Buddy painted

After seeing Summer as a painting I had to try it with this dog...

This is another golden retriever, a large 4 year old male. This photograph was taken on their porch using a reflector to bounce some light into the dog. Below are 4 versions of the same photo, the original (a little blah and cluttered), the edited version (pretty good) and then two different paintings. I kind of prefer the last one because of Buddy's eyes (click on it to make it larger).

Summer has been painted

Our new puppy Summer will be 6 months old on Wednesday. I took this photograph of her and then turned it into a painting.


We have been taking puppy classes, which are really to train the people not the puppies ;-) at Paws and Effect here in Hamden (http://www.pawsneffect.com/). I brought Amethyst to them years ago when she was a puppy and now they have a bigger and better facility. Summer is a quick learner, but sometimes only when she wants to. We talked to the owner and we might set up a day in the fall to offer Holiday card photographs for her dog owners. I think that would be a LOT of fun!



Created a painting from the photograph



and then framed the painting. She is sooo cute (OK maybe I am biased, but come on, she really is cute)

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