A little about the T.P. post

I got a very nice surprise when I found out that I was featured on Point…Click…Shoot’s blog (http://pointclickshoot.blogspot.com/). He seemed to like my high class diffuser. p

So, I thought I would post some examples of pics from the same night, without flash, with flash no diffuser and with the diffuser. I have noticed in my pics that even when I have them in the sunlight, their eyes are usually dark. I hate that because I love when the eyes sparkle. I don’t currently have an external flash or diffuser, so I improvised. I don’t like what the on-board flash does to the subjects. I have heard of using velum paper or gift wrapping tissue before to diffuse the light. I’m sure they will do the same thing as toilet paper. I just used whatever I had on hand, and it worked. I believe that as long as it doesn’t hurt your camera, you, or your subjects, why not try something totally wierd. I’m not sure I would recommend using the toilet paper on a paid shoot though…lol that might look a little tacky, don’t you think?

I should be able to purchase my sb800 with a real diffuser soon, but until then………I might just use the old reliable toilet paper.

No flash

No flash, but noticed the eyes

Flash stepped down -1.0 or -2.0 (note the eyes and features when t.p. diffuser is used)

Same diffuser used, flash may have been more on the normal intensity. I really just played around with different settings until I got the desired results. If you notice, her face does have a more flashed look. I think experimenting is the key to learning your camera. Having willing subjects if very helpful, so if you are interested in having your photos taken, I am available to do them. LOL, Seriously! ;o)

Using fill flash

B. wanted me to take her pictures today. I wasn’t feeling the best, but who am I to pass on a portrait session, right? It’s more practice. So, it was a very overcast day and I thought I would try using my on board flash to practice lifting the shadows from her eyes. I wanted to diffuse the flash though so it wouldn’t be so harsh, so out came my t. paper. Yes, I used toilet paper to diffuse my flash. Hey, whatever works, right? I did find that I had to adjust the strength of the flash a bit. All in all I think they came out pretty good.

I used Pioneer woman’s free action, boost, on these.

Free Actions

This has to be the most versatile set of free actions that I’ve seen. I know that there a lot of free choices from actioncentral, but for my needs…these are the easiest and most effective actions.

My friend Jen gave me the heads up on these. They are from PioneerWoman.com and here is the link. http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/

Definetly a site to check out.

Boost action

Texture lover

I’m finding that I really love what can be done with textures. In the photographs below, it really saved the photograph. The picture of E. itself was good, but the background was distracting and blown out. At this time, what I use for backdrops are fabrics. Fabrics can be great, but a pain when there are wrinkles and three year olds are hard on fabric. What I did with the texture, (which I found on Flickr), was paste it onto my photograph, decreased the opacity of the textured layer and then erased the part of my subject. It does get a little tricky when you get to the edges of the subject. For that, I reduced the hardness and the opacity of my eraser and carefully went over the edges of E. until I got my desired result. I’m pretty satisfied with how they came out. I have never left the textured layer be at 100% opacity though. It just didn’t seem to look right that way, so I left the opacity low enough that it looks as if it is part of my background. I also used an action on her eyes that I am totally in love with. I got it from MCP Actions and here is the link. http://www.mcpactions.com/

Mansfield, Indiana

The family went to Mansfield today to get some photo opportunities. Bri and I were snapping photos like crazy. I did one HDR with 3 exposures then settled just shooting in RAW and converting them. It was just easier that way. What a beautiful place, but totally set up for vendors and what not. I went into the Welcome Center/Store and talked to the cashier. I asked if they do consignments here and she said that they do. I left her my name, phone number and gave her my website address to give to the owners to see if they would be interested in my work. I told her that I use tonemapping in my images to give the photographs a unique look. I also told her that I could make calenders of the Bridges of Parke County or Views from around Parke. We’ll see what happens. I’m going to go back the last weekend in April during the mushroom festival with some 4×6 examples of my photographs.

These are only a small portion of what I took. If you are interested in seeing the rest you can go to my site.http://JulieLawsonPhotography.smugmug.com/…275262804_bQddh

I chose to do a dry brush technique on this photograph. I think it gives it something a little different. I like how it turned out.