Growing Heart

Here is a simple growing heart... I'd do more shading and special effects... but you get the point... Can you tell I'm finally having "fun" in class! I loves me some PhotoShop!

FYI... I just realized how hypnotic this can be to some... because sometimes I find myself just looking at it for a solid minute w/o realizing it... HA! Then other times I look at it and it causes very high anxiety... and then I have to get up and leave the room and do something, anything, but something has got to be done! LOL fun with PhotoShop !

Bouncing Ball Pt. 2

So here is my bouncing ball... with some more fancy movements ....

I'm liking this simple PhotoShop animation!

Bouncing Ball !

BOUNCY BOUNCY BOUNCY !

Today in class... actually I'm in class as we speak (Shhhhhhh) we learned how to create a "bouncing ball" in photoshop. I can't (at the moment) go in to the how too or all the details... I just wanted to post this here... I was very proud of my first attempt at a bouncing ball...

One Image, 4 Effects

Here is the sweetest little face around... well he'll only be in town for a few days, but then he'll be the sweetest little face in CA. I love LOVE love this photograph, his little expression is soooo sweet and natural. But I felt it needed a little tweaking. Here are a few edits I tried. I really don't know which one is my favorite. I hope you like them!

WARM

SLIGHTLY COOLER

SEPIA

B&W

ORIGINAL

Christmas Storyboards

OK, it's been a week since I've posted anything... But I thought I would throw up a Christmas Storyboard I was working on last week. There are so many options and different elements that can be added to one of these...

Here is one basic example

Storyboards

I just found a bunch of fun pre-made storyboards for photography. I absolutely love these. Shoot me an email or an IM or a call.. which ever your fancy... and I'll create a special one just for you ! Here is an example I created tonight....

Photoshop Fun : Fixing "Halo"

Ok this probably is not the best way to get rid of a halo effect.... but it works for me in photoshop. 1. turn on your clone tool, 2. select part of the background only a few pixels away from the "halo" and then clone all the way around the subject. 3. be prepared to be there a while. :-)

Here is an example from The Pioneer Women's web site.

ORIGINAL

Removed "Halo"

Darkened up the silhouette

Seaside NJ 09'

Here are a bunch of photos I took down the shore in Seaside NJ, and I just absolutely love them!

OOB

I found this really cool effect the other day called "OOB" or Out Of Borders. OOB is when you take a photo of, well anything, and frame out a section and then leave parts of the subject hanging out of the frame.

Tricky sounding, I know, but way cool.

I read through the "how to" and thought to myself... HECK I can do that!

After a few minutes of digging through "piles and piles" ;-) of digital files I happened upon this old photo of my dog. There she is just lying on a white sheet with her legs sticking out. Perfect! The image has just the right amount of perspective I was looking for, AND, she has a body part that can "hang out of frame"

After following all the directions to a "T"……. VUALLA! (do not ask, I am really not sure how to spell that) It came out better than I had hoped for.

A River ran through it

Here is a shot of the Delaware River. I did a lot of edits to this one. I really can't remember all that I did at the moment, but it did involve a bunch of layers and masks.

I know I used a "selective color" layer to boost the blues and greens. I pushed the contrast slightly. And a whole bunch of other things magically happened while poking around with different layers. Last I enhanced the sun rays and clouds, to give it a more spiritual look.

I'm pleased without it came out. Not overly joyous but pleased.

A twist to a portrait

I'm not one for the standard portrait. I do not like posing people on a chair in front of a screen, propping them up like... a prop, just to get a fake smile to put in your wallet. But what I do love to do is capture my friends at total random, and at extreme close ups. Yeah they hate it, but secretly I think they like how they come out after I "work" the photos.

Anyway, here are two extreme close ups of my friends with different actions and masks applied.



This is another portrait of my good friend Jen. She is always willing to have her photo taken, and can you guess why? She’s cutie who likes to laugh and smile... See? This one I only did some simple edits. I upped the contrast by a few points, and then softened her just a tiny bit. It's perfect. It portrays exactly what it should... Jen, laughing and having a good time. Heck, it makes me smile.



Here is my friend Steve. He's crazy, but in a good way. I took this photo, with my SB900 attached but pointing off to the right. It gave it a nice bounce light on his face and kept the left side in the dark. I then ran a portrait action. I boosted the contrast and lowered the saturation. I smoothed out his skin a bit, but not too much. I still wanted that gritty feeling. Then I popped his eyes a little to give them that little punch. And there you go. I really like how this came out.

Actions and Masks

Working in Photoshop has become my new hobby... or timewaster. If you can't find me, that's where I am. Here is one of my latest discoveries. I used an action for creating a "miniature world" to soften up the background, pop the color a bit, and set the focus on me. I'm sure if I pick apart the action a bit I can figure out what they did. I believe it has 3 layers, one of those "blur" layers to "fuzz out" the background, a "color pop" layer, and a contrast layer. Now, I need to learn how to do that on my own, or create my own Action so I'm not relying on other people's hard work.

After applying that Action I masked myself out of the "blur" so I became the only thing in the shot in focus. I believe I also smoothed out my skin a bit and turned my frown upside down (Tehehe, what can I say... It was very hot in Mexico that day). I also rotated the canvas slightly, maybe 5degrees clockwise so the pyramid wasn't about to fall off the earth (Thanks Ron for pointing that out!) Anyway, this post shows the before and after using actions and masks. Enjoy.

Childhood Tricycle

"vintage"

My "vintage" basement cleaned and set back in time....

HDR - Test 1

Ok here is my first attempt at HDR. Not so good... but I'm starting to get it. I do see that I need to use a tripod... and have a better subjects.

Photo with exposure on the street.

Photo with HDR effect.

Camera on "auto" setting.

My attempt at HDR.

Logo Test

NOTE - I do not take any credit for this image, it is not mine, I am simply using it for learning purposes to create a logo with a "transparency" background. However my only problem at the moment is that... well... I have a white background on my blog. so this "test" is turning out harder then I thought.

Amaizing Eyes...

So I've been looking and looking for a tutorial on how to make amazing eyes in my portraits. I think I finally got it down. This looks natural with a little kick. Feedback is always welcome!




The second image shows the same effect only on a much softer scale. I always love photos where the eyes pop out at you... borderline unnatural. I think it draws you in to the photo to actually look in to someones eyes....

Heart Project

Sorry folks.. I've been away. I have lots of photos to post from my trip... but here is a new version of my "heart" project. I hope you like it.

Heart Project

Wow, it has been a while since I posted. But I have to say that the past few weeks I've been super busy planning my motorcycle trip. I have neglected my photography projects and learning.

But I do have another sample of a Photoshop project I've been working on for class. The assignment is to create an illustration of a part of the anatomy. I picked the heart.. thinking it would be interesting, and I would show a healthy heart and a heart with a Mitral Valve Prolapse condition. Here is a start to my main illustration of the heart. I'm starting to like it but I am removing the "veins" part, they just look too... well... just wrong.

Learning 3D in Photoshop

I'm taking my 2nd class at Seton Hall U. this semester. It is "Digital Art and Design". Our professor just left on maternity leave, I'll miss her the class was fun. And I wish her all my best. I met our new professor yesterday in class and he's already pushing me. This is a good thing. He really seems to know the programs and wants us to push hard in to learning more then just "burn and doge". Our first project is to make a poster on a part of the body. Something you would see in the Dr.'s office waiting room. This sounded fun at first. Then sounded way to involved. Then after a few hours of thinking about it, I came around. This could be fun. And it is going to be VERY challenging. I like that. I need to be pushed or I'll just float along.

Here are my first tries at creating a 3D effect.