Paper Heart Camera

Touch-Up Tuesday

2012-01-17T06:38:00.000-08:00

original

edited

Edit: Sometimes less is more when it comes to an edit. I ran two actions on this photo - you can download them here and here. I added a quote and used it in this post. Have you got an edit you'd like to show off? Link it up here!

Light Scoop for your DSLR Flash!

2012-01-05T03:00:00.000-08:00

Hello friends! I'm here to share a new fave/cheap toy I have for my DSLR! It's called a Light Scoop. Jess, from IROCKSOWHAT, introduced it to me. AND, it really does work. This little goody will work perfectly for the time since purchasing a speedlight is definitely not in my budget for now. So, Here's a little SOOC with my flash and SOOC with the speedlight.

I'm very excited to use this more! Perfect for my dark dark home. :D By the way: I bought mine on Amazon. For more info on the Light Scoop, check out their site. :)

Touch Up Tuesday: Elf

2011-12-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

My little elf edit of my daughter for Christmas! I worked with the Liquify tool for her nose and ears. Added a later of blue for her hair (and switched that layer to overlay and adjusted the opacity to 50%). Added rosy cheeks and lips! AND: done! It was really fast and fun! I hope you all had a lovely holiday!

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-12-20T01:59:00.000-08:00

This weekend I had a fun photoshoot with a friend that won a contest on my Photography Facebook Page. She had the cutest little guy. I just loved this shot with his little tongue sticking out.

Here is the SOOC:

I used my Lightroom Clean Edit Action and tweaked it a tad. Then I used Paint The Moon's latest Facebook Fan Freebie, to sharpen and resize the photo.

Here they are side by side.

Feel free to download my Lightroom Preset Here. Enjoy! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

By Shaunna at Mist and Lilies | Freebie! Frost Template!

2011-12-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

Ready for a freebie!?

How about this adorable, floral, snow themed template for a photo of yours?

Download HERE.

See ya later!

PS Tutorial: Quickly adding a border to your photo!

2011-12-09T14:40:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! It's Mandy from A Sorta Fairytale! Just popping in with a Photoshop Tutorial on how to add a border to your images, quickly!! There is a really fast and easy way to do it, so I'll run you through those steps now!

STEP ONE: Open the desired image in Photoshop!

STEP TWO: Select all (command + A on a Mac or control + A on a PC) > Edit > Stroke

STEP THREE: Choose the width & color of your border. Unless you're working with a layer behind your image, that's larger than your image - you will need to choose Location > Inside.
You can also choose different blending modes & opacity for your border.

Click OK.

And Viola!

{ example one }

{ example two }

{ example three }

Free Photoshop Actions that look like INSTAGRAM!

2011-12-05T05:00:00.000-08:00

Yay for free photoshop actions! On pinterest the other day I saw these FREE INSTAGRAM lookalike photoshop actions. I knew I had to try them since I'm a huge lover of the instagram. So, I went ahead and threw each action on my SOOC picture so you all can see for yourselves (the actions download also comes with all the neato instagram borders that we love so much, but I chose to not use them).

Things that I've noticed about these actions that you'd might like to know-

1. They are not customizable. It's just a flat action that you throw on a picture. What you see is what you get.

2. Just like regular instagram, these filters only look good in natural light. They're a bit extreme (but instagram filters are generally pretty extreme) in indoor lighting. In fact, I personally wouldn't use them if the lighting is bad.

If you have questions about how to install these actions, the link to download them explains how to get these to work on photoshop as well.

Good luck! And happy editing!

-Jess from IROCKSOWHAT

How to take abnormal Christmas tree photos.

2011-11-29T23:22:00.001-08:00

Hello!
This is Audrey from The Daily Wyatt. I want to talk to you about how fun it is to take abnormal photos of your Christmas tree.

I have a very small ghetto tree that I have had since I was 18 when I randomly moved out on my own. It was the first tree I ever bought and it has seen better days.

So this year as we set it up (yes before Thanksgiving. I know I know.) I noticed all the icky bare spots, how it tilted and it was just ugly. So when it came to taking the normal pictures of it I wanted to be a little more artistic with it. Give it more life, so I decided to concentrate on just the lights.

So I put my camera settings on 0.8 f 5.6 ISO 200 no tripod. As a clicked the shutter instead of holding my camera still I turned it in a circular motion while pointing it towards the tree which made the lights turn into little circles.

It was so simple and the only edits I did was boost the colors to make them a little brighter.
So when your taking pictures of you tree this year try and do something out of the normal. Who knows you might get something amazing.

Audrey from The Daily Wyatt

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-11-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Edit: Often when I need to do a hair tutorial for my blog, the only space I can do it is in the bathroom because of the light needed. I don't mind these sooc yellow photos... but, I do like to "super edit" them. I add a ton of light and contrast. I even like to remove a lot of the red tones and yellow tones in my skin using the Selective Colors and Color Balance layers. That's just my style. :)

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

How to make a gif file in photoshop!

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered how to make these awesome stop action gifs? It's actually pretty simple if you have photoshop (sorry to those that don't! trying using gickr.com).

First, you need to have a set of pictures that you more than likely took continuously in a row. Throw them all in a folder on your desktop in the order that they would appear in your gif.

You're gonna want to make sure that all of your pictures are sized the same and edited before you make this gif. So if you want to make them look all awesome and stuff, do that FIRST.

Next, open a NEW file on photoshop and make sure you size it the same size as your pictures.

Then the easy part is about to happen, drag and drop all your images at once onto your new file. I literally highlight all the pictures at once and then drag them over to photoshop and drop them on my new file. You'll see that there is an X over top the picture. Just hit enter until all the X's are gone. This is just photoshops way of dividing the pictures on top of each other. BLAH BLAH BLAH very confusing but if you just hit enter until the X's are gone, you'll be good to go.

Now you're going to go to the WINDOW tab at the top of your photoshop program and then scroll down to ANIMATION. Click it.

Clicking on ANIMATION will give you this long skinny bar. Click on the little tab on the right hand side. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, click on the image below to get a better idea of where I clicked. Once you click on the tab on the right hand side of the skinny bar, scroll down to MAKE FRAMES FROM LAYERS.

Once you click on MAKE FRAMES FROM LAYERS you'll see all your pictures lined up in a row. This is where you pick the speed for your image. You see where the time says 0.2 sec.? You can change that to any number you want. You'll have to change each pictures time. There's a way to make them all do it at once, but I don't know it... so I have to manually just go through and change the time of each one. Also, remember to set to FOREVER (it's the little tab under the first picture). This will make your gif never ending... more like a video.

Once you've done all that, go to FILE and then SAVE FOR WEB & DEVICES and you're done!

Thanks Guys!

-Jess

www.irocksowhat.com

Show and Tell: Family

2011-11-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Inspiration: Family

Show:

Tell: This photo is from the summer at a wedding. :)

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-11-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

Edit: I ran the Florabella Rain followed by the Florabella Bloom action. Adjusted the settings. :D

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Posing Ideas

2011-11-21T05:00:00.000-08:00

Have you ever been in the middle of a photo session/photoshoot and you get a brain-fart? The clients/subjects are looking to YOU for help on how to pose, what to do, etc.... Here is a helpful PDF file of various poses to help you direct your subjects. There were life-savers for me. I know they will be for you!

http://mistandlilies.com

- Shaunna

Show and Tell: Around the home

2011-11-20T00:00:00.000-08:00

Inspiration: Around the home

Show:

Tell: Cookies around the home...

Touch Up Tuesday:

2011-11-15T00:00:00.000-08:00

Edit: For this edit I ran the Florabella Rain action... with adjustments... followed by the Florabella Afternoon action... with adjustments.

A tip for edits: One thing I always do before every edit is adjust the Levels layer. Adjusting the Levels helps add contrast and brighten a photo... or to "defog" a photo.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell: Fall

2011-11-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

Inspiration: Fall

Show:

Tell: Picking out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. :)

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-11-08T00:00:00.000-08:00

Edit: This photo was for a Vintage Pinned Hair tutorial I did on my blog. I used the Florabella Vintage Summer action.... with some adjustments. BUT, I know some of you may not use actions... So, I thought I'd give you a couple tips how to give a vintage look to your photo!

- Putting a vignette around the edge of the photo... and, adding a spotlight to the center.

- Play with a Contrast layer... High contrast adds a vintage feel. Working with the different colors in a Curves level will also do this.

- Work with a hue/saturation layer (with colorize checked) and adjust the levels until it gives a sepia tone. You can adjust the opacity to taste.

- Depending what tone you'd like... ad a Solid Color layer and set it to "screen" and adjust the opacity to taste. My image has a bright pink Solid Color layer.

- Play with a Color Balance layer. You can add yellow and orangy colors to give a sunshine feel. Adjust opacity.

- For a hazy feel... add a Levels layer and adjust until the image looks "foggy". Adjust opacity to taste.

I hope those tips will help you create a vintage photo! Have fun!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell: In Disguise

2011-11-05T23:55:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: In Disguise

Show:

Tell: My baby girl.... in disguise....

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-11-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

(I'm Sorry this is sooo late I schedule it and somehow it didnt post ugh.)

HELLOOOOOO!!!!
Its Audrey from The Daily Wyatt I wanted to show you that with just a few tweaks that you can turn a pretty photo into a stunning one.

As you can see the before photo was really light and not as dramatic as I like so what I did was first a clean edit (fixed the levels contrast etc.…) then I added warmth action from the PNW then I fixed the S curved to deepen the colors, sharpened it and removed any noise and was done.
That’s it. Simple.

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: Self Portrait

2011-10-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Self Portrait. Suggested prompt: Cover

Show:

Tell: An older self portrait of mine.

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-10-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Whoops! Looks like we forgot Touch Up Tuesday! :D Hee, sorry about that. I could have sworn it was Monday. Link up below!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: Under

2011-10-23T00:09:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Under

Show:

Tell: The feet under Ruari's Halloween costume I crafted for her.

Collages in Lightroom 3

2011-10-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

Hello, this is Sarah from Naptime Momtog. I am one of the newest writers for Paper Heart Camera. I am so glad to be writing here. I just bought Lightroom 3 while it was on sale and I love it so far. I still have a lot learning to do, but thought I would share how to do collages in Lightroom.

First you want to go to the folder where the photos are located. Once you are there and you have your photos edited and ready you will then go up to Print.

Lightroom has several built in already. I have also find some from this site. If you sign up for her email updates she sends monthly freebies. Anyways you decide what template you want to use. Then you just drag and drop the photo into the boxes.

One thing you do have to watch is make sure it is cropped where you want it. Unlike photoshop I haven't figured out how to drag the photo around to get the area of the photo you want shown.

Then when you are done adding the photos you go to Print to File and save it.

After that I open it in photoshop to resize and watermark it. I just wrote a tutorial on how I do that process here. Here is the final product.

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-10-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

Hey, Jess here from IROCKSOWHAT doing a Touch up Tuesday. I wanted to keep it simple and actually show you guys my favorite FREE clean up action that I found just by googling one day. Go HERE to download the free photoshop action.

And then for fun, I thought I'd try to make myself look a little BETTER and threw on a Florabella action.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: Round

2011-10-16T00:06:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Round

Show:

Tell: My little babe's big round baby blues. :)

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-10-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

Edit: I set up a couple of white boards to take a few photos of some lovely items I have... and, here's my daughters newest addition to our family. To edit this photo I ran the Florabella Rain action (adjusted some settings) along with A Little Snap from AMP. That's it!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Layer modes in PSE

2011-10-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

sooc

b&w edit

brown layer 45% opacity

changed the layer to "overlay"

final edit

The point of this before & after?
Layer mode matters.

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: Black and White

2011-10-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Black and White

Show:

Tell: My sweet shoes.....

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-10-04T00:02:00.000-07:00

Edit: I used another Florabella action for this photo: Rain. One of my favorites. It really just adds a nice pop to your photo.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: Brown

2011-10-02T12:07:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Brown

Show:

Tell: The most delicious cookies... EVER. Recipe here.
...................................

You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you! First time here? Click here for more info and upcoming photo challenges.

Please share a link to your blog post with the picture in the comments. Linky Tools is not cooperating for me this week. :D

Touch Up Tuesday

2011-09-27T00:06:00.000-07:00

Before and After:

Edit: ALL I did for this edit was to run the Florabella Afternoon action and adjust some of the settings. That's it! I just wanted to add a little lighting.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: Self Portrait

2011-09-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Suggested prompt: Circle

Show:

Tell: The lighting from this round mirror is WONDERFUL. :D

...................................
You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you! First time here? Click here for more info and upcoming photo challenges.

Please share a link to your blog post with the picture in the comments. Linky Tools is not cooperating for me this week. :D

Get creative with textures

2011-09-22T07:39:00.001-07:00

I know that a lot of the times I post on here I talked about textures. but I love that we can create images that we want in this digital age. So I just want to do a step by step tutorial to added out the norm textures to allow you to get creative with your photos.

A few weeks ago I went to a balloon festival and the balloons didn't take to the air until really late which didn't give me the ideal light I wanted. So after being bummed out by the photos I took I decide that I was going to save them by added what I wished I could have captured.

Now just know that I used Photoshop Elements 8 so if you use something else some of these tips might not work for you.

First you need to open up the photo you want to edit and do your clean edits because you want you photo to be the best it can before you add any type of textures. I know I wanted to make this photo very dramatic. So I searched the internet for free textures for Photoshop and brushes.

The textures I used were these…

How I added it all together was added the warmth to it with a PW action.

Then I added the clouds change they layer to soft light lowered the opacity to my liking and erased the texture over the hot air balloon.

Then added the stars again changing the layer to soft light lowing the opacity erased the texture over the hot air balloon.

I fixed the colors added a sun haze with a coffee shop action. added the grass to make it more alive. (again changed to soft light lowing the opacity.) I first made a new layer then added the moon with a “moon bush” then I lowered the opacity to make it more realistic. added a vignette then added the border texture.

I think I fixed the colors again with actions. sharpened and reduced the noise and was done. NOW, this took a few hours to get it right. ( and I still see things I would change.) So be patient but do be creative. Textures can make amazing photos if you know how to use them and the only way to learn is by practicing.

Here are some others I took that day that I added textures too so you can see how different textures can change the mood of your photos.

If you guys end up using textures like these I would love to see them! Post them into our FLICKR GROUP so we can get inspired by all of you and link up to the linky I host every Thursday for Texture Thursday.

Audrey- The Daily Wyatt

Understanding how to use light.

2011-09-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Hey! It's Mandy from A Sorta Fairytale & Mandy Chiappini Photography. It's been WAY too long since I've posted here at Paper Heart Camera. So... here I am... discussing one of the very most important topics when it comes to photography!

I have been a professional photographer for 3 years now. To me, it seems like forever... but honestly I'm still a newbie. However, in my 3 years of experience, I have learned SO much. And I want to share with you one of the most important lessons I have learned over the years.

One of those lessons is achieving a great shot, straight out of camera (SOOC). You might know what all the little gadgets on your DSLR mean, and you might be a genius at Photoshop. But getting a properly exposed shot SOOC is so important.

And how do we do this? LIGHTING LIGHTING LIGHTING! And of course, understanding the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed & ISO). But seriously, a lot of people e-mail me and ask me how I always have such bright vibrant photos. It isn't the editing that I do, it's the lighting that I used when I took the photo in camera. Not only will understanding lighting enhance your pictures, it will cut down on your editing time profusely! Time is valuable.

When it comes to light, the general rule of thumb is to always have your light source in FRONT of your subject. If the light source is behind them, you will have trouble capturing any light in their eyes. *light bulb moment* - if you want to get those gorgeous catch lights in your subjects eyes, make sure their face is WELL LIT. You'll also have trouble focusing and capturing detail if the light source isn't in the right place.

One thing to note: do not ever put your subject in the direct sunlight. Squinty eyes and harsh shadows are never desirable. There are a specific few techniques in which you might use the direct sunlight (i.e. sunflare). But for the most part, make sure that you have a significant amount of light (preferably shade if outside) on the person's face. (right by a window if you're inside).

Here is an example of what not to do with lighting:

Could I try to save this photo with lots and lots of fill light and selective dodging & burning? Sure. But would it be worth it? Not at all. This picture should be thrown out.

Here are some examples of properly exposed photos SOOC:

So why was this properly exposed? Well my camera was on manual mode so I had complete control over my settings and the exposure triangle, I used my meter and my histogram. But first and foremost, this picture turned out properly exposed SOOC because of where the light was in relation to my subject. This was taken in the middle of the day so there was light everywhere and we were in an open abandoned building. What you can't see, is behind me, there is a BIG open wall that was allowing lots of light to flood onto her face. If she was facing the other way, could I have achieved this shot? No. It would have been {possibly} salvageable, because there was definitely light coming in from all directions, but the darkest part of the building was behind her. And that is where I want it.

Make sense?

Editing time: Less than 5 minutes! All I had to do was a little sharpening and quick color popping and that's it! Oh, and for fun I converted it to B&W. :)

Here are a couple of other examples of a properly exposed photo SOOC:

I had her in the doorway so that she wouldn't be washed out with TOO much light, but I still had her facing outward toward the light source.

This was taken out in the open, but in the shade. There was buildings completely surrounding us. So the sun was blocked out... perfect!

So to reiterate, the MOST important thing to understand as a photographer - is lighting. Using the light properly will save 90% of your photos. You will find you are spending so much less time in Photoshop trying to correct your exposure if you can just capture that great SOOC shot!

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: From a Distance

2011-09-18T20:08:00.000-07:00

Inspiration:

Show:

Tell: My hubby and daughter in the river.

Touch Up Tuesday: Removing Yellow

2011-09-13T00:08:00.000-07:00

Edit: Sometimes you don't have a chance to adjust your white balance before taking a photo OR... someone else has your camera and they don't quit know how to change the settings for you. :) So, this is what this edit is for: removing the yellow.

I do more edits than just what I'm showing above. BUT, I just wanted to give you a quick idea of how to remove a ton of yellow in your photos.

In Photoshop the Selective Color layer is one way to do this. You can pull that up and adjust the reds and yellows to your liking. AND, if you want to go just a little further... you can play around with the Color Balance layer. Sometimes adding a little blue highlights will help lower the intensity of the yellow room.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: Remember

2011-09-11T00:03:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Today is the 10th anniversary of September 11th. Share a sweet photo of a moment that you will always love to remember!

Show:

Tell: This is one of my favorite family photos. I love it. I will always remember this day and moment.

First time here? Click here for more info and upcoming photo challenges.

Touch Up Tuesday: Simple edit.

2011-09-06T00:02:00.000-07:00

SOOC and Edit:

Edit: SUPER simple edit! I pretty much just ran one of my favorite actions: Rain from Florabella. It just brightened things up and made it pop. Love it. :)

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell: Stairs

2011-09-03T23:10:00.000-07:00

Show:

Tell: I love playing with stairs in my photographs.

...................................
You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on August 28th and the suggested challenge word is "Circle".

Touch Up Tuesday:

2011-08-30T00:04:00.000-07:00

SOOC and Edit:

Edit: This may be a hard edit to really see... but, I really just wanted the feather on my dress to stand out more. I did a little contrast adjustment and did a sharpen edit right around the feather too. Simple simple... but, I love simple. :)

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

to action or not to action

2011-08-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe summer is already over!!! It completely flew by! I've been needing to post for quite a while…I was debating on what my topic would be when I stumbled upon the premier of The Pioneer Woman on Food Network. I love her blog and was so excited to see her show…very fun…definitely recommend it!

So, from there I decided my post would be on using actions.

I'm always at odds with whether to use them or not. Sometimes I feel like a good photo should come out of the camera…your choices should be made then and there and very little editing should be done or needed. But then there are times where you are just looking for a certain mood in your photo and editing can do just that. And sometimes you are just looking to have some fun with your photos. I don't use actions very often but when I do I usually use The Pioneer Woman's actions. I really like them. They are well done and have lots of options for tweaking them to make them more your own.

Ultimately, if you don't spend a lot of time with a program like Photoshop (unlike myself) you will find actions to be a wonderful aid. Layer masks and adjustment layers are fun and all but a well made action will navigate all of that for you with ease. So try them out…play around with them…find a few favorites and use them when you need them.

Wildflower, Imogene Pass, Colorado • SOOC • f/10, 1/1600, ISO 800


Top row from left to right: The Pioneer Woman's Colorized; B&W Beauty; Fresh & Colorful; Heartland; Sepia Tone Bottom row from left to right: The Pioneer Woman's Lovely & Ethereal; Seventies; Sunshine; Soft & Faded; Vintage

After running all of these actions on this photo, I have to say that her Old West action turned out to be my favorite. I love the depth it added to the photo...and somehow it makes these tiny little flowers seem even more delicate.

Wildflower, Imogene Pass, Colorado • The Pioneer Woman's Old West

Moral of the story…have fun editing your photos. Learn your style…some photographers are amazing at SOOC and some are amazing editors. Have fun…play around…and ultimately, make them your own.

Christina

at by lens or by brush featuring cmh photography (formerly rsvp ink)

Show and Tell Challenge: Music

2011-08-28T20:33:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Self Portrait! Suggested prompt: Music

Show:

Tell: My shoes are music to my ears. I love shoes...

Interview with Heidi from Me As A Mother

2011-08-24T00:39:00.000-07:00

My friend Heidi is the wife to her hot hunk of a man and mother to 3 adorable girls with magic hair. She also has an undetermined but rather large number of dogs yet doesn't come across as a "dog person" whatsoever.

I love Heidi for her quick wit, her amazing photographs, and the fact that she'll back me up if I'm in a disagreement with my husband, (or anybody else for that matter).

Heidi blogs at Me As A Mother and I guarantee if you head on over there and say hi you will not regret it.

I sat down with Heidi recently and interviewed her for this feature. And by "sat down" I mean I emailed her some questions to which she replied and emailed me back. Enjoy!

How did you get started with photography?

My parents bought me my first camera when I was about 8. It was this awesome Kodak Instamatic. I took a lot of pictures of my friends playing and of my sister practicing her clarinet. I really loved it, but when you're 8 it's not like you can bank roll this kind of hobby on your own and I had busy parents, who despite my completely rational requests, wouldn't drop what they were doing to run to the one-hour photo place on a daily basis. So I picked it back up again seriously in high school and majored in fine arts photography in college.

What kind of camera(s) do you use?

I have had my Nikon D200 for 5 years and use it every day. I also have a little Canon PowerShot SD 400 that I bought six years ago when my oldest daughter was born and I use it a lot.

What's your dream camera?

Ooooh, this one, this one: Nikon D3s. I would seriously give this camera its own pillow so it could sleep between my husband and me and I would carry it everywhere in its own Baby Bjorn situation.

Do you have any desire to go "pro"?

I have thought about it, and still think about it every once in a while, but ultimately I am worried that turning my passion into a business would kill the joy for me. Sometimes all I have keeping me sane at the end of the day (did I mention that I have three daughters?) is my photography; I do it because I love it more than anything else, and staying up until 2 in morning editing shots because I HAVE to kind of makes me feel claustrophobic.

What's your favorite subject matter?

I love photographing people. Candid portraits are my favorite; capturing moments that seem so ordinary. I could photograph my daughters all day every day and never get tired of it because when I see those pictures I see the best part of being alive.

What's your favorite photo you've ever taken?

This is such a good question! And a tough one. But I have to go with the image that immediately popped into my head when I read it. It's this picture of Anabelle when she was 2. I love everything about it.

Do you have a favorite daughter?

Hahahahaha! Yes.

Do you have any pet peeves?

I HATE it when people don't think to orient their camera vertically to shoot a portrait. It drives me bananas. Also, when my husband leaves the fingernail clippers in random spots and I can't find them. That makes me want to punch walls.

Can you leave us with one photography tip?

Know your equipment, whether it's a top-of-the-line DSLR, a point and shoot or your phone. That way you will never miss a moment because you are fumbling around with dials and buttons. Shoot everyday.

Touch Up Tuesday: Dark rooms

2011-08-23T00:01:00.000-07:00

SOOC and After:

Edit: I hate it when I really want to take some no flash photos... and, I'm in a super dark room. BUT, I still do it. My image is never as neat and crisp and noise free as I'd like, but... that's ok. With a little brightness here and a little noise reduction there... I'm happy with my image.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Cool Things

2011-08-22T05:20:00.000-07:00

Getting into photography can be pretty expensive. You desire to have the best possible quality you can from your camera that you have already invested so much money into. You then realize that it takes MORE to get BETTER shots. It can be frustrating, trust me...I've been there....recently. A remote for those who despise the built in timer, a speedlite for better flash photographs, a tripod, MORE lenses because you always need another one that delivers the results you are wanting...and so on and so forth. If you're like me who is not made of money, who does not desire to put things on credit, and who would rather keep the peace with the hubs....

Hubs: "You bought ANOTHER LENS!? What was wrong with the other one!?"

Me: "That one is a 50mm! I needed a macro lens to get awesome close ups!"

Hubs: He sighs and shakes his head in utter confusion.

Alas, I love searching and finding sweet "substitutes" that are cheaper than "originals". For example, I have been NEEDING to purchase a speedlite, but I knew after I purchased a speedlite I would then have to purchase a diffuser in order to get that "soft" effect. You always need something else! SO, I found this brilliant little substitute....

It's called a Puffer, and the current sale is for $21.95. It is a speedlite AND a diffuser! SAWEEEET!

Then there is a Pop-up Flash Bounce (er) for $30, which doesn't really produce an "as good effect" as the Puffer, but it still beats the "originals".

And who says you have to buy a full lens price when you can get a cheap attachment that delivers close to similar results? This is a brilliant wide angle & macro lens attachment for under $90 (depending on the purchased package).

I personally will invest in ANOTHER lens if I KNOW that I will be using it often, like my 50mm. I definitely bought a Canon brand "original" for that because it is usually almost ALWAYS on my Canon 7D.

So there you have it--a few "cheaper" alternatives for those of us who are frugal and like to keep our cheapo significant others happy ....or maybe that's just my situation ;-)

- Shaunna 

over at Captivus Living.

Show and Tell: Water

2011-08-21T00:31:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Water

Show:

Tell: My glass of water with the light shining through it.

Touch Up Tuesday: Blending

2011-08-16T00:07:00.000-07:00

Blending:

Edit: Oh, blending. One of my fave things to do. I have shared my blended photos with you guys MANY times! Click here to see our previous blending posts for more tips on how to create them. It's a SUPER simple technique. Just takes a little patience and an eraser tool/clone tool in photoshop.

For the above blended image I dragged and dropped the first photo over the second photo. I lowered the first photos opacity to 50% (so I could see the image behind to see where I need to erase). And, I erased (make sure the Eraser tool is set to a soft erase). The hard parts are always where there are little strands of hair.... For this I lower my eraser tool to 50% and erased lightly over the hair... this way you can see the image behind... AND, still see the hair from the other image.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell: Summer

2011-08-14T00:37:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Summer

Show:

Tell: Enjoying a nice white wine on a beautiful sunny day!

Touch Up Tuesday: Bubbles

2011-08-09T00:01:00.000-07:00

SOOC and After:

Edit: So, I know I talk about my love for the Florabella actions A LOT... BUT, I do love them. And, if you use actions a lot in your editing... you'll understand that finding that perfect/favorite recipe of actions blends is the best! I've been playing around with this blend from Florabella: First Sharpen/Defog, Center Fill-Light (opacity lowered to 25%), Soft Sunshine, Afternoon, and then Sheer haze (opacity lowered to 30%). One of my fave blends!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell challenge: Whatever

2011-08-07T00:33:00.001-07:00

Inspiration: Whatever

Show:

Tell: So since Chelsey is at BlogHer! she asked me to host todays Show and Tell.

My photo is one I put together after a long week of talking with Wyatt about being brave. I sooo want to blow this photo up and put it on canvas and hang it on his wall because I feel like you can just see the courage he has in his eye and how he was so determined to be brave and just so you all know we have finally accomplished sleeping in his bed with out the light on. phew.

...................................
You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!
Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)
Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on August 28th and the suggested challenge word is "Music".

-Audrey from The Daily Wyatt

Touch Up Tuesday: Happy Summer!

2011-08-02T00:03:00.000-07:00

Edit: First I cleaned up the dark spots on her face... then I worked on the brightness and contrast. From there I ran the Afternoon action from Florabella. And, a sheer haze action after that.

I hope you all are enjoying your summer! Ruari is!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell challenge: Self Portrait!

2011-07-31T00:11:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Self Portrait. Suggested prompt: Floor

Show:

Tell: Sometimes it's easier to just to prop up my camera on something and sit on the floor for self portraits... since my child likes to shake and rattle my tripod. :D

Touch Up Tuesday: Eye pop

2011-07-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

SOOC and After:

Edit: For this edit I really wanted to make Ruari's eyes pop! First I adjusted the contrast/brightness... etc. and cleaned up the shadows using my clone tool (I also removed that little bit of pacifier and the crusty under her nose).

Next I ran my Florabella Sharpen/Defog action. Flattened... and ran that same action a second time! But, this time I erased the sharpen/defog over everything BUT her eyes, just for a little extra pop. Then, I ran my Florabella Afternoon action (that gave it the golden glow). And lastly, I ran the Florabella Sheer Haze action. I lowered the Sheer Haze layers opacity to 25% and erased the layer just over her eyes... for just a teeny bit more pop. :) AND, that's it!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell: Hat

2011-07-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Hat

Show:

Tell: A paper hair accessory I made for a bridal shower/tea party I went to.

...................................
You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on July 31st and the suggested challenge word is "Floor".

Show and Tell Faves: Green

2011-07-24T00:03:00.000-07:00

{Our Typical Life}

{A Good Life}

{Selfie Magic}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

The Good Side

2011-07-21T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hello my fellow photography gurus! Let us not grow weary of lack of inspiration! ...... That is what I have had to tell myself all week. I am a silent blog stalker, so I have noticed that most of you guys don't seem to lack in that area at the moment! YOU'RE AWESOME! But we all hit a plateau every once in a while. Nevertheless, I am here to talk about something entirely different. Let us talk about your good side.

EVERYONE has one! It is either your left of your right side of the face. When having a picture taken, many forget about showing off their best features. It takes looking at yourself in the mirror and really "checking yourself out" until you find out which side of your face look the best. Weird how that is, but let me explain my "best side" and then maybe it will be easier for you to find yours if you have no clue what I am talking about.

The left side of my face has two distinct but light moles. Like some moles, they flatter my face. My right side is bare. Bare as a baby's butt! Therefore, all kind of blemish that happens to show up for the day looks obvious. That side rarely EVER looks good in a photograph. So....my "good side" is my left. I make a point to turn slightly to my right so that my left side is facing the camera whenever my picture is taken. Looking with your face directly at the camera is not ALWAYS a good position--kinda boring after a while. Therefore, finding your good side is important when SHOOTING people or when being shot (with a camera).

Here are a few funny and good sites to help along this line of finding your side:

Hope this helps some people who are either frustrated with not getting good shots of people who don't know their own good side or helps people who hate getting their picture taken! Ta ta for now!

- Shaunna

Touch Up Tuesday: Cropping

2011-07-19T00:02:00.000-07:00

Edit: So, I took this photo a bit ago for Ashley Sisk's Scavenger Hunt Sunday. The theme was farm. I hadn't been to a farm that week... SOooooo... I grabbed Ruari's little toy horse and placed it in the grass. Snapped a photo.... did a little editing and then cropped it. I worked with the crop for quite a while... I wanted to make it look like a real horse. You know.... a real horse with glitter in her hair. ;D

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell: Green

2011-07-17T00:26:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Green

Show:

Tell: Nice enough weather to play in some water on the soft green grass!!!

...................................
You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on July 31st and the suggested challenge word is "Floor".

Show and Tell Faves: Weather

2011-07-17T00:12:00.000-07:00

{Living Our Love Song}

{Meganlandmeier}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

Flickr Faves: Summer inspired...

2011-07-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

If you'd like to join our flickr group... click here...

Touch Up Tuesday: Cleaning up dark spots

2011-07-12T00:01:00.000-07:00

Edit: After I finished editing this photo of Kamilah.... I noticed the darker shadow on her face. I personally prefer to not edit out any shadow completely. I think if you completely get rid of shadow on a face it can make the face look flat and not like what the person looked like before.

What I do: I use my clone tool (my fave tool EVER) and set it's opacity to 14%. I duplicate the photo and edit all the shadow I don't like off of the face... THEN, I adjust that layers opacity to 50%. That's about where I like it. :) In the example above I showed my before, after, and after 2. "After" is where I normally like my edit to be... "After 2" is just a little further than I like. Her face seems too smooth. Happy Tuesday!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell: Weather

2011-07-10T00:21:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Weather

Show:

Tell: Our tiny swimming pool. ;D Kept her cool though! :D

...................................
You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on July 31st and the suggested challenge word is "Floor".

Show and Tell Faves: Sparkle

2011-07-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

Touch Up Tuesday: Customer.

2011-07-05T00:01:00.000-07:00

Edit: I didn't take these photos.... BUT, I did edit them! This was a customer that asked me to lighten things up and make her photo pop! It's really such a sweet photo. Love it. :D My shop: The Paper Mama Shop!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Photo Challenge: Sparkle

2011-07-03T05:11:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Sparkle

Show:

Tell: This is actually an older photo of mine! But, I do love it. I love how it looks like the speckles on the fruits skin are sparkling. :)

...................................
You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on July 31st and the suggested challenge word is "Floor".

Show and Tell Faves: Self Portrait

2011-07-03T03:17:00.000-07:00

{Rebecca the Housewrecka}

{Ashley Sisk}

{Jessica Lacey Photography}

{Hot Coffee Mama}

{Captivus}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

Touch Up Tuesday: Cropping

2011-06-28T00:01:00.000-07:00

SOOC:

After:

Edit: I don't crop my photos that often... but, sometimes I just want to get in there and focus on a certain part of a photo. I actually like my SOOC... but, I really loved Ruari's sweet little face... so, I cropped it so I could see it better.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Tutorial: Sunny Haze Effect

2011-06-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

To create this sunny haze effect, this is what I do:

1) I select a new LEVELS LAYER by going to LAYER > NEW ADJUSTMENT LAYER > LEVELS...

click on image to enlarge for details.

2) I adjust my image accordingly.

3) I then add a gradient layer by going to LAYER > NEW FILL LAYER > GRADIENT...

click to enlarge for details.

I selected the second gradient option and selected an orangish/yellow color.

4) I made sure that gradient layer was set to MULTIPLY.

5) Next I duplicated my main background layer.

6) I sometimes like to give my images a lens flare by going to FILTER > RENDER > LENS FLARE.

If I need to, I will go in and delete some of the flares that may be covering the face, etc.

7) I then want to add the haze, so I go to LAYER > NEW FILL LAYER > SOLID COLOR...

I selected a simple white.

I adjusted the white and made sure to set it to SOFT LIGHT.

I adjusted the opacity and fill.

Of course after this you can go in a do the little extra detail editing, but this is how I get the simple sunny haze look in some of my photographs.

- Shaunna

from Captivus Living.

Show and Tell Challenge: Self Portrait Challenge!

2011-06-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

Self Portrait Challenge! Suggested prompt: Soft.

Tell: This photo just feels soft to me. By the way... I swear I'm not naked in this photo. :D

...................................

You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on July 31st and the suggested challenge word is "Floor".

Show and Tell Faves: Parenthood

2011-06-26T03:11:00.000-07:00

{Jessica Lacey Photography}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

Touch Up Tuesday Faves

2011-06-24T04:18:00.000-07:00

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

Touch Up Tuesday: Ruari

2011-06-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

SOOC:

After:

Edit: I wanted to give this sweet photo of Ruari a little more pop. I adjusted the brightness/contrast and ran a couple Florabella actions. Then I ran a sheer haze action and erased over her eyes to keep them popping.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Challenge: Parenthood

2011-06-19T05:26:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Parenthood

Show:

Tell: This is an oldie photo of Mike and Ruari. I love it.

...................................

You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on June 26th and the suggested challenge word is "Soft".

Show and Tell Faves: So Happy!

2011-06-19T01:33:00.000-07:00

{The V Quartet}

{DRW Photos}

{The Franklins}

{My Reflection of Something}

{Naptime Momtog}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

Knowing your camera.

2011-06-15T20:40:00.000-07:00

When I first attempted photography I was in high school. Maybe 10th grade. I didn't pay attention, didn't care to learn the tips or secrets of all that went into taking a great photo and I only took one class. I then never thought about it again until I had my son Wyatt and even then I didn't think about how to get a certain shot or what it all involved I just began to shoot. I shot what I saw with my point and shoot camera, I then began to blog, read and think about what I shot and then I bought my Sony A550 DSLR.

But does that mean once you get your DSLR you don't need to work at it? NO and NOOO! I want to stress that because I believe that to be a good photographer you First need to have an EYE for it. You need to be able look at something and see what others cant see. Can this be taught? maybe... ~~but not likely.~~
Secondly you need to have the passion for it. you need to live eat and breath it. if that's not there then what's the point?
Third you need to KNOW your camera. Get off that AUTO mode and go manual. You will be happy that you did trust me.
Here is a little cheat sheet to help you plus ASHLEY already talk about how to go manual and I read THIS months and months ago which made me do it too.

I know how scary it can be to get off that Auto mode. it took me months after I bought my camera to make the switch. I was scared that I wouldn't get the photos I wanted or that they would turn out awful. I didn't trust my eye. But once I did... it was wonderful... the freedom I had!
After you go manual make sure you know YOUR camera. their not all a like.
First I just want to state that I AM a Poor working mom who can not afford all the great lens or equipment that comes a long with being a photographer. All I have is my Sony A550 (any other Sony users out there? I would love to meet you. ha-ha!) and my 18-55 kit lens. THATS IT!
I refuse to let that make me not take the pictures I want to take...
If you read my BLOG you know that I LOOOOVE macro shots. Love 'em and by reading my camera manual and PLAYING around with my camera settings and pushing EACH button on my camera I have taught my self that I can take those macro shots I love so much...

These are completely SOOC.

My settings were 1/100 F5.6 ISO 400

How I got those two shots were by first adjusting my settings to what WAS best for the photo. (refer to the cheat sheet posted above.) Secondly, I had my lens as close I as could with out making it blurry or making the drops fall. Third, I have button on my camera that allows me to zoom in x1.4 or x2.0 I don't know if any other cameras have that. but its wonderful so I used that. Fourth, I first auto focused my shot then I went into the manual focus. (read your camera manual on how to do that for your camera. I believe its different for each one.) So it would allow me to actually snap the shot. That's it. I know if I had a macro lens I would have been able to accomplish this shot a lot easier/fast and might have had more detail but YOU don't need one as long as you KNOW you camera.

Here are some more recent shots I took using basically the same settings.

So remember its not about the type of camera/lens you have. Its if you know how to use it, have an eye for it. plus a ton of passion... and GET OFF OF THAT AUTO MODE!!!!! DO IT! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!

-Audrey from The Daily Wyatt

Touch Up Tuesday: Ruari

2011-06-14T00:02:00.000-07:00

Before:

After:

Edit: I took this photo of Ruari indoors on an overcast day... so, it was pretty dark. I brightened things up a bit, and ran a couple of my favorite Florabella actions. LOVE those.

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Challenge: So Happy!

2011-06-12T06:37:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: So Happy!

Show:

Tell: Oh man... my colored hair make me so freakin' happy!!!!!! I feel so much better when it's colored.

...................................

You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on June 26th and the suggested challenge word is "Soft".

Show and Tell Faves: Hat

2011-06-12T04:56:00.000-07:00

{The Daily Wyatt}

{Twisted Fate Photography}

{Cooking Up a Family}

{RSVP Ink}

{MiniVan Diaries}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

Tutorial: How to widen your photog blog in blogger!

2011-06-08T03:44:00.000-07:00

Hey! I've been meaning to write this tutorial for SO long! I get a lot of emails asking how I widen my blog posts past the max of 1000 pixels (the widest blogger template designer lets you go).

I am not an html genius... But, this is one thing I've managed to figure out! (go me! :D).

A little note before I start: As far as I know this only works for Blogger. I have no idea how it would work on Wordpress. Also, make sure you have your template and layout completely decided on and saved from the template designer before you widen... each time you change and save anything layout changes to your blog... it gets rid of any html changes you have made.

So, here's how I widen my blog...

1. Open up your Dashboard in Blogger.
2. Find the blog you want to work on and click on 'Design'.
3. Your 'Page Elements' page will pop up. From there... click 'Edit HTML'. {See Below}

{Click on image for larger view}

4. Type 'CRTL+f' on your keyboard to make the Finder pop up. {See Below}

{Click on image for larger view}

5. Type the code (seen in photo below) into the finder space. {See Below}

{Click on image for larger view}

6. That will bring you to the 'skin' section of your blogs html.

{Click on image for larger view}

7. You can now change the sizes of your blogs layout and sidebars. Change the sizes after "value='". Usually the first size is the width of you blog. This will change how wide your blog will be. I usually have my Paper Mama blog at 1150. I find that when I go any wider I tend to get complaints about my blog being to large on other computer screens. What I like to do is adjust the size and click the 'Preview' button before I save just to see how things are looking.

The next two sizes are the right and left sidebars (this all depends on the layout you have chosen. I have a sidebar on the left and right side of my Paper Mama blog.). Adjust your sidebar sizes to your liking. Again, I like to click the 'Preview' button before I save. Just to make sure it all fits and looks good.

{Click on image for larger view}

8. After you're happy with the size changes of your blog... click 'Save'. If you decide you don't like how your blog sizes are looking.... just repeat these steps and change the sizes again. It's definitely a trial and error process if you are not that familiar with html... like me. :D

{Click on image for larger view}

I hope this helped!

Touch Up Tuesday: Gum wall.

2011-06-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

Before:

After:

Edit: I was up in Seattle this last weekend and my friends and I wandered to the gum wall down by the market. It's gross... but, it makes for cool photos. :D My edit: I brightened... sharpened... adjusted noise! That's it! VERY simple edit this week!

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Faves: Self Portraits

2011-06-06T13:34:00.000-07:00

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

Show and Tell Challenge: Hat

2011-06-05T04:12:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Hat

Show:

Tell: One of my favorite photos of Ruari. I LOVE it. She was 15 months here. :)

...................................

You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on June 26th and the suggested challenge word is "Soft".

Touch Up Tuesday: Clone out that background!

2011-05-31T00:01:00.000-07:00

SOOC:

Edits:

Edit: What? Yes. ANOTHER Clone Tool Touch Up Tuesday! :D It's one of my favorite tools... and, I use it ALL the time. This is my friend's little 2 week old baby, Ayana. I don't actually have a backdrop or any other fancy accessories for photography. SO, I have to make-do.

I found a plain blanket and propped it up. But, I noticed with some of my photos the home was still showing. This was a really easy thing to fix with the clone tool since my blanket I was using was very simple with no print. After I fixed my background and did a couple of other edits to the photo... I ran a few of my favorite actions from Pamela Toppings and Paint the Moon.

I've used the clone tool many times in the past if you're curious to learn more about it. Just scroll through these clone posts. :D

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Challenge: Self Portrait Challenge!

2011-05-30T11:14:00.000-07:00

Wow.... I JUST realized today is Monday! I thought it was Sunday. :D That means this is late. Sorry! :D

Inspiration: Self Portrait Challenge! Suggested prompt: Number

Show:

Tell: This week is a self portrait challenge! The suggested prompt is "number". While there aren't any numbers showing in my photo... this photo is about the number around my waist I have lost! I've been doing the 30 Day Shred... I've lost inches. Yay!

...................................

You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Note:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration/suggested prompt for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on June 26th and the suggested challenge word is "Soft".

Show and Tell Faves: From Below

2011-05-30T11:00:00.000-07:00

{Naptime Momtog}

{4 Lettre Words}

{TVQ}

{Hot Coffee Mama}

{The Moments in Between}

{They Call Me Mama}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

The next Show and Tell challenge up later today: Self Portrait Challenge! Suggested prompt: Number

some flickr faves from christina

2011-05-27T06:19:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've been able to post on Paper Heart. This year has flown by with non-stop kid activity! I'm excited for summer…I hope I'll have enough activities planned to keep them busy though!

So it was a big day today! I have been debating a new lens for a while now and I finally made my choice and it arrived today! So exciting!!! I decided to go with the EF 24-70mm f/2.8L (I'm a Canon girl). I was only able to play with it for a bit this evening before needing to sit down and get this post completed. I'm so excited about it! The color is amazing! The detail! I usually rely on my 50mm f/1.4 and I will continue to do so but I needed a great zoom for shooting my kids. My kit lens wasn't cutting it anymore and this was the upgrade I have been waiting for. I can't wait to share more photos with you but for now, I'll share this shot I got of one of my cats, Monty, today. This is SOOC. I'll be posting much more very soon on my blog, rsvp ink.

I'd love to hear more from you as to what your go-to lens is. Every photographer is different. We are all trying to get different things...different focal lengths, details, still, movement, etc...most of my fine art photography is still life and nature, so my 50mm works great but with kids something that can zoom to get that perfect shot of them is important to me! Please feel free to leave a comment to tell us what your favorite lens is!!!!

Now on to my faves from our flickr group. I decided to choose some flower photos! I hope you enjoy! There are so many beautiful photos, it was hard to decide. These are in random order! Don't forget to grab featured button for your blog!

Anne U

Enjoy your weekend!
Christina

Touch Up Tuesday: Adjusting the light.

2011-05-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

SOOC:

After:

Edit: Basically I just did a really simple edit... brightness/contrast... etc... But, whenever I take photos of my friends: Courtney and Jamen... Jamen is usually very dark and Courtney is very light. I started using my levels layer in PS to adjust either my friend Courtney so she's not too light or my friend Jamen so he's not too dark. For this photo I used the levels layer to show Jamen's features better and erased Courtney from that layer. I hope that makes sense! :D

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Challenge: From below

2011-05-22T20:41:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: From Below

Show:

Tell: I spied Ruari sharing water with Coral.

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You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

UPDATE:
Once a month we will give you a one word (sometimes 2) inspiration for a self portrait challenge. Have fun with this! This next months self challenge will be up on May 29th and the challenge word is "Number".

The Party Bouncer

2011-05-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

So, I do the whole Pinterest thing and there are so many awesome ideas and stuff that I see on there. One of them was this...

That my friend is a "Party Bouncer"! Have you ever tried to take pictures of friends in dark lighting situations and the flash is just too bright? I know I have, minus the party situation of course because I have no life.

Here are some NON EDITED STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA pictures I took really quick for this post. I took them at about 6:30 at night and the house was very dim.

Pretty good for a flash shot huh? Light is pretty evenly dispersed all around my subjects/fellow partiers.

See the difference? I could of probably upped my ISO a bit (it was at 200) for these shots taken in a completely unlit and dark room at like, 10:30 at night.

in the bathroom with the lights out.

These set of pictures were taking at about 9 am with no lights on in the house, but the shades pulled up. My house can be pretty dim.

I know you guys have seen my flash experiments before with a point and shoot camera (here and here), but I'm just excited to make my DSLR work better for me. I encourage everyone to try this! Even this technique in light settings that aren't terrible, but could be slightly better would still benefit from this little trick. It'll make your indoor pictures so much better! I just love that the light spreads so much more evenly. I consider this just an easy way to get a good shot most of the time without trying (you know what I mean?). For more information on how to construct one of these, go here.

Thanks!

Jess from...

Friends that have tried this:

- Rub Some Dirt On It

Free Actions & A Basic Tutorial

2011-05-18T06:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I decided to start off this busy month by sharing my list of steps that I ALWAYS do when opening up a SOOC in Photoshop. Perhaps some of you are interested in knowing???? :-D Here is a video tutorial showing my steps and how I do each one (as well as additional tips on editing without actions or costly plugins. Photoshop is expensive enough, right? lol). BUT I finally finished my new action collection that I call The Bold Collection. It is free to download HERE! I did not add any of these actions to my video tutorial, but here are the samples:

Steps:

Adjust levels first and foremost.
Adjust Brightness/Contrast.
Add a new main background layer and change the layer filter to either Softlight or Overlay and adjust the fill accordingly.
Use the Burn Tool to brighten/highlight darken areas that you want to accentuate.
Want certain colors to POP more than others? Flatten and add another main background layer. Edit > Adjustments > Vibrance. Increase the vibrancy while your eye is focused on that certain color that you want more vibrant. When it is to your liking (despite all the other colors in the shot), click OK. Grab the Eraser Tool and erase everything else around that chosen color. If the color is TOO vibrant, decrease the opacity of the Eraser Tool and tap on the chosen color until it is to your liking.

Happy Captures!
- Shaunna

Touch Up Tuesday: Many Hands.

2011-05-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

Before:

After:

Edit: I don't know if you all noticed or not... but, I LOVE blending images. Love it. It's so much fun to see the end result! So, after editing all my images for this hair tutorial... I blended together some of my images... erased everything but my hands. Ta dah! If you'd like to see other blending edits I've done... click right here to scroll through my "blending" posts. :D

Link up your Touch Ups below! Linky's always close at 11:59 PM Wednesday evenings (Pacific time).

Show and Tell Challenge: Wide

2011-05-15T05:50:00.000-07:00

Inspiration: Wide

Show:

Tell: My mom's dog, Farley. I wanted his face to fill up the entire frame.

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You are welcome to link up to your blog post or a flickr photo. Please link back to Paper Heart Camera. Thank you!

Link up closes on Thursday's at 11:59 PM my time. :)

Show and Tell Faves: Umbrella

2011-05-15T04:48:00.000-07:00

{Just Bits and Pieces}

{My Life Just As It Is}

{Eyebright17}

{Rub Some Dirt On It}

{Crazy Daisy Pictures}

{HMA Photography}

{DRW Photos}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!

The next Show and Tell challenge up later today: Wide

Paper Heart Camera Flickr Faves: Is it Spring yet?

2011-05-11T04:11:00.000-07:00

Some of my current Paper Heart Camera flickr faves.... inspired by Spring. Doesn't feel like Spring has sprung yet here in the NW... maybe this will help...

{Anne U}

BEAUTIFUL photos everyone!