Fix-It Friday - My first one!

Today is fix-it Friday over at iheartfaces and I have been dying to join in on this for a while. Now or never, right?

Here is this weeks original picture:

 

Here is my first edit:

 

I sharpened the photo, upped the contrast a little, then added a vignette. I like it, nothing too fancy, though.

Here is my second edit:

 

Here I sharpened the photo, added a couple textures, one is the frame and one is a texture that I thought made the background look icy, which is perfect. 

So, there ya have it. Not too shabby for someone just playing around with this stuff I guess.

iheartfaces - texture photo challenge

This week I decided to join in the iheartfaces photo challenge and this weeks theme is texture. I am having a lot of fun learning new things and creating using photoshop, so I figured this would just be another way that I can practice.





Here is my entry:

This photo was taken in our backyard in the fall. I took the original and brightened it a bit and saturated the colors, then I added a rust texture to give it a little more of a "fall" glow. I'm really happy with the results. Not to mention the subject is quite adorable if I do say so myself ;-)

Thanks for checking out my picture, I appreciate it!

Stroking My Ego

I mentioned before that photography is one of the hobbies I am focusing on right now. I am going to take a class starting in a couple weeks, and I want more than anything to learn about creating amazing photos.

I love being behind the lens but currently struggle sometimes with light and things coming out blurry. I know that these problems have to do with my ISO, aperture setting and shutter speed, and technically I know what needs to be done, but then actually taking the picture and having it come out well sometimes doesn't work the way I want. I don't like the Auto setting, so I try to stay away from it (specifically because I prefer not to use flash), but sometimes things come out a mess. I am also hoping this class will help me learn a bit about spot metering. Again, I know what I need to do on my camera to use this function, but I am rarely successful at this. We'll see.

Anyway, the real point of this post was to share some photos I recently edited and printed enlargements of so my mother could frame them and display them in her home. I am really excited she'd want to do such a think, and I truly love the final product. Of course she's a fan of my pictures (I suppose she may feel obligated?), but I can't help but feel a little glimmer of hope that maybe at some level photography could be in my future. She has definitely given me a little bit of an ego boost.

Here are the photos she wanted. Using photoshop I converted them to black and white then upped the contrast a big. Then, I converted the main subject back into color so they really pop. This was her idea. They are going to be framed in simple black frames with white mats, so the color will really stand out.

Have I mentioned I love photoshop? I guess that could be a whole other post :-)

Me, me, me!

As I said in my very first post, this challenge for change is just about me. I need to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and git 'er done.

While I have no control over whether or not a school does or does not decide to hire me as a teacher, I do have control over choosing to make things happen for myself. If I just sit back and wait I gain nothing. I have submitted countless job applications without result, so I am moving on (you can read more about this on My Other Blog [MOB]).

I have decided to take a photography class. I have to do something and I am hopeful this has a positive effect on my outlook and will perhaps even help me discover a new path in life. I love photography, I love experimenting with my camera, and I am looking forward to learning even more about both. It would be a dream come true for me if one day I could focus on making photography my job (did you get the pun? focus?... Ha!)

No more sitting and waiting! I'm doing!