Portraits

I have expanded my business to include Portrait sessions.

I have shot 6 teenagers in the past two weeks and am LOVING it! I have so missed being around teenagers, since leaving teaching. These fun photo shoots have been so rewarding and exciting.

I have put up 4 new galleries on my website, feel free to go take a peek. There will be many more additions in the upcoming weeks.

I have officially gone on "vacation" from my two etsy shops for the next two weeks to get the portrait aspect of my business running smoothly and efficiently. Prints of my fine art photographs are now available on my website, and I will be reopening my etsy shops again in 2 weeks. There are a few things in the works around my Monarch store, and I will update you as they materialize.

I was negligent in getting up the tips about textures so here they are in rough form:) There are great tips on textures in {ash} on flickr and from redleaf .

On to my silly tutorial:

1. Open the photograph in PS that you would like to apply the texture to.
2. Open the texture photograph and be sure that you go into image>size for both and that the resolution is the same.
3. Click on the + icon in the PS menu and then drag the texture photo onto the photo you opned to apply the texture to. That was a run on sentenece:)
4. Now go to the layers palette and click on the window that says normal-you should get a drop down menu with many options. I am new t this so I just go through all the options and then usually settle on soft light or overlay. Then I adjust the opacity.
5. Now when using textures over people-often you will want the texture to be more transparent there than in the rest of the photo. I came across a tip somewhere that you can highlight the texture layer in the layers palette and then go to the lasso tool in the menu bar to the left. trace around the face/part of the photo you want to have less of the texture on. Once you have closed the selection by meeting the point where you started the lasso-you will see the marching ants line around it. Now go to select>inverse.
6. Now go to filter>blur>gaussian blur and select maybe 10 to start. Press ok. You should now be able to see more of the face/object now that the texture is blurred.


Good luck.

I am super duper busy so that is why I have been so absent. Hopefully things will get into a steady rhythm and I can post about other techniques I am learning.

Interview with Eden from Eden photography

When I first saw Eden's photographs on flickr I fell instantly in love. Her lighting, tones and textures are just divine and make my heart sing.

I decided to send her a flickr mail to see if she would be up for a swap-something from my store in exchange for some of her expertise. I was delighted when she responded with warmth and openess. I sent her a few questions and asked her if I could post her responses here to share with you, and she agreed so here they are......

Thea: What camera do you use?

Eden: A friend recommended the Canon 30D to me in 2006, and since I was so new to photography and hadn’t even looked around yet, I took her advice and bought the 30D later that summer. I’d saved up that summer while doing lawncare/landscaping with my brother!

…of course, an upgrade is already in the works. :D

Thea: What lens(es) did you use for your profile pic on flickr, and the backlit pictures?

Eden: I used the 50mm 1.8 for my profile picture- that’s why it’s such a close up! I think my arm hurt after holding the camera out so far!

I also have an 85mm 1.8, and 24-70 2.8. And lately I’ve been playing around with my Lensbaby! It’s taken some practice to get the focus just right, but I love the artsy look!

Thea: What do you do to ensure that the front of the backlit object/person is not too shadowed?

Eden: I try to shoot in Manual mode and meter off their face, and if needed, then I’ll bump the curves in Photoshop later on. I have a reflector too, but then my clients think I’m trying to blind them… :D

Thea: It seems you deleted some of your photos from flickr? There were some from a while back that you took, that were so soft yet didn't seem blurry. What do you do when you are aiming for one of those shots?

Eden: I double-checked and those pictures are hidden right now. I guess my pro account expired! I’ll get right on that.. :D

The eyes! Focus on the eyes. Sometimes extra “DOF” is added in photoshop too. :D

Thea: Do you shoot in A, P or Manual? I have been playing more with manual mode.

Eden: I shoot in Auto.

…just kidding! It’s either manual or Av mode.

Thea: Do you vary ISO often or is there a setting you prefer?

Eden: I leave my ISO around 200 (I think)…I never really notice it until I’m inside and my shutter speed is 1/8! ;D

Thea: Is there an action (s) you use for getting the last pic on your blog of your friend Ajah? It looks backlit but her face is so well lit and the overall glowy effect is fabulous.

Eden: Thanks! I’m trying to remember, and I think that was mostly playing around in photoshop with textures and curves!

Thea: How did/do you figure out how to price your photo shoots?

Eden: I guess everyone has this problem, and there’s really no straight answer for every individual- I’m still not sure about my own prices! But check out the prices in your area and “meter” off those. :D

Thea: Do you sell prints or digital files and what made you make that choice?

Eden: For clients I sell prints only. Occasionally digital files are needed for actor headshots, or weddings, but I don’t advertise photo CDs. And for the reason? Nothing against 1-hour Walmart, but I guess I’d just like to see my work printed professionally. :D

For everyone else, framed prints by Eden Photography are in the works!

-Eden

eden.photography@mac.com

www.edenphotography.biz

Making an action for rounded edges.

I have been wanting to learn how to make rounded corners in PS.

I looked it up and this is what I have done to get these rounded edges. I would love any shortcuts or ways to make this process easier.

I do not know how to take screen shots in ps yet so I will make a list. If you get stuck on one of the steps, email me and maybe I can help.

1. You need to know the pixel height and width of photographs straight out of your camera. You can find this out by opening a RAW file (or whatever size you shoot in) in PS. Go to Image>Imagesize. You should see the width and height of your photo in pixels. Write it down and then exit image size.

2. You now should still have the image straight out of the camera (SOOC) open in PS. If you want to make this an action, so you can apply this to all of the images you want with just one click, then go to Window in the main toolbar. Window>actions. Now there should be a pop up window
with the first tab (history) and the second tab (actions). Click on the second tab (actions). Go to the small arrow on the right. Click it and a drop down menu should appear. Click on New action. After clicking on this a new pop up box will appear. Name the action. I made two actions, one for horizontal photos and one for vertical photos. So I named the first one Rounded edges horizontal. I also checked off the default folder. This is where you will find the action once it is completed.

3. Go to Rectangle tool (in PS3 it is the icon on the side menu bar below the arrow)
right click to get drop down menu. Pick rounded rectangle tool.

4. Go to top menu bar and below edit and image you should see three boxes- pick the middle one (paths).

5. Next pick feather pixel dimension-this is how rounded you want the edges. The bw of my son has 70px feather and the color one has 125.

6. Go to the down arrow to the left of radius- geometry options drop down menu. Click and then eneter the pixel dimensions for height and width that you wrote down at the beginning when you opened a photo and checked it's size.

7. You will not be able to close this without actually making a fixed sized rectangle with the rounded edges, so when the numers are in, get ready, click BUT DO NOT RELEASE THE MOUSE BUTTON until you have moved the rectangle over the photo to the right spot. Once you let go it will stay there. If you mess up-go back int he history one step and then do over. This may mess up your action recording.

8. Now go to the layers box-it should have 3 tabs-layers, channels and paths. Click Paths. Then click on the small arrow on the right for the drop down menu, and click make a selection.
Now your rounded rectangle should have the marching ants around it.

9. Go to select>inverse
you have now selected the little square corners.

10. Click delete

11. Now go to the actions box and at the bottom click on the square. This will stop recording your action.

Viola!

Changes

I have been having a bit of a struggle with blogger. The new design tool/erditor just throws me through a loop.

I will keep at it, I am sure to figure it out eventually. For now I am using the simpliest layout.

I had a recent photoshoot with my darling sweet friend Denise who came to visit me for a fun girly getaway.

Here are some of the photos I have been working on. I have had so much fun working with these.