A New Day, A Different Way The creative and photographic endeavours of a woman trying to add color and beauty to her world.

Her late grandfather worked on the railway and they were very close so it was important for her to get pictures that included the railway.

I edited this photo in Photoshop Elements 9. Firstly I did a crop on the photo then I added Kim's Paper Stained Grunge texture and set the blending mode to multiply at 61%. I then used the erasure to take away most of the texture from her skin, I had the blending mode on the erasure set to 61%. I think the finished photo shows has the old photo feel I was looking for in the shot.

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I did my first portrait shoot the other day for my niece's grad.  I don't usually do portrait shoots, they scare the heck out of me.  Something about shooting an event or a day that will never happen again, I don't want to be responsible for documenting that "just in case".  

In this instance however, the pressure was already off.  She had over 300 photos from earlier in the day taken by a "real" photographer (my words not hers) but they had run out of time before she was able to get the shots she wanted taken on the railway tracks.  She was very close to her late grandfather and he was railroad man so she really wanted these photos.  She saw my camera on the table at dinner and asked if we could take some shots after.  Of course I said yes as anyone who reads my blog knows I have a thing for railway photos myself so I couldn't pass up another excuse to take some more.  

I was actually amazed at how well some of the shots turned out, they are not perfect I can see a lot I would do differently but overall I was very happy and would be more than willing to try a portrait shoot again.  Of course it really helps that I had a very photogenic model, and most of the poses were her idea, she was fantastic!  

Here are a few more of my favorite photos from our little adventure.  

I am taking a photography e-course and this week's assignment was to take pictures of our feet in some of our favorite places.  Just to clarify this isn't a technical photography course but more of a "find yourself" kind of course.  

I love taking photos on railway lines.  Something about the long lines, the rustic wood and the inevitable weeks and flowers growing up among them so I thought this would be a good place to photography my feet. Unfortunately as you an see the photo came out way too dark.  Since I heard the train coming in the distance, and since I know you can be fined $10,000 for being on the tracks, I decided it was time to go.  It wasn't until I got home I realized how dark the photo was.  Thankfully Photoshop Elements came to the rescue.  I was able to adjust the levels and brightness and end up with an image that while maybe isn't technically perfect works perfectly for my course presentation.