A Mix of Scrap

I've been meaning to post these 2 photos for foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. But I really wanted to create a new watermark for my images to "protect" them. Then I read this article this morning on Scott Kelby's Photoshop Insider Blog. And now I'm posting them, because I'll never watermark another blog image again, LOL! The only thing I'll watermark in the future, will be proofs for clients (I'm talking WAY in the future, lol) so they can't take the image off the web and then print it and then get mad when it prints horribly because it's a web quality image and not meant for printing. Strangely enough, my boss was chatting about photography with me today and was trying to get me to second shoot for his neighbor, lol. He kept saying "if you're interested, I'll let her know, she's always looking for second shooters". If I thought I wanted to get into wedding photography at all, I might consider it. But I don't really see myself going that route anytime soon. I'll leave the door open, but I really just want to work with pets and their people.

Anyway. The photos. Cuz I really like this one. I wanted to play with before and afters. I've been working my eye and working on my composition a lot lately. Trying to get interesting angles, catch the details, that sort of thing. This can be difficult when it's just me and Tiger, since I'm the one holding both the ball AND the camera, lol. But I'm really happy with how this one came out.
So here's the SOOC ("straight out of camera") image:

Not too shabby right? I like the exposure and the composition. It looks a little "soft" (not super sharp), but I can give that some help in photoshop.

Now this, all nicely edited? Makes my heart happy.

The only problem? I totally forgot the steps I took to edit it. FAIL! I'm going to make a few educated guesses though. 1) I ran a high pass sharpen action on it that I created from steps I found over in the Clickin' Moms forum a while back (note to self, get back into visiting that forum). 2) I probably ran Totally Rad Actions "Oh, Snap!" on it at least once, possibly twice. It's my new favorite color popping action (I LOVE stronger colors in my photos) and it's from the first set (The Original). (Apparently I also like placing things within parenthesis. Go figure.) I vaguely remember creating a few layer masks, perhaps I messed around a bit with saturation? Possibly removing some overly yellow tones from Tigah-now but leaving them in the bright beautiful grass? The world may never know.

So yea. I really love that picture. I'm gonna print it and hang it up somewhere I think. Maybe just replace one of the older ones around the house. We'll see.

I'm working on a big new frame arrangement for the foyer. I want to get the shot of the bridal party printed up on a canvas nice and big and hung there. It'll reflect beautifully in the big mirror that's hanging in the dining room. Woot!

And, proof that I have been crafting (because I'm always saying how crafty I'm being and then never friggen posting things), a bit of a sneak peek of a hybrid layout. I made it for the iNSD Bonus Cookie Challenge over at SSD.

And, I'm taking over the SSD blog tomorrow for the Hot 4 Hybrid post. So stay tuned!

Have a great night :)
~Col