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.