One day I'll fly away

I meant to extract her a long time ago. Those kicky feet, that hair, the umbrella.... You couldn't ask for a better jumping picture! I had another spell of insomnia last night, so I carefully cut Mary out of the original photo and placed her in the sky above an empty winter field. Some color adjustments, filters, and textures later and I really like the result.

Here are the two photos I used in my composition:






~RCH~

And a homeless guy

Mary and I did our photo shoot a block from the local homeless shelter. This man and his friend, among its patrons, walked past us as we were setting up and asked if I'd take his picture. I smiled and said sure. Looking back on it, I probably should have asked them their names; that would have been more human of me. I'm not so good with the people, though, and the art of conversation definitely eludes me so ... oh well.

Sorry homeless man. Stay warm.




~RCH~

A few more

~RCH~

I began with that and ended up with this

I took this photo, more or less SOOC (that's "straight out of camera" for the uninitiated)...


Nikon D70; 85mm prime lens; 1/640s at f/1.8; ISO 200

... and added two textures (both of which I'd photographed previously, so they're mine all mine):





I futzed around with blending modes, masked the textures out a bit around the face and arms, and added my (again, completely original) favorite border, and voila!



Thanks for modeling, seester (and for the hot date)!


~RCH~

We will be redoing this shoot

Because my camera ran out of batteries just as it was getting good (and the spare set was already at home on the charger, dangit). Plus I need to work on getting the exposure right with all that snow. :-P








~RCH~

Practicing with textures

I recently paid $39 for a set of Photoshop actions and textures designed to give pictures a vintage look. I wouldn't say I got ripped off, exactly; its creator had no malice of intent and for someone less familiar with Photoshop, the set would be a big help. But I've been using the program for 10 years; I ran the set and thought, "That's it? I paid forty bucks for that?" I guess I expected something more advanced, something beyond my grasp. But it's not.

So I decided to practice creating my own. I made an action for a curves adjustment that gives a retro, cross-processed look (ish), then I warmed up the color and lowered the contrast on a photo of snow and gravel to use as my overlay texture. Obviously I need to keep practicing; I don't think anybody would pay money to learn my secret formula. But it's a start! :-)


Original photo (SOOC)
Nikon D70; 85mm prime lens; 1/800s at f/4.5; ISO 200


Photoshopped version
Curves and saturation adjustment layers; original texture added; texture masked out and lightened around the face


~RCH~

Photoshop Portrait trick

I've got a favorite trick for making portraits pop: I run this Lomo action (by Addicted to Design) in Photoshop, copy the result, and then paste it over the original with either an Overlay, Soft Light, or Hard Light blending mode of between 20 - 35%. Check out the photos below for an example of the effect:


Original photo
Nikon D70; 85mm prime lens; 1/1600s at f/4.5; ISO 200


Photoshopped version
sky detail burned in with alternate exposure from RAW format; Lomo action; basic retouching on the face, particularly around the eyes

Occasionally the skin tones come out a little too yellow, but that can be managed by taking the blending mode down a notch or masking out the skin (either a little or completely) on the Lomo layer.

I just love how it makes the colors sing. :-)


~RCH~