Tracter; June 9, 2010; 5:06 pm; Rexburg Library; f 1.8, 1/3200; Canon Rebel XS; 85 mm

This week we were supposed to create a fine art template for images. I had taken some pictures of construction I and thought that they would make some great photographs for the fine art template. I first tried combining them into one but quickly found out that they didn’t work together and that may be because I shot them in black and white and they just got lost together.

Construction; June 9, 2010; 5:04 pm; Rexburg Library; f 1.8, 1/1600; Canon Rebel XS; 85 mm

This is the other image that I wanted to use and combine with the first image. I really liked both of these and thought that it would be a fun little thing together. I really like the image in black and white because I think that it adds more to the image and makes it into a different photograph.

So I ended up just using the second image for the template. I created some boxes in photoshop as one object then simply took the image and made a clipping mask of it. I was surprised to find that it really makes the image look more artsy. It is was a fun edit to use and can add a lot to images if used correctly.

Sky; June 14, 2010; 11:42 pm; My Apartment; f 3.5, 5 min; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

We were also supposed to show boarders this week and I used some different shots. I took a photograph for photographics society and decided to use it here. It is a farm at night, and I really wanted to show the stars. I used a hide reveal technique where I made an object in illustrator and then brought it over and just did a clipping mask. It was fun.

Sign; May 21, 2010; 8:45 am; Dubois; f 1.4, 1/400; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

I decided to use one of the pictures that I took on our trip out to Bannak. For the edit I took the marque tool and made a square in the middle of the image. I then deleted the middle of a copied layer of the image then put a stroke on it. The picture is SOOC besides the border I put on it.

Another one of the assignments was to take the pictures for the last assignment and create a spread for a book. I made this template to show the weeks progress. In order to make this template I had to make images and make them into clipping masks. A clipping mask will cut the image down and create a cool effect. For the white boarder around the edge of the image you just need to add a stroke to the image. I added another layer behind everything and added some stamps.

Along with the portrait assignments we were asked to edit the portraits that I took. There were a few different edits that we could choose from, and I did all of them.

Lumo; May 31, 2010; 5:10 pm; Rexburg Temple; f 2.8, 1/50; Canon Rebel XS; 28 mm

This edit is called the lumonisty effect. It is an effect from a photoshop guru that shows some cool and fun effects. This edit you take the highlights and shadows in a channel then do some fun things to create the image above. What is also fun, the original image can be cropped in more because you are only making a selection and it doesn’t distort the pixels.

This is the original image before it was cropped down and given the Lumo effect. What a difference huh?

Above; May 29, 2010; 6:22 pm; Idaho Falls Temple; f 1.4, 1/2000; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

The other day we had some friends that we took some bridal and wedding shots of, even though it had been a few years since they were married. We did it to get some experience and just try new things. Always fun to do when you can. I like this photo because of the really shallow depth of field. The edits I did with this one was brighten the eyes and teeth; also I evened the skin. The following image is the original and you can see the difference.

Tie; May 31, 2010; 5:31 pm; Rexburg Temple; f 5.0, 1/50; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

Another edit we were required to do was to take an element of the image and change it into a different color using color replace. Well I decided to do it to his tie because it was the brightest color in the photo. Changing the tie color actually changed the lips and other skin elements so I had to mask out everything besides the tie. The original image is below.

Match Color; May 31, 2010; 3:22 pm; Rexburg Temple; f 3.5, 1/400; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

This last edit, we were supposed to match the color from one picture to another. I think this is a good skill to learn, but I don’t really know when I will use it besides trying to combine two images. I personally don’t like doing that much stuff in photoshop but I also know you get some strange request some times. I had a little trouble to get the image to look somewhat similar but eventually did it. The image above is matched to the image below. Also the last image in this post is the original.

One of the best and most useful things that any photographers could use is the camera raw settings in photoshop. It is one of the best ways to not commit the atrocity of destructive photoshop. You can really do some cool things in Camera Raw and if you haven’t learned how or if you just choose not to you should really rethink your methods. So here is an example of some of the things that you can do in camera raw.

Temple Spire; May 15, 2010; 5:49 pm; Downtown Rexburg; f 2.8, 1/400; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

On Saturday I was asked to take some pictures of this little guy before he was going in for surgery. I wanted to edit this photo and change it just a little so that he would be accented a little more. So in camera raw I changed the tone of the picture a little as well as increased the clarity and even added a vignette on the photograph. It was all done in just a matter of clicks and just to give you an idea of what it looked like before. What the cool thing is, this was a jpg that still can be open up with camera raw.

On my travels around Rexburg to try and find some interesting things to photograph. I found these numbers for a house that were on some really old wood. One of the numbers had started to fall off and I thought that it would have made an interesting photograph. Of course I edited this in camera raw and did a number of things to it. I desaturated it, changed the tint, changed the exposure, add a vignette, increased clarity and also did a few other things.

Temple Spire; May 16, 2010; 4:45 pm; Rexburg ID; f 1.4, 1/800; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

I really liked how it turned out but again you should look at the before to get an idea what Raw adjusting can do.

Patriot Bridge; May 8, 2010; 4:11 pm; Somewhere here in Rexburg; f 22, 1/60; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

Have you seen those hope posters of President Barrack Obama where it is blue and red with, what looks like or so I thought, a poster cut out effect. So I tried to do that on my own and I got the picture above. It actually turned out kind of fun and I decided to keep it to demonstrate the how to use smart filters and  the wonderful free mask they come with.

So here is the image and how I took the picture. I then continued to create two different pictures, one red and one blue. I did this by using a two adjustment layers and just changing the hue of the image to get the blue and red I wanted. After making each layer a smart object I used the poster edges filter to create the black outlines around the edges. Here are the two pictures of red and blue.

Blue tinted bridge

Red tinted bridge

I also wanted to mess with adjustment layers a little more. I absolutely love adjustment layers and what they can do for a picture. They are the way to enhance any photo and make them look a little better. While I was at the zoo I took some pictures of these flamingos and thought it would be fun to try and make one of them look like an albino. Here is the picture that I got.

Albino flamingo, May 7, 2009; 3:30 pm; Idaho Falls Zoo; f 1.4; 1/4000; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

With this image I took the image and copied the layer to make sure that I didn’t mess anything up. After I had copied the layer, in photoshop, I made a new black and white adjustment layer. This made the entire picture black and white.

Black and white Flamingo

The adjustment layer comes with a mask so you can get rid of the parts that you don’t want to show. From there I used the new advanced selection tools in Photoshop CS5 to make a pretty nice selection. From there it was only a matter painting out the parts that I didn’t want to show. Digital imaging really can help change the view of a photograph and make it a little interesting.

A photographer needs to be able to photograph their surroundings with out the idea in his/her head that they are just going to go fix this in photoshop. I know I have caught myself doing that from time to time and I really have made an effort not to do that lately. This time however, I totally took this picture to do exactly that. I kept with my theme of color, which has been my theme for the past week and this is what I got.

Mossy Street; May 3, 2010; 4:38 pm; Downtown Rexburg; f 22, 1/80; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

The picture above was the end product to my preemptive desire to change it on the computer. I planned to take this shoot and then add the following photo of moss that I got from a stock image place.

I used a blending mode with also another layer of green just to give it a little more greenage. Here is actually what the original picture looked like.

Sidewalk; May 3, 2010; 4:38 pm; Downtown Rexburg; f 22, 1/80; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

For another assignment, we were supposed to take a picture and combine it with text layers. I personally liked the picture just by its self but I thought that the graffiti was a fun little touch with this image.

Graffiti

For this image I took a graffiti font that I downloaded and wrote on the wall “James was here.” I hand drew in the color of the text with the brush tool and then I masked out the part that was covering the trash can. Then I took some more text and added it all over. Here is what the original photo looked like, which I was quite fond of.

Trash stands out; May 3, 2010; 4:45 pm; Downtown; f 3.2, 1/2600; Canon Rebel XS; 50 mm

I was able to really test how to meter light with my camera for this photograph so that it would be exposed correctly. It was a fun little shot and less embarrassing than others because it was tucked behind an alley way in Rexburg.