Created For Inspiration

High Contrast Photo

Over at Graphic Illustrations they call this technique "Lomoization". If you like the technique, you'll want to head over there and follow her video tutorial. In a nutshell we're creating a strong contrast image. Here are some basic steps you take to get this effect. My steps might vary from hers a bit.

1) Select around your main subject using the lasso tool or round eliptical tool.
2) Make sure your feather on the lasso tool is set pretty high (like 50 or more depending on the size of your image).
2) Select the inverse.
3) Use the Levels slider to adjust the background, by taking the grey slider and moving it up. (If you don't like how your selection turned out now is a good time to go back to step one and fix it.)
4) Flatten your image.
5) Apply a curves layer and give it a strong (a little too strong) contrast.
6) Open a new layer and fill it with black.
7) Take the new top layer (black layer) and right-click on it selecting Blending Option. Choose hue in the Blend Mode pull down menu within the Blending Options menu.
8) Lower the opacity of the blended black layer by pulling the opacity slider to the left, until you like the effect on the contrasty-ness of your subject.
9) Open a new levels layer and do a final tweek of your blacks, greys, and whites by pulling the blacks down to make the background darker and adjusting the greys and whites to bring the subject to you liking.

Here are some of my high-contrast images and their originals.

This is the image altered with the technique described above.

This is the "original" image, which was an image I was absolutely thrilled with for it's rich textures and "popping". This image to me looks "lomoized" even before the technique was applied. How I got the result was by accidentally over-exposing, and then pulling down the exposure in Camera Raw. I've got to get out more and experiment with this effect more. Below, you'll see an image that was pretty much "properly exposed".

The pretty much "properly" exposed image.

Technique Is Applied To The Above Image

Original

Technique Is Applied To The Above Image

Original

Photoshop Shapes

One of my main goals in having this blog is to have a place to be able to experiment with Photography Techniques and with Photoshop and Illustrator. With it being a New Year and with everyone talking about their goals for the coming year, I am thinking about how to further myself in my hobbies of being a photographer and a graphic artist. This is just one way I wish to further myself...is just to take a little bit of time here and there and work through Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials. Today I've been over at Graphic Illustrations. I was playing around with a tutorial, how to create pop-art circles. You can use those circles in turn in a collage and create a really nice effect. Check out her site. But, here is the basics of what you do:

1) Open a new document that is square in shape (such as 600 px x 600 px).
2) In your layer's pallete choose gradient and choose radial (make sure your gradient is set to black to transparent).
3) Invert the image
4) Change your file to a grayscale file (so the pixelation we're about to do doesn't end up being in color - you can try it in color for some fun).
5) Go to Filter > Pixelate > Color Halftone
6) Adjust the size of the circle and the angles of the circle to your liking (setting within Color Halftone)

NOTE: You can also make cool effects by creating a gradient of a different shape or by adding other effects to your image such as Filter > Distort > Twirl.

Christmas Ornaments

I am a little behind on this post, but here it is nonetheless. Here are some of our Holiday Decor photos for the You Capture weekly photo challenge. Next week's challenge is Your Holiday.

The following hand-painted ornaments are painted by my mother-in-law each Christmas for each of the grandkids. Isn't that amazing talent?

Light Show

Check out our lightshow this afternoon, just before sunset.

And, here is my oldest daughter standing in the orange glow admiring the clouds.

Fantastic.

An Ordinary Post

I know everyone out there in the blogsphere is posting Christmas posts. I am getting ready to enjoy the Christmas season...really I am. I just take a while. I feel like I have to have my X's checked off, then I can enjoy things. I've learned in my life to not get too involved in anything at typically busy times in life. I'm just not the sort of person that enjoys that sort of thing.

What I do love is Christmas day alone with my lovely little family, reading the true Christmas story out of Luke, listening to the girls sing Christmas songs, and realizing that they really get what the real meaning of Christmas is. So, I still will wait on the Christmas posts.

Today I was heading out with my lovely eight year old to go shopping - a day with just her and I. It was a little tiring for her (and I), but I think it was a good experience and a bonding time, nonetheless.

On the way out of our place, I thought, "what a typical day it was today weather wise for this time of year (and beautiful too in it's own way)". So, I wanted to share some pictures of the landscape (and weather) as I was driving out.

Below is our home. You can only see a small bit of it. The trees are the property line on one side, but our little "farm" extends to the left far beyond this picture and way down the hill along the trees, where you can't see it. This fogged in look is typical. It really isn't foggy per se. It is rainy and those are clouds hitting the foothills. Usually when there is fog in town, we are fortunate to not get any right where we are because we are a little higher than town.

The following is looking back to our little valley we live in and you can see the foothills rising all around - foothills to the mountains. No volcanos right nearby, but there are plenty of almost 4000' mountains just a little to the East.

Isn't this next picture striking? I've always thought that one Oregon White Oak in the middle of the Firs to be striking. There are a lot of tree farmers in our area. Those small trees will be big in a few years.

Moulton Falls

Black & White

Pioneer Woman ran an assignment for black and white photos recently. Of course, I'm usually too slow at these kinds of things...but it inspired me to look at a few of my photos and convert them to black and white. Here they are:

Low Light Dolly

Anyone find it really hard to capture your kids this time of year? I do. Not enough light. And what light I can resurrect doesn't always work out right. I have a bounce flash and I recently got a diffuser (which I haven't been very pleased with). What I need is more practice I guess.

I did manage to get a picture worthy of sharing of my littlest doll this evening. Here it is.

You Capture Lines

I took my You Capture pictures early, but forgot to post them until later. Oh, well! Anyhow, last week I had fun looking for different kinds of lines on my nature walk.

If you want to participate in this week's You Capture photo challenge, it's not too late, you can add your link at any time.

Next week's theme is Holiday Decor. That should be a tricky one for me as I'm notoriously bad about getting up my Christmas things (sometimes a few days before Christmas).

Here are my line pictures.

Line In Leaves