We had a really fun lesson today that would have been so useful in my teaching and scrapbooking days. Maybe I’ll be inspired to get back into digital scrapbooking or at least more card-making. The lesson had to do with finding a bunch of objects in one color, taking a photo, and then making a layout using color swatches from the photo. Really, really fun! There was also a lesson on creating presets of color hazes, which I actually already know how to do, thank goodness. I used one of my haze presets for the first photo.
Because I was waiting for my houseguests (Debbie and Dale!!!) to arrive, I wanted to get my homework done quickly. I actually skipped the first step of taking a photo and found two photos to use that had lots of shades in the same color family.
This is from our visit to Balboa Park in San Diego; I almost stopped traffic to get this photograph!
And this one is from our own backyard (last week).
I realize now that I shouldn’t have used a white background for the layouts- stretching the image to make the space at the bottom was half the fun for me! I also figured out where to find square brushes- I don’t use many brushes in Photoshop. As I said, a fun lesson!
It is the end of the tulips, I’m afraid. I just have a few left- the purple ones. This shot is backlit- I love how you can see the light through the leaves. This image is textured with two layers of Kim Klassen’s 3003 texture.
For more images edited with Kim Klassen’s textures, head on over to Kim’s site.
This month the challenge is interesting perspectives– which range anywhere from wide angle shots with leading lines and vanishing points to creative illusions such as someone appearing to hold the moon or a child’s hand with a toy in the foreground (making the rest of him smaller in the background). I’m going with the wide angle shots, because it is something I love to do (and because I have a few in my archives. . .). I shot all of these (except the last) at 18mm on my crop sensor camera and converted them to black and white in Lightroom. The lighthouse photo also has a bit of processing in Silver Efex , which I then tweaked in Photoshop.
After you have looked at my photos, head on over to Lisa’s blog to start going around the complete circle!
Here is a beach shot in San Diego from this month.
This is a wide angle shot vertically (tall angle? 😉 ) of the USS Midway, also from our San Diego trip.
This is one from the archives- the Point Arena lighthouse (from our trip to the coast last October). I posted a shot or two of the lighthouse before, but this one is from further back with a wider angle.
And here’s another oldie but goodie that seems to fit the challenge (oldie referring to the photo, not the hubs, who is younger than me and thus not an oldie):
Textured with Kim Klassen’s subtly yours and cora.
The words on this image became my mantra today as I worked on Lesson 10 in Beyond Beyond. It was a short lesson, with a Lightroom preset, a texture, and a new video on adding text (this time to a selection). The assignment was to create, create- for the sake of creating.
Text on a path is the most difficult part of Photoshop for me; I seem to have a mental block about it. I am going to master it- but not today evidently. My attempts are not yet ready for prime time- so I did text on a very STRAIGHT path for my CREATE assignment. I used a couple layers of Kim’s subtly yours and an additional layer of cora (to add some pink tones).
These blossoms are from the most beautiful cherry tree EVER (outside of Washington DC). I drive by this tree often and am totally in love with it. You will see more photos on here another day for sure.
We spent the night at Tahoe Tuesday! My husband had a business meeting, so we spent the night before at the Sunnyside Lodge, where we had a wonderful dinner and a room overlooking the lake. Before dinner, I took the opportunity to take photos in the afternoon and early evening.
When it was time for dinner, I left the camera in our room, and went downstairs to the dining room. Just before our meal arrived, I noticed the couple at the next table was looking at something outside, but when I looked out, it looked like just the same scene I had photographed before dinner. Finally I got up to see the view from their vantage point and saw the MOON- reflecting on the lake. I ran upstairs to get my camera and joined the lady from the next table as we tried to capture the beauty of what we were seeing. She also had a Nikon (maybe a D5100?), and we struggled with settings as the moon slipped behind the clouds- and then was gone in a matter of just a few minutes.
So here is the moon as it went back behind the clouds. Sigh. And I have tried to ignore all the beautiful full moon photos (taken with cell phone cameras. . .) on Facebook.
I used my new Silver Efex Pro plug-in to convert this photo to black and white.
Regarding Silver Efex Pro: If you have purchased any of the Nik software suite within the last five years, you may have received an e-mail from them a few days ago, giving you the entire suite for FREE. My e-mail was in my spam folder. I am thrilled to have all these new toys- but have no idea how to use them yet.
Day 3 of tulips!
This photo was taken in response to one of this week’s prompts from my Daily Challenge group- reflection.
I told you the tulips would be back- and I haven’t even posted any of the purple ones yet! This image is for Texture Tuesday- textured with Kim’s Sybil texture again.
I bought some tulips for $4.00 a bunch at Raleys this weekend and have had fun photographing them as they begin to open. All three were edited in Lightroom, and the second one had some additional editing in Photoshop (some cloning and a bit of matte processing on leaves and background). I am still making up my mind about matte processing- love it in everyone else’s work, but miss the clarity in my own. I compromised on that second image, masking the effect from the flowers.
You will see these (and more) tulips again this week, I promise!
I put a few Easter decorations out this week and chose one of my little wooden bunny-eggs to photograph for this reflection shot for my Daily Challenge group.
Fonts! Typing on a path! Typing on or in a shape! Glyphs! Wow- lots of good stuff in this lesson!
I’m a little out of my photography comfort zone- and going back in time about 10 years to my attempts at digital scrapbooking. After having worked with Photoshop for the last couple years, these skills are easier for me now than back then- but typing on a path is still my nemesis!
The author of the last quote was Henry Ward Beecher (I couldn’t figure out how to incorporate it so that it looked okay). Both photos are textured with Kim Klassen’s Sybil texture (yup- still my favorite).
I found this little guy in among the leaves the other day. Spring seems to be on its way!
I have been on a decluttering spree. You could have filmed an episode of Hoarders in a couple of my closets- but no more! One of my missions was to organize my yarn. Photography has replaced knitting as my obsession, but I still love knitting and am not ready to give up my precious yarn (which is now mostly boxed up in labeled storage containers, thank you very much!). I had not knitted since my carpal tunnel surgery, so, when I found a half done scarf, I got inspired and am slowly finishing it. And, of course, knitting is a great subject for photography!
The challenge for this week’s Texture Tuesday was to use words in the image. The below is actually my favorite knitting quote- by my favorite knitter- Stephanie Pearl McPhee (aka the Yarn Harlot)- but it was a bit too long for the photo:
“In the nineteeth century, knitting was prescribed to women as a cure for nervousness and hysteria. Many new knitters find this sort of hard to believe because, until you get good at it, knitting seems to cause those ailments.”
Hahaha! You have to be a knitter to really get the truth of this! But, now that I think of it, you could substitute the word photographer for knitter and photography for knitting– and we could all relate!
I came across this quote from Elizabeth Zimmermann, the mother of modern knitting, which I think speaks to the meditative quality of knitting.
I spent WAY too much time on this photo edit: FOUR different Kim Klassen textures to get the tones I wanted (havana, sybil, reentry, and 0303), a hue/sat layer, a levels layer, a blur layer- HOLY COW! I know there was an easier way. . .
My father was an avid photographer. I have boxes and boxes of slides and reel upon reel of movies stored in the closet. When he retired from dentistry, he took photography classes at Butte College, and it is from this period that I have the photographs that I most treasure. They are black and whites of my children when they were about the age my grandchildren are now. He took the photos, developed the film, and matted the prints himself.
Most of his photos are landscapes however. He was a big fan of Ansel Adams, of course- I wish I had paid more attention when he talked about him! I recently re-discovered his old Nikon and a couple lenses in a closet. I don’t think I will be getting into film photography, but it would be nice to get his camera cleaned and operational again.
I created this layout for my Beyond Beyond class. I combined two of the three assignments into one. I actually did all three- but wasn’t happy with my results, so this is a quick re-do. The challenges were 1) to find an inspirational quote and, using a specified technique, make it look like it was printed on a chalkboard , 2) use matte processing, and 3) create a layout. The chalkboard technique was interesting, but complicated- and when I decided to create a layout using my quote, I decided I needed a different quote. Instead of going through the process again, I used a chalk font I already had for this layout. I have experimented with matte processing before and enjoyed using Kim’s technique. And (confession time), I created this layout in Lightroom (easier for me than Photoshop).
