Monet a Photo - Playing with Nik Color Efex Pro 4

I took this beautiful photo of the hanging Spanish moss while I was in Florida. It's lovely and it sure looked like it would be fun to play with. I've been watching a lot of CreativeLive.com classes (which are free while they are live and an amazing source of photography information with incredible instructors). While watching they demoed some Nik Color Efex Pro 4 filters. I got to download a couple of these for free. The catch was that when I did that, it loaded Nik Color Efex Pro 4 to my computer for a limited time. The problem is not that they loaded, it's that now that I've played with them, I will want to own them. So let me show you what I've done.

I took this beautiful photo of the hanging Spanish moss while I was in Florida. It's lovely and it sure looked like it would be fun to play with.

Awhile back I had done some portrait photos for a friend of my daughters. I selected one of the photos and used the mask tool to remove her from the background. Then I was able to bring her in to the Spanish moss photo. But before I brought her in, I did a little manipulation with the Nik Color Efex Pro.


First I duplicated the Spanish moss photo. That later was mirrored and moved over. I wanted to see more of the branch to the left and I needed to fill the space to the right.
I used 2 of the Nik Color Efex Pro filters - Photo Stylizer and Sunlight.

Next I brought the masked version of my model into the working file. Then one more Nik Color Efex Pro filter...Classical Soft Focus...over the whole image. I reduce the transparency a little and a little sharpening to her face only and ooolaaalaa.

I am really enjoying this compositing stuff and the Nik Color Efex Pro 4. I'm in trouble now, ha, ha...

Lesson - Try out some add on software like Nik Color Efex Pro 4.

- 1 Photo a Day....makes me happy (and a better photographer) Bonnie McCaffery (always a student)
Here's links to the equipment I used.

Backgrounds & Photoshop Fun

I am learning so much lately... I especially love what I've been learning about Photoshop. I have CS5.5. The masking tool in this version of Photoshop is amazing. Rather than me trying to explain it, here is a link to a video that explains it quite well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUUFIdAsj2o

So here's what I've done. I have a lovely picture of Abby on a plain blue wall and a macro photo of a rock I took at the Smithsonia Museum of Natural History.

Duplicate the Abby photo layer (Ctrl J). I brought the rock photo layer into the Abby photo and placed it below the Abby duplicate layer. Then I masked out the background of the Abby photo which revealed the rock photo below.

I did do several other adjustments to the Abby photo including removing a few blemishes, whiting the whites of her eyes, and altering the color of her irises to go with the color of the rock.

I played with this a little more with a great photo I had of Levi and a macro photo of Citrine. This time I changed the color of the rock photo (using a Hue/Saturation layer over the rock photo) to go with Levi's eyes.

Close, Closer, Closer...

Sometimes I just like to buy myself a bouquet of flowers - it's for homework, right?

I put on my favorite lens (my Canon 100mm f2.8L Is Macro) and my tripod which is critical if your going to take sharp closeup photos. I started with an average shot - it's pretty with the different colors of flowers. But then I went in a little closer....nice.

Then I popped a 250D Closeup Lens on my Macro lens...which meant I could get even closer. It's kinda like a magnifying glass for the camera lens.

And I just kept going...closer...and closer.

I shifted my lens ever so slightly to eliminate the center of the flower. Which do you think is the better shot?

Lesson - Buy yourself a homework assignment of flowers and play with some closeup shots.

- 1 Photo a Day....makes me happy (and a better photographer) Bonnie McCaffery (always a student)
Here's links to the equipment I used.

 

Lily of the Valley and the Butterfly

One of my favorite smells is Lily of the Valley, so I just love this time of year when it announces the beginning of Spring.

The tiny flowers remind me of music notes - joyfully singing the fragrance of Spring.

We found a butterfly - unfortunately he had metamorphised into the next realm (he was dead). But I decided he could still pose quite nicely in the Lily of the Valley. And the beauty of that is that I could focus and he would not fly away. I did still have to be aware of the slight movement of from the gentle breeze.

After picking a few Lily of the Valley and putting them in the sweetest little pitcher I have, I noticed the rainbow reflections on them from my stained glass door. It was just perfect. Luckily I grabbed my camera and took the photos because within minutes the rainbow was gone.

Lesson 1 - take advantage of whatever you find to take photos - even dead butterflies.
Lesson 2 - When you see a photo, grab your camera and get the shot. It might not be there very long. That's why my camera is always out and waiting to be used.

- 1 Photo a Day....makes me happy (and a better photographer) Bonnie McCaffery (always a student)