Adding Texture

This little technique has always intrigued me and so I thought I would give it a try.  It's a simple process of adding textured layers on top of your photo and then experimenting with the blend modes.  I use Photoshop CS3.  I wanted to give this photo an aged appearance.  You will find some outstanding examples on Karen Chandlers lovely blog, Vision, plus  three links to free textures.

With baby Nate's arrival, I've been experimenting with a new technique to make my photos appear softer.  He is so pink and smooth and my camera can not seem to capture that image.  So here's the recipe:  Open photo and duplicate.

Turn off top layer and adjust levels on bottom layer to give a good contrast.  Each photo varies.

Turn on top layer and apply Glausian Blur at 25% reducing opacity between 30-40%.  Erase, at 100% the eyes and mouth.  You may want to erase other areas at a lesser opacity to bring out a little more detail.  Merge the two layers.

Set the color chips to black and white. Go to Filter>Distort>Diffuse Glow and make adjustments according to your preferences.  To make the layout pictured below, I cut out the upper right corner of the photo and applied a mask from Brandy Murry's Junk in the Trunk.  I've discovered that this technique works well on Grandmother's wrinkles (but keep that a secret!).

Now he looks like Grandma's eyes really see him.  (Getting a shot with his knee in just the right place was a challenge!)

I grouped all of the elements and merged them together.  I then applied this technique to the cluster as well to give the entire page a more gentle appearance.  The products used are Brandy Murry's Love, Honor and Cherish, Cloudscape Paper, Scattered Gold Embellishments, Bees Knees, Swirls and Pearls2, and Persian Lace Paper.

 

Here's a little Photoshop trick. On a new layer of 50% gray over my photo, I created a lens flare by clicking Filter > Render > Lens Flare. I chose about where I wanted the center of the flare in the dialog box. I then set the blend mode of the gray layer to Hard Light, moved and resized the lens flare layer to a position that was pleasing, and erased any part I didn't want.  I used Mindy's Actions to bring out the color.

Morning Mist

This was an early morning shot and difficult to capture because of the extreme contrasts in lighting.  After experimenting with the different settings, I chose f 5.6  1/500  ISO200.  This is the view from our home.  I love the changing seasons as the lake takes on a completely different appearance throughout the year.

One Year Later

Little Nicholas is still not sure what's so great about pumpkins!  I have discovered that it's next to impossible to capture a good shot using manual.  He's always on the move and not the least bit interested in posing.

I finally took the big leap and turned the dial to MANUAL.  I love being able to have more control over my camera and am leaning to feel more comfortable each day.  My confidence can be attributed to the fact that I am taking an online photography class from Christy Vanderwall at Speedscraps.   The class is based on a book by Bryan Peterson called Understanding Exposure.   Her method of teaching is dotting all of i's for me.  For instance, think of lining up 22 glasses.  Using a smaller f/22 aperture you will see all 22 glasses perfectly focused from front to back.  Whereas, if you use a larger f/4 aperture, you will only see the first four glasses clearly with the background blurred.  Now, just how clear is that???

It's Little Linus in the Pumpkin Patch

f/7.1   1/160   ISO100

f/13   1/320  ISO400

f/5.6   1/40   ISO100

f/5.6   1/50   ISO100