Facebook Fan Question of the week

Image via Wikipedia

I asked my fans to post or email questions for my blog.  The question for this week is: Just taking pics on a simple point and shoot or camera phone, do you have any guidelines in how to frame the picture so it still looks decent? Or any tips on getting good snapshots in everyday settings?

The best thing I can say for taking good photos with a point a shoot camera is to read your manual.  At least know what your quick settings are for.  This will allow you to quickly go to the setting that you think are right for the setting you are in.

To take a "good" snapshot in an everyday setting, you want to really look at your surroundings.  What I mean by this is: Have you ever seen those photos where you have the person in the middle of the frame, you have half of their body in the center and the biggest part of the picture is just "stuff"?  Frame your photos, zoom in on your subject (unless you have an amazing background).  This puts the focus on the subject, not the wall or the sock laying on the floor (or in my case, my husbands socks, lol).

Capture the moment in time.  Don't just snap a photo, capture the emotion behind it.  People either tend to hate the camera and hide from it or they put their cheesiest smile on and pose.  You don't want either.  Hold your camera for awhile but don't take any pictures.  This will let people know you have it, get used to seeing you with it in your hand so they won't hide their face when you pull it out and see it all the sudden.  Frame the photo in your head of what you want to shoot and when the time is right snap your photo.

iPhone camera's or camera phones are fun to use.  The thing about camera's on your phone is that everything is in focus so you have to get creative with it.  The best part about them though is that you can take some awesome candid shots because they might think you are texting when your actually being sneaky and snapping a photo of them.

To get a good shot with your camera phone you want to hold it steady.  For instance with the iPhone, you want to grasp it in the palm of your hand with your thumb on the button (back of the phone in your palm, wrapping your fingers around it towards the front).  Pose your shot with your thumb pressing the button and release when you want to take the picture (since the iPhone snaps the picture when you release, not when you press down).  The grasp will help prevent blurry pics from an unsteady hand. 

If you have a phone that uses apps, get them.  You can really get creative with apps, editing, panoramic, etc.  Check out ZDNet for a list of the "Top 10 iPhone Camera Apps"

When all is said and done, just remember that light is your friend for a good photo, and candid moments are the most rememberable.

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Check out my new website!

http://crystallenzphotography.webs.com/

Love's Hangover Photo Shoot

Love's Hangover is the creative genius of two sisters. On the 1st of December they launched their store in downtown Noblesville were you can find the most amazing pieces of handcrafted jewelry.
At the store you can buy completed pieces of their work, or customize your own creation from the bead station they have.
I had the pleasure to work with them on a shoot last month and thought I would share some of the photographs from the shoot.  The Models can be found on Model's Mayhem: Megan Rayne,  Elon Holt , Amanda Hypes . The body paint artist can also be found on Model's Mayhem: Eye Candy Art.  Don't forget to look Love's Hangover up on their fan page on Facebook!

Photoshop color and eye tutorial

This is an old post from my personal blog from when I was using Photoshop 7, but at least you can get the idea on how to do the steps.


Here is the BEFORE

And

Here is the AFTER
















 The steps I used are:

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

PhotoShop Vintage, Actions, and Texture

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

First I added a red photofilter and dropped the opacity to my liking.  I then used the eyebright action from

Coffee Shop blog  to brighten the eyes a little.  I then added a texture from

Deviant Art and put it on overlay 20%,

flattened the image...done:)

How to make the eyes brighter in Photoshop

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

New Softbox

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

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