Kiss n' Tell: Homeward Bound style

Hey all!  Haven't posted a kiss n' tell for a while so thought I'd do one on my recent action pack I got from Paint the Moon :)

I just purchased the Fresh Wonderland 2 set and decided to play a little.  I never thought that Annie could get any better at what she does, but she has officially knocked my socks off.... again!

I started going through some archives and found some pics of our trip home from Maryland and New York... from CHRISTMAS!  Ugh!  A*N*Y*W*A*Y.... We had decided to drive all the way through the night with as little stopping as possible.  Translated to a photographer... NO stopping to take pics.... WAH!!!  I was in the primest (ok, so I'm using my own dictionary, sue me) country for barns, rolling hills, silos, and just plain gorgeousness touched by our Heavenly Creator and NO stopping!  Kill me now! :(  I decided to get creative (working on my problem solving talents) and see how I could capture stuff while flying down the highway at 70mph.  No, I wasn't driving and shooting at the same time, though temptation did set in occasionally.

Well, caught this barn and wasn't thrilled with it SOOC (straight out of camera).  I applied two actions and a texture!  I could NOT believe how fast this changed!!!  I LOVE it now!  I even played a little bit more and added a verse and some birds, teehee!  Photoshop.... some amazing stuff!

ran the "Serendipity"action, NO tweaking :D

Thought it needed an aged feel so added "Time Worn" texture

Still felt like it needed a little pop.... that reminded me of the "Pop My Flare" action.  One of the MAIN reasons I bought the set.  I ran it, and adjusted the whole action (a new feature from amazing Annie!) by setting the opacity to 75%. 

Added "Pro Edge Vignette", something I'm addicted to!!!  Voila!  LOVED it!  It screamed for only two more things...

Birds.... Yep!  Birds :D  A brush by Shadowhouse Creations

and the "piece de resistance"... One of my favorite verses!  I love this stuff :D

Kiss & Tell: Golden Hour....

Ok, so I promised you another Kiss & Tell and this time it was on one of my FAVORITE images I've done yet!  As you may recall, I posted a senior session a little while back and indicated that I had a ton of fun playing with a certain image.  Well, here it is.  If you guessed the sunglow one, either you are ingeniously smart, or you know me too well, haha :D

This is my FAV FAV FAV for several reasons!  I have been after that elusive "golden hour" glow/sun flare for two years now (I started photoging in 2009).  Gorgeous light and sunflare were some of the primary qualities I have been yearning for and have cried tears over.  Often wondering if I really could do this whole photography thing because I just couldn't seem to grab hold of that gorgeous glow like others had.  When you are self-taught, sometimes you are blessed to find a tutorial on some technique, and if you are REALLY blessed you may find another photoger willing to share their "secrets".  In the area of sunflare and glorious glow, I haven't been so lucky.  It's been try, try again, CRY, try, try again, CRY.... you get the picture, (haha, I love puns!)  This time, I got to cry for joy!  :D

We LITERALLY went out as the sun was going down.  The Rebel would have NEVER let me get this image.  The ISO range is lousy and my shutter would have had to compensate.  Not good when there is wind or people that breath, lol!  The 5D however.... :D gave me what I needed.  SO!  When people tell you that you don't need "better gear" they are only telling you part of the story.  The photographer makes the image, yes.... BUT you can be severally handicapped by limited means.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news peeps.  I'm bummered and sorry but it's the truth.

When we got the shot I was jumping up and down (literally, just ask Alyssa.... she wasn't sure who was more excited, she or me!)!!!  I couldn't believe I caught flare and SUN GLOW!!!!!  Fast forward to uploading and I was saddened to see that it wasn't quite to my standards... yet.  I knew I had good bones to work with though and was thrilled beyond belief when I got the final result!

I can't list out my exact steps (sorry, didn't even think about writing it all down, I was just sooo excited to play, lol!) but I'll give a sorta, kinda overview.

First things first, I had to deal with the lighting issue... she was WAY underexposed!  Adjusting contrast, lighting, basic stuff then the fun began.  I hated the road beside her :(  And that dad-gum power line!!!!  That HAD to go.  So OFF with it's head :)  Content aware, as always.... I LOVE YOU!!!!!!  Fantastic on cleaning up those temporary blemishes and unsightlys ;)  Little skin smoothing, then the BAM factor!  I copied the image as a layer.  Flipped it horizontally, did a layer mask and took off where she was.  This took some time to get the right opacity on brushes, etc but eventually I got it to work.  I didn't want it to be tell-tale so I took some of the extra leaves off the right side, took a reed out on the lower left (content aware!) and adjusted a few other spots accordingly.  NOW, yes.... I didn't fix the top of the image.  I know that you can see the "duplicity" of the image but I loved the "ray" affect it had and decided to leave it.  Who knows, I may look back on this and think, "good grief!!!" but for now, I LOVE it and that's what matters, lol!  I used an action to increase the vibrancy of the color around her, and then tried several different "sunlight" actions.  I played for HOURS!  The sun glow was my favorite so that's the one I posted :)  Maybe I'll post the others at another time so you can see the difference actions can make.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the fun that goes on behind the scenes :)

XOXOXO

Kiss n' Tell: Adding a little light....

One of the things I want to do is utilize back lighting.  In order to not blow out my highlights (which you can tell in the example below was a MAJOR "my bad" moment) I will have to learn more about fill-in.  I'm going to make myself a diffuser (more on that later), play around with it and see how things go.

As a self-taught photographer, I learn by trying... then trying again, and again, and again, well you get the picture (sheesh that was bad!).  Until I can perfect this, I will have to spend the time adjusting things in post production.  I've discovered a secret....  again, PSE9 and actions (specifically Paint the Moon) came to my rescue!

One day I'll be the ninja master of my camera, light and all that encompasses photography.  Of course, then it will all change and I'll have to learn even more, haha!  Truth be told, the challenge to learn new techniques, new processes, etc..... kinda drives me so no complaints here :D

(SOOC means "straight out of camera" and KISSED.... well, that's my special little term for "after" lol!)

Plans on the Plane...

Ok, here's the "special occasion" I wanted to catch while we were painting the plane :)  Well, they were painting, I was shooting, lol!

Austin had decided he wanted to find a unique, special and creative way to ask Hannah to prom.  Yep, they are dating and yep, it's kinda a given that they'd go together, but you know.... a girl ALWAYS wants to be asked :)

Well, Mr. Austin's decision was to ask her "on top of the plane".  Because, you know.... not many girls can say they've been asked to prom on top of a plane (wait... have ANY???) :D

Kiss n' Tell: Playin' on a Plane...

Ok, so I've kinda been in a kiss n' tell mood lately :)  (ooo!, new section idea for the blog!)  I've just been so thrilled with my PSE9 and actions that I can't help but share!  I'm about to divuldge my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE feature of PSE9!!!  It's actually the feature that sold me on this particular program, well, that and the price, lol!  First, I must set the scene...

I HATE power lines!  In fact, while taking pics of Austin, and the crew ;), painting a plane at the Burnet Air Museum (for his Eagle Scout project :), I fumed about them, lol!  I HATE power lines and they are EVERYWHERE around here!

I wanted to document a special moment (to be shared later, haha) and couldn't avoid those dadgum powerlines.  If I haven't said it before, I kinda loathe them.  Anyhoo...... NOT anymore.  Ok, so I sorta, kinda just lied... a little.  I still hate them, but NOW, I can fix them :D (BIG cheesy grin here)!

This feature, my FAVORITE feature in PSE9,  makes it worth it's weight (plus some) in gold.  "Content Aware".  Yup.  That's what I'm raving about.  It's like cloning only it "magically" configures the pixels around the area you choose and "decides" what to put in place of that area.

Ta-da!!!!  Powerlines, schmower-lines!!!!!  They'll never get the best of me (or a pic) again!  :D

If I haven't said it before, I LOVE "content aware"!!!!!!

(stay tuned for the special reveal to come ;)

Kiss n' Tell: Little Tricks, Up My Sleeve....

I've decided to show another before and after showcasing a Paint the Moon action called "Baby Soft Skin".  If you notice the picture on the left, while STUNNING she is SOOC, using a few actions, the "content aware" feature of PSE9, and "baby soft skin", she looks like someone off the Mary Kay ad :)

I LOVE this stuff!!!

Now, after I did this one, I realized you need to be careful around areas like the crevices of the nose, etc.  It does tend to lighten so you don't want it to look like the nose, eyebrows, etc are barely there, lol!  DON'T use it on the eyes, eyebrows, or lips.  Gotta have shine and definition there as well :)  You also don't want to use it much on guys.  It is great for taking some stubble out and helpful with blemishes but remember, we want our guys rugged, not soft and supple, haha!

Kiss n' Tell: The Secret Dark Room...

Ok..... I have decided to show you all just a little of what I do.  My computer is my dark room.  In this digitalized age so much has become changeable and accessible, yet harder.  I am NOT the most computer literate person there is so post processing, programs, keyboards and mice all tend to have their way with me.

One of the best things I have "discovered" is PSE9 (photoshop elements 9) and "actions"!  I have learned so much since I started playing with my little point n shoot back in January of 2009.  I could always "see" the images in my head but they never came out the way I "saw" them.  I now know why.  So much can be altered via post processing, programs, keyboards and mice, that through trial, error, time, and $, I think I have now, finally, figured out how to change my SOOC (straight out of the camera) images into what I've always seen in my minds eye.

Here's a little sample of a before and after shot.... hope my precious subjects don't mind me spilling the beans, lol!!!!

Roses are....

in HDR!  (Look, stop shaking your heads and rolling your eyeballs at me, it's late ;)

Anyhoo, so I've been RAVING about my PSE9, here, here, and HERE.  :) Yep gonna do it again, lol!  Well, I took WAY too many pics of some roses that my daughter and I got for Valentine's Day, and this blog is  about a photograph of the ONE I got (along with a singing quartet :).  I was struggling with the uneven lighting and getting very frustrated.  Back lit petals are gorgeous but not when they are coupled with darkly lit centers, wah!

I decided to play with the AEB feature on my camera (somebody's gonna correct me here, I can just feel it).  I don't remember what it stands for but it's pretty cool.  You set the camera up for the exposure you want as a midline image, set the AEB and it will take  a total of 3 images at one time with 3 different exposure settings.  One is the image you set the camera to initially take, one is darker, and one is lighter.

I knew that I could do HDR (high dynamic range) shots (combining several shots with different exposures to bring out the best "part" of each image) with my PSE9.  So, I set my camera up on the tripod and messed around a little.  I processed my images from RAW, not adjusting any lighting for any of the original photos.  Went on Youtube for a little tutorial and had some fun.

Here are the original images....

 

Now, along with the HDR process, I used the cloning tool to get rid of the yellowish background at the top and the

CONTENT AWARE feature that is THE BOMB to get rid of the stem :D

If I haven't said it yet.......

I LOVE THIS PROGRAM!!!

New Year, New Life, New Challenges, New Joys

I have been quite absent.  Things have changed quite a bit since I've returned from our vacation (which still is yet to be blogged). :(  I have now taken on another child to homeschool.  My fabulous niece from New Mexico.  She is a complete joy but still added responsibility.  She came last week and we've been a little scattered getting prepared for her sudden arrival.

I FINALLY was able to upload my new photo editing program, Photoshop Elements 9 (as I will be shortening to PSE9) after needing to spend hours deleting old photos and files, moving old photos and files and generally pulling my hair out to make the necessary room on the drive I have to use.  I had another drive I thought would work but I guess PSE9 decided otherwise :O.  I also purchased a mega texture bundle and ALL the goodies for PSE from Paint the Moon Photography!  I LOVE Annie's work and have been dreaming of the day I would get to use them :D

As you also may know, as soon as I returned I was incredibly privileged to have a baby session with Karson :)  FUN!!!!!!  He was a tad older than would have been best so he didn't sleep as much as I would have liked and was quite the wiggle worm but a WONDERFULLY patient little guy and we had loads of fun.

I have been working diligently on his images and the goal is to have them blogged tonight.  I am finding that playing with the actions and textures is going to be sooooo rewarding!  I just have to pick and choose what images and what things I'll do this time.  Gotta get this done!  Not much time to play.

Here is a little sampling of some fun with the program and a few different textures.  Nope, not Paint the Moon but fun none-the-less :)  This is a quickie cell phone pic going down the highway at 60+ mph?  Not bad once you add a little UMPH to it, lol!!!!