Another Iphone app I found! (So you can now stare at my PC keyboard instead of my laptop from my previous post about the instagram.)

Camera Awesome by SmugMug is essentially the same thing as instagram. You take your picture, then you have a list of filters you can choose from. Camera Awesome gives you more variety for your filters (although some you have to pay for). Once you’re satisfied with the result, you’ll probably spend about a minute twiddling your thumbs as you wait for the file to save.

In the end, Camera Awesome gives you more variety of filters then instagram does, but takes a bit more of your time and is less convenient. It lacks the function to post your images onto facebook/twitter with ease. If you’re really going to spend the time on Camera Awesome to create a pretty photo with some pretty filters you might as well bring your fancy camera and throw the image into photoshop.

CGtextures is another great resource that can be used in other mediums. It’s photography specifically taken in mind to be used in 3d models. The images are very accessible to artists looking for texture images to use for their works, “the textures may be used for free in 2D or 3D computer graphics, movies, printed media, computer games and 3D models. When bundled with a 3D model or scene you are allowed to sell it as a package.”I’ve used these images to create texture in a few of my illustrations. The images are very clear and crisp and ranges from anywhere from paper and paint splatters to landscapes and elephants.

Book Heart by Eric Martin

I’m sure many of you have seen an image that use Bokeh. I honestly had no idea what it was called till now though. Bokeh is a term from the Japanese word “boke” which means to blur. In photography, we use the word Bokeh for parts of an image that may not be in focus.

The Bokeh can be easily created in many different shapes using just a sheet of black paperboard. You can find a tutorial on how to do so here.

Bokeh has a lovely graphical feel to the photo, creating a surreal, dreamlike feel to the image. It can also have a highly textual feel.

Bokeh by Mohammed Bin Ghulaitah