Adobe recently added a couple of features to its Adobe Capture app. If you’re not familiar with this Adobe app (I wasn’t) you may want to check it out.
The latest updates
Create Color Shapes
Previously creating high-contrast shapes in Capture was limited to black and white only. Adobe has updated this and you are now able to create detailed, full-color vector shapes directly from the app.
You can use color shapes to easily digitize photos and artwork and add cool creative effects to your images.
The images you create can be saved to your Creative Cloud library. The color function is currently only available for the iOS platform.
Create shape-based patterns with Pattern Builder
The Pattern Builder is a new way of designing patterns within Adobe Capture exclusively for Android and iOS tablets. You can do this right from the vector shapes in your own library.
Combine your single-color shapes using the snap grid in order to create seamless patterns. There are several tile shapes that allow you to have many variations on your designs. These patterns can be saved and used in Photoshop and Illustrator.
You can find directions on how to use both of these updates on Adobe’s blog.
Uses for photographers
While Adobe Capture is more geared toward the graphic design industry, there are plenty of ways photographers can have fun with it as well. This is just a quick list of ideas I had while playing around with the Android phone app.
Create textures using the pattern function
You can get as creative as you’d like with this. While I usually think less is more when it comes to editing, I enjoy playing around to see what can happen. The texture was created by taking an image of my keyboard, experimenting with the different shapes and sliders and ending up with this flowery pattern.
I opened it and my image of pine needles in Adobe Photoshop and created a layer with the texture, adjusted the opacity and fill until it suited my taste.
This second set of images is just an example of the different options available when creating patterns. The image I pulled from my photo albums via my phone is of a glitter drop on a water bead (the kind you put in your glass vases).
Create customized brushes to use in Photoshop
While I’m not a big Photoshop user, these were fun to create! I’m sure those of you who use brushes, also have created your own brushes in other ways, but this is a fun way to create them right from your phone.
The first brush was created using an image of my keyboard and the second is a pair of earrings. There are plenty of options to use to adjust the brushes and make them what you need them to be to use for your project.
Look up fonts
This would be really useful if you’re looking to match a font for your website or printed materials. It’s great to find something that matches your own handwriting — just remember that handwriting can be messy so your results may not be perfect.
Create color palettes and make your own LUTs
Here I took a photo of my hot chocolate and Adobe Capture gives me the colors it sees in the scene. You can then adjust the image to your taste, exposure, hue, etc. and open a sample image in Adobe Capture to apply the look.
If you see below the sample image there are the colors from the captured pallet, you can click on those to choose the look you want. You can also choose one of your own images to test this out on. Save the look as an LUT and it will be saved in your Adobe Capture library. There are much more detailed instructions on Adobe’s blog.
Or if you’re looking to redecorate your house and see color combinations you like, you could capture them with Adobe Capture and save them to use to match paint chips and fabrics. For example, I captured this wooden art piece using the Color function in Adobe Capture. From there it shows you the colors, gives you options to tweak them and shows you the color harmonies.
The creative possibilities seem pretty endless using Adobe Capture in our photography, artwork, design and marketing. You can find the full capabilities of Adobe Capture here.
