Showing posts with label photoshop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photoshop. Show all posts
Friday, May 6, 2016
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Misery loves company
So how hot was it at your place yesterday? Just 100 here, with a bit of a breeze. As we like to say in the desert southwest, "it's a dry heat." To which I retort, "yeah, but so is a blast furnace." I cannot imagine how miserable 100+ must be with humidity, but I'll bet a bunch of you reading this from the midwest and east coast know firsthand. I hope you're all finding ways to keep yourselves and your animals cool.
I found myself hiding in the air conditioning yet again, spending way too much time at the computer. I happened upon a DIY/design/photoshop blog called The Accent Piece, which featured a post called How to Make a Silhouette in Photoshop.
Bet you can't guess how I spent the afternoon...
I found myself hiding in the air conditioning yet again, spending way too much time at the computer. I happened upon a DIY/design/photoshop blog called The Accent Piece, which featured a post called How to Make a Silhouette in Photoshop.
Bet you can't guess how I spent the afternoon...
Friday, April 6, 2012
All that's missing is Humphrey Bogart
I stumbled upon this photo in a folder I was archiving yesterday. I love it.
How did I not notice it before?
How did I not notice it before?
And because I can never leave well enough alone, I processed it in black and white.
Now I love it even more. There's drama and mystery,
sort of like Humphrey Bogart might enter the scene at any moment
looking for the treasure of the Sierra Madre.
sort of like Humphrey Bogart might enter the scene at any moment
looking for the treasure of the Sierra Madre.
What say you? Which version do you prefer?
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Another edition of "making burros better through technology"
I took this picture of George and Alan yesterday.
Their eyes, their ears, their muzzles, the stripes on George's legs, their penetrating expressions...be still my heart.
But everything else about this photograph? Not so good.
First there's the problem of Hank's leg popping out of George's neck.
Then there's the flat, cold light. And I didn't have a chance to de-goober Alan's eye...I could go on and on.
As it happens, I've been studying up on Photoshop for my paying job, trying to perfect my technique
for dropping out backgrounds, so I decided to practice on this image to see if I could salvage it.
That's better. No more distractions.
Now I know there are purists among you who might prefer the original,
but I'll take the photoshopped version any day.
Let's take a poll...
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Roll your mouse over the image above to compare the photoshopped to the original version.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday encore ~ Mon petite fleurs and a few thoughts on Photoshop
Daffodil, Rosebud and Snapper do not get their fair share of time on this blog. I will try to do better in that regard. In the meantime, here's a post from November 2009 to assuage my guilt.
The feline bouquet was arranged for dinner.
Daffodil sat atop the washer, looking like the prim and polite pile of purr she pretends to be:
Rosebud relaxed on the dryer, with her one big ear and one little ear (a story for another time),
staring soulfully into my eyes.
Snapper (officially Snapdragon) snarled while he waited for me to snag his dinner and stop snapping pictures:
The lighting was perfect, and the felines were looking their expressive best, save for the yucky white appliances, the electric cords, and the not-so-flattering paint color on the walls behind them.
Enter Photoshop.
Applying textures in Photoshop seems to be all the rage these days, so I thought I'd give it a try. I like what this texture* does to these images. Almost makes me want to repaint the laundry room.
Photoshop is to today's digital photographer what the darkroom was to yesterday's film photographer – a tool to make a good photograph better, or to express or enhance one's style. I use it all the time, if for no other reason than to remove the specks that show up in the sky because I neglected to clean the camera lens.
*Texture is courtesy of Jessica Drossin Photography , via the MCP Actions site. Thank you, Jessica and Jodi.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Hank, four ways
It's time to update some of the pictures hanging in my gallery dining room. I took a new photo of Hank and have processed it a bunch of different ways. Would you care to weigh in on your favorite? There's a poll at the bottom of this post. Here are the choices:
#1 straight out of the camera:
#2 soft and faded:
#3 black and white
#4 old west
I really do love each of them. Maybe I should have them all printed and hang one in every room. I can be so wishy-washy sometimes. See why I need your help?
#1 straight out of the camera:
#2 soft and faded:
#3 black and white
#4 old west
I really do love each of them. Maybe I should have them all printed and hang one in every room. I can be so wishy-washy sometimes. See why I need your help?
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Seeing spots
If you're a photography geek like me and have been reading the notes I put under my rollover photos, you've likely seen this phrase way too many times:
1. Removed sensor dust spots with patch tool.
Yesterday, Estorbo's mom asked, "Do you just live with your dust spots and Photoshop them out all the time? I have two that are driving me around. the. bend."
Time out. Have you all met Estorbo, the beeg, blag, Dominican cad (big, black, Dominican cat)? His blog is too stinkin' funny for words. He writes in his heavily accented native tongue (think Ricky Ricardo). Half the fun of reading about his life dayeen and dayoud is trying to figure out what he is saying. That he looks exactly like Deets and has just as much...ok more...attitude, makes it all the better.
Anyway, back to Estorbo's mom's question. Let's talk about sensor dust spots. If you use a point-and-shoot camera, you may want to just come back tomorrow as you shouldn't have this problem. But if you use a DSLR and change lenses, you can probably relate.
See all the black spots in the photo below? I wish I could tell you they were flies or tiny birds, but they are specks of dust on my camera sensor.
Very ugly. As careful as I am when I change lenses, dust invariably finds its way into the camera and attaches itself to the sensor. The spots are most obvious when using a very small lens opening. The picture above was taken with the aperture set at f/22.
The picture below was taken with a wider aperture – f/11. The spots are less noticeable, but they are still there.
The picture below was taken with the aperture set at f/3.5. Look! No spots!
Most of the time, I prefer photos with a blurry background so that the subject of the image pops out - in geek speak, this is known as a shallow depth of field. Blurry backgrounds are best achieved with the aperture open as far as it will go – f/1.8 or f/3.5 depending on the lens I'm using. This is commonly referred to as "shooting with the lens wide open." When I shoot with the lens wide open, I do not see spots.
But sometimes, like when I'm shooting a landscape with the boys in the foreground and the mountains in the background, I'll want everything to be in focus. In that case, I'll change the aperture to something smaller, like f/11 or f/16. And then the spots come out. And then I have to use Photoshop to get rid of them. And then I'm reminded of how dusty the inside of my camera must be. And then I start chastising myself for not taking care of my camera and the snowball starts rolling down the hill from there. I would need therapy if I always shot at f/11 and above.
My options for dealing with the dust spots are thus:
1. Avoidance: Shoot with the lens wide open at all times.
2. Denial: Shoot with the aperture wherever I damn well please and Photoshop the hell out of the spots.
3. Confrontation: Pack up my camera and ship it off to an authorized Nikon repair facility and let them clean the dust off the sensor. Rumor has it that this is a 3- to 6-week process. Let's see...3 to 6 weeks without a camera...3 to 6 weeks without a blog post. NOT AN OPTION.
4. DIY: My go-to guy for all things camera, Ken Rockwell, advises so strongly against this that I will not even consider trying to clean the sensor myself.
5. Extravagence: Buy a new camera body, then ship the D80 off to Nikon to be cleaned.
Logic says that since so much of my life revolves around photography, I should have a backup camera and I should bite the bullet and go for option 5, but practicality says stick with option 1 and when all else fails,
1. Remove sensor dust spots with patch tool.
1. Removed sensor dust spots with patch tool.
Yesterday, Estorbo's mom asked, "Do you just live with your dust spots and Photoshop them out all the time? I have two that are driving me around. the. bend."
Time out. Have you all met Estorbo, the beeg, blag, Dominican cad (big, black, Dominican cat)? His blog is too stinkin' funny for words. He writes in his heavily accented native tongue (think Ricky Ricardo). Half the fun of reading about his life dayeen and dayoud is trying to figure out what he is saying. That he looks exactly like Deets and has just as much...ok more...attitude, makes it all the better.
Anyway, back to Estorbo's mom's question. Let's talk about sensor dust spots. If you use a point-and-shoot camera, you may want to just come back tomorrow as you shouldn't have this problem. But if you use a DSLR and change lenses, you can probably relate.
See all the black spots in the photo below? I wish I could tell you they were flies or tiny birds, but they are specks of dust on my camera sensor.
Very ugly. As careful as I am when I change lenses, dust invariably finds its way into the camera and attaches itself to the sensor. The spots are most obvious when using a very small lens opening. The picture above was taken with the aperture set at f/22.
The picture below was taken with a wider aperture – f/11. The spots are less noticeable, but they are still there.
The picture below was taken with the aperture set at f/3.5. Look! No spots!
Most of the time, I prefer photos with a blurry background so that the subject of the image pops out - in geek speak, this is known as a shallow depth of field. Blurry backgrounds are best achieved with the aperture open as far as it will go – f/1.8 or f/3.5 depending on the lens I'm using. This is commonly referred to as "shooting with the lens wide open." When I shoot with the lens wide open, I do not see spots.
But sometimes, like when I'm shooting a landscape with the boys in the foreground and the mountains in the background, I'll want everything to be in focus. In that case, I'll change the aperture to something smaller, like f/11 or f/16. And then the spots come out. And then I have to use Photoshop to get rid of them. And then I'm reminded of how dusty the inside of my camera must be. And then I start chastising myself for not taking care of my camera and the snowball starts rolling down the hill from there. I would need therapy if I always shot at f/11 and above.
My options for dealing with the dust spots are thus:
1. Avoidance: Shoot with the lens wide open at all times.
2. Denial: Shoot with the aperture wherever I damn well please and Photoshop the hell out of the spots.
3. Confrontation: Pack up my camera and ship it off to an authorized Nikon repair facility and let them clean the dust off the sensor. Rumor has it that this is a 3- to 6-week process. Let's see...3 to 6 weeks without a camera...3 to 6 weeks without a blog post. NOT AN OPTION.
4. DIY: My go-to guy for all things camera, Ken Rockwell, advises so strongly against this that I will not even consider trying to clean the sensor myself.
5. Extravagence: Buy a new camera body, then ship the D80 off to Nikon to be cleaned.
Logic says that since so much of my life revolves around photography, I should have a backup camera and I should bite the bullet and go for option 5, but practicality says stick with option 1 and when all else fails,
1. Remove sensor dust spots with patch tool.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Deets, on a roll
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Since we're rolling around anyway, I'm implementing a new blog feature today. Whenever you see this hand/mouse icon on a photo, you can roll your mouse between the image and the margin to alternate between the straight-out-of-the-camera and Photoshopped versions. I'll include a brief recipe of my post-processing steps for whomever might be interested. Instead of doing a weekly "Touch-it-up Tuesday" post, those who want a little dose of Photoshop can get it every day. Ok? Ok.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Touch-it-up Tuesday, episode 3
You remember Touch-it-up Tuesday? It happens every week when I remember it's Tuesday, which I didn't last week. Regardless, this is where I fix a photo or two using Photoshop and try to explain what I did and why I did it.
Let's start with this picture of Rosebud. Here it is, straight out of the camera:
When I walked into my bedroom and saw Rosebud asleep atop the dresser, with her paws crossed and her image reflected in the wood, I thought, "awww..so sweet...now where in the heck is my camera and will she still be there by the time I find it?"
I found the camera, and she was (she's a very lazy cat). But when I looked through the lens, I saw stuff that I wished wasn't there...the ugly tv over on the left, the blown-out sky over on the right. I could move the tv and close the window shade, but then I'd risk Rosebud moving and losing the moment altogether. So I fired off some shots, knowing that I could crop them later.
Here's the edited version:
Here's what I did:
1. Cropped image to lose the sky and most of the window.
2. Ran PW's Warmer action at 100%.
3. Ran MCP's High Definition Sharpening action at 50%.
4. Ran MCP's Touch of Lightness/Touch of Darkness action to slightly brighten Rosebud's reflection in the wood.
5. Ran Coffeeshop's Vignette action to darken the edges, drawing the eye to Rosebud and her reflection.
I learned a new HTML trick last week and have been dying to try it. Here goes... Place your mouse over the image below, then roll your mouse off the image into the margin somewhere, then back onto the image. The before and after photos should alternate each time you move the mouse.
If that worked, you can thank Shadowhouse Creations, who posted this tutorial. If it didn't, you can blame me for screwing it up.
Justina sent me this next photo, of Nigel and Fergus. She captured them in all their wonderfulness resting their heads on Bernard, but the New Mexico sun was high in the sky and the harshness of the light all but ruined this tender moment:
Could Photoshop save the day?
Here's what I did:
1. Straightened the fence post using the Ruler tool and "arbitrary rotate," (my number one favorite photoshop trick of all time).
2. Using the Clone tool, removed whatever those distractions were in the top left corner.
3. Ran PW's Old West action to tone down the harshness of the light.
4. Ran MCP's Touch of Lightness/Touch of Darkness action to bring Fergus' and Nigel's muzzles out of the shadows.
5. Shooed those flies off of Fergus' nose and eye with the Spot Healing brush.
Let's try that before and after trick again...roll your mouse back and forth from the image to the margin.
There are days when I just love technology. You'd think they'd invent something to remind me when it was Tuesday.
Let's start with this picture of Rosebud. Here it is, straight out of the camera:
When I walked into my bedroom and saw Rosebud asleep atop the dresser, with her paws crossed and her image reflected in the wood, I thought, "awww..so sweet...now where in the heck is my camera and will she still be there by the time I find it?"
I found the camera, and she was (she's a very lazy cat). But when I looked through the lens, I saw stuff that I wished wasn't there...the ugly tv over on the left, the blown-out sky over on the right. I could move the tv and close the window shade, but then I'd risk Rosebud moving and losing the moment altogether. So I fired off some shots, knowing that I could crop them later.
Here's the edited version:
Here's what I did:
1. Cropped image to lose the sky and most of the window.
2. Ran PW's Warmer action at 100%.
3. Ran MCP's High Definition Sharpening action at 50%.
4. Ran MCP's Touch of Lightness/Touch of Darkness action to slightly brighten Rosebud's reflection in the wood.
5. Ran Coffeeshop's Vignette action to darken the edges, drawing the eye to Rosebud and her reflection.
I learned a new HTML trick last week and have been dying to try it. Here goes... Place your mouse over the image below, then roll your mouse off the image into the margin somewhere, then back onto the image. The before and after photos should alternate each time you move the mouse.
 |
If that worked, you can thank Shadowhouse Creations, who posted this tutorial. If it didn't, you can blame me for screwing it up.
Justina sent me this next photo, of Nigel and Fergus. She captured them in all their wonderfulness resting their heads on Bernard, but the New Mexico sun was high in the sky and the harshness of the light all but ruined this tender moment:
Could Photoshop save the day?
Here's what I did:
1. Straightened the fence post using the Ruler tool and "arbitrary rotate," (my number one favorite photoshop trick of all time).
2. Using the Clone tool, removed whatever those distractions were in the top left corner.
3. Ran PW's Old West action to tone down the harshness of the light.
4. Ran MCP's Touch of Lightness/Touch of Darkness action to bring Fergus' and Nigel's muzzles out of the shadows.
5. Shooed those flies off of Fergus' nose and eye with the Spot Healing brush.
Let's try that before and after trick again...roll your mouse back and forth from the image to the margin.
 |
There are days when I just love technology. You'd think they'd invent something to remind me when it was Tuesday.
Friday, June 25, 2010
FAQ Friday, episode 9
The problem with these FAQ Friday posts is that they make the weeks go by too fast. Let's get right to it before next Friday gets here.
From Smooch:
Q. When are we going to do another one of those cool csn|stores gift certificate giveaways?
A. So glad you asked, Smooch. We've got one coming up next week! This time, the prize will be a $90 gift certificate to anything available at csnstores.com. They carry everything from dining room furniture to duffel bags to dog beds.
Q. Does this mean I get a new dog bed?
A. No, this means that one of our faithful readers gets to go on a shopping spree.
Q. But I want a new dog bed for the back porch...maybe a little hammock, something the snakes won't be able to crawl up on.
A. Maybe you should save your allowance and buy it yourself.
Last weekend's crab feast got lots of you drooling and craving some fresh Maryland blue crabs.
From Roseanne, CeeCee, and Sandy:
Q. Where did you get fresh Maryland blue crabs in the middle of NM?
From Sue:
Q. All I want to know is how did y'all keep them buggers alive all the way to New Mexico?
A. My friends at Morning Bray Farm are serious about their crabs. They've sourced a place that ships fresh, live crabs via overnight delivery. The crabs were packed in a styrofoam cooler with some sort of ice-equivalent, and every single one was alive and well ... until he met his fate in the cauldron of steaming beer, cider vinegar, and Old Bay seasoning.
From Lilla:
Q. What? No pictures of the crawfish bread?
A. Sadly, no, because it was so stinkin' good that we devoured it before I had a chance to grab the camera! Folks, Lilla has this recipe posted on her blog for crawfish bread which is To. Die. For. Make it this weekend. I mean it. It's THAT good.
The Photoshopped before/after photos keep some of you coming back for more...
From deejbrown:
Q. Does any particular version of Photoshop give you these options, or will Elements be enough? How does it compare with the editing tools in IPhoto on a Mac that are relatively easy to fiddle with?
A. I'm almost 100% sure that Photoshop Elements would allow you to do any and all of the tricks I've been using in the before and after series. (I tried to download Adobe's free 14-day trial of Elements to verify my assumption, but the trial is only available for Windows, and I use a Mac. A vast right-wing conspiracy, if you ask me.) As far as I can tell, the main difference between the more basic photo editing software (like IPhoto and Picnik) and Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is layers. Layers allow you to work on and adjust portions of your images. Without layers, I'd be unable to function. I might as well just stay in bed all day. Layers are my life.
A post with pictures of Wynonna always brings out a few questions...
From Cheryl:
Q. Is Wynonna's tongue really all coiled up in her mouth? If it is, it must be really long.
A. Yes, the princess does have quite the tongue. Oddly, I don't have any pictures of her sticking it out at me. I'll have to work on that. Meanwhile, I got a request to place Wynonna's "if you've got a voice like a burro with a bad cold" photo on the downloadable photo page. You can find it here.
From Colleen from NC:
Q. Does she stay in the same pasture as Alan, George and Hank? We have horses and I was just wondering how the bunch get along.
A. Wynonna is housed separately from the equines. Once upon a time at our old place, she rolled under the fence and into the horse corral, where she decided to take a nap. Hank and Lyle walked over and woke her up, she freaked out and took off screaming, and a chase ensued. You would be amazed by how fast pigs can run when they have to. Nobody got hurt, but I am not one to take chances, so I keep her separated from the boys for her safety and my sanity. The Shiloh Horse Rescue and Sanctuary in Nevada has quite a few pigs that mingle with some of their horses and donkeys, and they all seem to get along just fine. I guess alot depends on the individuals involved.
Smooch and her imaginary serpentine friend brought forth these questions...
From Pat in east TN:
Q. Are you sure you've had four different snakes and it's not one coming back playing games with you?
A. That thought did cross my mind, but this batch included a large, a medium, and two smalls. I've been aware of an extra-large living under the generator for quite some time; me thinks these are all part of that one's extended family.
From Theresa in Alberta and Carolynn:
Q. You do wear cowgirl boots when you are on snake removal/relocation duty eh?
Q. You wear flip flops?
A. When Smooch sounds the snake alarm, it's a come-as-you-are kind of event. At least I don't run out there barefoot.
From CeeCee and Peppermint Ph.D.:
Q. How did you train her not to put her nose right in the middle of a rattlesnake?
Q. Does Smooch ever try to bite or pick up/play with the snakes?
A. Smooch deals with snakes the same way she deals with everything else that's out of place in her environment - she stands there and barks at it until I can convince her to stop. She doesn't bite it, pick it up or otherwise interact. This goes for snakes, tumbleweeds, house guests, you name it. Just a part of her charm.
From Sandra:
Q. Please advise on the life span of a laying hen.
A. I understand that hens have three or four good laying years, after which they slow down their production considerably. I suspect that once my girls' laying days are over, they'll still lead productive lives trimming the plants in my garden.
From dday:
Q. What suburb of Cleveland are you from? I grew up in Avon.
A. I grew up in Brooklyn, a tiny suburb on the west side sandwiched between Cleveland and Parma. It is an odd little place, best known for being the first city in the U.S. to enact a mandatory seat belt law (in 1966) and the first city to ban cell phone usage while driving (in 1999).
Thanks for all your questions and comments this week. Be sure to check in next week to enter our contest for a chance to win the $90 gift certificate from csn|stores.
From Smooch:Q. When are we going to do another one of those cool csn|stores gift certificate giveaways?
A. So glad you asked, Smooch. We've got one coming up next week! This time, the prize will be a $90 gift certificate to anything available at csnstores.com. They carry everything from dining room furniture to duffel bags to dog beds.
Q. Does this mean I get a new dog bed?
A. No, this means that one of our faithful readers gets to go on a shopping spree.
Q. But I want a new dog bed for the back porch...maybe a little hammock, something the snakes won't be able to crawl up on.
A. Maybe you should save your allowance and buy it yourself.
Last weekend's crab feast got lots of you drooling and craving some fresh Maryland blue crabs.
From Roseanne, CeeCee, and Sandy:
Q. Where did you get fresh Maryland blue crabs in the middle of NM?
From Sue:
Q. All I want to know is how did y'all keep them buggers alive all the way to New Mexico?
A. My friends at Morning Bray Farm are serious about their crabs. They've sourced a place that ships fresh, live crabs via overnight delivery. The crabs were packed in a styrofoam cooler with some sort of ice-equivalent, and every single one was alive and well ... until he met his fate in the cauldron of steaming beer, cider vinegar, and Old Bay seasoning.
From Lilla:
Q. What? No pictures of the crawfish bread?
A. Sadly, no, because it was so stinkin' good that we devoured it before I had a chance to grab the camera! Folks, Lilla has this recipe posted on her blog for crawfish bread which is To. Die. For. Make it this weekend. I mean it. It's THAT good.
The Photoshopped before/after photos keep some of you coming back for more...
From deejbrown:
Q. Does any particular version of Photoshop give you these options, or will Elements be enough? How does it compare with the editing tools in IPhoto on a Mac that are relatively easy to fiddle with?
A. I'm almost 100% sure that Photoshop Elements would allow you to do any and all of the tricks I've been using in the before and after series. (I tried to download Adobe's free 14-day trial of Elements to verify my assumption, but the trial is only available for Windows, and I use a Mac. A vast right-wing conspiracy, if you ask me.) As far as I can tell, the main difference between the more basic photo editing software (like IPhoto and Picnik) and Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is layers. Layers allow you to work on and adjust portions of your images. Without layers, I'd be unable to function. I might as well just stay in bed all day. Layers are my life.
A post with pictures of Wynonna always brings out a few questions...
From Cheryl:
Q. Is Wynonna's tongue really all coiled up in her mouth? If it is, it must be really long.
A. Yes, the princess does have quite the tongue. Oddly, I don't have any pictures of her sticking it out at me. I'll have to work on that. Meanwhile, I got a request to place Wynonna's "if you've got a voice like a burro with a bad cold" photo on the downloadable photo page. You can find it here.
From Colleen from NC:
Q. Does she stay in the same pasture as Alan, George and Hank? We have horses and I was just wondering how the bunch get along.
A. Wynonna is housed separately from the equines. Once upon a time at our old place, she rolled under the fence and into the horse corral, where she decided to take a nap. Hank and Lyle walked over and woke her up, she freaked out and took off screaming, and a chase ensued. You would be amazed by how fast pigs can run when they have to. Nobody got hurt, but I am not one to take chances, so I keep her separated from the boys for her safety and my sanity. The Shiloh Horse Rescue and Sanctuary in Nevada has quite a few pigs that mingle with some of their horses and donkeys, and they all seem to get along just fine. I guess alot depends on the individuals involved.
Smooch and her imaginary serpentine friend brought forth these questions...
From Pat in east TN:
Q. Are you sure you've had four different snakes and it's not one coming back playing games with you?
A. That thought did cross my mind, but this batch included a large, a medium, and two smalls. I've been aware of an extra-large living under the generator for quite some time; me thinks these are all part of that one's extended family.
From Theresa in Alberta and Carolynn:Q. You do wear cowgirl boots when you are on snake removal/relocation duty eh?
Q. You wear flip flops?
A. When Smooch sounds the snake alarm, it's a come-as-you-are kind of event. At least I don't run out there barefoot.
From CeeCee and Peppermint Ph.D.:
Q. How did you train her not to put her nose right in the middle of a rattlesnake?
Q. Does Smooch ever try to bite or pick up/play with the snakes?
A. Smooch deals with snakes the same way she deals with everything else that's out of place in her environment - she stands there and barks at it until I can convince her to stop. She doesn't bite it, pick it up or otherwise interact. This goes for snakes, tumbleweeds, house guests, you name it. Just a part of her charm.
From Sandra:
Q. Please advise on the life span of a laying hen.
A. I understand that hens have three or four good laying years, after which they slow down their production considerably. I suspect that once my girls' laying days are over, they'll still lead productive lives trimming the plants in my garden.
From dday:
Q. What suburb of Cleveland are you from? I grew up in Avon.
A. I grew up in Brooklyn, a tiny suburb on the west side sandwiched between Cleveland and Parma. It is an odd little place, best known for being the first city in the U.S. to enact a mandatory seat belt law (in 1966) and the first city to ban cell phone usage while driving (in 1999).
Thanks for all your questions and comments this week. Be sure to check in next week to enter our contest for a chance to win the $90 gift certificate from csn|stores.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Touch-it-up Tuesday, episode 2
"Touch-it-up" sounds better with Tuesday than Thursday, so I'm hereby rescheduling this weekly feature.
Here are a few more before and afters from the "I'll do my best to fix your photo" contest.
Clairz sent me this gorgeous sunrise she took from her patio. Quick...guess which state she lives in. New Mexico! This is what I call a "pajama shot" - a photograph taken on the spur of the moment in one's nightclothes because the light would be gone in the time it would take to get dressed. Had Clairz been appropriately attired, she might have been able to race across the street to capture the moment without the utility poles and wires in the way.
So through the magic of Photoshop's clone tool, spot healing brush, and patch tool, I tore down the poles and removed the wires, being careful to remove their corresponding reflections in the water below. It doesn't take any rocket science to do this sort of retouching - just alot of patience, with an emphasis on the "alot" part.
Pat in east TN sent me this note with the photo below: Just wondering if you can do anything with this picture of my beloved Doberman, Tori? A new background? Take away shadows? I have no clue and just thought maybe you could fix this up so I could get it printed and framed. She's been gone over 2 years now but holds such a special place in my heart.
This was going to be a tough one because the original image was small and of low resolution – 3.2" wide and 200 dpi. I would have to dive deep into my bag of tricks to give Pat something worth framing.
In this first attempt (above), I straightened the image, then removed the background and replaced it with another of Shadowhouse Creations' fabulous free textures. I also toned down the highlights on Tori's beautiful coat with PW's Dim the Lights action and popped the color with PW's Boost action. Then I sharpened here and sharpened there and lightened here and lightened there, but I still wasn't happy with the results. If this were printed no larger than 6" wide and I didn't wear my glasses, maybe it would be ok.
So I tried one more thing. I went into Photoshop's filter gallery and messed around until I found a combination of settings that turned the photograph into more of a representational image, leaving out the details which weren't really there to begin with.
I sent these to Pat and received this note: I love them both and thank you SO much for your time in making these unbelievable pictures of our special girl. You'll never know what this means to me.
And that, my friends, is why I love Photoshop.
Here are a few more before and afters from the "I'll do my best to fix your photo" contest.
Clairz sent me this gorgeous sunrise she took from her patio. Quick...guess which state she lives in. New Mexico! This is what I call a "pajama shot" - a photograph taken on the spur of the moment in one's nightclothes because the light would be gone in the time it would take to get dressed. Had Clairz been appropriately attired, she might have been able to race across the street to capture the moment without the utility poles and wires in the way.
So through the magic of Photoshop's clone tool, spot healing brush, and patch tool, I tore down the poles and removed the wires, being careful to remove their corresponding reflections in the water below. It doesn't take any rocket science to do this sort of retouching - just alot of patience, with an emphasis on the "alot" part.
Pat in east TN sent me this note with the photo below: Just wondering if you can do anything with this picture of my beloved Doberman, Tori? A new background? Take away shadows? I have no clue and just thought maybe you could fix this up so I could get it printed and framed. She's been gone over 2 years now but holds such a special place in my heart.
This was going to be a tough one because the original image was small and of low resolution – 3.2" wide and 200 dpi. I would have to dive deep into my bag of tricks to give Pat something worth framing.
In this first attempt (above), I straightened the image, then removed the background and replaced it with another of Shadowhouse Creations' fabulous free textures. I also toned down the highlights on Tori's beautiful coat with PW's Dim the Lights action and popped the color with PW's Boost action. Then I sharpened here and sharpened there and lightened here and lightened there, but I still wasn't happy with the results. If this were printed no larger than 6" wide and I didn't wear my glasses, maybe it would be ok.
So I tried one more thing. I went into Photoshop's filter gallery and messed around until I found a combination of settings that turned the photograph into more of a representational image, leaving out the details which weren't really there to begin with.
I sent these to Pat and received this note: I love them both and thank you SO much for your time in making these unbelievable pictures of our special girl. You'll never know what this means to me.
And that, my friends, is why I love Photoshop.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Touch-it-up Thursday, episode 1
Ready to see some of the results from the "I'll do my best to fix your photo contest"?
Since some of you probably came over here to get your daily donkey fix, let's start with Gayle's photo. She wrote: Here's the lovely PrimRose, founder and reigning Queen of the PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary. She could use some help getting the shadow from her hat brim off of her face and doing away with those headless humans in the background.
Gayle took this picture of PrimRose at Shaeffer's 15th birthday party, which was a fundraiser for the PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary. Gayle and all the folks involved in the fundraiser and sanctuary are very special people, and I wanted to make PrimRose's portrait picture-perfect for them.
I replaced the background with a free texture from Shadowhouse Creations, lightened the shadows under the hat brim using curves, and ran Pioneer Woman's Lovely and Ethereal action to soften the harshness of the bright sunlight. I'm pretty pleased with the way this turned out. George and Alan think PrimRose is stunning and keep asking me to get her phone number.
This next photo of happy Haflingers Doc and Pippin is from Cyndi, at Living a Dream. She wrote: I lucked out and caught the boys rearing up in play with each other. It was a gray day, toward evening. There was patchy snow on the ground, a fence in the way and the guys are somewhat washed out by being back lit. I love the shot as I rarely see them rear up and play...and usually don't have a camera. I'd love to see the image brightened up!
Cyndi's original image was very large - 17" x 12.8" at 180 dpi. I'll do an entire post some day on the importance of starting with large images whenever you plan to do any processing and retouching, but until then, can we all agree to set the image size on our cameras to at least something on the order of 2896 x 1944? If you're using a point-and-shoot, choose the largest size/highest quality possible. Thank you very much.
I loved working on Cyndi's image because these two cutie-patooties kept looking at me as I was taking down their fence. Maybe they thought they'd be able to escape when I was done. Anyway, I used a combination of the clone, patch and spot healing brush tools to remove the fence and other distractions. Then I lightened it with curves, made the color warmer, added a thin gaussian blur layer on the non-horse areas, popped the color a bit with Pioneer Woman's Boost action, and cropped it. The happy Haflingers are showing their true colors now.
I'll post more before and afters from the contest next week. Until then, go find your camera manuals and figure out how to check those image size and quality settings. You never know when there might be another opportunity to win photo surgery from Rancher-Woman, PhD (Doctorer of Photography).
p.s. Contest winners, if you've sent me a photo and haven't gotten it back, not to worry. I hope to finish them all this weekend.
Since some of you probably came over here to get your daily donkey fix, let's start with Gayle's photo. She wrote: Here's the lovely PrimRose, founder and reigning Queen of the PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary. She could use some help getting the shadow from her hat brim off of her face and doing away with those headless humans in the background.
Gayle took this picture of PrimRose at Shaeffer's 15th birthday party, which was a fundraiser for the PrimRose Donkey Sanctuary. Gayle and all the folks involved in the fundraiser and sanctuary are very special people, and I wanted to make PrimRose's portrait picture-perfect for them.
I replaced the background with a free texture from Shadowhouse Creations, lightened the shadows under the hat brim using curves, and ran Pioneer Woman's Lovely and Ethereal action to soften the harshness of the bright sunlight. I'm pretty pleased with the way this turned out. George and Alan think PrimRose is stunning and keep asking me to get her phone number.
This next photo of happy Haflingers Doc and Pippin is from Cyndi, at Living a Dream. She wrote: I lucked out and caught the boys rearing up in play with each other. It was a gray day, toward evening. There was patchy snow on the ground, a fence in the way and the guys are somewhat washed out by being back lit. I love the shot as I rarely see them rear up and play...and usually don't have a camera. I'd love to see the image brightened up!
Cyndi's original image was very large - 17" x 12.8" at 180 dpi. I'll do an entire post some day on the importance of starting with large images whenever you plan to do any processing and retouching, but until then, can we all agree to set the image size on our cameras to at least something on the order of 2896 x 1944? If you're using a point-and-shoot, choose the largest size/highest quality possible. Thank you very much.
I loved working on Cyndi's image because these two cutie-patooties kept looking at me as I was taking down their fence. Maybe they thought they'd be able to escape when I was done. Anyway, I used a combination of the clone, patch and spot healing brush tools to remove the fence and other distractions. Then I lightened it with curves, made the color warmer, added a thin gaussian blur layer on the non-horse areas, popped the color a bit with Pioneer Woman's Boost action, and cropped it. The happy Haflingers are showing their true colors now.
I'll post more before and afters from the contest next week. Until then, go find your camera manuals and figure out how to check those image size and quality settings. You never know when there might be another opportunity to win photo surgery from Rancher-Woman, PhD (Doctorer of Photography).
p.s. Contest winners, if you've sent me a photo and haven't gotten it back, not to worry. I hope to finish them all this weekend.
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Saturday encore ~ Mon petit fleurs and a few thoughts on Photoshop ... and we announce the winners
First things first. Thanks to everyone for participating in the "I'll do my best to fix your photo" contest. I was trying to think of a clever way to randomly select the winner, but I couldn't. So I've decided that all 26 of you who left a comment on this post are winners. I will Photoshop the digital photo of your choice and make it as perfect as I know how.
Now don't go thinking I've lost my mind - there's something in this for me, too. I've been thinking that when I retire from my day job, I'll need to do something to keep busy, and fixing other people's photos might be one of those things. So fixing your photos will be a test to see if Photoshopping my way into old age is something I really want to do.
Here's what you need to do to claim your prize:
1. E-mail the picture you would like fixed to: the7msn at gmail dot com. Please send the highest resolution/largest file that you have. Or if your photo is available somewhere online, send me the link.
2. Tell me if there is something specific you would like to see fixed (e.g., remove my ex-husband, make me a blonde, get rid of those wrinkles), otherwise I'll use my best judgment and do to your photo what I do to mine - improve the color, maybe crop it, bring out the details, etc.
3. Let me know if I have your permission to share the before/after of your photo on this blog. This might be the start of a regular feature here – Touch-up Tuesday or something like that. We'll see. If you don't want your photo published here, that's perfectly fine, too.
Thanks again for playing along ... and helping me plan my future.
This post from November 2009 seems most appropriate for today's encore presentation because it's about ...you guessed it... Photoshop.
The feline bouquet was arranged for dinner.
Daffodil sat atop the washer, looking like the prim and polite pile of purr she pretends to be.
Rosebud relaxed on the dryer, with her one big ear and one little ear (a story for another time), staring soulfully into my eyes.
Snapper (officially Snapdragon) snarled while he waited for me to snag his dinner and stop snapping pictures.
The lighting was perfect, and the felines were looking their expressive best. Too bad about the yucky white appliances, the electric cords, and the not-so-flattering paint color on the walls behind them.
Enter Photoshop.
Applying textures in Photoshop seems to be all the rage these days, so I thought I'd give it a try. I like what this texture* does to these images. Almost makes me want to repaint the laundry room.
Photoshop is to today's digital photographer what the darkroom was to yesterday's film photographer – a tool to make a good photograph better, or to express or enhance one's style. I use it all the time, if for no other reason than to remove the specks that show up in the sky because I neglected to clean the camera lens.
*Texture is courtesy of Jessica Drossin Photography , via the MCP Actions site. Thank you, Jessica and Jodi.
Now don't go thinking I've lost my mind - there's something in this for me, too. I've been thinking that when I retire from my day job, I'll need to do something to keep busy, and fixing other people's photos might be one of those things. So fixing your photos will be a test to see if Photoshopping my way into old age is something I really want to do.
Here's what you need to do to claim your prize:
1. E-mail the picture you would like fixed to: the7msn at gmail dot com. Please send the highest resolution/largest file that you have. Or if your photo is available somewhere online, send me the link.
2. Tell me if there is something specific you would like to see fixed (e.g., remove my ex-husband, make me a blonde, get rid of those wrinkles), otherwise I'll use my best judgment and do to your photo what I do to mine - improve the color, maybe crop it, bring out the details, etc.
3. Let me know if I have your permission to share the before/after of your photo on this blog. This might be the start of a regular feature here – Touch-up Tuesday or something like that. We'll see. If you don't want your photo published here, that's perfectly fine, too.
Thanks again for playing along ... and helping me plan my future.
* * * * *
This post from November 2009 seems most appropriate for today's encore presentation because it's about ...you guessed it... Photoshop.
The feline bouquet was arranged for dinner.
Daffodil sat atop the washer, looking like the prim and polite pile of purr she pretends to be.
Rosebud relaxed on the dryer, with her one big ear and one little ear (a story for another time), staring soulfully into my eyes.
Snapper (officially Snapdragon) snarled while he waited for me to snag his dinner and stop snapping pictures.
The lighting was perfect, and the felines were looking their expressive best. Too bad about the yucky white appliances, the electric cords, and the not-so-flattering paint color on the walls behind them.
Enter Photoshop.
Applying textures in Photoshop seems to be all the rage these days, so I thought I'd give it a try. I like what this texture* does to these images. Almost makes me want to repaint the laundry room.
Photoshop is to today's digital photographer what the darkroom was to yesterday's film photographer – a tool to make a good photograph better, or to express or enhance one's style. I use it all the time, if for no other reason than to remove the specks that show up in the sky because I neglected to clean the camera lens.
*Texture is courtesy of Jessica Drossin Photography , via the MCP Actions site. Thank you, Jessica and Jodi.
Friday, June 11, 2010
FAQ Friday, episode 7
Welcome back to another episode of FAQ Friday, which you all are gracious enough to help me write by posing thoughtful questions during the week. Thanks, everybody!
From Brenda:
Q. I would love to see some of your sunsets with the animals... Just a request.
A.
I had some of you fooled with those encore pictures of Smooch doing her trick...
From Leah:
Q. Tripod and time lapse?
From C in WI:
Q. So who was the elf that sat above the cupboards taking the photos?
A. My sister was visiting when I posted those pictures originally. I had her stand on the counter and shoot down at us. Let this be a warning to any of you who might ever visit in person – we take advantage of our guests.
It's still unusually hot here for this time of year, and Wynonna is still seeking refuge in whatever mud she can make...
From Nancy in NC:
Q. So how many times do you have to fill her bowl on a daily basis?
A. Around five. Wynonna has me trained very well. The more I go out to check her water, the better her odds for getting an extra treat because I feel sorry for her.
From Carolynn and This DVM's Wife's Life:
Q. Wasn't it really cool just a short while ago...?
Q. Ugh.....that is very hot indeed. But is it humid?
I was still building fires in the woodstove the first week of May, so Spring lasted all of three weeks before the unofficial start of Summer. Yes, it's a dry heat, but so is a blast furnace. The strange thing is, even when it's over 100, there's no dripping sweat involved because it evaporates instantly. I guess that's a good thing?
From Maria and Elsewhere:
Q. These weather posts just made me wonder how the goat is doing in this heat?
Q. How's Willie? Haven't seen him in ages...
A. *Gulp* I last wrote about Willie here, on February 3. One week later, he fell while walking to his supper, and he couldn't get back up. I watched him struggle, then moved his food over to where he had fallen. Then I went inside to call the vet and make Willie's last appointment. I had been expecting this for awhile, but that didn't make it any easier. Anyway, a week after that and before I could bring myself to post about it, I lost Lyle. I couldn't handle any more sympathy at that point, so Willie never got a proper obituary. My bad. But I know he understands.
I was surprised by all the interest you showed in the Photoshop posts. I feared I might lose some of you forever after that...
From Cheryl:
Q. Will you teach me how to use Photoshop? Or at least Elements?
A. Ummm .... no. But only because there are excellent free tutorials available by the masters who actually know what they're doing. Seriously, I've been using Photoshop since 1995 because of my paying job, and after 10 years, I STILL have barely scratched the surface of what it can do (I'm now using version CS4). It is the most powerful and complicated software I have ever worked with. For those of you who are itching to make your photos better, Photoshop is probably way more than you need and I'd encourage you to look at Photoshop Elements instead. Many of the popular Actions that are available for Photoshop are also available for Elements.
From Penni:
Q. I feel very ignorant asking this, but what is PW? Actually, there were two programs that you'd mentioned were free -- where do we find them?
A. PW is Pioneer Woman...Penni, you need to get out more :-). The photography section of her blog contains free downloadable Photoshop Actions and a slew of tutorials on digital photography basics. She taught me something just yesterday about a button on my camera that I've been ignoring for two years because I hate reading manuals. You should see the bruise on my forehead from slapping it so hard. That's the thing about digital photography and Photoshop - you can learn something new every stinkin' day. Anyway, if you use any version of Photoshop, you'll want to check out PW's free Photoshop Actions right here. And Jodi at MCP Actions also has a blog with tutorials and actions available, some for free and others for purchase.
Speaking of free...
From kadfoto:
Q. That font you're using on the pictures is great.
A. Talk about a find ... you've got to check out Kevin and Amanda's free fonts.
From deejbrown:
Q. Tell us why the "final version of George is perfect the way it is." What are your parameters for a good photo overall?
A. I don't have a freakin' clue – at the moment – because I never tried to explain it in words. I just know a good photo when I see one. But I'll ponder this for awhile, then tackle the question in a post of its own.
Deets continues to work his charm wherever he goes. Dang, I love that cat...
From Shirley and Bibi:
Q. How did you come up with his name?
Q. As a devoted member of the Deets fan club, can you tell us why you named MY cat Deets?
A. My favorite book and western of all time is "Lonesome Dove," and Deets is one of my favorite characters therein – a loyal friend and expert tracker who happens to be black.
From Slingback:
Q. Is he getting skinnier, by the way? (I'm not saying you're not feeding him ...)
A. He does look a little lean standing up there on the edge, doesn't he? Like all good gymnasts, I think he was exaggerating his leg positions on this particular apparatus to achieve those long, graceful lines the judges love.
From Linda and Sam:
Q. My mammoth jennet ate a recently deceased blue belly lizard. She did this quite intentionally and methodically, first looking, then sniffing, then tasting, then crunching it up like a carrot. She liked it. Holy herbivores, Rancher-Woman, what am I to make of this?!
A. We've got blue belly lizards out the wazoo over here, and George and Alan don't touch them. Maybe because they are strict vegetarians? Or maybe Deets and Smooch get to them first?
From Carol Lane:
Q. Have George and Alan lost their wooly coats?
A. They're working on it. Burros have a strange way of shedding – they sort of work from both ends toward the middle. Right now, their butts and chests are wearing summer attire but their backs, sides and bellies are still wearing fur. Quite the fashion statements, those two.
Thanks again for your questions, everybody. We'll be back next Friday with more answers and behind-the-blog scoop for your inquiring minds.
From Brenda:
Q. I would love to see some of your sunsets with the animals... Just a request.
A.
I had some of you fooled with those encore pictures of Smooch doing her trick...
From Leah:
Q. Tripod and time lapse?
From C in WI:
Q. So who was the elf that sat above the cupboards taking the photos?
A. My sister was visiting when I posted those pictures originally. I had her stand on the counter and shoot down at us. Let this be a warning to any of you who might ever visit in person – we take advantage of our guests.
It's still unusually hot here for this time of year, and Wynonna is still seeking refuge in whatever mud she can make...
From Nancy in NC:
Q. So how many times do you have to fill her bowl on a daily basis?
A. Around five. Wynonna has me trained very well. The more I go out to check her water, the better her odds for getting an extra treat because I feel sorry for her.
From Carolynn and This DVM's Wife's Life:
Q. Wasn't it really cool just a short while ago...?
Q. Ugh.....that is very hot indeed. But is it humid?
I was still building fires in the woodstove the first week of May, so Spring lasted all of three weeks before the unofficial start of Summer. Yes, it's a dry heat, but so is a blast furnace. The strange thing is, even when it's over 100, there's no dripping sweat involved because it evaporates instantly. I guess that's a good thing?
From Maria and Elsewhere:
Q. These weather posts just made me wonder how the goat is doing in this heat?
Q. How's Willie? Haven't seen him in ages...
A. *Gulp* I last wrote about Willie here, on February 3. One week later, he fell while walking to his supper, and he couldn't get back up. I watched him struggle, then moved his food over to where he had fallen. Then I went inside to call the vet and make Willie's last appointment. I had been expecting this for awhile, but that didn't make it any easier. Anyway, a week after that and before I could bring myself to post about it, I lost Lyle. I couldn't handle any more sympathy at that point, so Willie never got a proper obituary. My bad. But I know he understands.
I was surprised by all the interest you showed in the Photoshop posts. I feared I might lose some of you forever after that...
From Cheryl:
Q. Will you teach me how to use Photoshop? Or at least Elements?
A. Ummm .... no. But only because there are excellent free tutorials available by the masters who actually know what they're doing. Seriously, I've been using Photoshop since 1995 because of my paying job, and after 10 years, I STILL have barely scratched the surface of what it can do (I'm now using version CS4). It is the most powerful and complicated software I have ever worked with. For those of you who are itching to make your photos better, Photoshop is probably way more than you need and I'd encourage you to look at Photoshop Elements instead. Many of the popular Actions that are available for Photoshop are also available for Elements.
From Penni:
Q. I feel very ignorant asking this, but what is PW? Actually, there were two programs that you'd mentioned were free -- where do we find them?
A. PW is Pioneer Woman...Penni, you need to get out more :-). The photography section of her blog contains free downloadable Photoshop Actions and a slew of tutorials on digital photography basics. She taught me something just yesterday about a button on my camera that I've been ignoring for two years because I hate reading manuals. You should see the bruise on my forehead from slapping it so hard. That's the thing about digital photography and Photoshop - you can learn something new every stinkin' day. Anyway, if you use any version of Photoshop, you'll want to check out PW's free Photoshop Actions right here. And Jodi at MCP Actions also has a blog with tutorials and actions available, some for free and others for purchase.
Speaking of free...
From kadfoto:
Q. That font you're using on the pictures is great.
A. Talk about a find ... you've got to check out Kevin and Amanda's free fonts.
From deejbrown:
Q. Tell us why the "final version of George is perfect the way it is." What are your parameters for a good photo overall?
A. I don't have a freakin' clue – at the moment – because I never tried to explain it in words. I just know a good photo when I see one. But I'll ponder this for awhile, then tackle the question in a post of its own.
Deets continues to work his charm wherever he goes. Dang, I love that cat...
From Shirley and Bibi:
Q. How did you come up with his name?
Q. As a devoted member of the Deets fan club, can you tell us why you named MY cat Deets?
A. My favorite book and western of all time is "Lonesome Dove," and Deets is one of my favorite characters therein – a loyal friend and expert tracker who happens to be black.
From Slingback:
Q. Is he getting skinnier, by the way? (I'm not saying you're not feeding him ...)
A. He does look a little lean standing up there on the edge, doesn't he? Like all good gymnasts, I think he was exaggerating his leg positions on this particular apparatus to achieve those long, graceful lines the judges love.
From Linda and Sam:
Q. My mammoth jennet ate a recently deceased blue belly lizard. She did this quite intentionally and methodically, first looking, then sniffing, then tasting, then crunching it up like a carrot. She liked it. Holy herbivores, Rancher-Woman, what am I to make of this?!
A. We've got blue belly lizards out the wazoo over here, and George and Alan don't touch them. Maybe because they are strict vegetarians? Or maybe Deets and Smooch get to them first?
From Carol Lane:
Q. Have George and Alan lost their wooly coats?
A. They're working on it. Burros have a strange way of shedding – they sort of work from both ends toward the middle. Right now, their butts and chests are wearing summer attire but their backs, sides and bellies are still wearing fur. Quite the fashion statements, those two.
Thanks again for your questions, everybody. We'll be back next Friday with more answers and behind-the-blog scoop for your inquiring minds.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Making better burros through technology...with a surprise at the end
I'll let you in on a little secret. Any time you see a picture here that is not in living color, it is because the original photograph was so bad I had to do something to salvage it, where "something" usually means converting it to a black and white or sepia-toned image.
Today I'm going to show you some ho-hum "before" pictures that, were it not for Photoshop, would never have seen the light of day on this blog. Then I'll show you the "after" versions and tell you what I did to rescue them.
Because I loved George's pose and the expression on his face, I couldn't throw this photo in the trash, so I...
1. Removed the distracting blobs of dirt with the clone tool
2. Applied PW's Boost action at 100%
3. Applied PW's Sepia action
4. Used the Patch tool and MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness to remove my shadow and make George stand out better from background.
Snow is supposed to be white, right? But it wasn't in this picture, and I wasn't about to go back outside and try again, so...
1. I converted the image to a black and white using the gradient map tool
2. Used Levels to lighten the shadows
3. Used MCP's High Definition sharpening at 37%
4. Used MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness to bring out the highlights in Alan's eye and darken his hair
5. Used PW's Sharpen This action around his eye and ear
Many of you have met Ellsworth and Bernard here or at their home. Oh, how I love these guys. And I love this picture of them...with the major exceptions of the color and the lighting and the composition.
Here's what I did to rescue them:
1. Cropped the picture so they wouldn't be smack dab in the middle
2. Applied PW's Sepia action
3. Used MCP's high definition sharpening at 43% on the burros - I masked it out of the background
4. Used MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness to bring out the details in the shadows
I loved this pose from the second I pressed the shutter, but the underexposure and morning hues ruined it. Drastic action was required.
1. On an adjustment layer, I increased the exposure by 1.66, then masked out the portions that weren't underexposed originally.
2. Cropped the image to leave out George's blurry tail which was bugging me.
3. Converted it to black and white using the gradient map tool.
4. Used MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness to bring out highlights in the eyes
This is one of three glamour shots I took of the boys that morning, which wound up in one of my favorite posts.
I know this tech-talk is boring some of you to death, so your reward for sticking with me until the end of this post is an impromptu giveaway. Do you have a digital photograph that needs a little help? Leave a comment on this post describing the image. I will randomly pick a winner and fix it for you.
The prize: I will Photoshop the digital photo of your choice and make it as perfect as I know how.
To enter: Give a brief description of your problem photo in the comments. A winner will be chosen at random. One entry per person, please.
Contest closes: Friday, June 11, 2010, 7:00pm Mountain time. The winner will be announced Saturday morning.
Number of winners: At least one.
Today I'm going to show you some ho-hum "before" pictures that, were it not for Photoshop, would never have seen the light of day on this blog. Then I'll show you the "after" versions and tell you what I did to rescue them.
Because I loved George's pose and the expression on his face, I couldn't throw this photo in the trash, so I...
1. Removed the distracting blobs of dirt with the clone tool
2. Applied PW's Boost action at 100%
3. Applied PW's Sepia action
4. Used the Patch tool and MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness to remove my shadow and make George stand out better from background.
Snow is supposed to be white, right? But it wasn't in this picture, and I wasn't about to go back outside and try again, so...
1. I converted the image to a black and white using the gradient map tool2. Used Levels to lighten the shadows
3. Used MCP's High Definition sharpening at 37%
4. Used MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness to bring out the highlights in Alan's eye and darken his hair
5. Used PW's Sharpen This action around his eye and ear
Many of you have met Ellsworth and Bernard here or at their home. Oh, how I love these guys. And I love this picture of them...with the major exceptions of the color and the lighting and the composition.
Here's what I did to rescue them:1. Cropped the picture so they wouldn't be smack dab in the middle
2. Applied PW's Sepia action
3. Used MCP's high definition sharpening at 43% on the burros - I masked it out of the background
4. Used MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness to bring out the details in the shadows
I loved this pose from the second I pressed the shutter, but the underexposure and morning hues ruined it. Drastic action was required.
1. On an adjustment layer, I increased the exposure by 1.66, then masked out the portions that weren't underexposed originally.2. Cropped the image to leave out George's blurry tail which was bugging me.
3. Converted it to black and white using the gradient map tool.
4. Used MCP's Touch of Lightness/Darkness to bring out highlights in the eyes
This is one of three glamour shots I took of the boys that morning, which wound up in one of my favorite posts.
I know this tech-talk is boring some of you to death, so your reward for sticking with me until the end of this post is an impromptu giveaway. Do you have a digital photograph that needs a little help? Leave a comment on this post describing the image. I will randomly pick a winner and fix it for you.
The prize: I will Photoshop the digital photo of your choice and make it as perfect as I know how.
To enter: Give a brief description of your problem photo in the comments. A winner will be chosen at random. One entry per person, please.
Contest closes: Friday, June 11, 2010, 7:00pm Mountain time. The winner will be announced Saturday morning.
Number of winners: At least one.
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