Orange?

Yeah, that’s a fun photo challenge…

Huh, well, since I haven’t taken a pic of anything orange, I’ll just Photoshop it!

OK, I admit, sloppy job since I’m in a hurry to get out the door today….

Everyday things… II

The Pitch - more playing with PhotoShop…

As if I haven’t bored everyone enough…

Honestly, this is fun for me, and the feedback helps me fine tune my playing since other eyes see things I don’t necessarily.

These are shots from our Thanksgiving trip to the lake - and I’ve really been searching for ways to make them workable - the sun was low, there was such a strong amount of backlight (great silhoutte shots!) but the kids were having fun, and so was Mom…

Typical male - The Boy had to find a variety of things to chuck in the water, and so…

That last is my favorite - so typical of my kid … And that’s the one I’ve played with… Variations on a theme:

Fun with PhotoShop - a look at balls

In my quest for taking better pictures, I’m also learning about better photo editing… Maybe in a perfect world, with a perfect set up, a photographer who is extremely talented might produce a photo that requires little to no editing…

However, I live in a place I like to call “reality” and in that reality, sometimes - often times, pictures need help. I also know that sometimes a perfectly good picture becomes more interesting with a little help.

This isn’t a tutorial - heck no! I turn to others for that! This is just a little look into my journey of learning cool things to do with my pictures.

My subject for this experiment? A box of used golf balls, still icky with grass and dirt.

That’s the unadulterated shot - the only “work” done to it was to brighten it up a bit because it was a tad dark.

Just for fun, I played with the Solarize filter in PhotoShop. We’ve used this at work to create some rather interesting shots - and it can be very cool - try it out, it’s fun.

Then I turned to a place I love - The Light’s Right Studio - and used a couple of their (these particular ones are free!) PhotoShop “actions” - which are basically short cuts to some really neat effects…

A little retro B&W thanks to a conversion of theirs… I love the look of this one.

Who said B&W was all the same?

Another of their B&W actions - producing a totally different feel.

Like I said - this ain’t a tutorial! But playing with pics is fun, and it can certainly take something from the ho-hum into the extraordinary with just a few clicks.

Oh, and just for you T - I made these pics a tad bit smaller… ;->

Me-n-PhotoShop

Yeah, I admit it - I’m a dimwit when it comes to this stuff… That’s what Art Departments are for, right?

Slowly but surely, my exasperated Art Director is teaching me a thing or two about taking decent pics, and playing with them in PhotoShop. I’m still in the PS 4 Dummies stage!

Meanwhile, the fruits of my labors, a “Before” and “After” set of The Girl. I’m pretty dang proud of myself.

OK, let’s be honest - the “Before” isn’t bad. It’s not great, but it’s not bad for a casual “portrait” style shot either. The colors are a little flat, the background is distracting, and The Girl looks a bit washed out (yeah, she’s pale, but she’s not THAT pale!)

Better, the background isn’t as distracting, the subject pops a bit, and the colors are much truer to life, though I need to learn to have a lighter hand on some of it… I just keep reminding myself - I will get better, practice makes perfect?