Crystal's OCD~Obsessive Camera Disorder~

Click it Forward Photo Contest

2010-10-16T08:46:00.001-04:00

Their next theme is Pumpkins!

Check out the website at http://www.clickitforward.blogspot.com/ for entry details

Photo Contest

2010-09-15T21:07:00.001-04:00

Check out my photo contest at www.clickitforward.blogspot.com

Click it forward Photo Contest Week 1

2010-09-14T00:24:00.001-04:00

Here is my entry!

Don't forget to check out other great entries or enter yourself at www.clickitforward.blogspot.com

Softbox

2010-07-11T15:05:00.002-04:00

I recently got a Westcott Apollo Speedlight kit softbox *throws hands in the air and starts doing the happy dance*. I Love Love Love it! It is easy to set up and I love how it changes the lighting on my photographs. Here is my first attempt using the softbox...

I was using a smaller lumiquest softbox that attached directly to the speedlight, but that would create a harsh light. I would also use my umbrella which is nice but when doing a portrait it would sometimes tend to flood the room with too much light. So the new softbox is a great mix between my old softbox and my umbrella :)

Digital Backgrounds

2010-07-11T13:06:00.002-04:00

So I have been attempting to learn how to do a digital background...why you ask? Because I am going to do the Alice in Wonderland shoot and thought it would be really cool to learn how to do. So I went on the net and spent way too many hours trying to learn how to do this. I checked out youtube, and there is just way too many videos on random stuff that I found it hard to find what I was looking for. So here is what I learned.

First of all, I can make my own plain background. You can google this and find a ton of websites telling you how to do this. Here is mine

So What I learned after doing this, is that I needed to add a shadow to make it look more real. You can do this in your layers menu, click 'fx' and then drop shadow. So here is my attempt...and not a good one I might add to the drop shadow...

I am still trying to learn the Photoshop 5 refine tool, and its not working out like I would like to so I am going to try to look up some youtube videos on that next and I will do a post on that once I figure it out :)

So I asked my sisters friend who does graphic design and she suggested deviant art for tutorials and I loved this! Type in tutorial and what you want to learn and there is usually something you can find with step by step. Also if you want to have a digital background made, you can get one for around $10 to $20 from Lady Aya Productions. Which is what I plan to do for my Alice in Wonderland shoot :) So excited to see this :) And she will place the image if I want too.

So my last suggestion is to shoot with an all black or white background or a green screen if you have one, that way you can extract the subject easier. Make sure they are sitting about 10 feet away and put a light on your backdrop. And if you want to put them sitting on something in your digital background i.e. a wall, sit them on a stool when you shoot.

So I will keep practicing and searching the web on my journey to learning digital art with photography :) Oh and if you have any suggestions...Please Please Please fill me in :)

Theme Ideas?

2010-05-05T21:49:00.000-04:00

I really want to do a shoot that has an Alice and Wonderland feel to it. I want some ideas of some props, backgrounds, etc. Anyone?

Test Shots

2010-05-02T17:09:00.002-04:00

So Here is my first attempt was using the SB-900 and the umbrella (which blew over in the wind...yeah, not a wise decision. LOL) This was off to the right of the camera. I set it on manual and adjusted the light up and down.

This is the second one, where I used the 900 with the softbox off to the right of the subject and a direct light from the sb-28 to the lower left of the subject that was adjusted down a lot so it wouldn't put out too much light.

This one, I was able to get the look I was wanting (finally) *claps happily*
I put the SB900 with the softbox on manual, used a higher setting on the flash so it gave off more light, brought it close to the subject and pushed up my aperture. This gave it the affect that made the background look darker.

Lighting Equipment

2010-05-02T16:28:00.002-04:00

Okay so I get the equipment, after months and I do mean months of saving. Here is what I have:

Off-camera flash: SB-900 (which is awesome by the way) and a SB-28 (older flash unit, but works great and cheaper)

Light stands and attachments for the flash units that hold the flash and umbrella called a umbrella adapter (see right), which you can go to any camera shop and buy them and they are around 20 to 30 dollars.
Two umbrellas and one Lumiquest soft-box

Trigger: Okay so everyone talks about Pocket Wizards, but man, they are way too much money, so I got some off brand from Japan, and they work great. I think I spent $36 and got three receivers and one trigger off of Ebay. Its called Yonguno Digital, CTR-301P. Now you can use your camera to trigger your flashes with the built-in flash, but it is too difficult, especially when you are not in the line of sight of the infrared.

Lighting

2010-05-02T12:18:00.005-04:00

redwood forest Originally uploaded by jwlphotography

I admit, I am obsessed. I spend hours on flickr a day....I know, I know, crazy! Although I think I was obsessed before, I really became obsessed when I stumbled onto a photographers blog and saw his amazing photographs and I wanted to learn how to get the same look. This was one of my favorites. Although JWL photography (You so have to check out his blog, he has to be the expert on lighting! love, love, love his work...wait did I say love his work yet?) seems to do a lot of special effects too (which I hope to learn someday, that will be my next obsession), I wanted to learn the lighting first.

Test Run:
Okay, as I try to perfect this lighting thing, I will share with you my journey. For all of you in the same boat, you have to check out Strobist, That is the place to go to learn how to do off camera flash. My problem was actually doing it, so here we go, lets look at some test run, trial and error over the next few post.

Getting perfect skin in photoshop using Topaz Detail

2010-04-18T12:02:00.007-04:00

Use a Duplicate layer

Open a layer mask

click back to your duplicate layer

Open Topaz Detail 2 under filers (http://www.topazlabs.com/detail/)

Click on soft looking and click ok

Click back to your layer mask and use your brush on the color black to bring back the detail in what you do not want soft like the eyes.

Then go to layers an flatten when done.

Use Clone and healing brush to take out any other unwanted details in the face and the rest of the photo.

Use the Photo filter in your layers menu as shown, adjust opacity to your liking.

Flatten the image when done.

Increase saturation of any color you may want to stand out more like the blue in the back by going to replace color under image menu

Select the color and increase saturation.

And you are done

Different Textures To Download for Free

2010-04-16T22:14:00.002-04:00

I made these in Photoshop.

DIRECTIONS: Click on which one you want, right click, than upload to photoshop, drag to the picture you want it in, In the layers box, put the texture layer to overlay, adjust opacity to liking in the layers box, than flatten.

How to make the eyes brighter in Photoshop

2010-04-15T22:24:00.003-04:00

1. Make a duplicate layer under the layers tab.
2. Burn: move down to 10% under shadows and burn the dark part of the outside ring around the eye.
3. Dodge: the color part of the eye.
4. Select the eye and under filters hit "sharpen more" once
5. under image, go to adjustments, replace color, select the color of the eye that you want to enhance and increase the saturation.
6. Adjust opacity on the layer to your liking and flatten image.

PhotoShop Vintage, Actions, and Texture

2010-04-15T19:56:00.005-04:00

I used the directions on iheartfaces.com for getting a vintage photo, then added a few more steps.

First I added a red photofilter and dropped the opacity to my liking. I then used the eyebright action from
Coffee Shop blog to brighten the eyes a little. I then added a texture from
Deviant Art and put it on overlay 20%,
flattened the image...done:)

I Heart Faces Weekly Challenge - We heart Kisses!!

2010-02-09T16:20:00.005-05:00

This is a pic of my sister trying to get a kiss from her son,
When I saw the posting on facebook, I knew exactly what
picture to use for the iheartfaces kisses challenge :)

go to www.iheartfaces.com to see other entries

I heart faces Logo Challenge

2010-01-05T12:38:00.010-05:00

This weeks Challenge is was coming up with a logo for the www.iheartfaces.com website. Ari and I had fun coming up with ideas for taking these pictures! For only being six, she was a good sport. I tried in the first ones to not use photoshop to put in the logo so I found some letters that looked close to the logo letters and cut them out and put them on her face (They actually came in a stamp kit and it was the clear plastic that showed what the letters looked like:) The leaf and sunglasses picture was photoshopped in, but the others it was those letters (minus the "i" on two of them because I put it on backwards, I cloned out the section that was the wrong way on one and added it on the other side on the other).

“I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.”

Don't forget to check out the other entries at www.iheartfaces.com!

Week 37: Completely Candid Photo Challenge

2009-09-21T20:16:00.004-04:00

This is one of my favorite pics of Daxton! He was playing at the park when I caught him peaking through one of the slates.

Check out other Candid Photos at www.iheartfaces.com

Tajtana Shoot on July 26, 2009

2009-07-27T12:38:00.017-04:00

Tajtana and I went out yesterday and took some pics
Here are a few :) What do you think? Any advice welcome :)

I Heart Faces : Feet Week!

2009-07-21T16:49:00.003-04:00

This week is Feet week on iheartfaces.com! I love little chubby baby feet so this was a fun week for me :) So here is my entry!

Check out other cute little feet on

SunSet

2009-07-06T00:46:00.014-04:00

We went out to a wheat field and caught some pictures....What do you think?

Ariana was having so much fun throwing up the wheat!

Week 25 Just for Fun

2009-06-30T20:59:00.005-04:00

Check out http://www.iheartfaces.com/ for more fun entries!!

Week 24 I Heart Faces Kids

2009-06-23T19:35:00.003-04:00

This is for iheartfaces.com week 24 kid entry:

Check out other entries at

Just Dax

2009-06-07T21:42:00.009-04:00

Daxton Springs

2009-06-07T21:37:00.005-04:00

Ariana and Daxton May 2009

2009-06-02T00:47:00.009-04:00

Ian and The Bee

2009-05-30T16:51:00.004-04:00

Okay I know Ian and the Bee have nothing in common
except their pics are in the same post :)

Fix it Friday on I Heart Faces

2009-05-30T00:46:00.004-04:00

I did not want to change it much since it is a good pic to begin with so I just changed the eyes with the dodge/burn tool and sharpen and added color. And took the color already in the pic and enhanced it.

Here is the Before

Here is the after

i {heart} faces Week 20:Blog Post

2009-05-25T21:34:00.006-04:00

This is for iheartfaces.com week 20 Silhouettes.

Since I live in Indiana there is not much as far a scenery...So I gave it my best shot :) WDYT?

Check out other entries at

Week 21 I {heart} faces, Birthday

2009-05-24T17:58:00.004-04:00

This is my entry for iheartfaces.com Week 21 Birthdays!

Here is Daxton on his first birthday. He really didn't like everyone staring at him :)

Check out other entries at

PhotoShop Before and Afters

2009-05-24T15:06:00.008-04:00

I {heart} faces wk 19 Photo contest : Amateurs

2009-05-18T21:44:00.004-04:00

Angie and Amy I do not know how you are going to do it! There are so many GREAT entries so far!! Although I am not a Libra like Amy, I too would have a hard time.

This weeks theme at iheartfaces is one of my favorites! Here is my entry of my daughter Ariana. This was taken right at sunset so I thought the colors were amazing.

"I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb Book photo contest. I am granting I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites."

Ari aka Tyra

2009-05-16T18:22:00.011-04:00

Now Thats What Old Make-up Is Good For!

2009-05-16T17:58:00.007-04:00

Ari found my bucket of old make-up today.
She decided to take it outside and put some on...
She really liked the lipstick!

Lets put this on.....

Rub it in.....

oh wait too much.....

PERFECT!!

What do you think mom?!

Laughter!

2009-05-10T23:07:00.005-04:00

This is my week 18 entry for iheartfaces.com This weeks theme is Laughter! Daxton caught me off guard when I took this picture of him cracking up at me.

Check out some more laughter pics on

Daxton

2009-05-10T22:15:00.005-04:00

Kiddo Pics

2009-05-10T18:17:00.004-04:00

Week 16 i{heart} faces-Kids entry

2009-04-26T22:33:00.000-04:00

This week on iheartfaces is reflection week. This my post for the kids entry!

check out other entries at

Desmond AKA Terror-Mite

2009-04-26T21:08:00.001-04:00

This is my Nephew Desmond who looks all sweet and innocent.....

But we call him terror-mite which is short for terrorist and termite...

Because he gets into everything and puts everything in his mouth :)

The Thoughtful Look

2009-04-25T22:31:00.001-04:00

Daxton Playing outside

2009-04-24T01:05:00.000-04:00

If only I had pink sunglasses!

2009-04-24T00:43:00.001-04:00

Windy Day

2009-04-22T19:21:00.001-04:00

Today was a very windy day. Ari and I had fun taking picture in it.

Is this what they call the Ugly Cry?

2009-04-22T08:05:00.000-04:00

I have to write a ten page paper for school by tomorrow night.

If I were a baby I would be doing what Dax is doing in this picture...lol.

Jared and Daxton

2009-04-21T12:28:00.000-04:00

The first one is Jared and the Second one of course is Daxton...Same Blonde Curls!

The Ladies Man

2009-04-20T20:28:00.000-04:00

Yes This is the ladies man all right! With his messy face right down to the diaper :)

Ariana

2009-04-19T22:20:00.000-04:00

Ari is the picture queen!

I love that about her because she allows me to take a million photos while I test different lens, lighting, and settings on my new camera.

Ian, Ariana, and Daxton

2009-04-19T21:36:00.000-04:00

Daxton's Crazy Mood Swings Today

2009-04-19T17:10:00.001-04:00

Started off in a good Mood.....

Then to Goofy..

Then to mad....

So we went outside... and back to happy!

Saturday Morning

2009-04-19T12:15:00.001-04:00

Look Mom!

Daxton contemplating...hmm should I go over to see my daddy?

Easter Sunday

2009-04-19T11:23:00.000-04:00

Daxton...Hmmm how do I get into this thing?

Here Mom... Can you open it for me Please?

Or maybe Nana can help...

Daxton and Desmond...they finally got into those darn things!

Ariana with her basket full...she found the most eggs!

Ari "I better hurry before Desmond gets all my eggs!!

Hunting for Easter Eggs....

FIX IT FRIDAY! :)

2009-04-18T13:46:00.000-04:00

This is for fix it Friday on www.iheartfaces.com

Before

After

and the bottom one was just for fun...

Week 12 Pet

2009-03-30T23:17:00.001-04:00

Check out iheartfaces

Week 12 Pout :(

2009-03-30T22:38:00.001-04:00

This is a picture of Daxton with his pout face :( I am submitting it for a great website everyone should check out.... iheartfaces

Check out

Daxton's Day Outside Today

2009-03-22T02:31:00.000-04:00

Messing around with PhotoShop

2009-03-22T02:14:00.001-04:00

i {heart} faces Week 10: Kids

2009-03-16T00:01:00.001-04:00

This week on iheartfaces theme is GREEN! Here is my pic of Ariana that I choose for this weeks theme.

If you want to see some more great photos go check out

Lillie

2009-03-10T20:51:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share some pics of my good friend Joy's baby girl. Joy took the beautiful pictures and I did the photoshopping :) I had so much fun editing them! Makes it easier when the I have a cute baby :)

Here is the photoshopped version

Here is the original

Here is the next pic original

The next two are photoshopped with Photoshop 7

i {heart} faces Week 8: Kids

2009-03-08T20:06:00.000-04:00

Creative Crop is this weeks theme at iheartfaces. I can't wait to see all the entries for this week!
Here is my cropped photo.

This was taken when I was messing around with my camera while in the car takng pics of my kids (hence why there is a seat belt in the pic). Ariana is leaning up against her brother and has the seat belt but I liked the facial expression and so I cropped it :)

Here is the before:

Here is the Cropped version without the seat belt and her brothers arm:

If you want to see some more amazing photo's check out iheartfaces!

i {heart} faces Week 7: Kids

2009-02-23T17:20:00.000-05:00

I love black and white photos! I know I will love going and seeing all the other entries this week at iHeartFaces!

If you want to see some great photographs check out

i {heart} faces Fix it Friday

2009-02-20T23:27:00.001-05:00

I love Fix it Friday's on iHeartFaces! So here is what I did while having fun on photoshop :)

Before

and...

After

If you want to have some fun of your own check out.....

I Heart Faces Wonder

2009-02-16T20:23:00.000-05:00

I am posting this picture for the iheartfaces week 6 adults category.

I picked this picture because I think the "wonder" in his eyes is so simple and beautiful.

If you like faces check out

Wonder

2009-02-16T20:15:00.000-05:00

This picture is for iHeartFaces week 6 "Wonder"

I choose this picture because I think Daxton's face says it all :)

Today's Pics

2009-02-15T20:18:00.000-05:00

These are some pics of the kiddo's that I took today

Blue Eyes

2009-02-15T11:24:00.001-05:00

FIX IT FRIDAY! :)

2009-02-13T19:51:00.001-05:00

This is my Pic For the iHeartFaces before and after (See bottom for how I did it).

Here is the BEFORE

And

Here is the AFTER

And..

I use PhotoShop 7. The steps I used are:
(First Pic)

Dodged the eyes
Took the eyedropper and color matched the darkest part of the outside of the eye and filled in the spots that were not as dark to help the eyes stand out.
I then used the magic wand and selected the eyes and hit sharpen more under filter once.
I then used the magic wand and selected the eyes and the background and the blue on the shirt.
I went to "Select" and choose inverse
I then went to "Image" and choose hue/saturation and desaturated to black and white (this kept the color where I picked with the magic wand and turned everything else black and white).
I then added a layer by hitting the "alt" key and add new layer on the layers tool box.
Under that it pulls up another menu and I choose overlay and checked the box fill with overlay...etc
I then choose the eyedropper again and picked a lighter shade of blue on the picture.
I then choose the paint brush and put the opacity to 50% or higher.
I then made the brush a large circle and went over the parts of the black and white that I wanted to add a little blue to..i.e. in the top right hand corner.
Then I put the opacity to 15% and made the brush small and went over the eyes with a light blue from the eyes using the eye dropper again.
To get the color back in the checks and lips I put the opacity to 10-15% and the flow down to around 9% and picked out a pink and went over the areas of the face I wanted to add color to.
I then flattened the layers and took the blur tool and blurred the edges of the background that were a little rough with the black and white.
Then saved it! :)

The Second one was the same steps except leaving the eyes on the magic wand only, then inverse, and add the layer and then add color to the background and the face and hair.

Daxton's Silly face

2009-02-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

Check out more Silly faces at http://www.iheartfaces.com/

First Post

2009-02-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

I am kind of excited that I am posting on my first blog. I really should be reading my homework but this seemed more fun!