Clean Color Edits

and of course, blogger does a craptastic job of keeping the photo looking good in both scenarios.....it didn't look this bad on my computer.

**edit: I just looked at these at work, they look absolutely HORRIBLE!
The clean color edits looked really nice on my computer at home. These = YUCK!

more clone stamped photos

The clone stamp tool (aka: photoshop frustration)

SOOC:


Edited


Now, I need to figure out how to swap heads for the family photo....

{editing ideas}

so friends, i took some maternity photos this week and was IN LOVE with them.  but am feeling limited by my ps knowledge.  i have ps 7 and some freebie actions.  here are two photos i would take your advice or tips on editing...

photo 1 unedited.

photo 1: with pioneer woman "dim the lights"

 photo 2 unedited.

photo 2: not sure which action...probably pioneer woman "warmer" and a "quick edge burn"

looking back, i wish i had taken my photoflex gigantic reflector to bounce some of that light back onto her...or changed my metering.  it's just too dark of a photo.  in the edited photo number 2 you can see how wonky her arm/hand look from being lightened just a little.

at any rate...give me your thoughts.  

thanks!

a 

one last shot.....

So, how did I do???

I used "Paint the Moon" actions on it, a "remove orange/red" action. It took a while to figure out how to use it correctly....

But, I think it looks much better....I also used Totally Rad Actions "Pro Retouch" on her face and Sparkly Eyes (from PTM)

I have absolutely no idea how to do that without an action.

Inspiration

After looking at Karen's blog today, I'm truly inspired to change up the colors in my bedroom!

I can't get the colors in this collection of fabrics out of my head!

While I would love to have a white comforter, my kids lay in our bed and watch movies and the dirty little dog with muddy paws sleeps on our bed every night.....

Her photos in her living room are so inspiring to me! I can't even stand it! I just love them!

The inside of my house photographs so poorly! I made a snap decision a few years ago, before I (we) were into photography to paint our dining room, that faces north, a dark Moroccan Red on one wall and tan on the others....I'm realizing that we will NEVER get decent photos in there, natural light is limited and red doesn't photograph well.

Our living room, which is small, is the only room in the house that we haven't touched since moving in. It still has the icky walls that are covered with a creamy colored damask wallpaper. Top it off with blue carpet and we've got a living room that was decorated for my 80 year old grandma in 1980. It's awful!

UGH, just typing this makes me desparately want to do something different, but I don't know that I can deal with the mess and the fact that it takes my husband FOREVER to do something or at least make a decision of HOW to do something.

Not to mention, he has to point out everything that is wrong with our old house (that my grandpa built in 1934 and we got a GREAT deal on!)....

Thanks for letting me vent! I'd love to know how your homes photograph? so that when I do get around to have the work done, I have some ideas to work off of!

A Spring Wedding....

Went to a friends wedding the other night. I wasn't going to bring my camera bag, very glad that I did. There was no one there to take photos.
They didn't turn out fabulous, but are better than nothing! ideas for making a collage for them are welcome!

Tommy and Bobbie's Wedding Album

Juli

Flickr Group - Snapshot Girls

Created a Flickr Group so we can maybe start doing some of our own practice/assignments/challenges... come join!

SNAPSHOT GIRLS FLICKR GROUP

I like our blog, but HATE that it doesn't show who posted unless you "sign" your post. UGH

-Sherri

Check out this new camera bag!

they're having an awesome contest, check it out!
I've not seen this camera bag in person, but it looks lovely!

hmmm..

calling all photoshop pros...

(yes, that would be you sherri!!)

a good friend, and photographer, took some family photos for me tonight. she was so kind to just put them all on a disc and send me on my way...so that i could do my own photoshop "magic" to the images. the only problem is that i'm not so well versed in ps.

it was a bit challenging to get the kiddos to cooperate - especially by the end of our session. so this one looks rather crazy...but it's pretty accurate to how our life is all the time! which makes it much more meaningful!

so the problem i'm pondering: how do you smooth out that crease in the backdrop fabric?? my photog friend made a comment that it could be fixed in ps...but i'm not able to pull that bunny out of my hat!

(is this where those kelby podcasts would come in handy juli?)

Camera Bags

I don't know about you, but I sort of have a thing for bags and now it has extended to camera bags. I've tried several different models and have found one that I really like....The Crumpler Six Million Dollar Home. It's a great bag.

But, I have always wanted something that doesn't scream "CAMERA BAG!" when I carry it!

For over a year, I've had my eye on the Jill-E medium black leather camera bag. Love the looks of it, there is room for personal stuff and I wouldn't have to carry my purse when we got somewhere with this one.... It is leather and lovely!

I've never ordered one, because I could never choke down the $240 price tag....well, drool no more!

Thanks to this fabulous new shopping tool called http://www.bing.com/ you get cashback rewards for shopping through their website with your favorite participating retailers. So, today I was looking at the stores that offer the most cashback rewards and saw that eBags gives 20% back to your PayPal account if you use it.....So, it piqued my interest. Low and behold, Jill-E bags are sold at eBags.com and they had a sale of 20% off. So, I ordered one (finally) and paid for it with the money that I made selling all my scrapbooking stamps....$85 off the price of the bag! of course, 40 of that is credited to me later, but still....it is a lot easier to choke down the price of the bag when it is $150 rather than $240!

Photography Podcasts

Have you ever seen these? I hang out over on Jessica Sprague's forum occasionally and someone mentioned that these podcasts were great, but only directed toward Nikon users....since Sherri has gone to the darkside, she has probably seen these before...she also knows everything Scott Kelby.
Anyhow, I thought I would check it out today because I am on an incredibly boring conference call today. Low and behold, it is NOT for all things Nikon, it's for Canon users as well...check it out:
Kelby Photography Podcasts

Beyond Snapshots

Jenny posted this to her blog. Check it out. It looks like they'll have some good information for sharing.....

.xmp files in photoshop

Do you keep these files?
Can I delete the bazillion .xmp files that are on my computer?
How can I stop them from ending up in my folders?

When I used elements, I could stop having them show up in the folder when I edited photos, but I can't seem to stop them in CS4....

Also, can't wait to see everyone favorite Christmas photos! It was a year ago, we were going full throttle in the Photographers' Workshop! and we haven't stopped since then!