Preserving Memories

Nick is doing a Family Heritage school project and he asked his Grandma for old family names and pictures for his Family Tree. She was able to come up with some great photos, but like all really old family photos, some of them are in not so great shape.

Well, it just so happens that I was checking out my friend Janine Smith's new Photo Restoration with Photoshop course on Lynda.com. Perfect! That was just what I needed.

Here's a before and after of my first processed photo. I picked one of the less damaged ones; it had some stains, creases, a small tear and lots of little spots. I was able to pick up tons of great tips on how to deal with just about every damage you can encounter on a photograph. Even if you don't have really old photos which require restoration, this course can just as easily be applied to everyday fixes, such as glare from glasses, unwanted objects in the background, color corrections, and...and...and... I could go on and on, but just go and check it out, you will love it. Check out Janine's website, Landailyn for a whole gallery of her amazing restoration work.
Ok, here it is. I think it looks pretty good.

 

The before and after template is from paint the moon photography (I think it was a facebook freebie)

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That's it for Summer

Looks like Summer's over. One day it was nice and 80 degrees and the next day it was about 20 degrees colder. And soon after, the rain was back. Don't get me wrong, living in the great Pacific Northwest, I like the rain--just not non-stop for, you know, four months or so. I also enjoy nice, cool, sunny Fall days. Which reminds me, I better get started making Nick's Halloween costume. He wants to be Minecraft Steve (don't ask). I tried to get the Steve-Head online, but apparently it's quite popular and was sold out everywhere! But I managed to find some instructions to make it myself--sheesh, what did we ever do before the internet? Well, I better start getting out the Halloween decorations--time flies, right? I've picked up some great ideas on Pinterest already.
In the meantime, here is a shot from our last official summer outdoor cooking extravaganza. Nice, yummy corn to bid summer farewell. I got the idea for the color swatches from the Coffeeshop Blog. I used Kuler to pull the colors from the picture and create my own color swatch. If you don't feel like making your own, you can download Rita's here:

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Back to School - Yay!

So, I was spending some time on Pinterest--okay, A LOT of time! It's hard to just look around a bit, because it's so darn fun and you always find something interesting, fun, cute and stuff you think must have, that I usually end up spending hours pinning and re-pinning. If you haven't tried it, go check it out. It's great.
Anyway, one of the pins that caught my eye was about organizing school papers. Wait, what? I NEED that, like, NOW!  So, off I went--following that pin to a wonderful blog called iHeartOrganizing, where I promptly spent several hours looking around and ending up planning all sorts of projects to organize my house.
Ok, back to the article on Organizing School Paperwork; it's a neat way to file all those papers you're constantly looking for (hmmm, which pile did I put that in?) and the article is sooo well written and also has great pictures to show the process. And, if that wasn't enough, you can download the templates for the Labels and cover sheet.
I couldn't find any of the nice file boxes locally and was too impatient to order them online and wait for them. BUT, I did find 1/2 boxes at Office Max which are super cute and don't look like filing/storage boxes at all. Take a look, what do you think?

I scanned in all the school pictures for both my kids, a task I had planned to do anyway, so now I had a good reason to move that up on my To-Do List. I downloaded the template and opened  it up in Photoshop. Since I had seven pictures to process, I decided to place the first image as a Smart Object on a new layer and then clip the layer to the template (background) and mask out everything but the picture. After printing the first sheet, preparing for the next one is easy. You just right-click the picture layer (the Smart Object), select Replace Contents and pick the next picture when prompted. You may need to adjust your Layer Mask a bit and you'll need to change the Teacher's name and school info as needed.

I could stop here and call this project finished, but I wanted to be able to quickly know which binder is which, so I used the template for the folders and changed the dimensions to make it narrow to fit the spine for the binder. I also removed all information except for the name and--voila--individually marked Binder Spines!


I saved the Photoshop file for the Spine-sheet as a template and would like to share it, but I will contact iHeartOrganizing first to ask if she would mind--it was her original template after all. :D

So, that's it--on to the next project.

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I dream in Textures

Another week has gone by and another fabulous texture found its way to my collection by way of Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday email. This time I have two pictures that I think work well with this new texture called Dream.
The first picture is of a Seagull, which I had already been working on with other textures. The dream texture just seemed like the icing on the cake. Hmmm, cake. Sorry, I got temporarily distracted. Speaking of cake, I made some yummy cake pops this weekend. You can see pictures and how-to's on my personal blog (not that this blog isn't personal, but more photography oriented, where my personal blog is, well...personal, you know?)
Anyway, back to textures. Here is the Seagull--if you hover your mouse over the picture, you'll see the original.

Here is a screen-shot of the layers and settings for this image. I used the dream and grannyscupboard textures as well as a lovely overlay from Vera Lim:

And 'cause it was so much fun, I had to do another one. What do you think? 

I was going to put the layer screen-shot here as well, but it turned out to be quite long. Let me know in your comments if you'd like to see it and I'll try to stitch it together from multiple screen-shots.
Make sure you stop by the Texture Tuesday Page and check out all the beautiful entries.

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Deep Thoughts

I discovered this really cool website, Kim Klassen Cafe, which is a fabulous resource of tutorials, textures, and photography tips. Every Tuesday, there is a Texture challenge, which invites people to link to their creations using one or more of Kim's wonderful Textures and encourages them to check out and comment on others' work. I love communities like this; they give you an opportunity to view so many other talented peoples' pictures and be inspired in your own work.

So, this is my first time participating in Texture Tuesday and I was excited to try out two textures, Golden and LifesGood. You can download these by signing up for the Texture Lovin' List. I used a picture of my daughter, Katie, from 2009. Not the best and sharpest, but I really love the concentration on her face and the pose and casual look. It just looked perfect for texture application.

I did some cleanup in Lightroom and then switched it to black and white. Then, in Photoshop, I added both Textures with these adjustments:
LifesGood, Overlay, 42% Opacity, Golden, Soft Light, 91% Opacity. I added Layer Masks to both texture Layers and very slightly brushed over the face with a soft, very low opacity brush. Then I ran Sharp People from the MCP Quickie Collection. Lastly, I applied a frame from  OnOne's PhotoFrame (the free version) and that's it. Roll your mouse over the picture to see the before.

 

 

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My very Professional (not!) photo shoot and final picture How-To

I haven't had much opportunity to use the new tripod, so yesterday I decided to use the potted Campanula Get Mee's (ok, I didn't know this, I read the label) I picked up at the store last week and take some close-ups.

I love this texture tutorial at the Flypaper Textures site and wanted to see if I can get similar results using my own textures. Well, I didn't really have any of my own textures yet; I just started creating my own and the few I have were more of the darker/grungy variety, so they wouldn't work for this light, dreamy type of look.

Well, not to worry, being the Packrat that I am, which, in photography, translates into my having a hard time rejecting and deleting any bad or blurry shots without thinking "hmmm, if I just use this corner of the picture, I can get some cool background/texture, etc. which I can then use for something else", I had just that--some really nice, dreamy, blurry, colorful parts of otherwise less than optimal (i.e. crappy) shots.
This is what the finished picture looks like.

If you'd like to know how I did it, read on:

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Spring is here - I hope

Finally, the days where we get (almost) up to the weather we're supposed to be having this time of year, are getting more frequent. Today is actually the second day in a row we can go outside without a jacket on!! Time to clean the yard and garage--but that's another post.

So, last week we had another such day (imagine that!), so we took the opportunity of a couple of hours before picking the kids up from school and went to the capitol in search of some photo ops. Oh, and to try out the new tripods (and heads) we got. We managed to get a few decent shots of the capitol and surrounding area. It was still a little early to get any flowers and I'm not sure they'll be having to many this year given the budget issues.
The picture I'm showing below is a combination of two shots I took; one of them had a better DOF for the background and the other had more of the ledge in focus. I did some basic adjustments in LightRoom and then moved on to Photoshop, where I used a combination of Actions.
I started off with Boost, from the (free) Pioneer Woman Action Set 1 (I seem to always start with that one :D). Then, I used the (also free--yay) Mini Fusion Action from MCP and adjusted the various settings, like contrast, warm tint and then I lightened it a bit.
Then, to bring out the leaf and petal colors on the ledge, I used MCP's Fingerpaint action from the Quickie Collection. Lastly, I added the Dusty vignette from MCP's All in the Details set. And finally, finished it off with the BuildIt Rounded Color Block from MCP's Finish It set. Hmm, can you tell I use a lot of MCP actions? Here is the finished picture.

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Grunge Mix - Vintage

Grunge Mix - Vintage, a photo by scrapgeek/NKMphotos on Flickr.

I spent some time today going through different tutorials for creating textures. One great one I found was Evolution of a Texture. I followed most of the instructions and interpreted others for my own use. I like the way they came out. This article definitely gave me ideas and I can't wait to try out other techniques. I made 5 textures in different shades, all are available to download on my flickr page.

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Earth Laughs

Earth Laughs a photo by scrapgeek/NKMphotos on Flickr.

I got back to cleaning up my hard drive and organizing pictures. I had categorized many pictures and created collections in Adobe Bridge and was quite happy with it. But then I got Lightroom 3 through one of Adobe's special offers and now I have to re-think how to organize everything again. Not that I'm complaining--I really love Lightroom.
So I started creating textures from lots of close-ups of trees, moss, grungy concrete and rusty barrels. I'll be adding these to my flickr stream for download.
For this picture I used my Rusty Pail texture and the Rust Overlay. I also added one of ShadowHouse Creation's bokeh textures (love these) to finish it.

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Deke's Techniques

Just finished watching this on Lynda.com. Looks very cool. I wonder if I can turn this into an action? Hmmm...

Building a synthetic star field

Deke's Techniques | by Deke McClelland

View this entire Photoshop course and more in the lynda.com Online Training Library®.

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Day 48 - 365 Fishing

Day 48 - 365 Fishing
Originally uploaded by scrapgeek/NKMphotos

Still stuck at at home with a cold, going through the house looking for stuff to take pictures of. Here is my little trio of 'fishing buddies' sitting on a bench on my shelf. :D

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Day 47 - 365 Trivet

Day 47 - 365 Trivet
Originally uploaded by scrapgeek/NKMphotos

I've had a cold for several days now, and I'm really having to push myself to take my daily picture. So, here goes: tadaa--a trivet. OK, I admit, it's not that great, but this is all I could come up with.

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Day 46-365 Doodles

46-365_Doodles.jpg
Originally uploaded by scrapgeek/NKMphotos

Just doodling around showing Katie how to draw hearts and then we moved on to pigs. Of course when you do pigs you gotta do the Angry Bird pigs--I love those guys. I got the face down, I think, but the ears still give me trouble. Hmmm, got to work on that. I was trying to draw a hippo for Katie; the schnaaz was ok, but then I sent wrong somewhere with the head and body and it turned into Snoopy--oh well. :D

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Day 45 - 365 Scribbles

Day 45 - 365 Scribbles
Originally uploaded by scrapgeek/NKMphotos

Too much work, not enough time for pictures :P And, once again, it's almost midnight--I need some time off!

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Day 43 - 365 Candy Hearts

Day 43 - 365 Candy Hearts
Originally uploaded by scrapgeek/NKMphotos

I like this vase. I got it for V-day a couple of years ago and now I'm keeping some dried flowers in it. I decided to do a close-up of just the candy hearts and try out the new free Mini Fusion action from MCP (thanks Jodi, these are great). I also played around with the Photo Tools and Photo Frame tools, available free from onOne.

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Day 41 - 365 Photogs

Day 41 - 365 Photogs
Originally uploaded by scrapgeek/NKMphotos

I love to find an opportunity to take pictures of my What the Duck photo ducks. Here they are, hanging out after a successful photo shoot.

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Day 40 - 365 Action Ruler

Day 40 - 365 Action Ruler
Originally uploaded by scrapgeek/NKMphotos

So, it's late (again) and I haven't taken a picture for today (groan). Picture...think...think...think...hmm, what's this? A ruler? Ok, not that exciting. But wait, it moves when you move it--it's like a little Posing Stick Figure Movie. Whoa...moving!
Did I mention it was late? Hey, I get excited about the little things late at night when I really want to go to bed,
So here we have it, a stark, contrasted piece depicting the struggle of the athlete.....er, or, perhaps it's just a fun little ruler--you decide. I'm going to bed.

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Great Picture, but--ewww!?

I'm finally getting around to processing some of my first pictures taken with the new Extension Tubes I got for my Anniversary. I took my camera out on one of my daily walks around the building after lunch using my Tamron 70-300 Zoom Macro lens (love that one).  Ok, this is not really that unusual, since I always take my camera, because the two times I didn't, I missed out on some great shots.
Now, there isn't that much to see along the walkway if you do it every day, except for the occasional squirrel and bird, which I've captured pretty well I think.
So, I was trying to find something really small to try it out and the only thing I could find was this spider! Ok, fine, not the cutest subject around, but it'll have to do--I had get back to work, you know?
I was amazed at how close I got without getting too close--does that make sense? Of course it does :D
Anyway, here is one of the shots that I think came out amazing, except for the up-close creepiness.

If you zoom in, you can see three sets of eyes; if you can get past the fuzzy legs up close :)

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Seattle Butterfly House

Yesterday was a full day for Family Activities. First stop was the Harry Potter Exhibit. Nick really enjoyed that--Katie--not so much--too scary I think. Then, we went to the Butterfly House and I think I managed to get a few good shots despite the inconsiderate masses who didn't seem to care when people wanted to take pictures (don't get me started). Anyway, this little guy really liked my husband's cap, cause he decided to stay for what seemed like a long time :D.

I just did some cleanup in Camera RAW and used these actions: Boost (from PWAction Set 1--my fave!), and the Crackle and Bring out the Eyes actions from MCP's Quickie set.
The last stop was the BSG Exhibit at EMP. I got a few shots, but not too great; they had a no flash rule plus the lighting was really dark. I'll post more pictures as I clean them up.

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JHP Action Review - Retouch

For part two of my JHP Photoshop Actions review--Retouch Lab, I used a close-up up my daughter Katie I took at the playground. One of the few times she actually stood still for a picture :D

I used a number of actions from the set, so I thought I'd list the steps showing how I got to the final image. This set has a number of other actions as well, like beautify and tanning bed, that will be great for dramatic fashion-type shots. There are several skin smoothing and refinement actions, so you'll be sure to find one that's just right for many different looks. As with the last review, hover your mouse over the picture to see the before image. Click here for a larger view.

Read on for the how-to:

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