Creative Smartphone Imagery with Maryellen Stone

From Capture to Outside the Box

Five Monday workshops · 9 and 23 November, 7 and 21 December, 4 January 2027 · on Zoom

You have a phone in your pocket that takes better pictures than you think, and a photo library you scroll past without doing anything with.

Over five workshops Maryellen Stone takes you from the capture itself through to images that have stopped looking like photographs altogether. Not presets, not filters, and nothing done for you. You will understand what each step does and why, so you can do it again on your own pictures afterwards.

The sessions

1. Capture · Monday 9 November, 19:00 GMT

The options already sitting in your native camera, and what they are actually for. Then three capture apps that do things your phone cannot do on its own: Slow Shutter Cam, Average Camera Pro and KaleidaCam.

2. Edit · Monday 23 November, 17:00 GMT

Please note the earlier start for this session only. The basic edits in your native editor first, then Snapseed and Lightroom Mobile. Then the creative ones, including Artista Oil, Grungetastic and Distressed FX+.

3. Editing outside the box · Monday 7 December, 19:00 GMT

This is where images stop looking like photographs. Taking a picture that has had its basic edits and going considerably further with the Circular app, KaleidaCam and Decim8.

4. Piling On · Monday 21 December, 19:00 GMT

You have done the basic edits and the creative ones, so now what? DestroyPix, Decim8 and Tangled FX, layered onto images that have already been worked. And back to the Circular app, because nobody ever wants to leave it alone.

5. Celebrating and sharing your work · Monday 4 January 2027, 19:00 GMT

Your workshop rather than hers. Bring an image, show where it started, and talk through how you got where you got. Any questions still hanging around get answered, and there is a bonus app demonstration if there is time.

The apps

Everything is demonstrated in the workshop, and you do not need all of it.

Both iOS and Android: Snapseed, Lightroom Mobile, Artista Oil, Grungetastic, Distressed FX and Distressed FX+.

iOS with Android alternatives: Circular Tiny Planet, KaleidaCam, Slow Shutter Cam, Average Camera Pro, DestroyPix, Decim8 and Tangled FX.

Android users are very welcome. Maryellen demonstrates on an iPhone and will point out the comparable Android option as she goes. Many of the apps are on both platforms already. Some are not, and for those you will be following the idea rather than the same screen.

Please do not buy any apps yet. They change as the operating systems change, and she will substitute something similar if one of them has moved on by the time we get there. Wait until she tells you.

The guides

Each of the four teaching workshops comes with a written step-by-step guide, sent after that session and yours to keep, with no expiry. Apps move and settings are easy to forget, so the guide is what you work from when you pick your phone up a fortnight later. The fifth workshop is our sharing night, so there are four guides rather than five.

Who it is for

Anyone with a smartphone who wants more from it than snapshots. You do not need a camera, you do not need Photoshop, and you do not need to have done anything like this before.

From Mark

Maryellen has been part of this community for years, and her texture sessions are among the best received workshops we have run. This is the first time she has brought the phone work to us, and it is the part of her own practice that surprises people most. She is a patient teacher, she was a teacher before she was a photographer, and she explains as she goes.

Maryellen's previous presentations on Camversation:

Making Your Own Textures:

www.camversation.co.uk

Buying this will allow you to ACCESS Maryellen's recording for four weeks, as usual. This DOES NOT allow download. Watch highlights: https://youtu.be/QNtPG0wL6HY Do not just rely on stock filters. Learn to create your own unique art. Join Maryellen Stone for this creative demonstration on finding, shooting, and blending your own textures to transform simple photographs into painterly masterpieces. What You Will LearnIn this 90-minute session, Maryellen walks through her personal creative process and demonstrates the key techniques she uses to create her signature look: The Scavenger Hunt: Maryellen shares her favourite spots for finding textures in everyday life, from rusting baking trays and peeling paint to concrete floors and fabric. Shooting Tips: Practical advice on how to photograph your textures, including shooting straight-on and managing glare to ensure they work well as overlays. Prep & Polish: A walkthrough of how she processes raw texture files, using tools like Desaturate and Levels to create high-contrast assets ready for blending. Layer Modes: A demonstration of using blending modes like Soft Light, Overlay, and Multiply to mix textures with your original image. Creative Experiments: How she uses the Invert command to swap blacks and whites, instantly changing the mood of a texture. Using Masks: How to use Layer Masks and brushes to gently remove texture from specific areas (like a subject's face) to refine the final image. Who Is This For? Photographers who want to see a professional workflow for adding textures. Creatives feeling stuck who want a fun, low-pressure way to experiment. Anyone tired of buying expensive texture packs who wants to make their own for free. What People Said:This session was originally recorded live with an audience of over 150 photographers from around the world (including the UK, USA, Australia, South Africa, and Finland). Thank you Maryellen, you have really inspired me to have a go! Hilary Really interesting seeing how you build up the layers. Ann My mind is blown with the possibilities. Denise Fantastic demo, thank you! David

Taking Textures Further:

www.camversation.co.uk

Taking Textures Further with Maryellen Stone Did you miss our highly anticipated live broadcast? Don’t worry, you can rent the full recording right now and enjoy unlimited viewing access for a full four weeks! When this session went live, the energy in our virtual room was unmatched. Photographers logged in from all corners of the globe, including the UK, USA, Canada, Sweden, and South Africa, to watch the brilliant Maryellen Stone share her fine-art texturing secrets. This recording is your chance to pull up a front-row seat and discover how to completely transform your images into deeply expressive, painterly works of art using foundational post-processing techniques. 🌟 What the Community is Saying (Direct Feedback from the Live Chat): 💬 The interesting thing is that all these techniques have been available within Ps for years! No AI stuff!! Marilyn T.💬 Fabulous presentation. I love your style of teaching and found your explanations easy to follow. Thank You! Caroline💬 Absolutely wonderful... going to go out and photograph some more textures. Ellen R.💬 The bokeh on the vase photo is FABULOUS as well as the colour gradient! Danelle J.💬 Beautiful Maryellen. All different and all beautiful! Sharon G.💬 Every day is a school day. Celia H.💬 That was great, can’t wait for the next thanks! Jerry 💻 Core Techniques & Concepts Covered:In this comprehensive, step-by-step workshop, Maryellen breaks down her exact creative process. You will learn: The Foundations of Texturing: Why you simply cannot talk about textures without mastering layers, masks, opacities, and blend modes. The Magic of Blend Modes: How to navigate and experiment with different blend modes, including Multiply, Overlay, and more, to find beautiful, unexpected creative surprises. The Power of Opacity Control: How to lower and manipulate your layer opacity so you can cleanly view your underlying subject, build up effects gradually, and mask away details precisely. Flipping and Reusing Textures: Creative ways to alter, flip, or reapply the exact same texture file to achieve entirely different visual results. Real-World Project Walkthroughs: Watch Maryellen apply these tools live on various subjects, including a vase photo, a lion image, a garden dahlia, and even transforming a raw waterfall photo into a stunning texture overlay. Pure, Classic Editing Skills: How to achieve stunning fine-art results without relying on automated AI tools, using classic, powerful manual methods that give you 100% artistic control. 🛠️ Using Photoshop Elements or Affinity Photo?While Maryellen explicitly demonstrates these methods inside Photoshop during this workshop, photographers using Photoshop Elements or Affinity Photo can easily follow along and achieve the exact same results. The core texturing tools are universally available across these platforms: Photoshop Elements users: You can fully replicate Maryellen's workflow using your main Layers panel, standard blend modes (such as Multiply and Overlay), and standard layer masks to cleanly brush textures off your main subjects. Affinity Photo users: The adjustment process is just as seamless. You can control your texture mapping directly using your regular layers, built-in masking brushes, and standard blend mode options without needing any complicated file conversions. 🎟️ What's Included inside Your Rental: Four Weeks of Full Access: Stream the complete 4K session as many times as you like over a four-week period whenever it fits your schedule. Step-by-Step Software Guidance: Clear, foundational explanations that translate perfectly across your preferred editing software. The In-Room Learning Context: See the exact questions and lightbulb moments shared by your fellow community members during the broadcast.

Tickets

Choose one option only. Each higher tier includes the one below it.

Maryellen (1 month), £30.00

All five live sessions, plus the recordings to watch again for one month after the final session. Recordings are streamed on our website and are not downloadable.

Maryellen (1 month + Guides), £54.00

Everything in the first ticket, plus Maryellen’s four written guides, one for each teaching session. Bought separately afterwards they are £8 each, so ordering with the series makes one of them free.

Maryellen (12 months + Guides), £64.00

Everything in the second ticket, and the recordings stay available for twelve months instead of one. This is a series people work through slowly, so a year means session one is still there once you have actually started making things.

Practical notes

We start at 19:00 GMT on every date except 23 November, which starts at 17:00 GMT. The Zoom link is emailed before each session. If you cannot make one live, every ticket includes the recordings.

About Maryellen

Maryellen Stone is a photographer and digital artist whose work moves between nature photography and abstract digital art. Her Blue Birches Fantasy II was a Judges Choice in the NANPA Showcase 2026. She teaches classic, manual technique rather than automated tools, and runs a creative imagery community of her own alongside her Camversation sessions.