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

This photo was taken on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.  It was mid day and it was very sunny so I was dealing with harsh, bright light.  The statues in the photo are quite interesting but the overall picture is a little boring due to the lighting and the fact the color is all the same shade.  I did a really quick and fun edit on this photo using the free photo editing software from PicMonkey.  I simply uploaded the photo and applied the Daguerrotype effect to the photo.  I think it adds a bit more interest to the photo and suits the alien states shown in the photo. 

I love this mural.  I took this photo when I was in Toronto, this is a large mural that takes up most of the side of a building.  I love the colors, the combination of portrait and abstract and just everything about it.  I didn't actually do much of an edit on this one.  I used the spot healing tool in Photoshop Elements to remove the power lines that hung in front of the mural and I did a slight levels adjustment to brighten the white a little.  

It appears I have managed to stick to my challenge for a second day, yay me!!  The photo I chose for today is one I am really unhappy with.  Last year we made a trip to the Ft. Steele Heritage Town outside of Cranbrook, BC.  It was a very bright and sunny day, one that casts really hard light so while I had great subject matter I wasn't really happy with the resulting photos.

I'm still not sure I love this photo but I was trying to soften the effect of the harsh sunlight.

Here is today's photo:

Again, not really in love with the after shot.  But I do think I was successful somewhat in lightening the shadows with a levels adjustment, I did adjust the black or the white just the colors in the middle.  I then ran Nelly Nero's Chocolate Fade Photoshop action to give it a feel more in keeping with the vintage of the wagon.  Overall maybe I just think the photo is a little boring, and no amount of editing can fix that but I'm still glad I played with it.

I love taking photographs, but I have come to realize I dislike editing photographs.  Cropping and adjusting levels trying to make them perfect.  I just don't find that part fun.  If the straight out of the camera shot isn't good enough (and they seldom are even for very seasoned photographers) I just don't play with it. 

So in an effort to change this I set myself a one week challenge.  Just one week nothing too ambitious, of picking a photo out of my archives, editing it and posting the before and after shots here on my blog.  My thinking is perhaps if I could see a weeks worth of posts with the edited photos it will inspire me to keep editing my photos. 

So here are today's before and after shots.

I love taking photos of flowers with my macro lens.  I never know what I will end up with as the lens doesn't always want to focus on what I want to focus on.  This one turned out okay in that respect but to me the original is a little dark and dull.  I wanted to soften the effect and lighten the overall effect. 

I started by cropping the photo a little, I did a slight levels adjustment and then added three layers of texture using different blending modes in Photoshop Elements.  I am a lot happier with the after shot however looking at it now I see that I would like to go back in and bring out a bit more of the green from the middle of the flowers, and really that's the goal of this little challenge.  To allow myself to see what I am missing by not editing. 

Below is my photo for this week's edition of Pixel Perfect's Before and After Blog Hop.  This is a photo I took of a planter made out of the back of an old tractor.  I thought it was so pretty and would make a great subject.

Here is the before photo:

And here is after:


Using Photoshop Elements I first removed some bird droppings with the spot healing tool.  Then I adjusted the levels and the contrast.  Finally I added a slight texture to the photo. 

This is another photo I edited for Pixel Perfect's Before and After Blog Hop.  I am not really good at wildlife photography, mainly because I lack the patience.  But the other day when we were driving we saw these deer and I just happened to have my camera sitting in my lap so I snapped a couple photos.  I have seen some stunning wildlife photos and I know this one doesn't measure up but it was a nice snap for me personally.

I didn't do a lot of editing on this photo.  I cropped the image to get rid of the distracting tree trunk in the front, played with the layers adjustment and added two layers of texture on on a soft light blending mode and one on multiply.

Before:

After:

Here is another post about economical photography.  It is my opinion that photo editing software can be very expensive and really very difficult to learn.  Yes, if you are willing to spend a lot of time on google you can find tutorials but I find that quite time consuming.  I also found I was overwhelmed by all the different programs out there and do I really only need one, do I need them all and what is the difference between them.  Truthfully I haven't answered that question yet.  But for anyone interested in editing and improving their photos or even just adding text, texture or other interesting elements to their photos I have a recommendation.

I have been taking Kim Klassen's Skinny Mini e-course on Photoshop Elements 9, she offers this 10 day course for free and I have to say it has been a great experience.   You can actually download a trial version of Elements 9 and use it for 30 days for free, this will give you lots of time to determine if you want to invest in the program and the nice thing about elements is it is only around $100 to purchase which is quite a bit less than Photoshop CS or Lightroom.  You can check out Kim's e-course and elements without spending a dime and see if it is the right program for you.

The e-course is running right now and registration is closed but she will be running another one soon so watch her website.  She also offers a follow up course that digs way deeper for $79.

Here is a sample of what I have learned in the last week.  Below are three before and after photos, none of these shots are exceptional and even after editing they are not great shots but I think they offer a good example of what someone who didn't have a clue a week ago is able to edit their photos to improve the quality of them.  

I have an issue sometimes in the winter with finding shots I am actually interested in taking.  The lack of color bores me so when I found these purple bushes I thought they would make a great shot.  Which I think on their own they did.  But by adding a layer in Elements and then selecting the soft light blending mode I was able to make the color pop a little more.


 In the first image the black horse appears to be one solid color, other than the tip of his nose you really can't see any detail at all.  For this photo I added a layer and then using levels I toned down the black in the photo.  This took out all of the detail in the snow so with another adjustment layer I used the brush to brush away the level adjustment on everything but the black horse to bring the detail back to everything else. 

With this photo I was playing around with a new lens that I am having difficulty with.  The first photo isn't even usable as it is because it is just way to dark.  I don't really like the finished photo either but I used this because it shows how dramatically I can change the photo.  Again I added a layer and then used levels to tone down the black in the photo and to bring out the colors in the flowers.  I then used the adjustment layer to remove some of the additional color from the stems of the flowers because they were way to bright.

I am sure someone with more photoshop experience could have done even more with these photos but keep in mind I have only been working with this program for a little over a week.