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.