Catching up

As I said previously, it has been a while since I did a ton of photo-ish stuff. I started going through past images to find stuff to play with and realized that I have an entire folder of images from my trip to Chicago in May that I haven't even touched! I'm starting to rebuild a solid workflow in LR and PS, so this one took a while, but it was fun and I found a bunch of other images I want to tweak as well!

I spent a small amount of time removing a sign from the picture, and if I was feeling really ambitious I would have pulled out the  cars as well, but that would have taken a while since I'm SLOW with the clone tool. I think the train and the old-timey buildings are the interesting part of this image, so I may yet go in and remove the cars, but not today!

For reference, this is the original.

Photo Dough

Maybe this isn't surprising for some of you, but I was shocked this morning to discover that there is a daily deal site that caters specifically to photographers! Its called Photo Dough, and they have great deals on all sorts of awesome photo tools. Today they have Totally Rad Action's RadLab for $84!! Nope, not a typo- just that super cheap.

So guess who has two thumbs and just got a fun new Photoshop toy? This gal!!

You can even get extra credits to their site for anyone that you refer to them (who actually buys something). So, if you'd like to join up, please do so through my referral link (click here!)- joining helps you, going through this link helps me! Win-win!

Fifty50: Pickle

I love photo challenges, but you wouldn't know it from recent post. I admit it- I have fallen off the challenge bandwagon. For several months I had my days planned around what challenges were coming up and what photos I needed to capture, but... it was too much for me. Between work, pets, life (and I guess I should mention the husband), I just couldn't devote that much time to photo challenges.

But... then I realized  the joy of periodic and monthly photo challenges- yay! Over at Chase the Light, Tracey has a variety of fun and no pressure photo challenges to enjoy. This month she started her Fifty50 project which focuses on diptychs (she has a great explanation of what that is). So what did I take 2 photos of?

Pickle, of course!

Well, I was mostly focusing on his ears.

They kind of do their own thing, no matter what he wants them to do.

"Mom- I'm being serious. Stop playing with the clicking black thing and pet my belly!"

"What? These are my serious ears!"

Poor Pickle- he won't ever be taken seriously until he gets more graceful and learns to control his ears.

I hope that never happens!

Trust

A couple of months ago one of my friends showed a great deal of trust in me- she asked me to take pictures of her family together, including her baby bump.

*gulp*

That is a lot of trust and a lot of responsibility! I'm not a professional- just a passionate hobbyist! And since this was partly a maternity shoot, it isn't like we could try again at any time- I needed to get at least a few images right the first time!!

But I agreed, prefacing my agreement with "Well, they may not  be fabulous, but they'll definitely be free!".

So a time was set and off we went! I'm pretty pleased with how the entire thing went off, though I did learn a lot about shooting portrait photography. I'm just glad that I am friends with them- otherwise I'd have been way too jittery to do this at all!

Here are some of my favorite shots from the shoot.

Scavenge

1) Food-It is distinctly possible that I am spoiled when it comes to food. Case in point- creme brulee sous vide cheesecake (instructions can be found here for the culinarily brave). The red bits are raspberry that was frozen in liquid nitrogen. Yum!

2) Purple- I'm working on taking pictures of things that aren't as interesting to me and trying to make them look cool. This is basically my first try at that, and while I don't think it really succeeded, I do like the purple of the cabbage!

 

3) In Disguise- Somehow I didn't get one for this recently. I know- I'm a failure! I love Halloween, but this year I got the house decorated, then pooped out- no costume for me! Next year:) Instead, I shall share a photo of Chowder pretending to be a Hogwarts student!

 

4) Shapes- Meet Bear. He loves playing ball. And swimming. Sometimes. After working himself up to jumping into the water. Such a sweetie! I was trying to get shots of the shapes of the water ripples when he swam into the frame and I love this image!

5) Photographer's Choice- What can I say? I love Pepsi's smushed, sleepy little face!!

Next week's prompts are:
1) Before and After (processing)
2) Opposing Lines
3) Custom Bokeh
4) Which pair of shoes should I wear?
5) Little features (little hands, little feet, etc)

Quotography & more

I've fallen off the photo challenge bandwagon. However, after a recent photographic experience that had me feeling pretty awesome, I've decided to start participating again! Without further ado- the pictures!

Today at work was rough, but watching my pup 'swim' through the grass upside down made me grin!

I used this tutorial (and btw- she has TONS of great tutorials on her blog!!) to get this shot. I just downloaded a random bokeh shot from deviantart and used it as the background texture. The SOOC (below) was boring, but I LOVE the final product!

Shades of Autumn: Yellow

I'm not sure why it took me so long to join up with this photo challenge! Maybe it is because we don't really have fall where I live...

But a recent trip to Minneapolis (to visit my parents:) gave me a chance to soak in some fall colors. Oh yeah, and photograph them too:) I'll be working through other shots from our mini vacation, and I'm hoping to share those with you as the week progresses!

For now- join me over at Bumbles and Light for the Shades of Autumn challenge!

Disclaimer- Mr. Pony took this photo. I do not have magic powers {sad}

Chowder Up Close: Part 1

I think we all know I'm obsessed with my pets.

Copper doesn't like the camera. Lyric likes to stick his tongue out at me, and Pepsi only sometimes deigns to pose for the paparazzi.

I thought that Chowder, as happy go lucky as he is, would be more than willing to pose whenever I wanted. Just turn him loose in the yard, throw a few toys, and snap away!

I was wrong.

Chowder would ham it up, tear it up, then clam up the instant I lifted the camera! So I'll show you some of my favorite parts of Chowder, up close and personal, one shot at a time.

Chowder's eyes are warm, adoring, and they reflect back the world in a pup-colored light. When you are a Chowder, the entire world is your buddy.

Happy puppy:)

SOOC: I tweaked it by cropping and running PW 'Bring on the Eyes!' at 75% and Boost at 80%.

August 2011 Photo Hunt Challenge: Join in!

If you stopped by around the first of the month, you might remember that I'm guest hosting over at Monthly Photo Hunt Challenges. Well, I learned how to use a Linky Tool and have a basic one up, so please go over and share your favorite images for the month!

I ended up picking most of my shots from my most recent vacation. I had a lot of fun messing around in PS, and I would love any feedback on composition or editing that might help me improve. Thanks for stopping by!

1 ) Simple Elegance

2 ) Fluff

3 ) Wisdom

4 ) Ink

5 ) Devotion

6 ) Engaging

7 ) Drastic Change

8 ) Serenity

9 ) Ending

10 ) Childhood Memory

11 ) Overload

12 ) Fantastical

13 ) Into the Sky

14 ) Smash

15 ) Lucky