Picsart monthly march issue

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Based in Mountain View , CA , PicsArt is a fun and full-featured mobile photoediting and drawing app for Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

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Editor-in-Chief | Arusiak Kanetsyan Art Editor | Cristina Gevorg Designer | Ina Sarko

Cover photo: Eric Kim

Meet our team...

Copy Editor | Satenig Mirzoyan Editorial Contributors | Mark Gargarian, Heather Parry, Miki Ross Special Contributor | Lou Jones, Chris Corradino In-House Photographer | ma_lina Address: SocialIn Inc., 800 West El Camino Real, Mountain View, CA 94040

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Copyright of Socialln Inc. ( PicsArt Photo Studio ) 2013. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reused without the written permission of the publisher. The content of this magazine is for informational purposes only and is, to the best of our knowledge, correct at the time of publication. PicsArt Photo Studio does not claim any ownership right for the photos in the Magazine. All photos,if not mentioned otherwise, are the property of respective PicsArt users. The PicsArt username or photo owner is cited on each photo. PicsArt Photo Studio has a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide, limited licence to use, modify, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, and reproduce PicsArt users’ photos, including without limitation distributing part or all of the Magazine in any media formats through any media channels.

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Welcome!

It’s time to say goodbye to winter and hello to long-awaited spring! Celebrate the liveliest season with us by thawing out some of the hottest photography, art, and articles.

This month, Lou Jones flexes his photography muscles in “Shooting Sports: the Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat”.

Pay close attention, because Lou’s wisdom in this piece was well-earned from having shot 12 consecutive Olympic games.

We’ve also got our interview with international street photography sensation Eric Kim, in which we ask him about his approach to street photography. Hear from the best as you start spending more time out in the streets yourself in the warming spring weather.

You’ll also read our travel photography piece on what to expect and how to prepare for a ride on an African safari with our Safari Photo Kit. That’s only a glimpse of this month’s lineup, which also demonstrates some amazing photography magic that you can achieve with PicsArt, and features engaging tutorials, magnificent visuals, and spotlights of some of the best users to emerge from the PicsArt community!

Enjoy reading and feel free to send us your feedback at info@ picsart.com.

@ma_lina

Publisher: PicsArt Photo Studio

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Pro Insight 08 | Shooting Sports Inspiration 14 | Window Reflection Photography 44 | Jackie Mahoney, PicsArt’s Cubist Painter PicsArt In Action 20 | Big Changes are Just a Touch Away Tutorials 22 | Using Aperture to Your Advantage 28 | Creating an Overlay 36 | Fashion Sketches with PicsArt Drawing Tools 40 | Design a Spring Postcard with PicsArt What's New 52 | New Features for iOS Version of PicsArt 56 | Interview with Lily and Paolo Interview 64 | International Street Photographer Eric Kim Feature 74 | The World from the Edge of a Dock 76 | Safari Photo Kit 84 | DIY Hanger 86 | Vulnerable Humanity

SHOOTING SPORTS The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat

By Lou Jones As the prolific critic, Susan Sontag stated, “While there appears to be nothing that photography can’t devour, whatever can’t be photographed becomes less important.”

If you are brave enough you can photograph just about anything. Portraits, architecture, still lifes and landscapes can be painted or written about in good measure but sportsthat’s another matter. Photography and sports are made for each other.

Unless you are there, no illustration, no radio announcer, no newspaper account, not even word-of-mouth can substitute seeing the game-winning touchdown, momentum-shifting play, promethean effort, and sudden-death score except the eyewitness photograph. It is as if sports and photography are siblings from the same deity. Only a few diehard fans get to witness the action firsthand but millions can experience competition through skillful pictures.

The ephemeral moments throughout sports history have become legend because of press photos. Great photographers have been drawn to the potential for drama that games offer. Wire services have transmitted peaceable contests and violent mash-ups in the past, but today technology has caught up and made everybody with a DSLR, point-and-shoot camera or cell phone a “reporter with a press pass”.

For decades the best photographs were often taken by guys with tons of expensive equipment and cannon-sized lenses (see last article on lenses, February 2014). But camera manufacturers have shrunken the size and weight so that the average interested party can “reach” the contestants from the sidelines or stands.

Access has always seemed a major obstacle but everybody has access to their children’s teams or local college games. There are myriad opportunities to hone your craft and perfect the split second timing necessary to capture peak action.

Playgrounds, community pools, ski slopes and neighborhood parks are the places both you and your subjects practice the finer intricacies of sport.

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PRO INSIGHT

Knowledge of the chosen activity is probably the most important prerequisite for good pictures. Being able to anticipate where the action will take place comes only with experience. It is all about pointing your camera in the right direction, at the right time. Being in the wrong place can get you hurt.

For photography there are certain protocols that you might want to investigate: being quiet at golf matches, not interfering with the course of action, not using flash, limiting motor drives, staying out of the line-of-sight of participants, etc.

At a championship track meet, amateur photographers were setting off the hypersensitive sprinters in the 100 meter dash with the sudden noise of their power winders. The officials had to call back the runners in several heats until they banned us all for being overanxious.

Finding the right venue, picking the proper place to stand, getting your camera into unique positions and seeing in a different way, largely negate heavy hardware that was once necessary. Imagination makes big and little cameras equal.

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I rigorously train like the athletes for 7 or 8 months before shooting each Olympic Games.

Thousands of push-ups, crunches and running in knee-deep snow, so I can endure the rigors of transforming the best athletes in the world into art. I complain with every muscle ache until I am standing on the mountain in subzero temperatures anticipating that perfect superhuman feat.

Puck! Scull! Moguls! Quoit! Selchow! Brassie!

Somersault! Googly! Being able to photograph sports can be the closest thing in our fantasies to actually playing your lifelong passion. To do it well is to participate.

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INSPIRATION : Photo

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Window Reflection Photography We’ve all caught ourselves entranced by a window reflection at some point or another. You start out wanting to look through to the other side, and find the ghostly image of yourself looking back at you along with everything else that’s over your shoulder. Window reflections are odd, they are a real life overlay effect, a melding of what is in front of you and what is behind you, suddenly woven together.

The funniest thing about window reflections is the element of surprise. Unlike willingly looking in a mirror, we are not expecting to see ourselves and yet suddenly there we are in the middle of everything. With a window reflection, our attention is reversed back on ourselves and we are put in the context of the scene around us, seeing where we are and what we are looking at all at once, like movie stars watching themselves on screen while they are still acting. Why not take a photo in these moments?

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These window reflection photos captured by various members of PicsArt’s vibrant community aim to inspire you to try it out for yourself.

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Big Changes are Just a Touch Away

@insat

PicsArt’s effects can really transform photos into completely different images.

Here, this photo of flowers resting in a tablespoon has been edited with four different effects, namely Gouache, Comic, Halftone Dots, and Neon, all to be found in Artistic Cathegory of the PicsArt app. Each version has a completely different feeling, from the starkly contrasting lighting in Halftone Dots, which makes the image seem powerful and strong, to the softly colored Comic effect, which makes the image seem like a beautiful illustration. Users can jump between these effects in the blink of an eye, by scrolling and pressing the effects they want to try out, testing as many as they like before deciding which direction they want their vision to take. With PicsArt, big changes are always just a touch of the finger away, and each section of the effects menu is territory ripe for artistic discovery!

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PICSART IN ACTION

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Using Aperture to Your Advantage

by Chris Corradino Controlling the aperture is one of the most powerful ways to improve your images.

It's also the topic that continues to perplex photography students everywhere. Rather than unnecessarily complicating matters, I prefer to demystify the subject. In this tutorial, I'll reveal how a wide aperture can be used to create artistic effects. The camera settings are listed below each photo for your reference.

Butterfly: When I'm about to take a photo, the first question I ask myself is, "what kind of background would be best?" With wildlife, sports, portraits, and still-life objects, I often want the subject sharp, and the background to be a soft blur. As you'll see in this example, the blurred background allows the viewer to focus on the beautiful details of the Butterfly, not on the leaves behind it. To do this, I chose a wide aperture by adjusting the f stop to a smaller F number. At f5.6 the opening in your lens is physically wide open, creating what's known as "shallow depth of field".

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100mm lens at f5.6, 1/3200, ISO 800

TUTORIAL : Shooting

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400mm lens at f5.6, 1/1000, ISO 100

Egret: Here, I photographed a Great Egret at f5.6. The bird is tack sharp while the foliage in the distance is very soft. The theme of the photo is clearly about the bird and its catch, and there is little else in the photo to detract from the powerful moment. For this reason, wildlife photographers typically use wide apertures for the majority of their work. To further emphasize the effect, try positioning yourself so there is distance between the subject and the background.

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70-200mm lens at f2.8, 1/1000, ISO 200 Football photo: If you flip through the pages of Sports Illustrated, you'll notice how most of the players are sharp while the fans are out of focus. The wide aperture chosen by the photographer not only creates that shallow depth of field, but it also lets a great deal of light into the camera. As such, it's possible to use a fast shutter speed to freeze the action. If you are serious about sports photography, a lens that opens all the way to f2.8 is worth the investment. You may even hear people refer to them as "fast lenses". This describes the speed in which the wide aperture lets light into the camera.

Tip: Focus on What's Important!

Before going any further, allow me to spend a moment on focus.

When using a wide aperture, be sure to place your active focus points on the subject you want sharpest. These two vineyard photographs were both taken with the same wide aperture of f1.8, but they look very different. This is due to my placement of the focus point indicated in the photos by the arrows. For the image on top, I focused on the vines closest to me. As a result, everything behind it is soft. For the image on the bottom, I focused on the distant vines.

The shallow depth of field then works to blur everything in front of my focus point.

Tuscany Vineyards: We can see how all of this comes together in Example 5 of the Male Buck. I saw the large deer in October just after sunrise. With my active focus point on his face, I knew the deer would be sharp. A wide aperture of 5.6 created a shallow depth of field. Not only was the background blurred, but the tall reeds in the foreground as well. The perspective makes it seem as if we're spying on the creature through the tall grasses.

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85mm lens at f1.8, 1/250, ISO 100

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Creating an Overlay with PicsArt Sometimes to accompany our images we want to share the thoughts that inspired it, or what we thought of it after, rather than leave it up for interpretation. Using the Screen or Overlay blending modes are the best way to overlay a personal message onto your favorite images using PicsArt.

The Screen option makes all of the black areas of your photo transparent while leaving the rest of the colors intact, making it perfect for colorful text and doodles, or anything that doesn’t use the color black. It’s one of the easiest ways to express yourself with just a couple of words and illustrations that you can apply to as many photos as you want. This tutorial shows you how to create an overlay image of your own and how to apply it to a photo in just 10 easy steps!

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Step 1: Open Drawing Tools Open Draw Blank in the Drawing Tool. Select your desired canvas size and position.

Step 2: Black Canvas Select the stack of layers from the menu bar to see the layers. Color one of the layers black by selecting the paint bucket in the layers menu and picking black color.

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Step 3: Add Text Confirm the changes with the checkmark at the top right corner.

Select the text icon and type a personal message. Choose the font style and size and select white fill color.

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Step 4: Adjust the text Adjust the size and position of the text. Select the text icon again and type the second line of text, choosing a different font style.

Confirm your choice and place the text on the background. Repeat the step so that you end up with several lines of text.

You can write multiple lines of text if choosing the same font size and style, but hitting enter button at the end of each line.

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Step 5: Add Doodles Select Draw button. Choose a brush and customize its size and style.

Select white color. Paint simple doodles on your canvas, between and below the text.

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Step 6: Add Shape After finalizing your drawing, select Shape button and choose a shape to frame your message. Choose Stroke option for a shape outline.

Adjust the size and place your shape around your message.

Step 7: Save Creation When you're happy with your creation save it to your device.

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Step 8: Open Background Photo Open the photo you want to use as a background. You may want to apply an effect from the effects section before proceeding.

Step 9: Overlay Select Add Photo icon, and upload the overlay message image you have created.

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Step 10: Select Blending Mode Change the blending mode from “Normal” to “Screen” and customize the size of the overlay to fit your photo.

Confirm your changes to finish and save your creation!

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Creating Fashion Sketches with PicsArt Drawing Tools Step by Step Tutorial With PicsArt Drawing Tools, users have full control over their paintings and can use precision and versatility to take on any kind of drawing project. Fashion may be a world of fabric and stitches, but every piece of clothing starts out as a page before a needle is ever threaded.

PicsArt Drawing Tools provide the perfect canvas to try out your fashion ideas. This step by step tutorial shows you how to create a realistic fashion sketch using PicsArt Drawing Tools, so that you can create vivid drawings that bring your fabric fantasies to life! Walk through this guide to acquaint yourself with the inner workings of PicsArt Drawing Tools and get the drawing aspects of your fashion planning down to a needle point. Leave the sewing to someone else, PicsArt Drawing Tools are your very own fashion design laboratory!

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Open the PicsArt Drawing Tool Select “Draw” from the main screen and then select “Draw blank” to start a new drawing from scratch. You have the option of choosing the precise width, height, and orientation of your drawing before entering your workspace.

Draw Your Outline Draw a rough outline that approximates what you want your final drawing to look like. Then reduce the opacity, and in a higher layer, trace the first outline with a smooth final outline of your mannequin or model, but leave the clothes for later.

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Add Colors and Shading Color and shade your drawing in layers. Use one layer for background, one for base colors, and a couple layers to get your shading just right.

Use spray brushes or brushes with lower opacity to add shading without overpowering lower layers. Merge color layers when done.

Add Outline of Clothes In a new layer, outline the clothes on your mannequin. Hide layers with colors to work with less distractions.

Reduce opacity of first outline and trace more precise version in higher layer, like before, to finish clothes.

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Color & Shade Clothes Color your clothes in layers like before. Keep base colors, shading, and details separate when you are working, then merge the layers at the end when everything looks the way you want it.

Finish Background In your background layer, create an ambience by using colorful streaking brushes. Have fun with the colors of the light and shade in your background, this is a great oportunity to introduce complementary or contrasting colors to add atmosphere.

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TUTORIAL : Design

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Design Spring Postcard with PicsArt Select Background From the editor, choose the image you want to serve as the background for your postcard.

Edit Background Choose any editing options or effects you wish to apply to your background.

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Select Image Select the image you wish to be the foreground of your postcard.

Adjust Size and Placement Adjust the size and placement of your foreground according to preferece.

Select Frame Select a frame icon at the top of the screen and choose a frame for your foreground image.

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Adjust Frame Color Adjust your frame color so it matches the overall postcard color scheme better.

Add and Adjust Text Add any spring related text messages to your image by selecting the text button. Adjust text size and position.

Play with opacity and blending modes for the final touch and your postcard has sprung to life!

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INSPIRATION : Drawing

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Jackie Mahoney, PicsArt’s Cubist Painter Jackie Mahoney (@jackmack830) is a PicsArt user who seems to be touched by the ghosts of great painters of the past.

There’s some Picasso, or perhaps even a touch of Georges Braque, in Jackie’s paintings, created using PicsArt Drawing Tools.

Maybe it’s the wine, cheese, and cobblestone roads in these paintings that bring us to the painter’s paradise of classic France, but his stripping down of details in favor of a more geometric reinvisioning of color and shape is what really brings down the hammer and nails him to the visionary cubist movement of the early 20th century.

No matter Jackie’s inspiration, it is clear that he knows how to paint beautifully, using the modern customizable PicsArt brushes to create something that looks classic. His colors were not mixed from plastic tubes squeezed out on a piece of wood, but rather summoned by his fingertips on a touch screen, then applied with precision and care in his PicsArt workspace. No mess, no stains, no canvas - just PicsArt, the art studio in his pocket that lets him explore and practice his love of painting whenever the call of inspiration strikes, or a ghost painter from an earlier century taps him on his shoulder with an idea.

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WHAT'S NEW

New Features for iOS Version of PicsArt 7 New Effects, Expanded Shape Crop, & More Download the new iOS update in the App Store today and load up with our latest round of new features and effects! This latest update has 7 awesome new effects, a whole new Blur category for your Fx menu, and an expanded list of shape choices for the Shape Crop tool. You’ll find here a selection of transformative effects that will take you in so quickly, you’ll wonder how you ever got on without them. Set waves rippling across your photo’s surface with the Water Effect, evoke impressionist painting with Shear, create an Andy Warhol with Popart2, or make an old movie scene with one of our new Film effects.

Download the iOS update today to refine your editing experience and get your hands on some of the most exciting effects you’ll ever use.

Popart2 Popart2 lets you select a vertical slice of your photo, and then duplicates that slice 4 times horizontally, with each box carrying a different color.

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Water Effect With the new Water Effect, located in the Distort section, you can add a ring of ripples to your photo, making it look like you took it on a lake, river, or maybe a puddle reflecting city skyscrapers.

New Blur Category and Radial Blur Effect All of PicsArt’s blur effects now have their own category in the effects menu, which now includes Blur, Smart Blur, Motion Blur, Focal Blur, and the new Radial Blur effect.

Radial Blur blurs your photo around an adjustable focal point.

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Film Burn and Film B&W Make your photos look like they came out of an old school Hollywood movie with our new Film effect. For an even more nostalgic look of old Hollywood, add the FilmB&W options to turn your photos into black and white images harkening back to the days of colorless film.

Artistic Shear Artistic Shear works with the pixels of your images, to make it appear as though they were stitched together by threads, square patches, painted circles and more, giving your photo a new and interesting look.

Color Gradient Color Gradient is the trendy new effect that will give your photo a totally new feel. Create a gradient from one color tone to another in your photos. Choose from one of five preset options or select whichever two colors you like.

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Shape Crop Put your photo inside one of our new predefined shapes within the shape crop option.

You can then add Shape cropped photos onto another image to create fun and original collages. We have added a number of new shapes to give you an even wider selection of crop options.

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Interview with Lily and Paolo How Two PicsArtists Fell in Love Lily and Paolo are PicsArt users from different corners of the world, who met each other and fell in love right here in the PicsArt community. What started as sharing art and commenting has grown into a full-blown romance between Lily, who lives in Hong Kong, and Paolo, who lives in Rome. We asked them to share more of their story with us in an interview. Lily replied “Me and Paolo would love to share our love story and we thank you for this beautiful gift for us.” Here is our interview with Lily and Paolo.

Lily, how did you get started on PicsArt and what did you like most about it?

@daffylaye

Lily: I was looking for a photo editor app when I saw Picsin… the old version. I used it to edit pics to post on Facebook, then uninstalled it for a while because there was not enough memory on my old phone.

I decided to install it again when it was no longer Picsin, but rather PicsArt. I still used it to edit pics to post on Facebook because I didn’t know that it was also a community for artists and photographers. I found out that you can connect to other artists all over the world when I tried to post a pic and saw the “Share with PicsArt” option. I was surprised at how many notifications and new followers I started to get. I was not that active of a user at that time because I was using my old phone which had a bad quality camera.

When I got my new phone, I started taking better photos and posting more. I met some Filipino artists in the community and they encouraged me to stay on the app. I don't like the app. I LOVE the app because I found out that there is an artist in me. I didn't know how my imagination worked until I got PicsArt. The best of the best photo editing. For me it's a complete app. I was not looking for love in this app but love caught me off guard and took me by surprise. They say that love finds you when you least expect it and now I believe it to be true, because when I had given up hope God gave me His blessing by sending me Paolo.

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Paolo, what about you? How did you start using PicsArt? Paolo: Well, I bought my first smartphone one year ago and even though I have been using computers since I was a teenager (I'll turn 40 next December!) I didn’t know too much about applications... I was looking for a photo-editing app. I heard about PicsArt surfing on the web and I downloaded it on Play Store. I love PA because it's complete and I can unleash my creativity just holding my phone!

I am used to enhancing and composing digital images on Photoshop and it's a great challenge for me that I can still compose images through PicsArt only, on a mobile screen! I was surprised when I found out that this app is also a wonderful community of artists and photographers all over the world, such a big family.

Most importantly I found Lily, my love...a real love in a virtual world.

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@daffylaye

How did you two meet?

Paolo: I saw Lily’s pictures on the Interesting Section and was amazed by them, so I started following her... She used to post beautiful sky snaps combined with skyscrapers. I loved her style and captions, so I chose a photo to leave a comment on. She had a lot of followers already, I knew it was hard but I hoped she noticed me among them. I wanted to know more about her and wanted to be a part of her world. Actually I wasn't flirting, because I don't like meeting people online.

But it happened, and since the first notes I felt something that was more than admiration, friendship and curiosity. Day by day, comment by comment I was falling in love with Lily :) Lily: I noticed Paolo on the #GDbookcover contest when he commented and I felt some kind of force that led me to check his gallery. I was amazed at his 3D works.

I thought to myself that he must have a cool mind to create such art, there was a part of me that wanted to become familiar with the depths of his imagination.

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What about PicsArt made it easy for you guys to get to know each other and connect?

Paolo: It's not easy for us to communicate through Picsart especially when there's a seven-hours time difference. PicsArt was the only way to communicate with each other at first and it was a bit hard to wait for Lily to reply to my comments. Every picture we have posted tells how our love story began. The best thing is that Lily trusted me from the time we started. Our relationship was built on trust and respect and that’s one of the many things I love about us.

Tell us about your professional background and shared interests.

Paolo: I have a degree in Industrial Design, since 2000 I have worked with architects, photographers, multimedia and advertising agencies. I taught 2D and 3D graphics softwares for years which is why I love posting tutorials on my gallery! I'm a freelancer now.

Lily: There's not much about me. I was only a 2nd year BS/BA Marketing student. And I became a mom of a beautiful daughter. Being a mom is the best profession. Then I worked in a cell phone repair and accessories shops. I know a bit about fixing software problems of cellphones. Life in the Philippines is hard so I decided to apply for work here in Hong Kong.

We love photography, art, nature, architecture,food, fashion, music. I'm a hip-hop dancer and I love singing.

Paolo: I love cooking oriental food too, even though I think Italian food is one of the best in the world. I was a DJ and I love playing piano. We have a lot of fun‌ When did you decide to actually meet in person?

Lily: We planned to meet during Christmas time last year and Paolo wanted to spend his birthday with me but sadly I was not given days off from work. Then we set a date again last Chinese New Year, the first week of February. And I was glad that my employer allowed me to take a week off from work. This was the very first and the most important step for us.

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Paolo: It was indescribable! Words are not enough to explain how I felt when I saw Lily for real. I left Rome early in the morning. I had to face a very long flight to Hong Kong, almost 12 hours, but I was so excited that I didn't sleep and watched movies all night long! I was so tired and my legs were aching because of my height, but when the plane landed all the pain and tiredness turned into an immense joy. We were doing something we had dreamt of. Our first meeting, our "first hug", our "first kiss" even if we blew kisses so many times already.

Finally I was there, a few meters from her. I just wanted to hold her tight and after passport check I was looking around, I couldn’t see her. I wandered slowly turning my head until I saw my Lily with a beautiful smile upon her face coming to me, and I heard her voice without microphones, earphones, headset...whatever! It was just Paolo and Lily, just us. Those were the best days of my life. If a picture is worth a thousand words, those days would paint a thousand pictures.

@paolomore

What was it like when you first saw each other in person?

Lily: I was there at the arrival area waiting for him. I felt excited and worried at the same time. Excited because I finally got to see Paolo and hug him in person.

Worried for some "what if's." What if Paolo didn't like me in person? Then I got a message from him "Honey ko I'm here :)" and my heart started beating triple speed. I checked my appearance and fixed my hair, then I saw him coming out. My heart skipped a beat. I can't explain what I felt when I saw him. Mixed emotions.

He was walking with his head turning around looking for me. But I was walking a distance from him, staring at him, smiling. Still he hasn’t seen me yet because there was a man standing between us, but when he finally saw me, he said "Hooonneeeyyy kooooo!!!”(my honey). We hugged each other so tight, with a hug that we had been wanting for so long. Our first kiss was unexplainable and unforgettable! And I so loved when he hugged me and kissed me on my forehead... the sweetest gesture ever! We stayed that way for a while feeling like we were the only people in the airport at that time. And so started the best days of our lives.

How long have you been together now?

Paolo: We’ve been together 7 months now. 7 months of voice calls and video calls not just an hour everyday but almost all day and night. Even if Lily is sleeping I'm still here with my phone hearing her breathing. It sounds like a beautiful melody in my ears. And I can say the bond between us is stronger than any couple.

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What are your future plans?

Paolo: I'm looking for possible ways to move Lily here to Rome. I know it won't be easy but I'll fight for it, because it's her that I want to live with. Italy is a beautiful country and Rome is unique, I’m sure she'll love it as I do. My family will become her family too. I want us to be together with God's grace and guidance. Our story is not a joke or flirt, it is made of true feelings. The PicsArt world is an eyewitness of our relationship daily!

Lily: The first step was meeting in person. The love was already there before we met in person and grew stronger when we were finally in each other’s arms for one week. Paolo will be here in Hong Kong again and we will go to the Philippines together to meet my family. I hope to move to Rome to be with him. We hope that in the near future we'll be together and will never part again.

Lily & Paolo: We thank you guys for creating this amazing application. We didn't expect to find love in the Picsart community. This is what we call destiny. When two people are destined to be together there's some kind of powerful force that brings them together no matter how far apart.

THANK YOU PICSART TEAM! GOD BLESS AND MORE POWER GUYS!

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@paolomore

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@daffylaye

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INERVIEW

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An Interview With International Street Photographer Eric Kim Eric Kim is a street photographer who has had his work exhibited in Los Angeles and at Leica (the German camera company) stores in Singapore, Seoul, and Melbourne.

He was a judge for the London Street Photography Contest of 2011, and has done two collaborations with Samsung, starring in a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 commercial as well as a campaign for the Samsung NX 20 camera.

He travels the world to shoot his street photography, and also to teach others about his artform. He has taught a photography class to under-privileged youth in Los Angeles, as well as a university-level online course at UC Riverside extension.

He has also taught street photography workshops in Beirut, Seoul, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Berlin, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Sydney, Melbourne, Zurich, London, Toronto, Mumbai, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Kota Kinabalu (with more to come).

We interviewed Eric to ask him about his work and insights on photography.

To find out more about Eric Kim, follow his blog.

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You are a street photographer. What is it about street photography that has such a strong appeal to you?

What I love most about street photography is the opportunity to connect with other human beings, and to simply get out of the house.

As much as I enjoy making interesting photos- I value the human connections I make when out taking photos even more. When out shooting street photography, I have met so many incredible people. Street photography gives me the opportunity and the permission to open doors to strangers I would generally never have the chance to communicate or interact with.

Not only that, I love the sense of support and love from the street photography community. I think it takes a special type of individual (humanistic) who is interested in street photography.

I think you also have to generally like people. So if you take a bunch of people who are interested in street photography and bring them together- it generally creates a very supportive and intimate group. The friends I have made through street photography are what I value the most.

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Likewise, you have done several series in black and white. What is it about black and white that appeals to you?

I love the rawness, the intimacy, and the immediacy of black and white. We obviously don't see the world in black and white- so the images become much more surreal.

What I also love about black and white is how it simplifies things to their core elements. I feel when I am out shooting in black and white, it helps me focus on shapes, forms, and the light.

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Nowadays I have actually been shooting all of my recent work on color. Working in color is exciting- as the world is a vibrant place. But working in color also has its complications- colors can sometimes distract in a photograph. But when you create color combinations which work in harmony- it adds more value and interest in a photograph.

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What do you look for when you head off into the streets of a city with your camera? Is there a theme to the kind of things you notice?

I generally have two approaches- depending on where I am shooting.

I love being a "flaneur" in the streets- just someone who walks around, wanders, and takes random photos of things I see. This side of me is the one that hates having a plan and having to shoot with something in mind. I generally do this when I am traveling to foreign countries, and I have no particular projects in mind. I have been contributing these images to my "Colors" series.

However one of the big projects I am currently working on is called "Suits"- in which I essentially take photos of working men in suits and ties. For this project, I specifically go to financial centers where I will see a lot of "Suits." So generally when I am in New York, London, Tokyo, or San Francsico- I shoot my "Suits" project.

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Your work takes on a variety of forms, but there is a dark side that seems to emerge in a lot of the subjects in your photos. Why? I studied sociology in school-and there are a lot of negative things I dislike about society. I hate our obsession with wealth, power, and money. I think a lot of these materialistic things in society make us miserable, jealous, and envious of one another.

Therefore I see a lot of darkness in my photos- in seeing the world with a very critical eye.

However at the end of the day, I am still quite a positive and optimistic person. I think if we become conscious enough of our environments and societal values- we can transform ourselves.

I hope that my photos aren't just pretty photos to look at- but photos that will impact and affect people to either change their behavior or outlook in life to make it better.

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You also seem to be quite skilled at using your photography skills to play with focus, and strategically blur elements with in your photo. Do you always plan which elements you want blurred and what is it about this effect that you like so much?

I think a lot of the blur comes from the fact that I shoot quite a bit with flash, and often with moving subjects. For my older black and white work, I would use a flash and drag the shutter. This gave a nice effect that the subject would be tack sharp, and the background blurry. I like it because it gives the photos an uneasy feelinghaving energy, motion, and vigor.

You discuss the idea of the “self� in your photography. Can you tell us what this idea means in your work?

I am quite fascinated with the idea of the "Presentation of Self" - by sociologist Erving Goffman. Pretty much the idea is that in everyday life- we are like actors in a play. We want others to have a certain impression of us- which we show through our behaviors. This includes the way we walk, talk, and much of the material things we possess. Especially in materialistic societies- we try to show our identity through the clothes we wear, the phone we use, and the car we drive.

I like to personally think that our identities shouldn't be derived from these materialistic things. Rather, they should come from a much deeper and personal space- from our souls.

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What is your favorite part about being a photographer?

I love the freedom of being a photographer. I used to work a corporate job, and hated having to work a traditional 40-hour work-week, from 9-5.

Even though I have a lot less financial security and no health care (only for emergencies) working as a photographer- I love how I can wake up whenever I want to, write about whatever I want on my blog, and let my natural curiosity and passion lead my day.

I also love the traveling I am able to do through teaching my street photography workshops. I love building connections with other street photographers from halfway across the globe.

One thing I am trying to do constantly is build a sense of community, bringing likeminded and equally passionate photographers together.

Is there a subject that you would love to photograph in the future that you have not already?

One subject I would like to document more of is luxury and materialism. I know a lot of work on the subject has already been done (primarily by Martin Parr), but it is still a personal subject that I find fascinating (and revolting) and want to explore photographically.

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FEATURE : Photo

The World from the Edge of a Dock

@csyol

Yolanda (@csyol) is a Spanish user who has documented her travels between Spain, France, and Germany with her welltrained photography talent.

These photos span forests, lakes, castles, and ancient streets throughout Europe, but our Photo of the Month is this fantastic shot of a dock located in unspecified whereabouts.

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Yolanda’s work has a special flair for the majestic, and this photo is no exception. The lake is almost completely still but for a few ripples, the only variations in a surface that is otherwise as perfect as a mirror reflecting the silver light of the overcast clouds above. The dock itself is darkly lit in the foreground, teetering on silhouette, and the two strangers at the end seem to be the only living things for miles, having a conversation on the brink of great silver abyss.

The photo takes the mystical natural setting into account from the comfortable vantage point of the dock, the photo’s sturdy wooden anchor which holds the image together like a pin. It is as if Yolanda’s photo organizes the civilized and natural world perfectly next to one another, fitting the dock into the lake like two pieces of a greater puzzle.

With composition like this, you simply couldn’t ask for a better view.

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Safari Photo Kit What to take with you on a wildlife photography trip to Africa

@kell07

Most photographers, whether they’re focused on wildlife photography or not, would jump at the chance to go to Africa on a wildlife photography trip. However, safari photography holds its own unique challenges, with far-off subjects and moving action. You can make the best of a once-in-a-lifetime safari trip by packing the right equipment, and of course taking a sense of adventure with you too!

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FEATURE : Destination Zoom lenses It goes without saying that you’re going to need at least one good-quality zoom lens on any safari trip, but if you have a spare, your life will be a little bit easier.

Most of the action that you’ll be shooting will be at a distance, so you’ll need a zoom lens to ensure that those gamboling lion cubs aren’t just two specks in the distance surrounded by a lot of beige.

Anything upwards of 300mm should be fine for most photographers’ purposes, although a 100-400mm lens would give a greater range and ensure that you’ll come back with some spectacular wildlife images.

Avoid the temptation to go much larger than 400mm; anything bigger can be incredibly cumbersome to drag around, and you’ll just end up leaving it in your hotel room or cursing the day that you bought it. Unless you’re shooting for National Geographic, you probably don’t need the biggest lens you can find!

Don’t forget to also take a tripod, for those low-light shots that you just can’t miss.

Filters Majestic animals don’t tend to congregate in wellpaved areas, so you’ll be spending a lot of your safari photography trip in dusty, sandy areas with a lot of wind. This can cause havoc for your equipment, especially when you’re shooting in these conditions for several hours each day, so putting filters on your lenses will help to preserve the clean glass and save you from having to clean them every morning.

As long as you’re going to be taking filters with you, you might as well choose one or two that can help you bring some diversity to your nature photography. If you only take one filter, it should be a polarizer. This type of filter will help to saturate the already vibrant and gorgeous colors of an Africa landscape, and will lend a professional look to your images before you even get into post-production. A simple blue or red filter will also help you to catch some gorgeous colors in the savannah skies, whether it’s sunset, sunrise, or the middle of the afternoon.

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The additional little things It’s easy to forget the little things when you’re concentrating on taking the right lenses and whatnot, but on a trip like this you don’t want to leave all your memory cards at home and find that you’re stuck with one compact flash that’s full after the first day. Take all your formatted memory cards, all your batteries, fully charged, as well as your charger and any filters you might need.

@manujumpen

The other stuff might sound simple, but it’s easy to forget: Binoculars, a hat with a peak, sunglasses, sunscreen, any medications you might need, a copy of your itinerary and a little paper pad to make notes on your photographic journey. A head lamp will also help you on those early mornings when you get up before the sun. Most important of all though, of course, is a keen sense of adventure!

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@only1soul

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@crazyliza49

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@samdin @annamb5

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@tweetyamu

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DIY Hanger

For this DIY you will need: 1. Cardboard 2. Marker 2. Scissors 3. Paint 4. Hangers (can be replaced with regular nails) 5. screws 6. double scotch

Step 1. Draw and Cut Draw the shape of the hanger you want to have on a cardboard. We have chosen a raincloud! Cut your cardboard into the shape you have outlined with your marker.

Step 2. Paint Paint your shapes into whatever color you want!

For our raincloud, we have chosen PicsArt colors.

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Step 3. Hang After the pain has dried, decide a location for your hanger. Glue it to the wall using double scotch.

When the drops are already on the wall, fasten the hangers to the raindrops, using screws.

Your DIY hanger is now complete and you can expect lots of awesome feedback from guests looking to hang their coats at your residence.

Maybe even inspire them to make their own creative hanger!

Hangers don’t have to be lifeless and boring- you can make them fun and colorful!

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FEATURE : Artist

Vulnerable Humanity The Street Photos of User Barisozturk The PicsArtist of the Month this March is a particularly talented street photographer with an uncanny ability to pierce the anonymity of street life to create stunningly sincere photos. User Barisozturk (@barisozturk) has a wandering eye that, like his feet, takes him to extraordinary places, places that can only be found with the compass of instinct. He zeroes in on his subjects like a lazer, and somehow manages to get his lens underneath the veil, making the unknowable suddenly known.

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His street portraits possess a rare intimacy for shots taken in a public arena mostly frequented by passers-by hibernating behind the neutral masks of their daily lives. You feel like you know the people in his photos. His characters have things to say: they have stories, lives, histories of sadness, joy, pain, and pleasure, all rolled up into coats and scarves and set adrift into the streets like icebergs out to sea, showing only the very tips of their humanity. And right there, amongst all of this chaos is Barisozturk’s camera documenting what others might have just missed.

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