Sunday, June 28, 2015

Adding Pretty New Skies



One of the fastest and prettiest ways to add a pop of WOW
to your photos is to switch out the sky!

When photographing portraits, I am always setting exposure
for the face, so often...especially with backlighting,
the sky will be blown out and look white.


I keep a folder of beautiful sky photos and simply
place them into the white sky.

If the sky isn't totally white, I actually paint it white
so the clouds from the sky overlay are bright white.


This original sunset photo has a lovely dark blue sky,
but you can add more pizzazz with a new sky!


Be on the look out for beautiful evening skies and sunsets
and keep the photos in your sky folder.


I pretty much replace all my skies in portraits!





You can add drama, or just dreamy color with a new sky.


To learn how to add a new sky and blend it correctly with your photo
Watch my Video Tutorial.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

Daisy Portraits


June is such a happy month when we finally have
sunshine and DAISIES...what I consider the sunniest flower!

They only last a few weeks, so I have been busy capturing the
simplicity of daisies.



I found a hand-smocked yellow dress at the thrift store
and KNEW it would go with a daisy shoot.
 
But it photographed almost white.


So, I painted in some yellow on the dress in this next shot.
Watch my video tutorial to see how to do this,
and how to control your yellows in Photoshop and PSE. 




Simple clothes seem to go with this simple flower.

I make head wreaths from thrift store flowers.  You can
also make one from fresh daisies!
We added a few fresh daisies in this head wreath.


Running shots really show the field of daisies.


Shoot with as wide an aperture as you can to make the
daisies blur in the background and foreground.  I used f2.8
 
For two people this close together, I narrowed to f.3.5


We have a wonderful walking path near my house
and that's where I shoot all my wildflower portraits.
 
Every week seems to add a new variety.



In editing, play around with color saturation...
I like both bright
and subtle color.


I hope you can find some daisies growing near you
and take advantage of the sunny June flowers!







Sunday, June 7, 2015

Rainy Day Photos

 
Don't let a summer rain get in the way of
practicing your photography!
 
To prepare for a rainy day, buy yourself a rain cover for
your camera.
 
I have this one that I got for only $15 on this Amazon.com link.
 
 
 
If it's raining hard, set out a dish on your back patio.
I used the top of my grill because it is a delightful RED!
 
Use a FAST shutter...200 or above to capture the drops as they
hit the water.
Also use a deep depth of field..try an aperture of f8
to keep things in focus.

 
 
The one strange thing about rain...it's very hard to photograph
it falling!   It was raining hard when I took this next photo.
 
But you can barely see the streaks in the dark green tree area.
 
 
So, I added some fun, whimsical rain in Photoshop.
I show you how in my video tutorial.
 
You can download my rain brush for free CLICK HERE
 
 
This technique works well when it's cloudy and gloomy,
but you prefer to shoot when it's not raining.
 
 
I even added some SPLASHES...
 
 
I got the splash brushes by midnightstouch, from Deviant Art.
CLICK HERE  to download the splash brushes for free!
 
 
So, if it rains this summer and your kids are bored...
photograph them in the rain!