ad libitum

FAMILY PORTRAITS

This week's class in Marie Otero's Photo Magic online course involves portraits. Of course, I'm using photos of my two beautiful daughters.

I still have to work on the animal portrait - Cookie better not have an agent.

 

CINDERELLA?

My younger daughter had the good luck to be given some very beautiful and expensive shoes (is this the opposite of Cinterella losing her shoe?). I took a picture of her very fancy feet and used it in the fourth exercise of this week's online Photoshop class with Marie Otero. (Have I mentioned how much I love her classes?)

Below is my original photo, followed by my photoshopped version.

SECOND DIGITAL JOURNAL LESSON AND FOURTH INCHIE

I had a busy day today. It started out with an interesting self-discovery. After geting Snow Leopard installed on my desktop, I mistakenly believed that I had lost a year's worth of work; I was aggrevated until I couldn't find last year's photos, then I cried. I had no idea how attached I was to my photos until I thought they were missing (they were hiding, but not deleted). They are back where they belong (sort of - I have a learning curve ahead of me with iPhoto11).

So, after having everything found/restored by Brittney, my computer guru, I spent this evening working on the second lesson from Marie Otero's Journal Magic class , which I am posting below and posting my inchie for Every Inchie Monday, also below.

The theme for this week's inchie is "maudlin." I used a [much reduced] photo of a cemetery statue for the primary image of my inchie.

For my journal page, I decided to focus on bird images.

I still have a lot of organizing to do with the spiffy new computer system, but it should be a happy task now that I know things are hidden, but not lost. It's sometimes surprising how dependent I am on my computer and all the treasures that I have stored on it.

 

DIGITAL JOURNALING

I am taking Marie Otero's Digital Magic Journal class which started Saturday. I never do well with journals (start out OK, but then I don't keep them up) and I'm not sure why. But, I love Marie's On Line instructions and I love working with Photoshop and I have hopes for this endeavor. Below is my first attempt at our first lesson. I plan on working on these techniques some more later this week.

TRYING TO USE THE BAMBOO WACOM PEN

It seems to me that everyone uses the Wacom Tablet/Pen easily and without the problems I have. I've had a Bamboo for almost a year and had put it away in total frustration (I really seem to have very little control over it). My friend Nancy just posted on her blog that she now has a Bamboo tablet and she is using it. It gave me the incentive to get out my Bamboo (well, Nancy, and the fact that I am going to take another online class with Marie Otero in January). Maybe, if I use it every day, I will get up to adequate...

It's snowing outside, very cold and icy...and, it's not even officially winter yet. That made me think about using some snowy imagery and coming up with something about Winter Solstice. I used a photo of some nearby trees from last winter, a photo of a sunset taken from my backyard, and a photoshopped image of Annie in a classical painting I don't remember the name of.

Anyway, inspired by Nancy, I tried my hand at writing with the pen.( Now, to be honest, I always got "needs to improve" comments on my handwriting in elementary school; so, the flawed results could be due to my sloppy writing, not just my clumsiness). After much time, I came up with something almost legible.

Here is the result of my labors.

 

MORE DIGITAL MAGIC WORK

This has been a very busy week and I couldn't get to my online Digital Magic class until today (Friday). I found myself thinking about it all week, but I had no time to sit down at the computer for more than a few minutes. Today, I had the time to spend a few hours on the computer.

   

MORE DIGITAL EFFORTS

I am really loving the "Digital Magic" class I am taking. There is something so satisfying about manipulating photos (photos are so much better at doing what they are told than people are).

Some more selective color exercises...

 

 

making a photo look vintage...

 

putting together vintage, clipping, and color selection...

This week's lessons: using Camera Raw to fix a photo

 

   

and, using actions (I like playing with actions, but I'm far from really mastering the concept)

DIGITAL AGING AND CLIPPING

The last two exercises in my Photoshop class (Digital Magic by Marie Otero) this week are aging a photo with sepia and using clipping masks (OMG - I'm using masks! something that is known to send shudders down my spine; is there such a thing as mask-aphobia? This class may cure my case of it). I'm loving going back into iPhoto and going over my photos to find just the right images for these exercises (OK, sometimes the images may not appear just right to you, but I'm learning a lot from working with them).

These were two gypsy ladies I photographed in Rome.

The flamingos are from a Florida trip.

This boat was in a lake in Ireland.

 

The rooster is one of the beautiful birds that wander around Kauai.

 

The berries are from a tree in the parking lot at Best Buy.
 

We get a lot of ice in Michigan. This is from a tree in the parking lot of a grocery store (yes, I take photos in parking lots).

Now, while I wait for more exercises for next week, I will go back and play with more photos. I really am loving this.

FIRST DAY OF NEW ONLINE PHOTO CLASS

Today is opening day for the Marie Otero Photoshop class that I am taking. I have been working on the first two folders for much of the day (wasted some time screwing up the downloads, but eventually got that straightened out). This is FUN!

 

I tried another rose

And then I tried a poppy

Next, it was time to make colors pop

After popping colors, it was time to work in black and white with only a tinge of color

There's still more to learn, but my eyes are crossing from spending too long on the computer, so it will wait until tomorrow.

DIGITAL ART

Once again, I am far from my studio; so, instead of waiting for paint to dry, I am playing with pixels. In a little over a week, I am starting an online class in digital art taught by Marie Otero; so it's time to sharpen my skills while I get ready for the class.