011|365: Puss on Boots

My knobby knees, the hub's HD boots (which I will likely try to confiscate because I love 'em so much now, haha), and ol' man Robin tops it off!  I arrived home after work yesterday and began picking up around the house.  I came across my hub's Harley Davidson biker boots pushed way back underneath a side table in the family room (go figure).  Curious about how they came to be stashed back there, though I really have no reason to be surprised, this is how the above pic occurred to me.  We've had Robin (the cat) since we bought the house eight years ago.  He's been coming across kind of achy the last year and with the cold weather blowing in now, he never misses the opportunity to scutter around us when we open the front door.  We brought him in for a bit last night and propped him up for a photo shoot.  Surprisingly, he did not fight it too much and, as you can see, got comfortable after a while. 

010|365

My daughter, Drew.  Initially, I was taking the picture of the earring because I loved them so, and they belong to my son's (Aaron) sweetie pie, Candice.  But then, I saw the photo and now, I believe the picture is of my daughter as much as, or more than, the earring. Hmmmm...

009|365: Buffy

This is Buffy.  She was given as a birthday gift to my son, Aaron, by his mema while we lived with her.  When Aaron and I moved into our own place, Buffy stayed behind with mema because we felt she was so comfortable with mema's big yard (it was home for her) and our new home would not be nearly so accommodating.  Her namesake is Buffy (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", because Aaron had such a big crush on her at the time.  I'm always taken with her emotional expressions, she is so precious.  Today, camera in tow, I was so compelled to make her my 009.

Buffy is getting up in age now and it shows on her face.  I'm so glad I did this shoot, I could stare at her all day. ♥

008|365

Again, this is a series of shots pieced together.  Several of just the closed door without the hands, and then many more with the hands in different positions.  I had to bribe my daughter with pizza to get her to do this for me (she is getting much too pricey for me).  Each hand is cut from two separate photos and then photoshopped into this one.  Obviously, the key was not in the picture, and, obviously, I am not too pleased with the way the key came out.  The angle I received it in was not accurate so I had to cut it apart, manipulate it, and put it back together again.  I found the picture of this skeleton key on DeviantArt, which is a great place for stock photos, but, remember, if you decide to utilize that website you must be certain you only use those photos that specify it is free for your use.  Finally, I added a couple of textures on top (my door is not really that dirty).

007|365

So I wanted more practice on shoot and processing a levitation.  I'm not real happy with this final product, but I was running out of time to post (I believe I had only 15 minutes to spare).  Initially, I had completely different plans for todays shot, but it fell through, or rather, never showed it's face.  I wanted a white on white shot today, but couldn't find anything that excited me.  I had entertained the idea of the shot above, but in another perspective.  Ah well...

Drew's little body is pieced together with parts from each of the 5 following shots.

When piecing body parts together, it's important, of course, to match your skin tones, and this may take some adjusting of brightness, contrast, maybe using color filters, or using the adjustment for skin tones feature (again, I am using Photoshop Elements 7).  After getting them as closely matched as possible, use your eraser tool with the blurred circular brush and an opacity setting between 20-50%.  Erase the hard edge of each layer so that the skin blends together.

She wore this cute little top, but it's more of a shirt than a dress, so I extended the length to cover her bum a little better.

I first intended to surround her with bubbles from my own photography shots, but time fell short to get todays 365 uploaded; consequently, I used a layer of stars instead.  The star layer was set for a "lighten" layer and full opacity.  I moved some of the stars around using the cloning tool and adjusted the contrast.  Over the final product, I added another texture layer, found free on flickr.  And, voila!

006|365

My model is my 12 year old son, Wolfgang a/k/a Wolfie, and as you can likely imagine, this was a very painful project for him, though I do believe I have gotten the thumbs-up on my finale.

This is a manipulation of 3 separate photographs.  Can you see each of them?  The first was the reflection in the mirror, a second photo was Wolfie looking away from the mirror, and the last was Wolfie's hand, in the mirror that is.  I didn't like the original hand in the reflection, so it was replaced with this one.  Once everything was combined and tweaked just so, I added 3 textures on top to darken the edges but still compliment the fogged mirror.  Speaking of fogged mirror, I ran the shower on full-blast hot for about 15-20 minutes to build up the steam.  A white sheet was hung on the wall opposite the mirror so I wouldn't get my (seriously) ridiculous flowered wallpaper in the reflection.  Using a spray bottle filled with (cold) water, we wet Wolfie's hair thoroughly (like I said, completely painful for him).  My tripod wasn't tall enough to get at the angle I desired, so I wasn't able to give him hands on instructions like I would have prefered.  Instead, we did a few practice runs in our second bathroom. Would liked to have put some dark make-up around his eyes for more drama, but that might have pushed my luck too far.

Hugs and kisses to my darling Wolfgang, xoxo - I love you!

005|365: Rise and Shine

So, I really didn't feel like searching out or putting together a photo today.  Consequently, I shot about ten takes of a roll of toilet paper with about 5 squares left, and then opted for the above.  A view from my perspective first thing each morning.  This is my bedside table, complete with various medications, a soda to down them with, my external hard drive, some dusty miscellaneous, and, last but not least, my happy Buddha.  I'd thought about shooting this on previous dates, but suppose I was inspired elsewhere instead.

365 Project

004|365: The Induction

A friend told me I should do some selfie's, though I'm not sure that this is what she had in mind.  I laid in the wet street, running back and forth between the spot and the camera.  Hiding behind my jeep from passerbys and curious neighbors; not well enough, as a woman and her male protector from down the way came to check on the crazy lady jumping around and then laying down to rest in the street.  I screamed when they found me hiding behind the jeep, but believe I may have frightened them even more!

I'm sure this was some sort of induction for me.

I finally titled the above "The Induction" because after writing and re-reading my above comment about it, I really felt it defined the piece for me (in more ways than one); and I went in to 004's photo without intentions of creating a piece with symbolisms or story.  Simply, I wanted to do my very first levitation shot. 

This shot was created with three different photos.  The first of myself laying on the (wet) road.  I don't like taking photos of myself, so I believe there was well over 50 of me lying in different positions (ugh!).  I took at least 10 of just the area without subjects with the expectation that I may need one.  This is when the nosy cats crept in, simply checking out the area where I kept laying, but I was not in that shot, they were just being curious.  The third shot was one of me in "floatation" mode or levitation.  Of course, I manipulated this layer (third photo).  I chose a "screen" effect in Photoshop (Photoshop Elements 7) and then adjusted the opacity so that I became a little more see-through.

I've included the three series shots below, so you can see what I was working with.

A few other minor adjustments to accomodate my cropping and - there you have it.  Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions.

003|365: Peace, Love, and Bunny ears

"Be careful what you pretend to be, because you are what you pretend to be" (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.)

It was getting pretty late and I still had no idea of what I was going to shoot for this 365 project. 
My daughter, Drew, self-entertained by riding her brother's skateboard up and down the hallway.  She probably got in a good hour of play before taking a nasty spill, hince her colorful chin.  Breaking for a half hour to cry it off, she got back on her "horse", only now she was re-dressed head to toe this time in bright, happy pink and donning her bunny ears to boot!  She is such a darling, I had to memorialize the moment as my 003.  Always my unwitting muse, I did have to guilt her into letting me use her as my model (again), though you wouldn't know it from her bright grin (I love you baby girl!).

002|365

Our newest family member, Max.  He's a hot mess and we are really getting a kick out of him.  I'm especially enjoying how trainable he appears to be, as we have, in the past, never been successful at potty training.  Go Max!

So this shot was actually taken with Max standing on a canvas which was thrown over a tall, skinny recycle bin, and a white door in the background.  As much as he was distracted with trying to find a way down, it's surprising I got this shot at all (and so thankful he didn't take a flying leap).  I finally got my "assistant", Drew, to help distract him with some wet puppy chow.  There is some texture layered over the canvas he is standing on, as well as the clouds added to the background.  I also added a couple of textures on top as well.  One of Max's ears has a pretty strong curl in it and that looked funny so I photoshopped it as well.  Finally, I applied my "Bright Eyes" technique (outlined in a previous post dated 11.07.2010).

001|365

My daughter, Drew, makes bubbles with our liquid hand soap.  Keeping it stocked is a real chore, but I can't bring myself to spoil good clean fun for just a buck fifty.

Fun in the sun

So, I've got a secret.  Rather, I am a secret, a secret admirer of this photographer, Esther Hernandez, who is just so fabulously talented.  All of her work is stunning and I especially love her series entitled "Canteras Beach".  All of the images in this series are intentionally blurred causing a dreamy effect, and she frequently applies texture which creates a painterly edge. 

So, anyway, these images included in this post are my beach scenes from Rockport, Texas, and my homage to Esther.  Thank you Ms. Hernandez for your inspiration.
 

The photo above and below are of my beautiful daughter, Drew.
 

At the beach

I'm up late tonite, probably because I slept all day.  Watching my favorite show (It's Complicated) and working on some old shots.  I've also listed these on my etsy shop for purchase.

Bright Eyes (How to)

There are several ways to brighten the eyes in a photograph.  I'm going to show you how I do it, and I am currently working in Photoshop Elements 7.

First, of course, you'll open up the desired photo.  This processing works best if you choose a photo of someone with a good reflection of light in the eyes.

Enlarge the photo so that you can easily work with the eye areas.  Choosing the lasso tool, draw around the first eye.  Then, hold the Shift key down while you use the lasso tool to select the second eye (shown below).  Keep in mind that your selection does not have to be perfect.  Right click on the photo and you'll see a drop box appear; select the Feather option and set it anywhere between 5 and 9.

Now go to Enhance on the toolbar at the top of the screen; it drops down and after selecting Unsharp Mask you will see a pop up box appear.  For this shot I've set the Amount to 160, the Radius to 9.0, and the Threshold to 0, but your settings may vary a little depending on your photo and preference.

Select OK, and voila! 

Below is a before and after for your reference.

Well, I hope you find this tutorial useful.  As I said before there are several techniques for enhancing the eyes, so I may post other methods later as well.  Until then...enjoy.

Bree and the Great Pumpkin

Baby Bree came back to see me again for a holiday portrait.  She is just so delicious, I look forward to many more shoots with her.

I decided to include more before and after shots again.

We got in a mommy and me portrait as well (above).

I'm crediting the holidays for bringing about some surprise shoots.  My baby, Bree, is back for more.  Her mommy and daddy want her in Halloween mode.  The recent engagement shoot with Mike and Alicia has brought about a family shoot for a friend of Alicia's and is scheduled for the weekend after this.  And I have an old friend from elementary, who has rekindled our friendship on Facebook, inquiring about Christmas pictures.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it all - excited, but exhausted.

Mike and Alicia

I had the pleasure of putting together some engagement portraits for Mike and Alicia, and besides fending off our famous "everything is bigger in Texas"-sized mosquitoes, this was such an easy shoot.  The lighting that day was really beautiful, and the couple - sweetly affectionate.

I enjoyed trying out the Coffeeshop Perfect Portrait action which seems to give a duller portrait some pop! To accomplish this, I actually had to adjust these to a lesser contrast first and then apply the action, which, by the way, I obtained free from The Coffeshop Blog.  All this was applied after I had finished my own tweaking: a mosquito removal here, a little liquify there, etc.

I love seeing fellow photog's before and after shots.  Maybe because I feel I'm seeing some secret part of their artwork that I'm not really supposed to witness, but that's about all the "trouble" I can handle getting into these days.  In light of my appreciation to all those professionals who so graciously share their "secrets", I though this session provided the perfect opportunity to do the same.  So here ya go.  (Big thanks again to Alicia and Mike! ♥)

Lil' bug

Found this little bug while weeding my garden today.

Photo manipulation practice continues, and I'm certain my methods leave a lot to be desired, and a class would be awesome, but who has the time.  So I'll continue to practice, and surf the net for information, and practice more. I'm betting the model, my daughter Drew, will become exhausted with me long before I've mastered the manipulating technique. (After all, the shrink ray really takes a lot out of you!)  Until then...

This piece is actually three separate shots combined. The first shot being of my daughter pretending to sleep with a stuffed toy.  We set up on a white sheet spread out for staging in her bedroom.  The second shot was of the shell which measures approximately 1 inch in legnth.  I took many shots of many shells, some placed on a black background, others on white.  The third and final shot is the nature shot.  This came from the garden in my front yard.  There were several areas and several angles but the rock and greenery in this shot is from one take, although while working on this I had to duplicated this layer.  I don't believe I added any textures to this, so any appearrance that I did is "accidental".  In the end, I really need to be more learned on better shading techniques.

Therapy (Series entitled: Consequently, me)

Another turn in my photography/art.  This piece is inspired by several of my flickr friends.  I really wanted to try my hand at some manipulative photography.  This was my first try and I have much more in mind, but it was eating at me to get something done, and I was the only "model" at the time.  I hate having my picture taken, so I really thought of this as therapy in that way (hince the name).  The plan is to do a series entitled "Consequently, me", which will tell my story defining me and my life's path.  In that right, the title of this piece (Therapy) stands true, as it still defines me in that I have, at times, resorted to my dream state to escape my reality.  When surrounded by unhappy or unsatisfying circumstances, which I don't feel I can escape in actuality, I create my perfect world in my fantasies.  Maybe you can relate?

I have plans to do other series as well, so I may flip-flop between them, but you have to go where the heart leads, right.

Bree

Here are a few shots from my first "professional" infant setting.  Baby Bree was one month old at the time and absolutely adorable.  I could have held her all day.

I was super pleased with the end results, and consquently, photoshopping was quick and painless.  Therefore, I played a bit and came up with the piece below.

Kaitlyn

My gorgeous niece, Kaitlyn, is a natural in front of the camera.  She was an absolute doll to "work" with and I came away from this shoot with so many photos, it was difficult to narrow down.  I have discovered a real passion for creating triptychs.  They seem to capture so much personality and mood, but can you tell the mosquitoes were attacking my poor model?