I Love Love That Shot

The wonderfully talented Michelle Johnson and her sister Misti has a great photography and digital scrapbook site called Love That Shot and what a wonderful resource it is!

I’ve learned a lot from their posts and I get very inspired. As I am today.

This is the sky before Hurricane Earl came through a few weeks ago.

It was really neat, you can clearly see the bands from the storm as well as the contrail from an airplane that just went by, as my children are cleverly pointing out here.

When I point my camera and metered at the sky I can see the bands, but it was getting dark so when I point at the kids, the sky is blown out.

No storm bands, no contrails to be seen. Maybe your camera can handle it, but mine can’t.

So I decided to add the sky into the picture. Using the move tool, I moved the sky picture as another layer onto the picture of the kids. Then I changed the layer palette to “Multiply.” I then masked out the kids and left the sky.

And I get this. I rushed it so it’s really not a great job but if you do it carefully you can get a really cool effect.

Here’s another example.

Cool huh?

And another…

Please ignore my kids.

This one was very dark and underexposed.

So I lightened it but it really blew out the sky.

And voila! Instant sky! I know it could use more editing but I won’t today. I just wanted to illustrate this fun editing technique.

The purpose is not fool anyone with your photoshopped photo. It is to enhance your photography. That is all. It’s a tool and if used judiciously and carefully, I think it really makes documenting your life a thing of art and creativity.

See more useful and fun tips at Love That Shot!

August 27, Teach Me The Way That Is Good And Right

I love this perfect moment where we settle into a routine. Both the boy and the girl have started school and for the moment at least, seem content in their classes and their teachers. After much suspense the girl has made the field hockey team – it’s a big deal and a big dent in our schedule. I have worked out a carpool with our wonderful neighbors so that will really help. I encouraged her to step back from riding. She can’t handle this fast-paced schedule and lets face it – I can’t either.

I won’t post the photo edit this morning. Rather, I will give you a link to a favorite black and white action, B’s Vanilla Black & White. I used it to edit this photo. It is a tinge warmer than a high-key type of black and white. I really love it. It is a free action and though there is a lot to be wary of on the internet, I downloaded this particular action with no problems (or bugs.) You can find it at atn central, a plethora of free actions – some are really great, some not so great, but it’s fun to look.

What’s Your Play no 60

I’m late playing along with Laura at Dolce Pics but I wanted to get it in anyway…

Here’s her before of this blue smoke.

And here’s what happened (per Mr. Monk).

I boosted the color slightly, then I inverted the photo. Image>Adjustments>Invert.

The background color was changed to white and the blue was changed to a rose color (colors across from the color wheel of each other).

But green is my favorite color so to get green smoke, I made a new layer, filled the color in with a green then selected “Color” on the layers palette. Voila, instant green smoke.

I know this is basic stuff for photographers out there but it was surely fun for me! See what others did at Laura’s place.

It’s Friday! ~ Contemplation

This Friday’s Fix-It-Friday photo over at iheartfaces.com reminds of Kegan, another Lost-And-Confused-Adolescent friend of the boy’s. It’s an eerie resemblance. Of course Kegan is now 15 and has lost his baby-face but still…eerie.

The after picture is the perfect countence of contemplation but apparently this boy was pouting right as the picture was being taken. There’s a tear running down his cheek…it’s so cute that I wanted to keep the tear, I think you can still see it.

Here’s the before…

Below are the steps I took…here goes.

1. I opened the image in PSE (photoshop elements for those of you who don’t know and don’t care, like my family). I clicked auto levels, auto contrast, and auto color correction. I didn’t do the auto sharpen. I didn’t really want to sharpen it much.

2. I then clicked Enhance>Adjust Lighting>Brightness/Contrast. I played with it until it looked right to me.

3. Then I clicked Ctrl L (I have a PC, I don’t know what it is in a Mac). This opens the Levels dialogue box. I moved the “volume” knobs back and forth until I liked it looked right. Again, your eye is the guide, you’re the artist.

4. I duplicated the layer (Ctrl J) then I chose Soft Light from the Layers Palette. I like soft light, it magically changes a photo. I adjusted the opacity to 40%. It was pretty strong.

5. I made a new layer (Layer>New Layer). You’ll see three layers below the blank layer here because I’m paranoid. I always make a duplicate layer just in case I mess up. I’m that way.

6. I then chose a color. What color? What ever color you want. I know that a sepia look comes with choosing a brown. But I went with a gray/blue because this little boy looks slightly sad.

7. I chose the paint bucket tool (I’m not sure if that’s what it’s really called) and I painted the entire layer the gray/blue color. The little contemplative boy disappears.

8. But don’t worry, I choose Color in the Layers Palette and make  him appear again with a blue/gray cast. It’s magic.

9. I reduced the opacity, in this case to 61%. Not 60%. Actually it doesn’t matter that much.

And there you go.

I can do this for hours.

And I have.

Oh – one more thing, here’s the boy and the girl with Lost-And-Confused-Adolescent-Teen Kegan last Friday. Trust me, they look alike. And I know that the boy has a wine glass in his hand, but it’s not his. Really.

Here’s a couple more Elements tutorials that I’ve posted. I’m obsessed I tell you, I’m totally gone.

PSE Clone Tool – Clone Tool And Apologies
Before And After – Blue Ice
PSE Tip – Creative Kaitlyn And Quick Edge Burn
PSE Tip – Little Victoria And Soft Light For Faces
PSE Tip – The Philadelphia Eagles And Eye Glasses Fix
PSE Tip – Auto Is Everything

Holy crow, I didn’t know I had so many. Now you know what I do with my spare time.

Head on over to iheartfaces.com to see what other obsessed people are doing. It’s amazing, and I don’t feel all alone, thanks to the internet.

It's Friday! – Wonder Girl

It’s Fix-It Friday over at iheartfaces.com. I love this challenge. It’s so appeals to the geek/artist in me. Taking a photo and playing with it all day is a sick addiction. I don’t know why I do it. It’s a good thing I have this blog or else I’ll be doing it alone, in the dark, where no one can see. Thanks to the ladies over at iHeart Faces, my addiction is bared to the world.

The Wonder Girl After

The Wonder Girl Before.

Here goes…

TRA2 – Pool Party (one of my favorite actions)
Ctrl M – lightened the photo (quite a lot)
PW’s – Define and Sharpen
TRA2 – Smooth-O-Matic
Ctrl J – to duplicate the layer just in case I messed up the next step, which I did.
PS2 – Clone tool (got rid of the little blemish on her forehead)
Lowered opacity to 72% to blend in the cloned area a little more. Good thing I duplicated the layer!
Flattened the image.
Took a soft brush and lightened under her left eye. It took me a couple of tries to get the right brush and hardness.
Then I played with hue/saturation and decided I just needed to stop.
I selectively cropped. Et Voila!

Find TRA2 here.
Find PW here (although I’m sure everyone who got this far in the post knows that.)

Now I’m going to critique my own photo. I do believe it’s too soft and needs to be defined a little more. But then I could be here all day! The resolution is slightly off because I had to re-size for the blog. But frankly, I’m not sure how to fix that so there you go. Too much fun to be had and not enough time.

Go find out what all the fuss is about over at iheartfaces.com.

It's Friday! – Baby Boy Blue

I love Fridays! I love it more now that I have my work done (sort of). Now I’m going to play!

I’m lurking constantly over at iheartfaces.com now. It’s a wonderful resource and a great way to improve you photography AND you should see what others are doing over there. Fridays are play day and I’m possessed with the photography bug. Possessed (too many s’?) I say! I’m glad to know I’m not alone…

Today’s assignment is this cute little boy. When I first saw the picture I thought…

1) black and white
2) soft, soft, soft
3) melancholy and tired. Makes me want to rock him and sing him to sleep.

So here goes,

Black and white.

I’m using Photoshop in CS2. I ran B’s Vanilla B&W II on it. Then I ran Glam Blur on it, using all default setting because I’m lazy. I downloaded both of them a long time ago and I can’t find the link for it. I will try to find it again and update this post. Shoot. Anyway I then ran PW’s Bring On The Eyes and lowered the opacity to 50%. I selectively cropped and am done!

The before and after. Or rather, after and before. Just like me to get it backward.

Now some color and some softness, because I can’t stop!

Soft, soft, soft.

I ran TRA2, Pool Party action, flatten. I then ran Smooth-O-Matic, same action set. Flatten. Then PW’s Bring On The eyes, lower to 50% opacity. Flatten.

Unlike the beautiful red-head from last week, I thought this photo just needed a light touch. I wanted to leave the furrowed brow. It’s adorable.

Sometimes running too many actions will make you dependent on the actions and take away the inclination to learn Photoshop. But the actions themselves are the tool so why not? Besides, I literally can be here all day otherwise, and love every minute of it. But I do have to pick up the boy from school now. I remember when he was this little…really breaks my heart.

The Park – Raw And Uncensored

The Park was rocking on Sunday. Pastor Nancy asked me to take pictures and I gladly obliged.

The Park is the children’s Sunday service and like our main auditorium is very very tricky to photograph.

The Its were moving around very fast! The lighting is really challenging – I had to use, gasp, manual mode so I can get some rich color and not have it all washed out with a flash.

I also didn’t want to distract the performers…

After shooting about 50 black or blurry photos, I had to come back second service and try to capture more images…the light adjustment was a bear.

Miss Tracy has two babies in there…this is our second set of twins on staff within a year. There is definitely something in the water, I’m glad I’m too old to catch whatever it is.

I finally settled on ISO 800, shutter speed of 40 and aperture setting of f5. I would have gone lower with the aperture but my lens wouldn’t let me, shoot.

These are straight out of the camera. No post-processing at all…not that I wasn’t tempted mind you.

Photo Tip – Depth Of Field

Ok, professional photographers may accidentally find my site and say, “What’s she talking about? She must be an amateur.”

Well yes I am, and I don’t care. It’s probably pretty obvious anyway.

I recently received a telephoto lens as a gift. It’s because of this lens that I had a “Ding-now-I-get-it” moment. It was about depth of field. Believe it or not, I spend a lot of time thinking about it.

Depth of field in laymen terms, refers to how much the subject is in focus and how much of the background is out of focus. I took my new lens to my parents backyard and shooting. I zoomed in on a flower and when I downloaded it, I saw that the yucky snow behind the flower was out of focus, giving the flower a lovely background. It was dead but even in death, it was pretty. My mother said she leaves the flowers out there so that the birds can eat the seeds.

Photographers also call this bokeh (pronounced bo-kay). It’s a word I kept seeing all over photography blogs and never bothered to look it up until now. I saw so many images with beautiful bokeh and I wondered how do they do that? I just thought it was one of those photography things that was over my head.

Telephoto lenses can create a much shallower (more blurry) depth of field. This depth of field is interesting to me because the (dead) basil behind the in-focused piece of basil gives the image a tapestry-like feel, I think.

It’s probably just me.

The two main factors that determine your depth of field are the aperture and the focus distance. It’s easier to get a shallow depth of field with a telephoto because this type lens has the ability to make the subject appear bigger or magnified. It uses the focal distance to “cheat” and make it easy for an amateur like me to get a shallow depth of field. Anyway, you can get this same effect with wide angle lenses like the one that came with my camera. That’s all about aperture and I’m still trying to really understand it in order to apply it…when I do, I’ll let you know.

The above pictures were taken with my camera on the auto mode with the flash off (it was a gray day and sometimes the flash will fire when I don’t want it to in auto mode) and I stood faaaar away and zoomed waaaaay in. It’s cool.

By the way, the lens Santa brought me is a Nikkor 70mm-300mm lens. It’s heavy so you’ll have to start pumping weights if you want to lug it around a lot like I did Christmas Eve.

But I was able to get some great close ups with it, like this one. I didn’t use the depth of field theory in this photo because I wanted the cute singing kids in focus behind Archie. Depth of field also has to do with how far the subject is from whatever is behind it. In this case, the kids were too close to Archie to “blur” into the background. Had I zoomed closer to Archie’s head (thereby, increasing the magnification), I would have decreased the focal distance and made the kids behind him blurry. But then I wouldn’t have been able to get their cute faces.

I took this picture using a technique that a co-worker showed me for taking pictures in low light…another time…

Now I don’t have to borrow Danny’s lens to take pictures of the girl on her horse. I was always terrified I was going to drop it.

This is so much fun.

Ghost Skier

My kids are fascinated with ghost shows and ghost stories.

They love these pictures of ghost skiers.

Here I am, captured on a lift, a lone ghostly rider.

They say many people capture images like this, and make other people believe they have seen a ghost.

After I saw the above picture, I purposely set out to capture more ghosts. My camera was set on auto mode with the ISO speed set at 1600. The focal length was set at 200mm. I laid the camera on a ski rest and when a skier (ghost) went by, I clicked it. It gave me these images with the snow (mostly) in focus but the people out of way out of focus. This exercise also gave me another fun “Ding-now-I-get-it-moment” about my lens that I’ll share another time. It also kept me entertained as I waited at the bottom for the family to find their way out of the fog.

Photoshop Elements – It’s Da Bomb

I have been using Photoshop for a while and it’s the most powerful tool for photographers – bar none. I use it for some graphic design as well. I taught myself and I’m embarrassed to say that I know about 5% of it’s features. I have far far far to go before I sleep. It’s not the most intuitive program to use (sorry Adobe) purely because it’s so powerful, you have to have a lot of tenacity and pure will to learn all of its features on your own. It is however, the greatest invention since the telephone, just not as easy to learn to use…

And lets face it. Not many amateurs (or just regular people) can afford to just go out and buy a copy of Photoshop. According to the Adobe website, it’s $699. If you are a student or a non-profit organization, you can purchase it for a little less. But for regular folk, it’s pretty darn expensive. With the economy and all…I am using the one that I use for work, so essentially, I was forced to learn it which sometimes is the best way to learn something, under great pressure. Because it makes diamonds, so I’ve heard.

So what’s a regular gal to do? We take photos too, us regular gals, and we want our photos to look just like the pros. There’s got to be a better way out there. Well, there is. It’s called Photoshop Elements. Although it’s not free, it’s a ton more affordable at $139.99. As a matter of fact, some companies give you the option of getting it on a brand new computer. I just ordered an HP desktop for my step-father and I snuck in a copy, just in case I’m ever visiting and need it in a pinch.

It has many of the features of the full up Photoshop application. I’m not sure what all the differences are between the two, but I have used Elements for many projects and I think it’s worth the investment, worth your time, and worth it. Period. I’m so glad the folks at Adobe took pity on us. Thank you.

Many of the actions (actions…a tutorial for another time) you can find online for Photoshop can be duplicated in Photoshop Elements. The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond (she’s awesome) has actions for Photoshop and many of them can be done in Elements.

Here are some examples of before and afters from little ‘ole me using Photoshop Elements (I’m going to have to abbreviate this to PSE).

Before and after – using Auto Levels in PSE, one click is all it took.

Before and after – lightening and sharpening in PSE. Subtle I know, but the Equestrian Moms love my photos.

Before and after – easy peasy but look what a difference.

Or for some, you may just be creative but have a lot of self-doubt, if you do, you’re not alone. You are looking at (reading) the epitome of self-doubt. But I’m also just a little bit reckless too. I also know that some of you are closet photographers (Neighbor Suzanne). So I’m urging you, pleading with you, post your photos! Lets all see what you’ve been up to!

I promise you I’ll show you how the best I can.