Last week as I departed Nantucket on the ferry, it was a gray, dreary day.  I spotted a two-masted sailboat in the harbor, so I quickly snapped a photo on my phone, through the water-splatted window of the ferry.  Here was the picture:

Not very inspiring.

However, when I had some time a few days later, I decided to see what I could do to make it more attractive.  The first step was to crop the photo to my main subject, and then to improve the lighting.

Still, I had the feeling that the fundamental beauty of this design was not yet apparent, so I tried some filters to see how they might enhance the view.  One of my favorite tools is an iPhone app named Waterlogue, which provides filters to turn an image into a watercolor painting.  I can’t draw or paint at all, but I can express my artistic sense with this device.  Here’s what I was able to do, using Waterlogue and another app, CameraBag.

Waterlogue 1.3.1 (72)
Preset Style = Natural
Format = 6″ (Medium)
Format Margin = None
Format Border = Straight
Drawing = #2 Pencil
Drawing Weight = Medium
Drawing Detail = Medium
Paint = Natural
Paint Lightness = Auto
Paint Intensity = Normal
Water = Tap Water
Water Edges = Medium
Water Bleed = Average
Brush = Natural Detail
Brush Focus = Everything
Brush Spacing = Narrow
Paper = Watercolor
Paper Texture = Medium
Paper Shading = Light
Options Faces = Enhance Faces

As a Polaroid instant film photo

You can pick the effects you like best.  I prefer the last one.  What’s yours?