Suzy Betancourt |
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Children Photography, Poses & Enhancement in PS #3
A new thread!!!Let's play Suzy
March 14, 2006
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Suzy Betancourt |
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Better color corrections
Choosing Image>Adjustments>Auto Color automatically color-corrects your image. For better results, however, choose Image>Adjustments>Curves, click the Options button, and use the following settings: Find Dark & Light Colors, Snap Neutral Midtones, Shadow Clip .05, and Highlight Clip .05. Then turn on the Save as defaults checkbox and click OK. The next time you use Auto Color, you should get better results.
March 14, 2006
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Dawn Baranski |
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Hi all, not sure if you all remember me from last month, I was the lonely paint shop pro user and I'm now a PSCS2 user!!!!!!!!!!!! So I hope to join you all in creative techniques :D Although I may be lurking for a while until I find my away around PS :)
March 14, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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I downloaded the 30 day trial of PSCS2, but I am afraid to use it, cause I am afraid I might like it too much and it just is not in the budget right now...so there it sits on my desktop, next to PS7, not gettin any attention...lol thanks for the new thread suzy
March 14, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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Interesting Suzy, I'll have to try that. Dawn, Congratulations. You and Tonya should both be having a lot of fun with that one. Tonya, I understand what you mean about the budget. Unfortunately, all the toys we all want or need are expensive ones.
March 14, 2006
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Dawn Baranski |
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Thanks Liza :) Tonya, did you make your own bow?? Can't do one of those on the computer, darn!
March 14, 2006
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Christine Herr |
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Just checking in. Hope everyone's doing well!
March 14, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Thanks for the new thread Suzy! I have a few pics here that I just did the other night. Would like some comments, good or bad. Thanks!
March 14, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Thanks for the new thread Suzy! I have a few pics here that I just did the other night. Would like some comments, good or bad. Thanks!
March 14, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Thanks for the new thread Suzy! I have a few pics here that I just did the other night. Would like some comments, good or bad. Thanks!
March 14, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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sorry everyone! I don't know why it did this, I signed in already but it's not letting me do anything. One last try.
March 14, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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Thanks Suzy! That helps make my images less blue when I use auto color... which was always the result in the past.
March 14, 2006
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Debbie Vega |
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I'm here, thanks for the new thread, sorry have been lurking but have no time for any picture taking as my child and new puppy take all available free time.. deb
March 14, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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OMG, ya'll are gonna love CS2! BTW, Liza mentioned she picked up the Art of Photographing Women book and she should have it soon if she doesn't already - I'm gonna say it again, and I'm sure she'll back me up when she gets it - YOU HAVE TO GET THIS BOOK! It' s Kevin Ames' "Photoshop CS the Art of Photographing women" - it's SOOO good!
March 14, 2006
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Deb Brown |
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YAHOO...a new thread.
Just checking in.
Melissa, can you tell us more- be more descriptive about the book. I am a sucker for a new book. Actually, I a sucker for ANYTHING new or any product that says NEW on it---sad, but true. Anyone else have this illness LOL?
March 14, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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It's not new, though a new edition will be out in August. It's by Kevin Ames, it's called PHOTOSHOP CS: THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHING WOMEN. It's exactly what it says - it tells about how to shoot pictures in different situations, it tells how to take excellentpictures of women,and it tells how to edit those pictures in photoshop cs - how to make the colors perfect,reduce and add noise, how to do black and white, how to shoot on a green screen....it covers pin ups, swimwear, and lingerie.Plus, it's all about the "non-destructive" methods - for example,using mask tools instead of the eraser. It talks about how to streamline the workflow with actions - for example, I anti-alias, preliminary sharpen, remove noise, and add my digital copy right info all in one step. It's like 13-15 chapters of this stuff, including photoshop gallery and digital proofing. I paid $36 for mine I think. Hastings told Liza there was a new one out in August. Worth every penny.
March 14, 2006
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Nicole E. Rappaport |
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baby
Nicole E. Rappaport
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baby and bear
Nicole E. Rappaport
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thanks for the new thread Suzy! beautiful portrait!i like the effects you used Dawn! here is just a simple thing I did in photoshop (cs2) been playing a lot in an effort to learn! all I did on this one was desaturate, create a new layer, color in the bear, flatten the image and crop just a bit.
March 14, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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Dawn - they all look great, but the top one - "Abs"...all I can say is "yum!!" Total eye-candy - drool worthy, lol. That's one of those shoots that pays for itself;) lol
March 14, 2006
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Suzy Betancourt |
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Hey Dawn, WOW!! Love those PS ABs ;)
Just kidding!!!!Hello everyone, I still need to find out what makes the new PSC2 different for me to spend the extra $$$. About the book, I am going to check them out tonight at the book store. Suzy
March 14, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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Dawn - I love the photos. Not sure how I missed them before. I think they're very well composed and blah blah blah. The only thing that bothers me is the shadows. I have this problem all the time myself. But since you took them on a white background they're very easy to get rid of. I recommend you do that and then apply whatever filter you are using and I think that would make them look even better. :) Good job! Who is that guy?
March 14, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Dawn B....which bow are you talking about? The purple one on the baby in my gallery?
March 14, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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thanks guys! The pictures are of my brother. (younger brother) lol
My strobe wouldn't work at all so I had to use my on camera flash. I was going to fix the shadows but decided that we both liked it the way it was.
I told him the abs one was a great shot and he didn't believe me. I said, "what woman wouldn't like that shot?" LOL
March 14, 2006
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Suzy Betancourt |
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Smart pixel reduction
To reduce the number pixels but at the same time keep some of the sharpness in an image, there's a new method in CS designed to do just that. Here's how: Select Image>Image Size and in the dialog, click on Resample Image, then choose Bicubic Sharper from the drop-down menu.
Suzy
March 14, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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I have to wait another week for the book to arrive, darn it. It was supposed to be here tomorrow, now it isn't going to ship out until thurs. I promise to let you all know what I think of it though as soon as it gets here. For those of you who are curious, I did find a book seller that gives you an inside look at some of the pages when I googled the title. I can't remember who now, but if you can find it, that will give you an idea of if it will be helpful to you.
March 14, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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amazon.com lets you do that.
March 14, 2006
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BetterPhoto Member |
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Here ya go. An older looking shot for a new thread. Have fun and keep shooting,
Mark
March 14, 2006
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Dawn Baranski |
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Tonya, yes, that one, sorry should clarified. If so, was it easy?
March 14, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Dawn B,
Yes, I made my own bow...not in PS(lol)
it was terribly easy. I just bought a roll of pretty ribbon and you take it off the roll, make one loop as big as you want the bow to be, then continue to loop around and around till you are out of ribbon, or have about 6-8 loops, then you press it down flat, tie another piece of ribbon around the middle to hold it, then you pull out the loops one by one, It helps to twist them, until you get it lookig right. stiff ribbon with wire works best. THen I made the from God tag on my puter.
March 14, 2006
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Pat Wimpee |
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Hi everyone, Can anyone explain how to make a beveled edge frame in CS2? I'd really appreciated it . It's driving me crazy!! :) Thanks
March 14, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Brothers
Dawn T. Palmerley
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I would also like to know how to do borders in CS2. I just did my first 2 collages. But for the grandpa one, I want the 2 little pics to stand out a bit with borders. How can I do different types?
March 14, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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Dawn - I LOVE those pictures. They're ridiculously cute. For the very simple borders (including emboss and bevel) click on the layer you want to be bordered. The under it click on the little F "add a layer style." If you just want a little line around it, choose "stroke" and set the color. Play around. It's all there!
March 14, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Danielle- Thank you so much! I'll try that out tomorrow. It's already after midnight. I'm so tired! Off to bed I go. lol
Goodnight everyone!
March 15, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Collage
Dawn T. Palmerley
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Okay, I did it!! Thanks Danielle!!
How does it look?
March 15, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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This one is for Pat and Dawn and anyone else who likes that dimensional look. I tend to use it quite a bit. Dawn I'm on the response page and see that you've tried one but I can't see the actual photo on the page I'm on now. But I'm going to put some quick directions. As Danielle said, go to the f button, bevel & emboss. For an 8x10 with smaller photos, try: Depth-100, Size-24, Soften-5
Leave the rest as default settings, don't click ok yet. On the left click on the words drop shadow. Distance-15, Spread-5, Size-25
Leave everything else as default. Click OK. There are a lot of varieties and combinations to use in there, but these are good basic starting points. Using the sliders it is sometimes hard to get even numbers, but you can type them in. If it is 101 instead of 100, it doesn't make a really big difference, don't stress over it. Have fun, hope this helps.
March 15, 2006
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Pat Wimpee |
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Thanks, Liza and Danielle, Now I'll have something to play around with tonight!
March 15, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Dawn, great job on the collages...I absolutely LOVE the abs guy one, that really did something for those pics, and the brothers one is just too cute!
March 15, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Liza- Thanks for the tips. I'll try that in a few minutes. Tonya- Thanks!
March 15, 2006
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Pat Wimpee |
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Ok, I tried this frame. How do you guys think it looks? Should I do the edges smaller?
March 16, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Pat, I think it looks good and vibrant, but I do think the framing itself could be a bit smaller....it is somewhat overpowering to me. ok..I have a prob and need some help asap...
I am doing editing and I did a b/w conversion with an action(looks and works great!), then I did some skin smoothing, a little cloning, and lightened the eyes...I did these on
seperate layers, now I can't get them to show with the other layers...does that make sense? the smooth skin and such only shows if I have the other layers hidden, if I merge or flatten, the original background is what shows, not the edits...what am I doing wrong here? I don't want to lose all the editing I just did, the pic looks so good...HELP ME PLEASE....lol...just when I think I am "getting" PS, it will kick my rear!
March 19, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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Tonya, before doing anything more, stop. Go to image and make a duplicate layer and save that just as it is so that you don't lose all you edits. Ok, first thing that I would think is to try to rearrange your layers. It sounds like some are covering up the effects of others. If this doesn't work, let me know what layers you've got, starting from top to bottom. Usually mine will look something like this: From the top, Eyes, Lips, Hair, Skin, Duplicate Background, Original(Background) This is the general order I work in, kind of working up to the standout ones last. Another idea. If I'm working on the eyes, that layer will have only the eyes showing on it. I get rid of everything else around them. Same with lips, etc. Not only should this help cut down on your overall file size, it lets everything under that layer show through well. Hope this helps you out.
March 19, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Liza...thanks so much
I think you were right, and I thought about that, but I thought I had them in the right order. I had them like this,
curves
levels
colorfill
blur
smooth skin
(merged those two)
backgroundso after reading this, I moved my smooth skin to the top and now I see the edits on that(I did the cloning on my bg layer, it was minor)...so I guess that was it.
thanks thanks thanks
Tonya
March 19, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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Tonya I'm glad you got it worked out. Whew, I know what its like to spend time fixing a photo and then have some kind of glitch or mishap and not be able to save. I really have gotten in the habit now of saving a duplicate if I've put extensive work into a project. Just in case...
March 20, 2006
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Pat Wimpee |
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Hey Liza, I really struggle with understanding layers. But with what you just sais, do I understand this right. If I first back a duplicate background layer, Then adjust levels on it,duplicate the adjusted layer and say adjust with a blur or something then dulicate that layer?? and so on Is that the process?? Thanks
March 20, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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Pat, layers are tricky at first, but a wonderful tool after you get the hang of them. If I were trying to work on a portrait of a female high school senior for example, I would follow a routine something like this. Open photo, right away make a duplicate background layer. Now I don't go back to the original background layer unless I have really messed up and need to start over. Working on dup. bkgd layer, adjust your levels and contrast. Use the magnetic lasso and select the face area by just going around the outside of the face.
Edit>Copy>Paste. Name this layer Skin.
Make your changes to that layer. Go back to dup. bkgd layer and make a selection around the lips, Edit>Copy>Paste and move that layer to the top and name it lips. Make your changes on that layer. I usually do eyes last. So you wouldn't really be duplicating the background layer each time, but just copying and pasting portions of it. You can also do these processes working with masks, but most folks are a little afraid of working with those when trying to get the hang of this PS stuff, so I tried to give the less scary sounding way. I hope this all makes sense.
March 20, 2006
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Pat Wimpee |
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okay, That make more sense now. But do you do sharping on everthing at the end? Thanks
March 20, 2006
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Melissa Farnsworth |
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Can someone please explain about how you lighten up the eyes. I don't think I brought my lights down far enough when she layed on the floor. Sometimes on my images I can't get the eye color to show up, its usually dark.
March 20, 2006
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Melissa Farnsworth |
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.
Melissa Farnsworth
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:)
March 20, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Soccer
Dawn T. Palmerley
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Hockey
Dawn T. Palmerley
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Here are a couple of collages I worked on today. Tell me what you think.
March 20, 2006
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Michelle Ross |
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Hi all . . . sorry I've been out . . . Somehow I missed the note about a new thread and just though the other one had gotten abandoned LOL . . . anyway .. . it's goood to be back :-) Dawn I love the collages. . . Melissa.. . I too have struggled with eye color being too dark . . .especially the really dark eyed children .. . you can go in and use the Dodge tool on like 10% opacity and that will help .. . but sometimes it just doesn't look natural to me.. . but I've been doing that with some success .. also whitening the whites a bit will help. I've had a few shoots lately . . . a baby girl last Thursday(6 weeks) and one of Baby's First year clients for his 9 month appointment on Saturday . . so those are in my gallery if anyone wants to take a peek. ..
March 20, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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Melissa, I tried to play with the eyes so you can see that it is possible. I don't have time to type it out right now, but will post what I was able to do and a screen shot to show how I had it set up. You can give me a call if you need an answer tonight. Sorry I couldn't post instructions right now. Gotta start getting miss Lena ready for bed.
March 20, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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(c) Melissa Farsworth
Variations
Liza M. Franco
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Screen Shot
Showing how the layers look
Liza M. Franco
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I guess I should actually post the photos,huh?
March 20, 2006
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Michelle Ross |
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Okay . . . I got out my Scott Kelby Elements down and dirty tricks book ... tried to do an oil painting effect. . . not sure it really looks that good though . .. here it is . . I may have had my image too large to start with . . .
March 20, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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This was a really quick job and I didn't take my time as I normally would. I think the pupils should probably have been aimed down a bit more, but you get the idea. Michelle, that painting effect is hard to get. I've tried it, but not with much success. I can't see your photo yet because I'm in the response section right now. Really have to go get the little one off to bed now. I'll check back in.
March 20, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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Michelle - Harrison's pictures are cute. :) It must be fun to see him every three months and see how he's progressed. I especially like the collages. Now I have about a thousand questions because after reading this thread (beginning with the original obviously) for many many months now, I have come to the conclusion that having a studio IS what I want to do. Before now I was just reading cause I like all of you guys and like reading and looking at all of your photos and being amazed at how much progress people make in such a short period of time. And so... I know that most of you advertise by word of mouth. Do any of you advertise any other way? And how did that word of mouth get started? Michelle - your Baby First Year is a great idea. What does it entail? And do you have a lot of takers on it? Does it include the maternity shoot? Are there any of you guys who don't actually have studios or lights or any of that but are more on location photographers? How do you handle that? I mean... not knowing what the elements will bring. I'll definitely have to start there but I do have a backdrop and can make do with natural light if the person has a house that has large windows. It's what I've always done for my nephew's photos. This is kind of a personal question... but how many of you are supporting yourselves just as studio photographers and nothing else? I'm wondering how likely it is that I'll get there someday. And a bit of advice... what's the first thing I should do? :) Thanks everybody! I'll be posting this in the other thread too.
March 20, 2006
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Alisha L. Ekstrom |
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Hello to everyone! I have missed a TON cause my computer crashed & I lost EVERYTHING that I hadn't backed up in the past few weeks:) UGH!!!! DON'T BE A PROCRASTINATOR:) ANYHOW I know there was someone(sorry I don't remember who) or a few people that I sent a scrapbooking link with quotes to! If that person/persons is still here would you please send me the link. I LOST all my favorites & I can't find that place again. I would MUCH MUCH appreciate your help!!!!:) My e-mail is alisha@oakstreamphotography.com. TIA!!!!! Everyone's collages look great! Liza you're a WONDERFUL help to everyone! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!! Danielle...the only advertising I've done is made some business cards & 4x6 cards & disputed them to a daycare & bookstore here in my area. I gave a few to a scrapbook store as well. I will be advertising in the phone book come October. I am an only natural light girl & I do photoshoots in my home & I want to do on location as well, BUT haven't yet. I work for an OB/GYN office from my home doing billing sooo photography isn't my sole income. I really am not striving for it to be either at the moment. I just want the extra cash for fun things to do with my family. I LOVE my job & the fact that I can work from home with them & so it's stupid to ever really quit unless I become some FAMOUS BIG TIME photographer. The way things are for me now is what I like & works GREAT for me:) GOOD LUCK in all you do!!!! Alisha
March 21, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Michelle, cute cute cute...harrison looks like fun to photograph!
I was looking at these in your gallery, and got to the country pics of britton, and just giggled, I just love those pics, every time I see them, they are just too adorable, and I just had to tell you again! If I ever get a shoot of a little boy in that age arena, I am probably going to copy you....do you mind?
March 21, 2006
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Debbie Vega |
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Hey all, thought I would share some pics from my attempt at fashion stuff for a friedn who wanted an edgy set of pics.. cc please.. thanks, debbie
March 21, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Debbie- Beautiful pictures!! My favorites are the first 2. But I like 3 too. They're all good! She must have loved them!
March 21, 2006
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Debbie Vega |
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Thanks Dawn, she was really happy, we took about 200 pics and maybe about a 100 were good and I worked on about 50.. so she was happy, I gave her the disk for the rest.. thanks again, deb
March 21, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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Debbie - those are great! I love the effect you did on them. What is that?
March 21, 2006
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Lynell South |
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Hi Alisha, welcome back. I have these two links that I think you or someone posted awhile back. Hope it helps. http://www.dennydavis.net/ http://www.scrapbook.com/quotes.php
March 21, 2006
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Debbie Vega |
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Hi Danielle, that effect for those pics are mainly from virtual photographer, the black and white ones are I am certain virtual photographer, not sure what setting as I used so many that day, the reddish one sare vp too, the red wine filter and works best when pics are shot with white backdrop..I may have used xero plugins too, my brain is shot this morning.. both are free downloads for photoshop.. hope this helps, deb
March 22, 2006
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Erinn Aloi |
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Hi GUys,
I've been gone for a while... just so busy. it's really hard keeping up with all of you!!
I missed soo much!!
Where are Alisha's storyboards from the last thread? I want to see them!
Erinn
March 23, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Hi everyone! Goodmorning!
Just wanted to say congrats to Michelle and Suzy for getting their pics as finalists. Awesome job!!
I don't know if I missed anyone, but if I did, congrats to you too.
March 23, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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Kirstin
Collage using John Mayer song. I'm hoping to do the second part of the chorus (daughters grow up to be lovers who turn into mothers, so mothers be good to your daughters too) soon by reshotting the baby with her future step mother and making a complementary collage.
Melissa Cozis
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Jeremiah 1:5
The mother knew she'd heard this verse and loved it, but couldn't remember the exact words or where it was, so after looking it up for herand putting it with the pics, she was happy with the results. She desperately wanted pregnancy pictures, which she envisioned in b&w, becuase this was a desperately wanted pregnancy that took sometime to achieve becuase of health problems. Better still, she had hoped and prayed for a daughter since this will be her last - and it is!
Melissa Cozis
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Dawn - the Brother's Collage is adorable - I've loved the frames idea since I guess it's HP started using it for their ads, but haven't tried it yet. Your version looks great! the "posing" is great - did you direct them in how to hold the frames, or did they do that on their own? Cute stuff.Here's some I've been working on while I've been out of commission:
March 23, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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Really nice photos and effects Debbie V.
Melissa the collages look great. I got my book and haven't really gotten to get too far into it yet. I'm hoping for a little quiet time this weekend so that I can really absorb the info.
March 23, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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Liza, The best way to use that book is to pick it up and go step by step - it makes more sense than just reading thru it, and it's fun:) I was REALLY proud of theKirstin collage, except that for some reason, the center pic moved on me. You saw the original - it was meticulously laid out w/ a specific and even amount of room between each pic. Even in the revised version, I did that. but the minute I go to merge layers or flatten, something will move and be off just enough to be obvious:-s GGGRRRRRR! I didn't even notice til I posted in. I must get shaky hands or something, lol.
March 23, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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LOL Melissa, from one perfectionist to another, I understand. I know you are meticulous about measurements, but don't despair. For a quick fix, use your marquee tool and make a selection around the outside, allowing some pink too and copy and paste the center photo and then you can use the move tool to position it where you like. If part of the bottom photo should show, go back to the bottom layer and use the eyedropper tool to get the pink and fill in the area necessary to cover the middle photo on the bottom layer. I know that you may already know this, but I thought it might help someone else too. The funny thing is that most people don't even notice things such as being slightly off. Usually they are just going to be drawn into the beautiful collage. However, if you are a perfectionist, it'll drive ya nuts:)
March 23, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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I know, usually, since it's already done, I wouldn't care, cause so few ppl would notice - but on this one - you can SEE the difference even in the THUMBNAIL image - which means it's BAD! lol
March 23, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Melissa- very cute collages, I love the idea with the John Meyer song.
Thanks, I just told the boys to hold the frame and just snapped away. :)
March 23, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Hello? Where is everybody? Did it go to a new thread and I don't know about it? lol
March 24, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Okay, it's me again! Everyone is sleeping and I'm so excited!!
Tonight at my husband's work< (music store) a very well know guitar player (best guitar player) Dave Martone came and gave a guitar clinic. I was the photographer. This is my first musician/event and it was AWESOME!!!
I'm going to get the pics on cd tomorrow so I'll post some.
Goodnight everyone!! Hope to hear from someone soon.
March 24, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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I'm here! I've got no news but I just thought I'd chime in. Sounds fun Dawn! On a slightly lesser scale... I've got a first birthday party to go to tonight! It's just for a friend of mine's little boy and I'm not the official photographer (I think only extremely rich people hire official photographers for first birthday parties) but I consider myself to be it! And what's more fun than that? :)
March 25, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Got a little slow lately, I have a question to perk things up....
how hard is head replacement in PS?
sounds SO HARD to me, but I was wondering what I could learn about it. I may need to use it...
March 25, 2006
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Pat Wimpee |
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That's so funny Tonya, That's exactly what I was doing tonight! Here's the before and after.
March 25, 2006
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Michelle Ross |
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Hi Pat! I don't think I would have noticedif you hadn't said what you did! :-) I like your backdrop. . . where did you get it?
March 26, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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lol pat...crazy kids huh!
I find it very hard to not only get them all to look at the camera and smile at the same time, but for ME to be able to see all of the kids to see if is a good shot. I just snap allot...lolbut with studio lights you have to be a bit more selective or you will miss a shot waiting on the flash to recover. I know when I upgrade my lights, I will be looking for a fast recover time, mine are only a few seconds, but it can matter. ...anyway, with the heads, I found some tutorials last night and started playing, do you do it with the lasso and pen? I know some ppl do it with masking, and as neat as that is, I just have not grasped it yet..
March 26, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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So Tonya, ya wanna become a Photoshop Head Transplant Surgeon:) When transplanting a head you want to watch the angle (most important.) Pat's worked out really well, but if the body had been turned or angled a little bit more, a straight on face may have looked awkward or un-natural. I haven't mastered masking yet either. I will usually use the lasso and eraser. Make a duplicate copy of your original. Use the clone tool to cover his little head with the background. When getting to the side where the head meets the sibling's body, clone some of the sibling's clothing color over the transplantee's head. Same where his own clothes start to touch face. Doing all of this will make it so you don't see any of the original head when you put the new one in place. Turn the dup. background layer off. Paste your new head in place. Turn the opacity down so you can see the original layer below. Adjust the size and positioning. Move that layer up if necessary so that it appears above your dup. background layer. Restore the opacity to 100% and start erasing any areas that you need to remove. You may need to adjust levels or contrast to make the layers blend and match. I still use a mouse but really want a tablet with the pen. Let me know if you have any questions, I tried to just give you a quick version.
March 26, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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Oops, forgot to tell you to turn the dup. background layer back on.
March 26, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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lol liza...transplant surgeon, that is funny!
After reading what you said, I think I am on the right track, as I learn with ps, there are many many ways to do one thing, you just have to find your way huh? lol
what do you think of the ppl who "created" ps? can you even imagine?
I am about to get ready for church now, I am going to try and play some more this afternoon, was up reading and playing till 1:30 this morning...:0
if I get it done, I will post and see what you all think
March 26, 2006
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Pat Wimpee |
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Hi Michelle, I got that backdrop from backdrop outlet on ebay.
Tonya, I did almost exactly what Liza said. (but I didn't know about changing the opacity to adjust the size of the head) That's a great idea! I've just been putting them side by side and judging it. Great idea Liza!! I usually have a picture from the same angle that will work.
March 26, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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okey dokey...I did it! I made the best pic with all 3 kids. I am going to post and just for fun...hehe...and to see how much it shows what I did without telling you first, I am going to post and you see if you can tell where I ps'd...I can send a high res file if someone really wants to take a good look, I would appreciate that as well, if so, please email me
March 27, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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Tonya - that is the head transplant photo? Looks good to me!! Also, I see you have a D50 also. Do you need any special items to slave your flash to it? I seem to remember reading that it can't be wireless. Am I wrong? (sorry if this is mentioned somewhere already)
March 27, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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it will slave the flash, if you have 2 or more. You have to have one attatched to the camera to slave any that are not attatched. This is one of the drawbacks the d5o does not have but the d70 does. The d70 will allow you to use the on camera flash as the master, the d50 requres you to have two or more of the sb600's.
glad the pic is looking good, acctually, I transplanted a whole person...
March 27, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Okay, I've been working on the musician photos. Can anyone tell me what the best way to get rid of the glare off the guys glasses in the 1 photo is. I can't seem to get it.
March 27, 2006
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Liza M. Franco |
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Tonya, this should be fun. First I thought the little guy because it looks like his skin tone is brighter and there is a little bit of green background color on his shoe (maybe cloning of the background. However, the bunny's foot is making a shadow on his pants as it would with the direction of the main light. Then I checked the older boy, but he appears to really be there when you look at the pressure of his shoes on the backdrop. So now I'm guessing the little girl. Now I wish you all could have seen me sitting like 6" from my monitor trying to check for shadows behind each of them or anything that seemed inconsistant. Tonya this is a really great way for everyone to learn by having to pick out anything that doesn't look quite right. It makes you pay more attention when working on your own. I think I might throw a picture on here every once in a while just for everyone to pick apart and see if they can find what is wrong or right. I love challanges like this, makes me feel like a kid with a fun work sheet in school. Seriously though, I think this could really be helpful. Tonya I think you did a wonderful job on this, I am really proud of you. I'm curious to see what others think. Keep in mind we are all "looking" to see if we can figure it out. Anyone else seeing this photo is just going to think that it is an adorable photo of these cuties. Most people don't look at a photo and try to disect it like we're all doing:) Great Job!!!
March 27, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Liza,
You gave me a good laugh on the visual! I would have sent you a full res copy hahaha
Well, thanks for the compliment, I worked really hard on it, but I follow directions very well! I thought it would be best to not tell, cause sometimes when you say, "can you see where I cloned the head?" then you can 'see' it just cause you are looking for it. I am glad I made you have to look hard (and have some fun too), if you can't tell, then no one else will either!
and yeah...I cloned some wrinkles out of the backdrop, guess I got some overspill on the shoe...lol
I think it is a good idea to check things like this too...fun and challenging, always a good way to learn!
March 27, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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here is the original
March 27, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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I have a new collag-ing theme song - I don't rock yet, but I'm improving, and it is SSSOOOO addictive! "It's not a habit, it's cool, I feel alive
If you don't have it you're on the other side
I'm not an addict (maybe that's a lie)
" lol
Here's some new ones I played with lately.
March 28, 2006
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Dawn T. Palmerley |
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Marco!!
lol
March 31, 2006
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Collette Photography |
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Hey everyone, I just thought I would jump into this thread! I just got a my first digital SLR, I was shooting film before, and I just did my first photo shoot with it, so If anyone wants to take a quick look at my photos and let me know what they think feel free!! =) -Collette-
April 01, 2006
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Kristin Franke |
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Hi everyone! Haven't posted on here much, but I wanted to know what you guys thought of a birthday collage I made for my daughter. I have another birthday shoot coming up and wanted to try this for them. I use mpix and I'm formatting these as a 10x20...what do you guys usually charge for a custom collage of this size?
April 02, 2006
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Michelle Ross |
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Hi Kristin! I love your collage. . . it's very nice. I had thought about doing a birthday collage in a 16x20 for my baby's first year customer in June! He will be turning 1. the 10x20 that I do make I sell typically for $100. that usually has about 4 images on them. . . I don't sell alot of the 10x20 but have sold alot of the 5x15 size. you want to make it worth your time enough that they don't buy the collage instead of individual images . . . I have had a few shoots last week adn those images are in my gallery!
April 02, 2006
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Constance Kessel |
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hi guys-some of you may remember me from the other studio thread-i like it here!! Everything looks great-love the abs-the collages and I'm a stay at home mom-so the money I make from the photo-thing doesn't support the fam-just my habit!!
thanks for all the ps tips-and i'm going to look into the ps book!! thanks again!
Connie K
April 03, 2006
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Justin S. |
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Hi all, I was just poping in this thread and Compliment you all on some amazing images. I absolutly love the photo collages in here, they actualy gave me an idea and I would like to start offering them to the parents I do action shots for.
Right now the only Real image software I have Is P.S.Elements 4.0 And I was woundering If maybe you all can give me some tips on how tom creat them in P.S.E. 4.0 Or if there is a program out there that will help with making them.
Thanks for any imput.
April 03, 2006
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Debbie Vega |
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Hi Justin, welcome to the thread.. yes, you can make those collages etc in elements 4.0.. I have made them in elements 3.0 and 2.0 and also cs.. I am not a fan of elements 4.0 but I could walk you through it sometime if you like.. Send me your email and when I get a minute between diapers and bedtimes I'll write it out for you.. debbie
April 03, 2006
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Tonya Cozart |
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Justin, Debbie is correct, collages can be made in elements. You can make them yourself, or you can get some templates or actions for it. Liza from the studio thread sells templtes, you can go to lizafranco.com
also you can go to
pictureplaydesigns.com
she sells actions, they are very good and easy to use. I have not tried lizas templates yet, but I have wanted to forever....
April 03, 2006
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Autumn Hernandez |
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I would love for someone to explain to me how to do collages on elements 3.0. Everytime I create a new layer and try to drag a picture into it, it won't let me. I can NEVER get it to work! It's so frustrating. Could someone email me the instructions? Please??? Thanks. :D
April 03, 2006
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Dawn Baranski |
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Kristin, beautiful collage!
I was wondering how did you get the background to match her outfit. I'm assuming you just took a piece of her shirt but how did you get it the size you wanted w/o it being distored?
Great job!I 2nd what someone else said, don't put too much time in it if it's not already sold, or requested. I just spent 10hrs on 9 photos and the mom wants to take them down to the print shop and get a $13 11x14, not cool!
April 04, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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Dawn - can't you then at least charge her a bunch of money for the copyright?
April 04, 2006
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Kristin Franke |
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Dawn, thank you for the compliment! For the background I just took a close-up of her shirt laying flat and cropped it to the dimension if the collage. It was taken a few days later so I had to play with the hue/contrast/brightness, etc. to match the original photos. I totally agree about now wasting the time on these unless requested, they can really take a lot of time to do. But if you can charge $100 like Michelle said she does, then they are worth it!
April 04, 2006
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Debbie Vega |
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Autumn, I can help you with the collages butI have to go to work today.. you can call me if you like, it's easier over the phone. I am on california time.. email me and I'll return my number.. deb
April 04, 2006
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Debbie Vega |
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Autumn.. I tried downloading elements 3.0 but it is not available or I can't find it.. anyone here have elements 3.0 to help autumn out with collages.. I think it works different to 4.0 or 2.0.. Sorry Autumn.. it's frustrating but you'll get it in th eend and become as addicted as me.. deb
April 04, 2006
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Autumn Hernandez |
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Thank you so much for trying, Debbie. That was really nice of you. :) Ah well, hopefully somebody can tell me what I'm doing wrong. :P lol
April 04, 2006
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Michelle Ross |
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Hi Autumn .. . I used Elements 3.0 before I upgraded to 4.0 but I don't drag my images into my collage . . . I just open each image I"m wanting to collage with, crop it to the size I want it at 250 DPI and then select all and copy and paste it on to the collage canvas or background picture. . . I'm not sure this is the "right" way but I like doing it that way because then I know that the resolution is there and I'm not changing that by resizing the image once it's on the collage. . . I'm not sure this is making sense and I'm not very good at explaining . . . but I hope it helps!
April 05, 2006
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Autumn Hernandez |
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Well, if that's how you do it, then thank you SO much. The drag and drop method was not working, so I couldn't even figure out how to get multiple images onto the background. lol Thanks again!!!
April 05, 2006
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Sobia Chishti |
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Hi everyone here. All of you are doing such a wonderful job sharing and helping. It took me a whole day to go through, reading some, leaving some responses to get at the end of last thread. Please count me in as a new member. I've recently started making collages.
Alisha and Christina,i just love your collages with black backgrounds posted here. Would you help me out understanding how people are blend in the black background. Like the one with a boy in three different poses on a black background? Do you select the person only and drag it on a black background? I hope there is an easier way.Here is my collage to share with you. Comments are welcome.
April 28, 2006
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Sobia Chishti |
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Hi everyone here. All of you are doing such a wonderful job sharing and helping. It took me a whole day to go through, reading some, leaving some responses to get at the end of last thread. Please count me in as a new member. I've recently started making collages.
Alisha and Christina,i just love your collages with black backgrounds posted here. Would you help me out understanding how people are blend in the black background. Like the one with a boy in three different poses on a black background? Do you select the person only and drag it on a black background? I hope there is an easier way.Here is my collage to share with you. Comments are welcome.
April 28, 2006
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Sobia Chishti |
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Hi everyone here. All of you are doing such a wonderful job sharing and helping. It took me a whole day to go through, reading some, leaving some responses to get at the end of last thread. Please count me in as a new member. I've recently started making collages.
Alisha and Christina,i just love your collages with black backgrounds posted here. Would you help me out understanding how people are blend in the black background. Like the one with a boy in three different poses on a black background? Do you select the person only and drag it on a black background? I hope there is an easier way.
Here is my collage to share with you. Comments are welcome
April 28, 2006
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Autumn Hernandez |
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Ok, I've never uploaded anything on a thread, so this will be my first attempt. I wanted to show one of my first collages I've ever made. I just figured out how to do borders, so that's how big of a newbie I am. lol What do you think? This is a gift for my mom for Mother's Day.
May 06, 2006
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Autumn Hernandez |
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Ok, I've never uploaded anything on a thread, so this will be my first attempt. I wanted to show one of my first collages I've ever made. I just figured out how to do borders, so that's how big of a newbie I am. lol What do you think? This is a gift for my mom for Mother's Day.
May 06, 2006
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Autumn Hernandez |
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Oops, sorry about the double post. Oh yeah, and I was going to add, this is a 10x20 so the words may look small, but they will obviously be visable when it's that big. :)
May 06, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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I love it Autumn! Very cute. :)
May 06, 2006
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Michelle Ross |
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I like the Collage Autumn . . Wow I get busy and forget about all these lost threads. .. Glad someone brought it back to teh surface. .. Hope everyone is doing all right. .. I've been fairly busy .. .doing mostly kids stuff which I truly enjoy .. . the studio is kind of at a standstill.. . trying to find a carpenter to do the inside walls.. . I know I should have found someone way back but I didn't know when I would need them for sure and so I didn't . .. so now I wait. . I have several prospects but most can't get to it until June/July. .. I was really wanting it going by Senior Pictures which right now my first session is June 13. .. so we'll see. . . My latest shoots are in my gallery but they are all kind of mixed in now . . .
May 06, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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Way late here, as Dawn said this about a MONTH ago, ubt... Dawn, I totally understand the problem with people wanting to just take it to the local print center and you make almost nothing off it, cause I've had people want to do that. Just don't let them. First of all, the local print center should NOT be printing them w/o your written release - a way to make sure they don't is to put your watermark on the picture. They can't legally print copyrighted material with out a release. If they continue to, just cal and politely explain that some customers have been "stealing" your work via their shop. That way, they won't print those prints and the customer has to come back to you. Another thing - don't give them a cd. I tell my customers, "I'm sorry, but I don't give out cds, becuase it puts my copyright at risk. All prints have to come through me." They don't mind becuase every other photographer here says the same thing. If they need to have a digital file, they can dl it from dotphoto.com (although I'm about to make it available thru my personal website) for a small fee PER PICTURE. If, for what ever reason, someone just HAS to have a cd, I charge a substantial amount for the cd and a limited use Copyright release, which they get in both printed format and on the cd. With the release, they're able to print them at walmart or cvs or what ever. (I also do a version of this for commercial work - I charge a per-year limited use copyright release fee)
Hope that helps some.
May 06, 2006
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Constance Kessel |
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hi eveyone-I just had to come on and comment-Autumn that grandma collage is sooooo cute- you did a great job. Been busy doing beauty pagent pics for my neice and shooting newborn pics for my girlfriend. My partner(hi April!) and I have a huge photo shoot for the girl scouts tomarrow-A little nervous-but it should go fine.
On the cd thing I know alot of photographers will re-size their photos so they are fine for email use on proofing on the pc, but will print awful. Windows xp has a power tool called picture resizer that makes it fast and easy yo resize pics-and using the small verision it prints bad.
Seems to work for me-the only down fall I can think of would be someone making a bad print and showing it around saying who took it. But I don't do it often, and when I do I tell them it's a low-res cd for proofing and e-mail-that it won't make good prints. I think there is a way to make a read-only cd- so they cannot make prints off it period-but I don't know how to do it yet. When I figure it out i'll let you know. Here are a couple pics of my neice for her beauty pagent.
May 06, 2006
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Constance Kessel |
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1
taken in park, used a foamcore board to put her in shadow
taken with d70s
Constance Kessel
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studio shot taken agaisnt black knit fabric, leveled and diffused in cs2
d70s-gotta cahnge my camera-keep forgetting
Constance Kessel
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taken in park, again with the board
Constance Kessel
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same
Constance Kessel
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same
Constance Kessel
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signing in would be good....:)
May 06, 2006
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Dawn Baranski |
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Thanks Melissa,
She never did do anything w/ them that I know of.
I do have on my price list that I will NOT under any circumstand sell my photos on CD (whether high or low res). Plus I'll put that on my website as well. So many people seem to want that.
I took photos of my neighbors dog and emailed her the photos and sure enough she printed them out w/ her own computer/printer and they turned out horrible!!! Ugh, that's my work she is displaying, they had lines through them and the color was terrible. So I won't be doing that either. Once I get my site up and running I'm just gonna post their pics in the proofing section.OH I had my watermark on my photos and Walgreens printed the photos! I was testing them to see if they would print them and sure enough they did! Every photo I upload I had copyright in it and my logo in the corner of the photo! NOT GOOD!
May 06, 2006
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Melissa Cozis |
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oUCH! I know my local walmart and CVS won't print them w/o a release - - Heck, I have to show ID to print them there MYSELF, even if I don't (C) them - the photolab pays REALLY close attn to the quality of the photos to determine if they could possibly be pro work and won't print if they think they are. I have (had - I'm reworking the site) my proof room on my site set up in cube cart - they can view the proofs, and order and pay for them all in the same spot. I include a comments section for additional requests on each photo too - for example, the wed. pics I did for a couple that divorced before the proofs were even ready, lol - the bride wanted the marriage lisence vignetted out, or wanted the photos cropped where he wasn't in them, etc etc.
May 06, 2006
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Danielle E. Rutter |
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Isn't it true that if you catch a business that makes copies of your photos even though they can see by watermark that it's copywritten... that you can sue them? Or you can at least give them a big fat scare. I know that one of those upper management people at my job did this. She called up a place that she heard would copy anybody's photos and asked if they could copy hers. They said sure. She said "now it says Olan Mills in the corner here... is that okay?" and they said yes. And then she asked to talk to the manager. If someplace is giving you a problem with copying your prints... I say you scare em. :)
May 07, 2006
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Dawn Baranski |
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Yep it's true, up to a certain amount of $$. I have to still confront them on this issue.
May 07, 2006
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