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29 Aug 2010

Adding layers to life

Heather and Jessica edited with lightroom and enhanced with layers
Still on my quest to edit all my sisters wedding photographs, hopefully soon I shall be finished. Luckily she loves me and knows I can still lock her in a cupboard if she annoys me about it. To be fair, she hasn't moaned once about it and has loved the ones I have shown her so far. I just want them to be edited to the best of my abilities and for her to have some lovely photographic memories.
It is a steep steep learning curve, not only taking the photographs, but also the editing. I keep adding new things to my box of tricks, which of course adds on more work, but it is still fun! There is so much to learn and once you make the dreaded mistake of looking at other people photographs, you are doomed.
Heather on the way to the church, edited in lightroom and enhanced with layers
At the moment I am using Lightroom 3 to edit the photographs and then using Picnik.com to add some finsishing touches.
Lightroom Trick - Look into the world of presets! Magical stuff that creates all sorts of cool effects that you can then further tweak.
Picnik.com Trick - If you are premium user you can add 'Layers/textures'. You can also do this using other programs, but I can only do it using Picnik for now!

Wedding Car edited using Lightroom and enhanced with presets
Next time I update the blog about the wedding photography, hopefully I will have bloody finished, but probably not. Let me know what you think and if you have any favourite photograph editing tricks or tips be sure to let me know them.

13 Aug 2010

Art + Therapy = Art Therapy part 2

/climbs out of the chasm of doom......
/looks round sheepishly

Okay here is my explanation of what was going on in my head whilst I was doodling this: Just click the image to BIGGIFY and read Part One if you haven't already or need a refresher: Art + therapy =???

doodle
What was going on in my head the wordier version:
When I signed up to do the art workshop, I thought I would be much further along with catching up with all my assignments than I was. I knew there was going to be qualified therapists, trainee therapists etc at the workshop and was already feeling out of my depth. So when they said the first task was 'Draw how you are feeling right now' , my thoughts where:
  •  Use a pen, you can draw well with that!
  •  Ohhh white paper will look good
  •  God I hope they don't ask me about assignments or placements
  •  Urggh Assignments, that pile of doom haunting me
  •  Wow I feel like crap now, must add some clouds
  •  More rain!
  •  Oh dear it looks too sad now, I do have fun sometimes!
  •  Happy stuff?
  •  Erm doodling, gardening, the sun? 
  •  Lets Emphasise the two areas, by drawing a line round the middle bit
  •  More rain!
Why do something like this:
By using my own doodle, I wanted to highlight just how much information you can get from a person, with a simple doodle. It opens up an avenue of conversation that you otherwise wouldn't have. There are no really wrong answers, just observations that may or may not lead the conversation somewhere. If you read the comments and/or left one in the previous post, you will see how much people saw in the doodle. I was quite honestly shocked that so many of you saw so much and were bloody spot on! Not just regular readers, but new readers left such thoughtful and thought provoking comments, that I can't thank you enough for taking the time to do that.

What now?
I have been at a crossroads for a while now, especially in regards to my studies and what to do next. I have not formulated a concrete plan of action yet, but I am closer to making some decisions! I have mentioned previously that I may retire this blog, but I am not going to do that. I know that was rather bloody cryptic, but I just wanted to say something and offer some explanation about why this blog has been so neglected as of late.


Doodle Stuff:
I have been doing a lot of stuff in the world of doodle, that I can't mention at the moment. Here is a sneak peak of something that I have been working on. As and when I can say more, I will! Honest.


Grammar Nazi:
I have a problem, a grammar problem. In an effort to improve the way that I write, I am trying to be more vigilant with grammar. One of the things I always seem to make a hash of, is the use to/too, but never two. I broke out in a grammar induced sweat, just writing those short sentences. I am not aiming for perfection, I like the stream of conciousness/ramble style of writing that seems to come naturally to me. Any tips on how to improve the editor within? At the moment I am using things like this to improve my inner homophone.