Project: Product

I was attempting to photograph product for Kicks N Grins Arts & Crafts

when my son thought that meant that he was suppose to be the model.

I figured, why not?!

If you sell products online why not use your kids or family members to show off the product. It humanizes the product and adds another level of interest for your clients.

Project: A Day of Rain

It was a cool rainy day. I kept looking outside and saw all that GREEN! I love to photograph in the rain because the colors in everything are so vibrant and beautiful.

Try to go out and photograph everyday objects in the rain and see how much better they look!

Photographed with Canon DSLR Rebel XTi, 50mm lens, F2.8



Me and my son Endry, he had fun watching me take pictures.

 

Project: Drama

Add some drama to your everyday photos.
Below are some images that I snapped while out with my son at the park. I didn't even use my "fancy"camera. Here are some Before and After samples on easy things to do.

All images taken with an Olympus x-42 point and shoot camera.

12 mega pixels, set on Auto with auto flash

Use Filters, Crop in close, change the Color, Adjust the Contrast,

Exaggerate all of the above to create a mood,

and never forget Desaturation (aka: black and white).

There are so many ways to change your images just enough to make them a little more interesting. Your family and friends will be wowed at your skills!

Remember when looking for a "fix it" program that you find one that allows you to change the angle of the photo when cropping it by turning the corners. Also experiment with what you have! Don't just stop when you think it looks good...go a little bit further until you think it looks BAD. Then you know where the threshold is.



the Art in Nature

Beauty can be found in even the most basic places.

I took my son on a trip to our local zoo and found lost of natural art...sometimes you just have to "frame" it.

Images were taken with a Canon Rebel XTi on AV mode 18-55mm lens :

F4.5/F5.7 ISO 100 (shutter speed varied)

Remember when going on sight seeing trips to take a camera that allows you to get in close and offers the ability to take images in lower light situations without your flash. This allows for a more intimate feeling and natural look.

Vintage Style

Another trick for all you Adobe Photoshop users.
Ever been looking through professional photographs and seen images like these?

   

This style has become very popular in modern Portrait Photography. However, this style does not come natural. It is what you do to the photograph that give this interesting Vintage look.

the Vintage Look

**First of all you need to make sure that you have a version of Photoshop that allows you to make actions (that way you can save the steps and only have to push one button every time you want to create this look).**

You can accomplish this type of look many different ways, but my favorite is to go online and find someone credible who has already made the Actions for you....cuz lets face it a Mom really doesn't have time to be doing much playing around on Photoshop making her own Action.

My favorite site is WDL  

(they are a web design blog with lots of awesome Freebies and Tutorials)

The above link will take you to a page of Photoshop Actions for Vintage looks. Just scroll through the different styles and find the one you like. I used one from "photoshop actions- 63 (6 actions)". After downloading the zipped folder you can go here to know exactly how to use the Actions in Photoshop.

The magic is done for you...all you have to do is push the "play" button and then adjust the layers if you wish.

(before and after example below)







I used #7 in the list of actions of the set 63 by night-fate



original

So, now it is up to you, stay subtle, go glam or wash it out!
Happy Actions!