My Adventures in Photoshop (Elements)

So thanks to my friend and co-worker Amanda, I spent most of our slow day at work today getting some awesome lessons in Photoshop Elements. I'll be honest, before today I was pretty much just messing around with different settings, tools and actions until I thought the pictures looked good. There was little to no real thought being put into it. Lets call it educated guessing. Now I really know how to use a lot of the different tools and layers. And what things to look for and why I should change them.

So here is a series of edits.This first one is SOOC.

This is my first edit that I did on my own a few days ago. I couldn't tell you how I got it to look this way.

In this next one, I took the already edited version and just reduced the amount of red. What a difference!

Then I started over from scratch. And when I say I, I mean Amanda mostly. We reduced the amount of blue, adjusted the levels a pinch and added a little contrast. Then we desaturated the wall she is sitting on because the color stood out to much.

And in this last one we (ok, Amanda) added an artificial fish eye effect just for fun!


I think I like my original edit with the reduced red the best. Opinions?

Learning More and More Every Time!

I had a lot of good photography opportunities in the last couple days.  I was off of work all weekend and pretty much spent the entire time taking pictures. On Saturday morning we went to the The Botanical Gardens as a family. When we got there it was sleeting... did you hear that?! SLEETING! Lucky for us the garden has something called the Climatron. The Climatron is an indoor, um, greenhouse? Whatever it is its huge, warm and has natural lighting!


So we went in there for a while until the weather got better. Even though there is not a lot of growth going on right now it was such a good place to take pictures. So many great architecture and texture opportunities. I worked on Aperture priority mode for most of the time we were there. Then at the end I decided to play around with complete manual mode. What a difference! I should have done it the whole time!

I will be going back for sure!

On Sunday morning I went with the kids and my mom to the zoo. (yes we went to the zoo again, get use to it) Honestly I didn't get a whole lot of good stuff this time. There were A LOT of people there and the kids were far less cooperative than the day before.

Sunday afternoon I went to The City Garden with my sister-in-law Katie. I was so excited to take pictures of an adult finally! I had so many ideas for this place. It is full of rock walls, waterfalls and skyscrapers in the background. Its amazing.



I really have learned a lot in the last week. I've discovered and struggled with Adobe Photoshop Elements 9, decided the start shooting in RAW and Manual and have gotten some great pictures. I am hoping to be off next Sunday and take pictures of my niece and a couple of great friends. Hopefully even a friend with her horse on Monday. Here's to getting better and better and better...

My first "I Heart Faces" entry

I wanted to enter last weeks "Something Red" contest but couldn't get anything together in time. But when I saw this weeks theme of Cellphones, I knew exactly the right one. This is my niece. I always would look at this picture and wish I had taken it on a real camera, something I could print. Either way, here it is!

Fancy Camera goes to the Zoo

I finally got a chance to really take out my camera the other day. After the Science Center disaster I was scared. In fact I only got 2 hours of sleep thinking and worrying about it. Lame I know. But actually it turned out really well, at least I think it did. It was an extra sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Actually made it a little harder because I wasn't sure how to deal with such harsh lighting conditions. All in all though I'd call the trip a success. Here are some of the best ones.




This last one is my absolute favorite! I love everything about it. I love his face, the composure, the edit... Everything!

*sigh* I think all in all it turned out pretty good. We are going to the Botanical Gardens on Saturday so I'm hoping to get some more good stuff then!

Making some progress...

I think! At the very least I feel a lot less discouraged. Last week we went to the Science Center and it went very badly. I think what it really comes down to is that I need a better flash for stuff like that. I did get a couple of  "decent" ones.





And oh! Remember the picture I was mad about not looking as good on the computer? I edited it right up and it looks so much better!

                                                     Before

                                                         After

Better right! Makes me happy. :)

Everyone, meet Gustav. Gustav, everyone...

Who is everyone? No one reads this! But either way here he is. I found him at Jo-Ann Fabrics. I bought him along with 3 yards of cheep white muslin and piece of white foam board (to use as a reflector). After about an hour or more of being really pissed off I came up with some ok pictures. I was having trouble because it was pretty overcast outside and my built in flash was leaving a nasty shadow. I finally ended up shooting in manual.  There is a bit of editing on these, just the basics (contrast, brightness ext).

1/50
f/5.6
ISO 1600






This last one I came up with just messing around. Turned out kind of cool though. Not sure I could do it again though!




Pardon my mess but I just wanted to show the set up. I started directly in front of the window but found i got less of a shadow if I had the light come to the side with a reflector.

So ya know. I think they look not bad. I hoping to take Gustav with me around town for lots 'o fun pictures! Look for him in interesting places...