Night & Light

"Highway Lights". 10/8/10, 11:26 pm. Mile marker 396, I-15 southbound, Utah. f/4.5. 30 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod. Edits on this image are added fill light, brightness, contrast, clarity, sharpness, and the addition of a vignette in RAW.

I captured this image while I was waiting for a tow truck one night--my car had broken down while I was driving to Utah for a floral conference the next day. Since I knew I'd be there awhile I got out my camera and tripod and did some shooting.

"Nappy time". 11/10/10, 9:30 pm. Rexburg, Idaho. f/4.8. 15 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod, green lazer. Edits are adjustments on blacks, brightness, and contrast in RAW. Then I lowered the saturation for the reds, oranges, yellows, blues, purples, and magentas, and added a slight vignette, also in RAW.

I like the monochromatic look better than the original image because the toxic green stands out more when it's not competing to be the main element. If you want to see the original image, check out my other blog, here.

"The Lake House". 11/10/10, 10:00 pm. Rexburg, Idaho. f/13. 5 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod. For editing I adjusted the recovery, fill light, blacks, contrast, clarity and cropped image in RAW.

To get this light painting effect I focused on the TV and as the image exposed I zoomed the lens in and out to get the 3D look.

Cutouts

"Bench". 10/29/10, 12:58 pm. Outside the Smith Building, BYU-Idaho Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. f/9. 1/200 sec. - Nikon D60. Edits are increasing the blacks and contrast in RAW.
To get this cutout, I brought the image into Photoshop, and created a new layer with a white marquee rectangle over the part of the image I wanted to cut out on top of the background layer. I then lowered the rectangles opacity so I could see through it, and using black paint I used a mask to paint back the parts of the image I wanted to keep. Once I was finishing bringing back the bench and rosebush, I increased the rectangles opacity again, and had a finished image.


"Honda". 10/23/10, 8:18 am. Barney Dairy Road, Sugar City, Idaho. f/10. 1/60 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod. Changed the white balance in RAW.
To cut this image out, I opened the original in Photoshop, used the quick select tool to select the car and passenger. I then saved the quick selection because I knew I would use it again. I then refined the edge by adjusting the contrast, feather, and smoothness. I also added a small drop shadow. I then dragged the cut out Honda into a new document with the same dimensions and ppi.

From there I created a new layer below the Honda's layer, selected the cutout, and under the Edit menu selected Fill, and 50% gray. On that layer I used a blending mode of multiply, and copied the layer to make the pseudo shadow darker and more realistic looking. Next with both "shadow" layers selected I used the transform tool, and the warp transform tool to move the shadow to where I would expect it to be for the light levels on the rest of the car. Lastly I added a 10px Gaussian blur on the shadow layers, and then used the history brush to restore the crispness of the shadow near the tires.

Malad Morning

"Malad morning", 36 x 24 on canvas. 10/27/10 - 10:22 AM - Crowther Reservoir, Malad, Idaho. Nikon D60, manual exposure, f/25, 1/15 sec., tripod.


As for edits, this might get a bit tricky . . . I didn't write them down, but I most definitely did at least three. In camera raw I raised recovery, blacks, lowered the contrast, brought up the clarity, and increased the saturation. Then in Photoshop I used the clone tool to remove a bunch of little black blotches--my sensor must have been VERY dirty that morning. Next I resized the image to 31 x 19 inches to allow for the canvas wrapping, and then a half inch border around the image to allow some white space. I then added canvas space, 2.5 inches on each side of the image to bring it back to 36 x 24 inches, and created guides so I knew where the edges were and how to gauge my white space. I then saved the image and reopened it because I was going to use the history brush tool a bunch.

With the reopened file I added a few different artistic filters, colored pencil, dry brush, paint daubs, palette knife, and watercolor, I believe. With each filter I added I took a snapshot of the new look, and then went back to the original image in the history palette, and added a new filter, and on and on. I also added an adjustment layer and messed with the hue so that the sky was violet--then took another snapshot and went back to the original image.

From there I've got six different "palettes" to paint from. I selected the entire image, deleted it, replacing it with white. Next using thick heavy brushes I used my history brush to "paint" from my six different palettes the image back in at 30% opacity. Once I was done painting I added my signature, which I made in Illustrator, and gave the signature a slight drop shadow. After everything was in place and I liked the image I saved the image, then flattened the image and saved it again. WHEW!

5. The photo-painting process creates a more painted look, and gives the rough edges. I'm going to do this technique for my tutorial, so the class will have a better idea of what I actually did. I chose this image because it was something I hadn't turned in before, and I think it would display well on canvas with the photo-painting technique. I love the reflection in the water and the clouds in the sky. I decided to put the lavender in the sky to give it that extra artistic kick. I may be becoming more of a Type Four photographer after all. I think it's a beautiful image, something that I would like to hang.

Daily Photo Journal

"Empty". 10/26/10, 6:32 pm. Benson Building, BYU-Idaho Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. f/5. 1/13 sec. - Nikon D60. No edits.

This might not look like much, but I've pretty much lived out of my lockers in the Benson Building for the last two and a half years. This semester however, I don't have any classes in the building, and now that the first block is over, the south side of campus. Kind of a sad day.


"Welcome to the Club". 10/27/10, 10:48 am. Malad, Idaho. f/13. 1/40 sec. - Nikon D60. Changed white balance and painted blue into sky in RAW.

On the 23rd of October the ORC sold all their old road bikes. I bought two of them, one for a friend and one for Greg, my brother (they paid me back, of course). Greg met me in Malad Wednesday morning to hand off the bikes and this was his first ride. The 20 pound bike is a great upgrade from the heavy Walmart dinosaur that he's put over 4000 miles on over the last seven years, more than 1000 of which has been this year alone. Favorite shot of the week.


"Craigos Salad". 10/28/10, 8:21 pm. Rexburg, Idaho. f/5.6. 1/2 sec. - Nikon D60. Adjusted white balance to Tungsten in RAW.

Dinner with the swim team at Craigos. I don't know what it is about their salads, but they are the best. Perhaps it's the sunflower seeds. YUM!


"50m Relay". 10/29/10, 6:35 pm. Hart Pool, BYU-Idaho Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. f/5.6. 1/100 sec. - Nikon D60. Cropped to 8 x 10.

I joined the swim team this year. Have I ever been on a team before? No. Did I grow up swimming? No. Do swim meets terrify me? Yes. Am I dead last every meet? Yes. Does swimming make me happy? Usually. :)


"Lil Puker". 10/30/10, 6:41 pm. Rexburg, Idaho. f/5.6. 1/2 sec. - Nikon D60. No edits.

Since I was trying to get our pumpkin out before it got too late/dark in order to encourage trick-or-treaters to come knock my door I went with the easier, more traditional route of carving this year, rather than something more specialized or artistic. I also got NOTHING done on Saturday, so this perfectly symbolizes how I felt Saturday night in regards to my homework.


"Feast". 10/31/10, 10:01 pm. Rexburg, Idaho. f/11. 1/3 sec. - Nikon D60. No edits.

I love cooking. The more people to feed, the better. I detest the cleanup, however. Beef stew, homemade rolls and bread, and caramel corn can sure destroy a clean kitchen fast!


"Simplicity". 11/1/10, 10:09 am. Rexburg, Idaho. f/5.6. 1/125 sec. - Nikon D60. No edits.

While out trying to get inspiration for my Photolusion, I happened upon this beautiful little scene. I love rocks, leaves, and hearty soil.

Because of my slacker of a weekend I used this template for my photo journal.


This is the finished product. To change the tan background to pink I added an hue and saturation adjustment layer above the background layer, changed the yellows to pinks, and lightened the saturation. I then used clipping masks to add my photos to the template by placing the photos layer above the shape of where I wanted the photos to show layer, and hit the alt button while clicking on the line between the layers to merge them. I then sized and arranged the photos how I wanted them to show in the clipping masks with the transform tool. I also changed the fonts because the font in the template was not available in this version of Photoshop.

Photolusion

Photolusion is a photo that creates an illusion of something it is not. "Photolusion straight" is one, unedited photo taken to create an illusion, whereas "photolusion blend" is when two or more images are blended together in Photoshop to create an illusion.

Photolusion Blend

"Pattern". 11/1/10, 11:04 am. Benson Biology Museum, BYU-I Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. f/5.6. 1/4 sec. - Nikon D60. No edits.


"Rock". 11/1/10, 11:03 am. Benson Biology Museum, BYU-I Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. f/5.6. 1/6 sec. - Nikon D60. No edits.


"Horns". 11/1/10, 11:00 am. Benson Biology Museum, BYU-I Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. f/5.6. .4 sec. - Nikon D60. No edits.


"Longhorn Pride"

Over the weekend my husband and I were remarking that aside from our Hart clothes, we don't own any BYU-I paraphernalia. Whereas where he's applying to grad school, the University of Texas at Austin, having longhorn pride is the way to be. I thought it a bit more, and it morphed into my photolusion.

Photolusion Straight

"Pumpkinhead". 10/29/10, 12:46 pm. Thomas E. Ricks demonstration gardens, Rexburg, Idaho. f/4.5. 1/1250 sec. - Nikon D60. Cropped.

Just a happenstance moment in the gardens last week.

Scanography

"Girl". 10/21/10, 9:23 am. Romney Photo Lab, BYU-I Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. Flatbed Scanner.

After scanning this I brought up the exposure, blacks, and contrast in RAW, and then cropped it in Photoshop. I chose these items to scan because I was trying to do a self-portrait of sorts. These are my old worn out biking gloves, my bike computer showing how many miles I've ridden on my road bike this year (pretty good considering I've hardly ridden since injuring my foot July 3rd), my favorite necklace, and my favorite tie-dyed shirt as the background.


"Space Skirt". 10/21/10, 10:21 am. Romney Photo Lab, BYU-I Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. Flatbed Scanner.

Recovery, blacks, brightness, and contrast adjusted in RAW.


"Space Suit". 10/21/10, 10:12 am. Romney Photo Lab, BYU-I Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. Flatbed Scanner.

Adjusted blacks and fill light in RAW.


"Glass". 10/21/10, 10:02 am. Romney Photo Lab, BYU-I Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. Flatbed Scanner.

Adjusted the exposure, recovery, fill light, and blacks in RAW. I also used an adjustment brush on the highlights so that they wouldn't be blown out.

"Have Space Suit, Will Travel"

This image is the result of my three-part scan. When trying to figure out what to scan my husband suggested one of his favorite books by Robert Heinlein; that set off the space theme and I ran with it. I think the pattern on the skirt is a perfect background, so I brought in the picture of the book next, expanded it with the transform tool, positioned it where I wanted it, and then used the vivid light blending mode to help it blend in. Next, I added "glass"; to it I expanded and turned the image, and used the warp function in the transform tool to move it around and give it some movement so that it feels more like a black hole. I then used the pin light blending mode at 77% opacity to merge the images together. To finish it off I cropped the image.

Edge Effects

"The Boys". 10/17/10, 10:17 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/4.2. 1/400 sec. - Nikon D60.

For this image I changed the exposure, brightness, and contrast in RAW. In Photoshop I cropped the image to 9 x 7 and rotated it slightly. I then increased the canvas size to 8 x 10 and used the eyedropper to select the brown color from the image for the canvas extension color. Next I set up some grid lines so I knew were I wanted my inner border and selected the rectangle tool and drew a white rectangle to fit my grid lines. I then added a layer mask to the shape layer and with the fill pixels option of the rectangle tool I drew another rectangle inside the white shape; this left the white strip on the image. Next I reduced the opacity of the layer and then added a motion blur to the layer at 45 and 90 degrees with a 45 pixel distance. Last I used the text tool to add the caption, using a color from the background for the color, double clicked the layer which brought up the layer style guide, and added a drop shadow to the caption.

"Geologist". 10/23/10, 8:32 am. Mill Hollow Road, Rexburg, Idaho. f/25. 1/4 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod.

For edits in RAW I raised the blacks, lowered the clarity, and painted some color into the sky. With the image in Photoshop I then cropped the image to 6 x 7.5 at 300 ppi. I then increased the canvas to 8 x 9.5 and used a blue color from the subject's sleeve as the canvas extension color. I then added an additional half inch on the bottom of the canvas by extending the canvas to 10 inches high by clicking on the upper center arrow in the canvas extension box. I then drug a guide into the center of my image from my side ruler. Then in the Character palette I chose Gil Sans as my font, 18 pt, smallcaps, and for the color I used the eyedropper to get the light blue of the sky. With center alignment I held down the caps lock key as I clicked on my guide below the image and titled my image. Last I added another layer and used black paint at 65% opacity to make my border darker.


"Run Zombie Run". 10/23/10, 5:28 pm. The Riot Zone, Rigby, Idaho. f/9. 1 sec. - Nikon D60.

This is my favorite image of the week. My husband ran a Zombie 5k last weekend. He was so excited about it so we painted his face and destroyed his green shirt to look like he'd been eating brains for a few days. It was a lot of fun, and he improved his 5k PR by almost two minutes!

Edits on this image started out in RAW with recovery, less blacks, brightness, contrast, and saturation. In Photoshop using the paintbrush tool I added more blue to his iris' and more red/bloodshot to his eyes. I also painted his neck and eyes a little more gray to match the rest of his face, and intensified the red around his mouth. I then used a dry brush filter to give him an animated feel.

Then I saved the image with layers, and flattened the image and saved it as a .jpg. With the .jpg open I hit Ctrl+A to select all the pixels, deleted the image, and made sure that black was my background color. Then having selected the box next to before I erased my image, I used my history brush and three of the thick heavy brushes to paint back the image. The brushes were at varying sizes and about 70% opacity. Next I added canvas space around the image, using the eyedropper tool to get the color from his grayed skin, one inch on each side except the bottom edge, which was one and a half inches. Last I added the caption with the text tool, and put a drop shadow on it as well.

I really like this edge effect on this picture in particular because it makes me feel like he's scratched and scraped his way though a wall or something to get at your brains . . . I love it!

Portraits

My friend Mitzi and her family were gracious enough to let me take some shots of them this past weekend, and I've got SO many that I love, I have to share more than just a few with you.

"Scouters". 10/17/10, 10:06 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/5.3. 1/250 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod. Original with no edits.

I loved this shot because the dogs were looking at me, but Mitzi's and Kyle's faces were a bit off . . .

"Scouters 2". 10/17/10, 10:06 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/5.3. 1/250 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod. Original with no edits.

So I selected Mitzi's and Kyle's faces off of this shot where the dogs aren't looking at me . . .

. . . and pasted them onto a new layer to create this image. When putting in Kyle's new head I also had to clone out his left ear so I made a copy of the background and colored over the left side of his head with some of the woodsy background.

"Wrigley". 10/17/10, 9:51 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/4. 1/320 sec. - Nikon D60. Original with no edits.

My friend Mitzi wanted some portraits of her new puppies too, so here is the original of Wrigley. His eyes are pretty dark, so I wanted to lighten them up a bit.

So in camera RAW I raised the overall exposure, blacks, brightness, and contrast. Then with an adjustment brush I raised the exposure on his eyes and ear a little more. Then in Photoshop I did some color dodging with a paintbrush in his eyes to bring in some more color.

"Kyle Salute Original". 10/17/10, 10:14 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/4.8. 1/250 sec. - Nikon D60. Original with no edits.

I thought that taking some pictures of the scouts saluting would be fun, but I didn't notice (until after the fact) that his patch was turned backwards . . .

"Patch". 10/17/10, 10:10 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/5.3. 1/250 sec. - Nikon D60. Original with no edits.

So I used the patch from this image . . .

. . . and added a layer on the original image with the patch turned the right way, then transformed it to lay over the backward patch. I also used an adjustment brush in RAW to raise the exposure on his eyes, and then in Photoshop color dodged his eyes a bit more and added some "specular highlights" in his eyes.

"Dot". 10/17/10, 9:53 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/4. 1/200 sec. - Nikon D60. Original with no edits.

Such a pretty little poser, but her eyes are too dark as well.

So first off in RAW I raised the exposure, brightness, and contrast, and then used an adjustment brush on her eyes and the colored "butterfly shaped" section that make up her ears and cheeks. In Photoshop I used a color dodge paintbrush to add some color to the eyes and lighten paintbrush to add highlights.

"The Whole Fam Damily". 10/17/10, 9:47 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/4.2. 1/100 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod. Original with no edits.

Love. This. Shot.

Environmental Portrait

For my environmental portrait I used my husband as the subject. He's got a Linear Algebra math test this afternoon. He's kind of a procrastinator so every time a test comes up he spends multiple days beforehand catching up on his homework in the MC. He works there because he likes the natural lighting and he can watch the construction workers when he's trying to think out a problem.

"Impatience". 10/18/10, 9:59 am. Manwaring Center, BYU-Idaho Campus, Rexburg, Idaho. f/6.3. 1/40 sec. - Nikon D60. Original with no edits.

I was trying to figure out which white balance would be the best for the location, so in trying to get it right I took this shot, which I like the best, but the sky is blown out and the color is very cold. I like it especially because he's giving me a "areyoufreakingkiddingme--stoptakingpicturesofme" look and his hand is blurred because he's impatiently waiting to get back to work.

So in RAW I changed the white balance to "shade" and then raised recovery, blacks, brightness, and the contrast. I then used an adjustment brush to raise the exposure, brightness, contrast, clarity, and saturation on him and the rest of the foreground. I like this because it really sets him apart from the background and makes the blur more intense in the background. Last, I painted in some blue sky with another adjustment brush so that it had some more color. Perhaps I may be becoming more of a Type Four photographer after all.

Editing Portraits

Enhancements

"Danen". 10/17/10, 10:35 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/5. 1/100 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod. Original with no edits.

Danen looks pretty good in this shot, but I did whiten his teeth slightly by adding a hue/saturation layer and then lowering the yellow channel. I also used a color dodge paintbrush on his eyes a bit to bring in more blue and intensify the highlights.

Replace Color

"Doug & Mitzi". 10/17/10, 10:37 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/4.8. 1/50 sec. - Nikon D60. Tripod. Original with no edits.

For Doug's shirt I used the quick selection tool to select his entire shirt, and then through layer, adjustments, replace color I tweaked his shirt to more of a middle grey color. I like the more neutral color with Mitzi's shirt.

Match color

"Color Source". 10/17/10, 10:00 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/5.6. 1/40 sec. - Nikon D60. Original with no edits. I really like the brightness of this shot, but the sky is too blown out and I couldn't do much with it in RAW, so I used it as the color source for the next image.

"The Girls". 10/17/10, 10:00 am. Lorenzo, Idaho. f/5.6 1/200 sec. - Nikon D60. Original with no edits.

With this original image in Photoshop I went to layers, adjustments, match color and selected "Color Source" as where I wanted Photoshop to draw the info from and then lowered the luminance, raised color intensity, and brought up the fade.

I like how the color match adjustment brightened the image a bit and gave better highlights on Mitzi's face. What a cool tool!