Night and Lights

 1. Car lights: 11/10/2010; 10:52 PM; Rexburg; f/4; 10 sec; Sony A330; Tripod, Timer

 2.G: 11/10/2010; 10:08 PM; Rexburg; f/5; 5 sec; Sony A330; Tripod, Timer

3. Painting with my camera: 11/10/2010; 6:48 PM; Rexburg; f/14; 3.2 sec; Sony A330

My first time painting with light and capturing moving light was for this post. I really enjoyed it. My favorite was #3. We put our Christmas tree up that night, and I decided to see how the different colored lights would look. I started out taking the picture really close and stepped backwards quickly a few times before the 3.2 sec ran out. The effect was awesome. For #2 it took me a while to write anything that was legible. I used my husband's pen light. I tried different words and symbols and the G looked the best. For #1 I captured tail lights while breaks were on turning the corner. For all 3 pictures I did simple edits in camera raw.

Cutouts

 1.Deer: 9/29/2010; 7:08 PM; Bannack; f/5.6; 1/100; Sony A330

 2. This image was taken just outside of Bannack. We were headed home and 3 deer were near the road. I was sad because one jumped a fence and I barely missed capturing its jump. Anyway, to do my partial cutout I first selected the sky area and a little below it with my rectangular marquee tool. I hit shift ctrl N to put it on a new layer and then ctrl delete to fill it with white. Then I deselected the square and hid the layer. I went back to the image and quick selected the ground area and refined the edge. I feathered it and expanded it a bit. Then I hit ctrl J to put it on a new layer. I put that layer on top, I revealed the box, and I was done.

 3. Before I understood how to correctly do the partial cutout I simply quick selected the ground, chose inverse in the select drop down, and hit delete. Oh, and first I picked a pink color for the deleted section to be. I actually like this cut out better because it looks like the sky was a pretty pink. But, it was done differently.

 4.Sunflower: 9/17/2010; 7:26 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/80; Sony A330; Flash

5. Full cutout: I really liked the yellow of the sunflower contrasting with the black. I first toggled my colors so black would be the background when I hit delete. Then I quick selected the sunflower, refined the edge to add more feather, selected the inverse and hit delete. Done. The quick select tool worked great.

Large format print

 1. 18 by 24 final print: I really wanted a picture with my boys in it for my large print. I tried all semester to get something just right...but it is very hard to get a 2 year old to hold still and a 4 month old to smile in every picture. I ended up cheating a bit by taking elements from three different pictures and making them look like one. I'm pretty sure I used aperture priority for all three pictures. I first edited all of the images in raw. I adjusted the fill light, color balance, blacks, saturation, vibrance, and sharpened their eyes. I also tried to HDR the photos by the canal, but they ended up a little more pixely, so I smoothed the faces and clothes a bit with the paintbrush in photoshop. The background shot (of nature park) is flipped because I wanted to cover up a sun spot by placing the boys on top of it. Then I took Emmett's head from the picture he was smiling in, quick selected it, pulled it on top of his other head in the picture he wasn't smiling, and sized it correctly while holding shift. Next I color matched the three boys (now with Emmett's new head) to the photo of nature park. Then I quick selected the boys and the cement they were sitting on and pulled them on top of the photo of nature park. After I refined my edges with the paint brush (by painting with the black/white to get rid of extra edges that should have been left out), I was finally done. Then I made sure the size and resolution was correct (18 by 24 and 150 pixels). YAY! Below are the pictures I used to create the final image.

 2.Emmett Smiling: 11/3/2010; 9:16 AM; Rexburg; f/14; 1/60 sec; Sony A330

 3. Chase/Bridger smiling: 11/3/2010; 9:18 AM; Rexburg; f/14; 1/80; Sony A330

 4. Nature Park: 11/4/2010; 5:25 PM; Rexburg; f/18; 1/60; Sony A330

5. Flowers 12 by 36: 11/3/2010; 4:59 PM; Rexburg; f/13; 1/125; Sony A330
For both my pictures, when I printed the drafts they were much darker and bluer than on my screen. I realized that by switching them to print CMYK the change happened. I compared it on the screen to RGB and it looked a lot worse as CMYK. For the final large print I printed RGB and I was much happier. For this shot I actually got some flowers at Broulims. I love gerbera daisies and wanted some pretty ones (and of coures I couldn't find any outside in Rexburg right now). I took the photos outside with natural light on aperture priority mode, and I adjusted the settings a bit in camera raw (saturation, vibrance, clarity, fill light, blacks). But overall they were a pretty bright orange to begin with. Then I cropped them to the size I wanted and fixed the resolution. I think the resolution ended up being 107. The end.

Photolusion

1. Photolusion Blend

For the blend I cut out spiderman with the quick select tool, pulled him on top of the other picture (with the move tool) and reduced his opacity. Then with a hard brush and 100 percent opacity I cut through a mask that I added on spiderman to make the wood on the window appear on top of him. Other than that I did simple edits in camera raw. Bridger looked so curious in the window and I think it turned out great.

2. Spiderman: 10/21/2010; 4:11 PM; Rexburg; f/8; 1/100; Sony A330

3. Bridger window: 9/29/2010; 1:17 PM; Bannack; f/7.1; Sony A330

4. CHALLENGE: Single photolusion: I have long nails and a terrible crack in my windshield. I only did simple edits in camera raw.

a photo a day

To make this two-page spread I used the template and seven pictures below. I began with the template and would click on the square I wanted the picture to go in. Then I would drag the picture with the move tool onto the template. Since I was originally clicked on the box I wanted the picture to end up in, the was placed right above its destination on the layers menu. I then right clicked it in the layers menu and chose "clipping mask." A clipping mask placed the picture into the box so I could move it around freely. Next I held "shift" while I resized the image and placed it just how I wanted in th box. I did this for all the pictures. I changed the date from the template and took off the days of the week because I wanted my pictures in a different order than they were taken in. It was fairly quick and easy once I got the hang of it.

 1.Chef Bridger: 10/26/2010; 5:10 PM; Rexburg; f/4.5; 1/30; Sony A330

 2. Winter Flowers: 10/27/2010; 6:19 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/125; Sony A330

 3. Candle: 10/28/2010; 7:31 PM; Rexburg; f/7.1; 1/5; Sony A330

 4. Emmett Skunk: 10/30/2010; 5:50 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/80; Sony A330

 5. Flowers: 10/31/2010; 10:58 PM; Rexburg; f/5; 1/60; Sony A330

 6. Daisy: 11/1/2010; 12:10 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/1250; Sony A330

7. Halloween Candy: 10/30/2010; 7:53 PM; Rexburg; f/8/ 1/10; Sony A330

For all of the photos above I did simple edits in camera raw. Mostly I added vibrance, saturation, clarity, blacks and fill light. I chose most of the pictures because they reflected something about my day. The candy and costumes are from Halloween. Bridger is obsessed with candles lately. He helped me make cake batter cookies. Basically something from my day is in each of the pictures. It was a fun project (but easy to forget to take a picture. I forgot one day and I ended up setting an alarm the rest of the days to make sure I wouldn't miss a picture).
Template:

Edge Effects

1.Bridger Brushed-on Effect: I added image filters (cutout and poster edges) to make the photo appear painted. I saved and flattened it. Then I selected all of it and deleted the image. Using the history brush, I loaded my "thick heavy brushes" and experimented with them (and their size) to paint the image back through. Lastly, I used the text tool and put "Bridger Belnap" on the image. From my next edit I learned that the flexible brushed-on effect is much easier (because you can toggle back and unpaint what you didn't like).



 2. Bridger Driving original: 9/29/2010; 3:07 PM; Bannack; f/5.6; 1/3200 sec; Sony A330. Simple edits in camera raw.

 3. Emmett Flexible Brushed-on Effect: First I edited the image in camera raw and then opened it in photoshop. I added a white layer, unlocked the image, moved the white layer below the orginal layer, and added a black mask to the original layer. Then I painted the image back with my "thick heavy brushes" just as I did in #1. However, with the flexible edits and layers I was able to toggle back and forth with my brush to fix what I didn't like. This is a much better option if you ask me. I added "Emmett Brian Belnap" with the text tool and eyedropped the blue from his shirt for the text color.

 4.Emmett Original: 9/19/2010; 5:42 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/80 sec; Sony A330; Simple edits in camera raw.

 5.Flower Sprayed Edge Effect: This picture was a panoramic that I tried during pano week but didn't end up using it for my post. I used it this week instead. I did simple edits in camera raw, opened it in photoshop, used the rectangle marquee tool to make a border one inch inside all edges of the image, hit Q to apply the quick mask mode, chose filter-brush strokes-sprayed strokes. I increased the length and radius to the maximum, hit Q, selected the inverse, chose my yellow background with the eyedropper from the flowers, and hit delete. I love the bright colors, especially since winter is pretty much here.

6. Flowers original: 10/11/2010; 5:59 PM; Rexburg; f/8; 1/30 sec; Sony A330; simple edits in camera raw.

Scanography

 1.Halloween single scan: I set the scanner (Lexmark Prestige Pro) to 300 dpi and moved it to our bathroom so the room would be completely dark when I closed the door. I scanned the Halloween decorations I found around the house. The numbers 31 are countdown blocks I made for my son, so we can count down to Halloween. I did simple edits (vibrance, saturation, brightness, contrast). The skeleton is actually orange but didn't show up very well. I changed the hue on the entire image to that green shade. Then I quick selected the pumpkin, spider and blocks to mask the effect out on them, bringing them back to their original colors.

2. Dancer multiple scan: For all of the images I set the scanner (Lexmark Prestige Pro) to 300 dpi and scanned the images in the bathroom to have a completely dark environment when I closed the door. I had four separate scans and then moved them on top of each other. The CDs scan was the bottom layer (and I masked out the lip gloss you will see below because I didn't like it). Every time I added a layer I adjusted its opacity so it was transparent. Finally, I cropped it.

 3. Tap shoes: The tap shoe soles are not puple (unfortunately...that would be awesome). I simply played with the hue a bit until I found something bright and fun that I liked. I also did simple edits (brightness, contrast, vibrance). I love tap! I actually taught at BYU-I last winter semester.

 4. CDs: I didn't like the lip gloss in the final product so I masked it out. Other than that, no edits.

 5. Dancer Shirt: I loved playing with the hue today. Dancer was red but I made it bright green to match the purple shoes. Then I went to select - color range - to select only the letters in "Dancer" with the eyedropper to move them to the final image.

6. Pink ribbon: This is a ribbon I used in my hair for a dance a long time ago. I made it a bit brighter. Then I went to select - color range to eye drop the pink, causing only the pink to be selected to move to the final image.

Portraits



1. Emmett finally asleep: 10/17/2010; 10:22 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/60 sec; Sony A330; flash

2. Emmett's first rice cereal: 10/8/2010; 8:59 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/80 sec; Sony A330

3. "What's in my shoe?": 9/27/2010; 6:49 PM; Porter Park; f/6.3; 1/60 sec; Sony A330

4. Croup: 10/17/2010; 10:06 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/80 sec; Sony A330; flash

5. Bridger loves Kalli: 10/18/2010; 6:11 PM; Rexburg; f/7.1; 1/80 sec; Sony A330

All of my portraits I slightly edited in camera raw. I adjusted levels (usually contrast, clarity, vibrance, brightness, saturation and added a slight vignette to some). For "Emmett's first rice cereal" I sharpened his eyes to really make them pop. I also did it in "croup," but it isn't as noticable. I love numbers 1 and 4 because Emmett has croup and has been insanely grumpy and fussy. In these pictures he finally calmed down with his daddy. It was a peaceful moment...until he woke up again. Emmett looks extra pale and his lips are pinker in #4...but I'm pretty sure it was from being sick (because Chase looks fine). Kalli is my cousin that babysits for us. Bridger love playing with her. 

Portrait Edits

1.Chase brown shirt: 10/18/2010; 6:04 PM; Rexburg; f/8; 1/80 sec; Sony A330

2. Replace Color: To replace the color of his shirt sleeves I first selected them with the quick select tool. Then I copied them to their own layer. I went to image, adjustments, replace color and messed around with the eye dropper tool until I figured it out. I turned the fuzziness all the way up and adjusted the hue and saturation levels until I had a dark green. I chose green because I thought it contrasted nicely with the brick, instead of brown. From there I lightened the image a bit with an adjustment layer.  



3. Dark picture: 10/17/2010; 10:04 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/80 sec; Sony A330; flash (but my arm was in the way so it didn't work).
4. Match to picture: 10/17/2010; 10:07 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/80 sec; Sony A330; flash
5. Color match from #3: When I took the picture I had the camera turned, and my arm got in the way of the flash. I decided to take the color from the second picture since they are similar and transfer it to the first picture. I couldn't believe how much lighter and better the picture turned out. To match the color I went to image, adjustments, match color. I played with the luminace sliders until it looked pretty good. It still isn't the best picture, but it definitely shows what match color can do for a photo.

6.Chase: 10/18/2010; 6:08 PM; Rexburg; f/5.6; 1/80 sec; Sony A330

7.White teeth: To edit this picture I whitened his teeth and widened his eyes (barely because it looked strange if I widened them too far). I quick selected his teeth and desaturated them and brightened them on their own layer. I quick selected his eyes, and on their own layer I moved them slightly down to widen them. Both pictures have slight adjustments in raw (vignette, vibrance, clarity, fill light, blacks). I tried the brush tool on his skin, but he looked to feminine so I got rid of it.