Floral Dreams - 2B Day 18

Our challenge this week is with adding and adjusting presets and textures to photos.    I started with this picture, which I love in its original format and had already added it to my contest/card file to include in my upcoming photography contest as well as turning into a gift card.

In it's original fomat

Are. They. Not. Sweet?

So I played.  I added a preset in its original format of KK tea and honey and then I took it into PSE and added another layer of it and played with the blend modes.  Then i added a layer of KK May 2bsafe in a soft light blend mode.  I added another layer of the original photo in a color dodge blend and layered that again with another layer of 2Bsafe in screen mode at 17%.  I merged all of those layers down and then duplicated it and put it in a multiply blend mode at 100%.  I then took it back to LR and increased contrast a bit and then reduced clarity to give it a soft dreamy look.

My dear, Kim.  These are for you.  To dream upon through these tough times.  In hopes..they will bring a smile to your life.

Style - Mine - 2BD19

My dear inspiration, Kim, has challenged us to show our style.  Photographic style.  Editing style.  Artisitic style.

I have to admit....I still wonder what I can call my style. I know where my passion is. Nature. Wildlife.  The outdoors.  God's given gift of the earth's bounty and beauty.  I know I've burned myself out a bit on just the shots of a single bird...a photo without a story.  I know...I keep my hand a bit in the portrait photography....but not enough to get some financial satisfaction out of it. (But neither has my non portrait style - a result, I say though, of the job that was supposed to pay the mortgage...now no more....now changed...with high hopes of 'being fun' again.) Portrait photography...I can easily find an excuse for not doing it...on a regular basis.  Nature, wildlife...I am very patient with.

I love the candid shots...sort of like the one above.  I guess, when I think about it...street photography.  Not posed.  I love photographing those that are so comfortable in front of the camera that all I have to do is create with my lens.  The setup stage is all natural.  They do it themselves....especially when they aren't aware of it.  My passion for 'surprise' maybe.  More so though...my passion for natural, simplicity, serendipity.

This shot above..stirs so many passions in me. Maybe because it was one of the few awesome images I captured during a week that was supposed to offer up so much more to me than what it did.  Maybe because of some of the awesome company (my mom and niece and her boyfriend) that joined me on the trip.  Maybe...just because....I'm proud of this shot.  It isn't just a single bird.  It tells a story...for me. It's a beach...and I can hear the waves in the background. The sandpipers just seemed to invite me over.

I like them in focus and her out of focus. It makes me want to walk on the beach again.

My style...not a true...all in focus landscape type person.  I love bokeh.  I love...blur.  I love dreamy.  I love mystical.

I did crop in on this.  I did add texture even though the picture worked for me even without the texture.

This picture...makes me wonder if I shouldn't make this a vacation location on a regular basis.

Does it stir anything up for you?  Does it make you wonder?  Smile? Dream? Does it tell a story to you?

A Little Bit of Sybil

The things I want to do.  The themes and challenges I want to tackle!!!  The list is getting longer. The challenge is ...inspirational and much needed.

I found this while browsing....The Third Thursday Challenge.  Merely...learn and share something new.  It works because I can use it along side of my 2B class from the ever inspirational Kim Klassen which I try to focus on Wednesday nights.

This week...I learned to install a new preset in LR4.  It took me a bit and I had to use a few extra steps than were originally defined...but it works.

I learned how to add a little bit of soft light to my photos...when I need to.  I do have some awesome windows in my old two story farmhouse also that spills awesome lighting to use in different rooms at different times of the day. Frustratingly..many times it is when I am at work..inside those four walls that I don't really care to be inside of...but I get to enjoy the 'light' on the weekends and even in the evening...when the winter blues aren't sharing my life.

I want to try to gradient to add light in a different shot to see how it works and compare it with the LR way that I was shown and see how different they are.  Maybe tomorrow night as tonight...I was a bit interrupted with a phone all and am running really late.

Meanwhile...the above shot was actually one of my first attempts to take the inside out and I wasn't pleased with it...for that.  I decided to use it with my 'Sybil' mood tonight (texture by Kim Klassen - SO THANK YOU!!!).  Sybil.  She brings a little bit of that 'crazy' out of me.  And...it feels good.

First I added the new preset (also compliments of Kim Klassen) in LR4 and then it to PSE to add not just one...but four layers of Sybil, blended first with soft light, two layers at Color Burn, with fourth layer at soft light again and brushed the soft light off of the flower itself.  I love the grainy texture it added to the vase. I also brushed the last of the soft light away from the heart in the background because I wanted it to be noticed....if only  a bit.

I'm really loving Beyond Beyond.  It's an awesome mix of camera basics, Photoshop and Lightroom...just all kind of mixed up in a happy bucket of inspiration.

Join us, won't you!!!

PS...this was taken on Valentine's Day, it was snowing, and I thought the little red vase was just perfect...oh..and yes...the daisy (my favorite) from the bouquet my sweetie left me. Smiling.  really smiling.

2BD4 _ Inside Out

It snowed last week on Valentine's Day and I attempted 2BD4 photo challenge trying to capture the snow and Valentine's flowers...in the end...just being frustrated and not happy with the results.  So....as I cleaned house yesterday...and dusted the wine bottles off that were in the wine rack...the lightbulb lit!!!  Yeah!!!

#1 above is simply edited with KK_musicloving because of course with wine and daisies, you have to have romantic music!!

 #2 Above is edited with KK Painterly..about three layers of it in different blending modes, the first couple in multiply and the last in screen at 50% and removed from the shadows as that is what I like most on this shot....the shadows... and then framed.

#3 Below is textured with frosted...which has been my most favorite lately.  I tried every blend mode there was and ended up with the last being dissolved which I've never used before and really liked here.  I brushed it off of darkers areas of the labels, the shoe wine stopper, the wine in the glass and of course, the vase and daisy.

 #4  I loved the shot with the glare from the sun coming around the corner of the tree.  I used urban texture first, two layers, multiplied and finished it with..well I think it was KK..thelittlethings. (I really need to start writing these down as I do them.)

#5 I shot this one without looking through the viewfinder.  I just set the camera on my hand so as to keep it out of the snow and let it focus and shoot.  Thus, the slant, which I decided not to straighten and the view itself.  I added a preset of yesteryear in LR4 first and then took it to PSE and added textures and unfortunately could not remember which ones on this one. Actually...I believe it was KK Partings. I added in multiply, another layer in screen at less than 100% and another layer to darken the bottom a bit and brushed the darker off of the top. (I promise to try to be better about providing exact steps.)

 #6 This was actually the first that I edited and it has layers of frosted, partings and coffee, tea or me with textures removed from the bottles, etc.

Note...it was 7 degrees outside.  It was a quick shoot resulting in fingers that I could not feel and salt traipsed into the house after having mopped the floors...but it is those simple little challenges that I love about creativity...especially when it involves my Nikon!!  Did I say...Yeah?

The toughest step was just trying to decide which view I like best and which edited version I should share so...enjoy them all and let me know which is your favorite.

2B - Day 2

Kim Klassen brings us another inspirational year with an exciting expansion to include some Lightroom  tips and tricks.  So excited and looking forward to learning more.

I used a photo I took last week at a restaurant with my 50mm that I took just by setting my camera on the table, using a large aperture, not looking through the view finder and snapping.  The cup came in clearly for the most part with the table cloth and napkins being out of focus, also resulting with some bokeh (one of my favorite things) in the background as reflected off a fire that was keeping us warm and cozy.

I used KK texture Minus 43 and I really am going to love using this one more often.  The font is Sweetly Broken.  One of my favorites...just wish I could make it bolder.

Life is 'an enchanted cup'...and believe it...it sparkles...through the good and bad.  Enjoy..every sparkle it sends your way.  Enjoy.

Beyond Beyond - Point of View - Day 1

So excited to be back with the Beyonders in 2013 and so determined to try to keep up.  As I go through these exercises I realize how much practice I need at some things such as creating templates, making the pictures fit within them.  So determined to 'DO' it this year.  Learn.  Create. Expand. And..keep up, not get behind, not miss so much inspiration from the very inspirational Kim Klassen.

Our challenge this week was to set up a shot and photograph it without moving it, but instead move us, move our camera, allowing us to get different viewpoints.  Allowing us to see how different things can be if we just 'look at the world from a different angle'.   Truly a lesson to learn for every day life.  Falls within that 'if you don't like the way things are, look at them differently'.  (Just wish it were that easy for some things.)

My Tom Clark Gnomes are very dear to me.  I do have ONE very nice collection of them.  Some that are out every day.  Some seasonal that come out when it is time for them to visit.  Some...that are still packed up from the last move.  I've always had a thing for gnomes.  A fascination.  Since I was a child roaming the woods of New Hampshire.  Since I read the book 'The Gnomemobile".  What ever happened to that book?

I took more than ten pictures.  l believe I limited myself to thirty minutes as instructed.  I love shots where I can shoot 'through' things...framing them...thus the center left picture although I wish I had her face a little more in focus and the flowers a little less.

One of my most favorite captures are reflections...whether it be in windows, on a rainy road, in water...or through a mirror...thus the bottom picture.

It was a fun project.  Next time I think I would use my 28 - 300 with a macro so that I could get some better close up, detailed shots.

Off...to day two.......