Tuesday, October 26, 2010

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.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

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.

Monday, October 11, 2010

Panoramic

Birdhouses: I guessed that most people would do a sunset or landscape. I saw these neat bird houses (in the flower bed over by the round-a-bout) and have been wanting a reason to take pictures of them. I wasn't sure if a panoramic would work because they were fairly close, but it did. I think all the birds were hiding in their homes (as I prefer to do on cold Rexburg days). I played with the vibrance, hues, and saturation in photoshop to bring some color back into the picture. The sections of the panoramic are below.



All Birdhouse Photos: 10/11/2010; 5:55 PM; Rexburg; f/8; 1/50; Sony A330
(All sections of the panoramic had the same aperture and shutter speed settings. They were also taken one right after the other. It would be redundant to write the same line four times.)

Raw Edit


Sunset Camera Raw: 10/6/2010; 6:55 PM; Rexburg; f/8; 1/60; Sony A330

I love camera raw. Everything I need to edit (most of the time) is right in front of me. The sunset colors were beautiful, and I was able to paint them back in with the paint brush and lighten the image to get the yellow sunset. It is so beneficial for light metering the sky because you can use the brush to just lighten the ground. Besides using the paint brush I adjusted the clarity, brightness, contrast and saturation a bit.

I have the information for this photo in my large format print post. I am using this photo in my camera raw section of my photobook for class because I don't want to use my original camera raw edit. I edited these flowers in camera raw for my poster.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Bannack HDR



1.Peeping Bridger Single HDR: 9/29/10; 1:17 PM; Bannack; f/7.1; 1/1000 sec; Sony A330
2.Deer Single HDR: 9/29/10; 7:10 PM; Bannack Road; f/5.6; 1/80 sec; Sony A330
3.Cruisin' Downtown Single HDR: 9/29/10; 3:08 PM; Bannack; f/5.6; 1/3200; Sony A330

I love HDR! We ended up getting the program after trying the demo. All of the pictures above are single HDR photos. I love the vibrance of the colors and the different options available. The bottom two are the ultra-contrast setting and the first one is halo matrix.






1.Plus 2: 9/29/10; 2:31PM; Bannack; f/10; 1/250; Sony A330; Tripod
2.Zero: 9/29/10; 2:30 PM; Bannack; f/10; 1/1000; Sony A330; Tripod
3.Minus 2: 9/29/10; 2:30 PM; Bannack; f/10; 1/4000; Sony A330; Tripod
4.3 HDR: The final picture is my triple HDR photo. I used HDR to combine the first three. I cropped the last one a bit because there was a strange spot on the right side. I used the ultra-contrast setting in HDR. I liked the colors in the sky and ground best in the ultra-contrast setting.

Action Blur and Freeze


1."Throw me high!": 9/29/10; 3:28 PM; Bannack Hotel; f/4; 1/160 sec; Sony A330
2.Ghost in the Hotel: 9/29/10; 5:53 PM; Bannack Hotel; f/16; 10 sec; Sony A330; Tripod

I love Bridger's smile in the first picture. Every night before bed he exclaims "Throw me high daddy!" I learned to adjust the shutter speed fast to catch an action shot and slow to blur action or get a ghost shot. I had never used shutter priority before, but it was very useful to learn. I adjusted the colors a bit in the first picture and obviously changed the second to black and white. I thought the black and white made it more creepy.

Bannack Macro Abstract



1.Overlay Blend: I blended the pictures following the first one to create it. I used the overlay blend and reduced the opacity. I also used an adjustment layer to change the brightness for just the leaves and masked the rusted can. On the entire image I used camera raw to adjust the colors, saturation and vibrance.
2.Original can: 9/29/10; 2:11 PM; Bannack creek; f/5; 1/50 sec; Sony A330
3.Rust Texture: 9/29/10; 12:54 PM; Bannack; f/11; 1/1600 sec; Sony A330

Bannack Reverse Shallow Depth


1. Back Focus: 9/29/10; 4:02 PM; Bannack; f/5.6; 1/4000 sec; Sony A330
2. Front Focus: 9/29/10; 4:02 PM; Bannack; f/5.6; 1/4000 sec; Sony A330

All day I tried to find a great reverse shallow depth shot I loved. Honestly, I took a ton, and this was my best. I wanted to capture some of the beautiful scenery. I adjusted the vibrance, color balance and brightness a bit. This week was my first time using camera raw and I LOVE it! I also cropped the pictures slightly.

Bannack Portraits


1. Bridger Climbing Stairs: 9/29/10; 3:18 PM; Bannack Hotel; f/5.6; 1/320 sec; Sony A330
2. Proud Daddy: 9/29/10; 4:24 PM; Bannack; f/4; 1/60 sec; Sony A330

I love these portraits because they are of my three boys. Bridger is so hard to take pictures of because he rarely holds still. Taking pictures while his curious little two-year-old feet lead him all over town was challenging and fun. I tried to take the portraits in places where the natural light was good. I played a little bit with the brightness, saturation and colors.