Every Day is a New Miracle

That's about how I feel today.  With so much negative happening in the world, I think I'm just so lucky to live where I do.  I'm grateful for my good fortune.  Every morning when I wake up I remind myself how fortunate I am to be where I am.

  

I have been attempting to get a good shot of an object in back lighting.  I tried all sorts of things and didn't have any luck. Then, the other day, I just happened to walk by the bathroom and saw the light streaming in behind my beautiful Double Delight roses.  I ran and got my phone so I could snap them right at that moment.   These two SOOC images show the light beautifully,  but the images themselves are not great. I certainly didn't like the window crank showing in the background.  And….the countertop is not straight in the image.

 What to do…..  Using the top image I adjusted as much as possible in Lightroom and then took into Photoshop.  

I added a layer of Kim's "Cherish Scripted" on soft light 100% opacity and toned the texture down on the roses.  I then added a layer of Kim's "Word" on overlay 30%.  I went back into LR and added a hint of a vignette and a minimal border.

It's okay….just not a favorite.

Textures do make a difference and I tried several before I settled on these.  I had to stop though or I would have been linking to Texture Thursday instead of Texture Tuesday.

I think the second image shows the light better.  Adjustments in LR - no textures or presets on this one.  Actually I think I prefer it.

I wish you all a creative week!

Amaryllis in Bloom

Five days in the life of an Amaryllis.  I've always been fascinated with the Amaryllis and how quickly it comes into bloom, once it makes up its mind to do so.  I swear I think the stem grows 2 inches every day when it begins.

I decided to make a photo project out of its life in bloom.

Every morning I took a photo pretty much at the same time of day.  I also wanted to play with depth of field and focus-falloff for Be Still

Day 1 with Kim's "Whisper" preset

Day 2 with Kim's " On Air" preset

Day 3 with her "Organic" preset

Day 4 with "Moody-ish"

and Day 5 with Serendipitous  (I really like this one.)

and a Lightroom 4-square offset

For those of you who are reluctant to attempt Lightroom, let me say that no one could be more intimidated than I, and I agree….it's a huge learning curve, but as Kim says….oh so worth it.  I still have so much to learn and I forget along the way if I don't work with a particular technique.  I just go back to Kim's class and refresh my memory.

Linking up with Texture Tuesday, Be Still 52 and The Studio

 

You can't use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have.
      ~Maya Angelou

Spring has Sprung in Southern CA

Last week I went with my friends from Eastside Art Group to visit San Juan Capistrano Mission.  My photos for the most part were not terribly good.  It was just about high noon and sun was directly overhead.  I tried adjusting exposure but need some practice with that on my iPhone. I did get this one image of beautiful spring tulips and decided to play with it for Texture Tuesday.

I first used an HDR preset from Trey Ratcliff, one of my favorite photographers.  You can see his work here. I think the HDR really made them pop. I haven't yet tried using HDR setting on my iPhone.  

I then used Kim's "Dark Mood" preset and got this totally 

different look….

Finally I added a layer of Kim's texture "Peeling Paint" and a layer of her "Warm Grunge" to get another altogether different look.

I'm linking up with Texture Tuesday and you can see more by clicking the button below.

See you soon.

~ Give ~

Week 9 of Be Still

This week's lesson was not a new lesson, rather we took a "breather". In these images I worked on composition a little more - also worked with light (from the side).  I need to figure out a place where I can photograph a still life with light from the back.  So I'll return to that lesson. In the first image I used Kim's "Like a Dream" preset but bumped up the contrast a bit.  I also used an impasto texture called "Rumba" from French Kiss Textures.  It gives the image a painterly look.

I used Kim's "Providence" preset on the image below and then added text in PS.

On the final image below I adjusted in Lightroom and then used a filter in Topaz Adjust.  

I took shots from different angles.  I like shooting from above.

If you want to learn how to do these various techniques, I highly recommend Kim's classes.  I've taken several and they are all outstanding with great videos, concise explanations and all the tools one could want for editing photos.  A friendly community of fellow photo editing artists await you too.

I'm submitting this for Texture Tuesday and Be Still.

See you soon.
~ Give ~