SOOC Sunday

OK, so it's not Sunday, but it feels like one.  Woke up to a thunderstorm and now it's quiet and gray.

See more SOOC shots here.

Week 3 of 52

Except for Christmas, we rarely get a photo of all of us.  

Thank you, Dad, for thinking of it.  Even if it is so "casual."  Those are best anyway.

Good to Wow - Shoot & Edit - UP

SOOC

Texture:  warmsun by Kim Klassen

The theme for this week's Good to Wow was "up."
It's a beautiful day here and I thought I'd head out and take an "up" shot, but my battery needs to be charged!  Then, I remembered that a couple weeks ago, I had snapped some shots of our first spring buds.  

I googled "spring quotes" and found this one...fitting for the day this photo was taken.

For more Good to Wow fun, visit...

Good to Wow - Edit - Green

{before}

Now, that's GREEN!  While I like the perspective of this photo, the quality of focus was off and the table looked more "blue" than reality.  This edited version is still not a great sample - I did a real hack job of cloning out stuff in the background (I kept forgetting what layer I was working on).  But I love how adding a layer with a green fill (blended) bumped up the green.  Again, I did a rushed job of erasing out the filter on all parts but the table.  It was easy to do the balls, though, as the brush "fit nicely" over them.

{before}

I just loved this photo of my son playing in the mud, but it was a bit washed out.  I applied a soft light blend and Ashley Sisk's "Nice and Easy" action and adjusted hue and saturation.  I backed it off on the orange in his boots a bit and in the yellow gloves.  Love how the mud looks shiny and gushier!

Join the Good to Wow fun at:

Picture Me - Week 2 of 52

For my pics of Me this week, I got a little silly at www.yearbookyourself.com 

The following is supposed to be a "1994" image - the year I graduated.  

I assure you my real 1994 photo had flat hair, very flat.  This style had gone out a few years prior...that is to say there really is a freshman or sophomore photo of me like this - though I would have aspired to bangs like this, mine were still a little flat.

These two below remind me of my mom's yearbook photos.  I'm going to have to find the comparisons and upload them.  It's amazing the resemblance (especially the one of 'me' holding camera)

Finally - it's really eerie how much the "me on the left" looks like my brother in his high school track photos in this one! 

Texture Tuesdays

{{before}}

Softened edges, applied texture (Kim Klassen's "warmsun")
with soft light blend mode, adjusted hues, removed some blending from sled and face.

Texture provided through Kim Klassen's free "texture lovin' list."
Join her list by clicking here and signing up on the column on the right.

UPDATED:  I've been looking at the image above and I'm just not totally pleased.  I opened it in Photoshop again and added the original file under it as a layer.  Then I erased the top layer to reveal the center portion of the image again.  Much better.

Good To Wow - SOOC - Green

My son LOVES pool!

And mud!

See my edited versions here.

Join the Good to Wow fun at:

http://sugarsnaps.blogspot.com/2011/04/good-to-wow-edit-green.html

SOOC Sunday

It's SOOC Sunday!  Time for a break from all this photoshopping...

This one is PERFECT!

Skinny Mini - Textures

This plus this
equals....


Friday's "Skinny Mini E-Course" lesson covered textures.  I love texture in a photo and the effects that can be acheived when adding textures, but I think I'm a bit of texture-shy right now.  I settled with a very subtle example of texture here using a shot of snow from our backyard.  Don't you just love those lashes on my son?  Wish I could say he got them from me!

Yesterday, I took the kids outside and snapped photos of all the textured surfaces in sight.  It was fun to "see" that way.  My son seemed confused as to why I was snapping photos of dirt and not his sweet face!  Below are some of my "texture snaps."

UPDATE - I played more with the grayday vintage texture Kim provided and a poem my Dad wrote...

I am a beauty, too

Jill Samter of Jill Samter Photography has started the "I am beautiful project."

When I was in grade school, my parents bought an old Buick Skylark from my uncle.  I need to ask him how he could have sold that to us.  My brother and I called it the Flinstone-mobile.  We would have to hang our heads out the windows down the dirt road as the dust would be kicking up through the holes in the floor.  Then, there were times when the hood would just fly up blocking my mom's view (I remember this happening once on an old one-way bridge.)  It was sky blue with baby blue quilted leather seats you could slide about on.  The windows had cool angles and the dash was shiny white with an old silver radio.  Despite the fact that it was a death trap (not even sure if it had seatbelts, but we didn't wear any back then!),  I always thought it was beautiful.  And, apparently Buick did, too.  On the passenger side visor, there was a mirror engraved with an ad slogan, "Buick is a beauty, too."

I used to stare at myself and those words and ponder on it for long rides.  "...a beauty, too?"  What did it mean? Mom explained that I was looking at myself and I was beautiful, too.  I'm sure I blushed.

For my "I am beautiful" entry, I submit the following...

Now I have to clean the mirror....maybe I'll wait a while!
Let's see your picture in the flickr group - because you are beautiful, too!!

Picture Me...Week 1 of 52

Since I'm the mommy, I'm usually the one behind the camera, so I'm joining this challenge (link on image above) to capture ME at this point in time!  

The strangest thing happened last night - the kids slept beautifully - not completely without wakings, but I had more sleep than I can remember.  I got up with my daughter and kept checking on my son, who it turns out slept in (making for a total of 12+ hours - unheard of!)  I managed to get my own quiet breakfast and drink HOT coffee!  

I used the self-timer...which of course caught me like this!

And then, out of focus.  If I 'm going to keep up with this challenge, I'd better have others take my picture.

Third time's a charm!

And, finally (while still out of focus) this is me just being grateful for a restful evening.  Still needed my coffee, of course!

Good to Wow - Edit - Flowers!

For the orchid, I applied some adjustment levels, cropped and painted out the stem on left.
Still playing with"clean edit" process (I'll have to go back to the old lessons.)

For this next image, I wanted so badly to use the Pixel Bender's Oil Painting filter that Ashley references. I did download the "stand alone" toolkit and had some fun with it, but didn't see that filter available.  So, I hit google and in trying to find a way to apply that filter, I found a tutorial on the "liquify" filter in Photoshop.

(Filter, Distort, Liquify)

I'm not entirely pleased with this result, but I was just playing with it and was happy to find that it may take a little more time and effort, but I could mimic the Pixel Bender oil painting.

Updated:  Since I've put kids to bed, I played again with the Nice & Easy Action (it wasn't loading for me earlier, but I got it...and love it!)  This shot still fits the "flowers" theme - just check out her fleece shirt!

I also "cloned" away some boo-boos, and used the lasso tool to highlight then lighten teeth and eyes.

See more Good to Wow shots at:

Skinny Mini - Adjustment Layers

Kim at Kim Klassen Cafe is offering a FREE Photoshop "mini e-course."  I started on Monday.  

Today's lesson went deeper into the layers panel and adjusting levels.  Here's my practice before & after. 

I'd like to go back and increase the white in this edit.  With 2 young kids, I'm playing here either at midnight or rushing through naptime.  Just getting a feel for all the tools and having some fun.

Again, I picked up a ton of helpful keyboard tricks from the course.  My favorite - the "scrubber" function (hover on the text next to a slider, hold mouse and adjust slide.)

And, finally I have a better understanding of the histogram.

Pistachios SOOC

Pistachios edited

As I was editing this photo, I was eating milk-chocolate chips from the bag by the handful...while these beautiful pistachios sit in the kitchen!  Hence the reminder to "choose health!"