Monday, April 26, 2010

I {Heart} Faces : Smiles







Remember how I said this isn't a photo blog just 15 minutes ago?  It isn't.  But I am going to post for i heart faces because this week the theme is *Smiles*.  I just so happen to have a lovely little peanut with a fantastic smile!  I realize I am a bit biased, but still...  I took this image of Miss Eva about a week and 1/2 ago, right before she lost both of those top front teeth within two days of each other!


Head to iheartfaces to view the other submissions.

Not A Photo Blog, I Promise...

However, I really love photography and I have been so excited to increase my skill set in producing beautiful images.  I also really love Photoshop and feel so blessed to have Creative Suite 4, even though CS5 was just announced this last week.  I dearly love my Photoshop!  There are so many creative and artistic avenues in post-processing an image through the means of manipulation in it.

One realm of post-processing I have been on the fence about for some time has been the use of added textures in an image.  I have seen it done well, but many times I feel it is a bit distracting and I have a tendency to prefer clean, crisp images.  Tonight however, I did try my hand at editing a photo from the fall with the use of a texture after watching a great tutorial on the subject.

Below you will see an image of a red barn I took for a "landscape" photography class assignment.  Because I was shooting into the sunset and I forgot to readjust my exposure controls, the front of the image is underexposed.  I knew it had potential though.


I really love vibrant colors anyway and below is the image I finished with after editing.


Though it's not that strong of a landscape composition-wise, its bright colors really help to bring more visual interest.  Tonight, I chose this photo for my first experiment in textures.  I also edited the image to have a more vintage feel which compliments the texture so well.


The texture was only added to the sky, but overall I'm really happy with how it turned out and I'm excited to continue working with this medium in my future post-processing endeavors.

How does all this relate to Fairchild Designs you might ask?  It doesn't, but it does make me intensely happy and is just another facet of my life.  I will post some real "business-related" material soon.  I promise. =)