, 2014 02:32 AM
Debbie Reynolds, C21 Platinum Properties
Platinum Properties- (931)771-9070 - Clarksville, TN
The Dedicated Clarksville TN Realtor-(931)320-6730

Thanks Rene for discovering this feature. I think is will be fun to play with it when I have some extra time.

Jul 14, 2014 11:11 PM
Jennifer Fivelsdal
JFIVE Home Realty LLC | 845-758-6842|162 Deer Run Rd Red Hook NY 12571 - Rhinebeck, NY
Mid Hudson Valley real estate connection

Rene I use ippiccy but never used the rainbow tool, I will have to play with it when I have a chance.

Thanks for sharing.

Jul 16, 2014 02:10 PM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Hi Debbie... I really didn't get it at first. But I am one to tinker and keep tinkering if I sense there's something useful. It's really been helpful, especially when I have a digital image that is a great capture but dull (we get a lot of overcast days, believe it or not here in the Pacific Northwest).  And I'd catch myself saying, "If there was only a way to... perk it up a little." After playing around with it for a while, it really serves its purpose and I learned to turn it down and just use a little to give some images a little more life.

 

Jul 16, 2014 03:21 PM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Jennifer... I am a big fan of iPiccy too. It does several things very well. I used it for months before I kind of fell on the Rainbow attribute, "Hey what's this?" And started playing around with it. Then, "a hah!" Have fun! Thanks for stopping by.

Jul 16, 2014 03:23 PM
Debbie Walsh
SHAHAR Management - Middletown, NY
Hudson Valley NY Real Estate 845.283-3036

Suggested.  I use ipiccy all the time and I have never seen the rainbow button.  I will have to look at it more closely!  Thanks for the tips!

Jul 22, 2014 06:56 AM
Rene Fabre
ARFCO Media - Renton, WA
Practicing Philosophical Eclectic of the Arts

Hi Debbie... Thanks. I did the same. It took me a while before I discovered it.

Jul 23, 2014 12:20 AM