Action

Incase anyone is wondering, no I was not driving, my husband was  : )  Not the most exciting action, but given my time constraints I achieved what I wanted for a shot here.  I didn't want to freeze the motion, but show that it was actually happening, and keep the background in focus as well.  This was the first or second shot I took of many.  I was amazed that I had captured it on the first couple of shots since I was experimenting with the settings, and unfortunately have no idea what I did for this shot.  

This has been great fun.  Thanks to all for the compliments and support.  I really enjoyed conversing about and sharing photos with everyone.  Best wishes in all your endeavors!

Portrait

 

Well 3:45am seems to be the time I should have done this!  So here are the photos that I have been trying to upload for days... : )  So any holiday shopping, this is the time, no lines and no waiting... LOL

My husband and I spent the holiday very quietly.  My children were with their dads and my husband was out hunting and not into sitting for portraits.  So I used these photos I took for a senior high student.   The indoor shot, I used my studio and lighting, which I isn't as I thought it was when I tested them before the sitting.  Some were too hot on one side, and others I could see too much shadowing.  Fortunately, I took many and there were plenty to choose from.  The outdoor shoots were not as easy either since we were constantly waiting for the wind to stop blowing, and the sun was going in and out the whole time too.  This made it hard for her to comfortably and naturally keep her eyes open, and where there was shade the background was the best.  The outdoor horizontal ended up being my favorite as well as the one she chose for the yearbook.  I think I cropped vertically though, since yearbook photos are usually that way.

(I have been trying since Saturday to upload my portrait photo(s).  I have been completely unsuccessful with both the Blogger and Flickr.  I will keep trying to get at least one of the three photos that I wanted to post to my blog up here, but in the mean time, I have posted them on the Discussion Board for Week 13.  I apologize for any inconvenience or if some are unable to view the photos.  One of the little notes at the bottom of the page for Flickr said that nearly 6300 photos were uploaded in the last minute... So I may have to attempt this in the middle of the night.  Oh joy!  : )  Happy blogging... )

Text

The photo above, I added the Happy Halloween and RIP on the tombstone.  I also added the bubble which I found under the Free Pen tool, and then added the MEOW.  Before I did this I adjusted the levels, and did a little cloning since I notice my blurred hand was in the top left of the photo so I cloned the leaves to cover it up, and I also cloned the leaves near the cat to hide some the grass I grabbed from the original photo.  The Happy Halloween I then used one of the boxes at the top of the Text Tool bar to make it wavy.

The photo below I did auto levels and then add the text - From our neck of the woods to yours - and Happy Holidays, using red and green respectively.  This text as well as the text above I added using the Text Tool, and selected various fonts.  I took several photos of the kids from the snow storm we had just before Halloween, and I haven't looked at them all yet, but one of them will end up being our holiday cards for this year. 

I noticed that after I posted this, the photos get cut off.  They are on Flickr since I had to load these photos this way to the blog, but my clone photos went up through the blog. Makes no sense. 

Cloning

Since this was a candid shot, I was not looking beyond the couple.  When I ever saw all the wires, and more wires, my first thought was clone them out.  So I first did an auto levels to bump up the colors since the sun was at high noon, and we were on a down slope from it.  I initially cloned out the guy wire to the left of the father, and the wire that ran directly behind his head, plus a few small ones that I could see in the trees.  Once I did this I was then able to see the wires that were blurily going through the sky.  So out they went with the clone stamp as well.  But as I am typing this up, I am not seeing the darned street sign just above the mother's shoulder.  ARRRGH!  I was so focused on the wires that I overlooked the sign.  

Dodge and Burn

I was hoping to get better results while attempting to fix this photo, but it definitely is an improvement to the original. Yes, I knew when taking it that the window was going to be blown out, but I didn't have time to stop the progress, and they were already in the moment. But I do like how the dodge and burn tool worked. I followed the steps in the tutorial that Karen provided. I like using this tool now that I understand it more.  I also cropped the second photo in hopes that you would be able to see the changes.  It doesn't seem to be as apparent here on the blog as it did in Photoshop.  I did burned the window down to the brides maid , and then the sun spot near the footless shoe. I dodged the bride's face, and the foot being put in the shoe. I did not change the matron of honors dress but it appears darker in the second photo, or is it just me.

 

Original

 Dodge and Burn

Filters

Photo 1 - Original

Photo 1 - Fresco

I first did auto levels to even out everything.  I figured I should start with it "just right" first.  Then I applied the Fresco filter, which I forgot to write down the exact settings I ended up with, but I did play around with it quite a bit along with trying just about every filter and multiple layers, before I settled on this.  I also went to Shadow/Highlights and fooled around with the numerous settings that can be adjusted .  I might have gone a little to dark, but I like it.  It gives me a feeling of nostalgia, like from the 20's or 30's, especially with the flags.  I really like how it looks like a painting, which I see on the blog that it is not as visible as when I was in Photoshop.  I also couldn't load my photos through the blogger this week and had to use Flickr so my photos are on Flickr if anyone wants to see them enlarged.  I also cropped the photo to get rid of the excess grass in the foreground, and I like how it "moves" photo like you are standing right there; waiting for the waiter to come by with a glass of champagne.

Photo 2- Original 

Photo 2 - Watercolor

Again, I first used auto levels, then applied the watercolors filter, played around with the settings, along with trying all the other filters.  I also cropped this a little to make it seem straight(er).  I love how both these filtered photos seem so alive, or like you could just step into the photo and be in that moment in time, whereas I do not get that feeling from the original two photos. 

Color Adjustments

Sorry the photos were supposed to be under each description but I added the descriptions first and photos second, not realizng that I couldn't move things around.  It figures I finally get the blogger to load my photos instead of Flickr this week... Enjoy!

For the photo of the kids, I "hand" colored the photo after making it a b&w.  To make turn it from a color photo to a b&w I went to Image > Adjustments > Black & White.  This allowed me to have more control over adjusting the reds, yellows, greens, cyans, and blues, which were all sliders in a dialogue box that opened.  I was also able to adjust the Tint if I wanted, which appeared that it turned the photo to sepia, but I did not make any adjustments, because as soon as I did the above it automatically turned the photo b&w, and I was happy with the instant results. From there I followed Karen's advice from the discussion board: selected the paint brush tool, Mode:Color and the proceeded to create what you see below.  I realize it isn't the prettiest "hand" coloring but I just wanted to play around with the tool, since I have been dying to try it, and never knew how.  It was fun, and my oldest daughter loves her purple streaks in her hair :)

For the photo of the view from Robert Frost's summer cabin, I wanted to play around with hue/saturation and color balance.  So first I went to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation and settled on Hue: -6, Saturation: +54 (can you say POP), Lightness: -4.  I then went to Image > Adjustments > Color Balance and after trying different things I ended up with Cyan/Red +14, Magenta/Green +12, and Yellow/Blue +26. Oh yes and I also selected the sky using the magic wand, went to Replace Color and made the sky more like the blue that is in the right hand corner.  I only really know it was adjusted because I can now see a sun spot about dead center of the sky.  There was to much washout (I think) to turn the sky a real crazy popping blue, or I wasn't doing something right. 

Composites

I am not very good with the realistic compositing of photoshop yet.  So I went with the unrealistic route and ventured towards Halloween-ish ones, and just tried to have fun with the tools that I am so clumsy with.  The original photos follow my composited photos.

   

 Graveyard

 

Haunted House

 

Landscape

The photos I took were from the Breadloaf area in Ripton, including the summer cabin of Robert Frost, and some of the nearby cemetery.  After reading the MIT link information, I really liked the one about landscape as history, and this is what I tried to capture in my photos that I took that day.  So here are the four I narrowed it down to.

Framing Slideshow

Rule of Thirds

    

The off center photo of grapes seems to pop out at you more than the ones in the photo were they are centered, which gives them the 3D effect compared to the grapes in the first photo which look flat and 2 dimensional.  Also comparing the two photos the ones on the bottom look more "real", as if they were really there and not added later through photo manipulation.

 

In these photos the tree that is off centered puts it in relation to where it is and why it is sitting on rock no longer with dirt.  If only the first photo was posted you might not even realize that it is actually by the river. (These are photos of the river that was flooded back in August, much has changed on this river.  The flood photos are posted on Flickr.)  The tree in the second photo doesn't appear as lonely either, though I really do like the first photo because of the solitude.  This road that the river runs along is the main road to get off the mountain, and so I have been itching to get photos of this tree before winter comes and takes it down; today I accomplished two tasks at once.

 

Composition Technique

The web site that I found my information on was http://photoinfo.com/general/navy/photographic_composition_balance.htm

This particular article (and there are so many on a lot of photographic subjects that I bookmarked it for a later time and/or future reference) said, "The way you arrange the elements of a scene within in a picture, catch the viewer's attention, please the eye, or make a clear statement are all qualities of a good composition.  By developing photographic composition skills, you can produce photographs that suggest movement, life, depth, shape, and form, recreating the impact of the original scene."  The web site has 7 lessons (brief but informative) and an appendix that explains how the following principles and elements used can achieve a "pleasing" composition: center of interest, subject placement, simplicity, viewpoint and camera angle, balance, shapes and lines, pattern, volume, lighting, texture, tone, contrast, framing, foreground, background, and perspective.  I have read through them all, and decided to share what I learned.  Simplicity was very interesting because it mentioned a lot of the other elements to consider while composing a shot but stated, "The primary object is the reason the picture is being taken in the first place; therefore, all other elements should merely support and emphasize the main object. "  Another piece of good advice that I have picked up along the  way is while composing the photo in the view finder to look beyond the subject(s) to make sure nothing is growing from them off in the background.  For example,  Grandma is sitting by the beautiful apple tree peeling apples, but in the background there are two limbs that look as if Grandma has grown antlers.   It may not be obvious at the time because the focus was on how wonderful Grandma looked sitting by the apple tree full of apples.  

Lighting

Since I either had rain and/or clouds, and no breaks of sun, I decided to use these photos from last week using my flash indoors with the same shot, and noticed how badly I need to dust : - )

The photo above I used the flash straight on and I actually really liked the colors, but do not like how the flash was too hot on the left side, which is were it was since I had the camera turned sideways.

 

The only difference in the photo above is that I bounced the flash off the ceiling, and seems to almost give the photo a surreal or vintage look to it.  The ceiling isn't high, but this is right next to an open staircase so I lost some of light. 

The photo above , and the lighting that is seen on the left is the light coming from the flash.  I had the flash on, but angled away from the subject so it just barely grazed the left side and barely reflected any light towards the right.

Week 4

Analogous

I was trying to shoot the leaves that were in the trees and was only slightly happy and then as I was walking instead of looking up I looked down at the ground, there were all these leaves.  It dawned on me that if I took a few of them, as I did above, I would have an analogous photo.  I also had photographed these leaves (same set up) in the grass, but the green of the grass really took away from the leaves colors, so I went with the ones I took on my driveway.  I did have one other analogous photo of leaves changing from green to yellow, with the green-yellow in between color, but I like the above photo better.  It was hard finding things around my house, but was very pleased when I realized later that I had taken 74 photos, which I had no idea I had taken that many at the time.

Complementary

This is my lone Pansy, that is still in one of my pots that are on my deck railing from the summer.  Just when it was about time to empty them for the season, this one popped up, and has been there for quite some time now, and even survived several frosts.  I had bought several new varieties this year, one was called fireworks, and I think this was one of them. 

Macro Photos

Okay, I think I found a way to get the photos loaded, but without using the Blogger's photo upload.  IF this really works, I will post what I did in the discussion board incase anyone else has the problem in the future, and it also seems to be a lot quicker.  

There are two of my favorite photos, which did make it into my collage.  I really got lucky with the bee on the flower and had thought how ironic since I had just turned around from shooting something else and the bee had just landed.  So I snapped away, but when I took the photo the amount of detail was not visible as it is in the actual photo. 

I love on the beads how the sun made a good sized star-shaped glimmer (silver beads) and a smaller one on the light pink beads (near the blue one).  I had taken my photos on two different days, and I am not sure why but the second day I was definitely in a creative mood, and all of my photos that were in my collage were from the second day.  So mood can also definitely play a role in how a shoot transpires into what you think you might get and what you really got.

Week 3

Macro Collage 

This was created on collagr.com so I unfortunately did not have many options to try out and use like some of the really neat ones I have already viewed.  Collagr.com is neat but very limited.  I also only used about 18 of the 29 photos I had originally selected for my collage to allow for more of my photos to actually be in the collage.  But I do think it still came out neat looking despite the limitations.  

First, just picking two photos was challenging since there were many that spoke to me, but these two photos spoke the loudest.  My favorite out of these two is the bottom photo (full shot of front).  If I had been thinking I should have removed the license plates before shooting, but didn't.  I feel in some respect it takes away from the alluring features of the car, but at the same time it makes a statement that the car is from Vermont.  The reason I like this one the best is that the car really seems to be alive, that life is just running through the car.  I really like the how the photos captured the lines and curves of the car.  They are clean, sophisticated and sexy.  I feel like both photos draw the viewer in, making them want more the fantasy (and of what is up to each individual).  I noticed afterwards that the sunlight shifts from the right side of the hood in the full view to the left side of the hood in the front view. In the front view I was able to fill almost 100% of the photo with the car itself, whereas with the full view I could only take it in so far before I would loose some part of the car.  In the full view I also see more shadows on the ground from the car.  In the full view I am able to clearly make out the left front tire, but in the front view it is lost in the darkness. Both shoots were taken while I sat on the ground, but to me the front view makes the car seem or look bigger/wider than the the full view.  From this angle both photos give me the sensation that they are moving, rather than just being parked.