Mextures Sessions are a continuation of our tutorial pieces.  With these we seek to take a detailed look into the formula creation process of various artists - to delve deeper into into why each layer was added to the formula and the thinking behind different orientations, blend modes, opacity settings, film presets and various adjustments using the polishing tools.  

In this edition, we’re sharing an inside look into the captivating design pieces of Ellery (@ell_4) and the beautiful, delicate macro work of Katharina (@pfeffergruen).  Each artist has submitted a before and after view of one particular piece of theirs and explained in detail how and why they use Mextures to achieve certain effects.  Give these two the attention they deserve and learn along with us!

Approaching Macro Editing with @pfeffergruen:

The main aspect of my macro photography is the game between light and shadow, color, focus and blur. Mextures for me is the perfect app to reinforce my imagination because of its rich and varied ways to change the mood and to increase details.

This photo is slightly underexposed and I wanted to emphasize the detail of the the middle of the flower with its pollen-yellow stamens like a golden crown. My first step is always to run the picture through my previously created formulas to see which one fits best and to get the initial look. This formula contains the Landscape Enhance textures, Ice Sunrise and Neutral Density blended in overlay to put the right light, contrast and accentuation. The subtle vintage look comes from the Taffy overlay blended in mulitply mode, which tones down the flower to a warm yellow, and the Dust & Dirt texture Seabound blended in screen.  This creates a fuzzy and cloudy look like old film photos.  But with these changes alone, the photo was too dark and I felt something was still missing.  So I applied the Ominous texture from the Atmospheric set blended in screen and Winter Skies blended in hard light. This gives the image that surreal pale and sensual light on the lefthand side.

From now on I begin to play and have fun with the film presets and the final adjustments to work out the delicacies.  For me it‘s all about the right film preset for rounding out the perfect mood. This time I used the F-FORTIA  preset for a higher contrast. All it needed now was a little bit of tweaking here and there for exposure, contrast, fade, saturation, temperature and sharpness. 

To finish, I overblend this edit in Super Impose with the same image in a dark mood to rebuild the petal structure on the left side.

Mextures is my game app and I am relaxing by editing photos on my phone.  Feel free to check out my formula - JCINLER.

Approaching Design Editing with @ell_4:

This piece is about pushing the boundaries of exploration in spiritual, physical, and mental realms. Other than the composition, I wanted to bring in color to suggest the emotional tone of wanderlust, so I brought the piece into Mextures for its final round of processing. 

I started by adding a Radiance layer; “bonfire” is usually my go to. After I set the initial layer, I enjoy trying everything out as quickly as possible to see what clicks because Mextures makes it super easy to do so. I usually explore the radical color sets in the layer packs of Radiance, Landscape Enhance, and Vintage Gradients. So I grabbed “Eventide” to bring in some purples in the sky and “Vintage” to create a central focal point. 

To bring all the coloring together, the film adjustments are a great touch and you can preview the outcome before applying which helps to speed things up a bit. I landed on “F- PROVIA” for this one which brings in some great contrast. After adding these layers, I get into the nitty gritty of the final tweaks such as exposure, temperature, fade, and I always sharpen up the image to make it extra crispy. 

Mextures is a great tool for setting an image’s mood and tone.  Check out my formula QQZMJVY and try it on your image!

Browse through Katharina and Ellery's feeds to see more of their inspiring work!