Shawn and her Cats, Bald IS Beautiful

We had been talking to Shawn about photographing her three (bald) cats for months. Then a friend called us and said that this woman with the fabulous smile and positive attitude called us was diagnosed with cancer and we should schedule the photo shoot now because she was going to shave her head bald before the chemo did it for her. So Edie and Shawn arrived at our Studio with two calm and one stressed cats. We had a blast photographing the cats in the cubelite, and then all three cats with Shawn. What a role model this woman is, I am blessed to have met her.

The photo above was her favorite from the session, the headpiece and her expression make it a great choice

The photo below was my favorite from the session. 

Tom asked her to think of a memory and I just love the expression that he captured.

You can tell a LOT about her spirit, as it definitely came through in her images. 

Below is the composite that she had us create. 

It was printed large and the woman at the print lab commented on the cats!

Sadly, Bobbee passed away not long after this photo session :-( 

So sad, our pets are such an important part of our lives.

Tikki had a great personality when she was with us, we took oodles of photographs of her in the cubelite.

Touch of Light Touch of Darkness

We are always looking for and creating new actions to speed things up and creatively improve our photographs. I came across these today via the 'Digital photography School'.

Jodi also has an interesting Blog full of creative ideas, news, tutorials, actions, tips, etc. http://mcpactions.com/blog/

Check our her simple but very effective tutorial on layers http://digital-photography-school.com/blog/understanding-layers-in-photoshop/

This is what Jodi writes "Have you ever wanted to just lighten the face in your photo? Have you ever wanted to just lighten a part of a photo you did not expose properly? Have you ever wanted to add emphasis to part of the photo by darkening the surround area but leaving the subject lighter? If so, I have a special treat for you. It is an action called “Touch of Light Touch of Darkness.” It will help you achieve this look! I have been getting requests to make and sell an action like this for months. But I have decided as a gift to my loyal MCP Actions Blog Readers to make this a FREE action. In exchange for the free action, I would love for you to spread the word about my blog -tell your photographer friends to come get the action here too. This is a Blog EXCLUSIVE. This one will NOT be going on my regular website.

Here are four before and after photographs using her Touch of Light Touch of Darkness actions.

Peyton before Touch of Light Touch of Darkness

Peyton After Touch of Light Touch of Darkness

Peyton after Touch of Light Touch of Darkness, with a portrait filter

With a 'Scott Kelby frame' via an action I created after his seminar

Socrates and Leonardo "Before"

Socrates and Leonardo "After" Touch of Light Touch of Darkness

Beautiful Sydney "Before"

"After" Touch of Light Touch of Darkness

with portrait enhancement too

"Before"

"After" Touch of Light Touch of Darkness

with Painter

The Scott Kelby No Bobble Head Seminar

We are always learning new and faster techniques, both in the camera and in Photoshop. Tuesday I went to an all day Photoshop seminar by Scott Kelby (http://www.scottkelby.com/). I LOVE his books, enjoy his blog, etc. but truthfully I was a little worried about staying awake for an entire day of sitting on my butt. As a professor I am used to lecturing, less so to sitting and listening all day. And since I am used to going and going and going like the energizer bunny sometimes when I finally have a chance to sit down in a dark room I become a "bobble-head" regardless of how much I am interested. I was very pleased to leave there without a sore neck from bobble-heading ;-)

However my fears were unfounded as Scott was entertaining, lively, and full of jokes as he combined this humor with LOTS of useful tips and ways to speed things up. The first part of the day I knew how to do almost everything he showed us -- but not necessarily as fast as he did it (and time is important so that we can (a) get the photos back to all of you as quickly as possible and (b) so that Tom & I can enjoy some times without a keyboard/wacom.

At the end of the seminar Scott showed us some neat gallery/presentation type effects. Immediately upon coming home I went through these and made actions for them. Here are 5 photos "beforeSK" and "afterSK". Thank you Scott! I would happily go to another of his seminars!!

Some people walked out stating that "their brains were full" or that there was too much information but I disagreed! He had something for everyone and ALL of the information was in a very thorough booklet that came with the seminar. Personally I think that he could have easily made money selling the booklet because it had almost as much information in it as some of his books. It was the best $79 I've spent.

Lisa's Bleeding Hearts -- "BeforeSK"

Lisa's Bleeding Hearts -- "AfterSK"

I just love this filtered edge technique -- and the possibilities are endless!

Watercolor of Daffodils -- "BeforeSK"

Watercolor of Daffodils -- "AfterSK"

Tom's Bleeding Heart -- "BeforeSK"

Tom's Bleeding Heart -- "AfterSK"

Sunflowers, orton effect -- "BeforeSK"

Sunflowers, orton effect -- "AfterSK"

I really liked his concept for the "movable picture frame". I can definitely see us using this for our weddings! Like many of his lessons I made an action for this one because I know that we will use it a lot.

Daffodils from a chipmunk's point of view -- "BeforeSK"

Daffodils from a chipmunk's point of view -- "AfterSK"

Peyton @ Two Years Old -- "BeforeSK"

Peyton @ Two Years Old "AfterSK" -- Hollywood effect

Socrates (our cat) "BeforeSK"

Socrates (our cat) "AfterSK" -- Hollywood effect

Tulips in the morning light "BeforeSK"

Tulips in the morning light "AfterSK"

-- Painting "in" your photos

This technique reminded me of when I was a kid where you would color using red, gree, blue, etc. crayons and then cover everything with the BLACK crayon and then take a paper clip and remove the black from certain areas to uncover waht was underneath and make a colorful picture as the end result. Except it is easier and quicker (I make an action that has one Black layer and one white layer so I can choose which to paint in from) with photoshop.

Tulips in the morning light "AfterSK"

-- Painting "in" your photos

White layer on top, flowers painted back in