December « 2009 «

Vacation

I’ll be off for the next two weeks enjoying family and friends. Be back January 4th. Mele Kalikimaka!

Every Friday, I will be bringing you something for FREE and today is one of my favorites to date. Smashing Magazine is an amazing online magazine that is a fountain of fabulous information for photographers and web designers. This article is particular has lots of of great information!

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/08/30/50-free-resouces-that-will-improve-your-photography-skills/

Last Minute Holiday Gifts

Son of Hurrel- Marcel Walker Photographica

We all have pictures that just make us sigh with happiness every time we look at them. These are the kinds of pictures you wish you could memorialize, now you can. If you have some great pictures and you’re looking for some last minute Christmas ideas, try Costco (www.costco.com). You can get your photos on canvas, throws, totes, mugs, notepads, stickers, ornaments, and more all for a very reasonable price and the best part, it’s not too late for shipping if you order soon! Click here for shipping deadlines.

costco ad_learn_more_cutoff

Step by Step Edit

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Photoshop can feel overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. So here’s a tutorial that will walk you through some basic steps. This is a simple step by step edit for a photo from Vanessa Brown of www.inevergrewup.net. She’s a mom, a blogger, a businesswoman, and like many of you, she also wants to learn a basic approach of how to process photos in Photoshop. Here are just seven simple easy steps that you can do with your own photos in just a few quick minutes. This video has been uploaded in high quality, so it may take a moment to load.

As a review, the steps again in the video are:
1. Layer>Duplicate Layer>Copy the background
2. Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Levels>black I bring to 9 and middle slider I take to the left to lighten the mid tones
3. Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Curves or Levels adjustment for the face to brighten it up
4. Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter>Warming Filter 85>about 30%
5. Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Saturation – in this case we just warmed up the photo even more by going to HUE>-8 (to add more warmth to the photo) Saturation > +9
6. Filter>Distort>Vignette – I usually go about to 50%,
7.Layer>Duplicate Layer>Sharpen

And do yourself a favor, don’t let you photos languish in cyber space, PRINT YOUR IMAGES!

Freebie Friday!

So for the record,

I am a total slacker. We’re in full swing for our clothing drive (we got two brand new pairs of Hannah Montana boots for the Shelter!) and plus I’ve had very important company and more to come. I have the girl’s club this afternoon. That will be seven little girls 4-8 to play today and my pom-pom people activity is not quite ready. No, my kids are not this age, it’s all just fun for me.

Here’s a link to more great free actions!

http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/

Luscious Links / free textures and actions

I love passing along fabulous links with great information. This is a great link for free textures and actions. Why would I post a link to free actions when I sell actions? Because just like you, I love a good freebie and I’m confident my collections are worth more than what you pay. Thank you to Web Design Ledger for such useful info!

http://webdesignledger.com/freebies/29-most-useful-texture-packs-of-2008

BOOT CAMP 12-28-09

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Here it is, details for my Christmas Break Boot Camp. I had a friend repeatedly ask for this, so this is the result.
Here’s what you need to know:

1. One full day of hands on instruction
2. Limited number of participants
3. Held at the fabulous downtown location of Beta Loft.
4. Day will start with class instruction on hard core basics such as metering, depth of field, and composition.
5. Participants will have a chance to put what they’ve learned to the test by working with models on location.
6. Workflow, managing files, and step by step edits will be presented.
7. Students will then be able to present their work to the group.

A catered lunch will be provided. Participants must be able to operate their camera in manual mode and bring a laptop with CS3 or CS4 (click here for free 30 day trial of cs4). A minimum of five participants must register for the workshop to take place. If you have any questions, please feel to contact me at marcel@marcelwalker.us.

Free Soft Focus Action for Elements and Photoshop

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This is Auntie Spiffy. Or at least that’s what kids have always always called her. She’s my hubby’s baby sister. Isn’t she beautiful? She is single and well qualified applicants may inquire.

Today I’ve got a lovely little freebie, it’s a nice soft focus action with a layer that allows you to erase through to keep your eyes sharp. So in the shot above, I ran it just once to soften the skin and hair. You can run the action again to get a more ethereal feel (remember to flatten your image before running tha action again). I do only leave my freebies up for a limited time so grab it while you can!

IMG_1858[1]-(2)

Congratulations to Dana Ohlsen for winning our Hot Shot Challenge. The theme was gratitude and she did alovely job conveying that concept. A nice action pack for you chicka!

And it’s because of Dana (ALL RESPONSIBILITY ON HER) that I’m going to be doing a Shot Out Boot Camp December 28 in Salt Lake City. One full day of in class instruction and hands opportunities to develop your skills, shooting and editing. Models will be provided with a catered lunch. It will be fast paced, no hand holding, push yourself till you drop, and the chance for you to take your photography to a new level. It will be everything I wish I had known when I was starting off. Participants will need to be know how to work their camera in manual and bring a laptop with CS3 or CS4 (free trial download available). Class size will be limited! More information soon!

5 Basic Steps for Editing images

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Editing your pictures for the web and quick prints should be an easy fast process. Here are the steps that I usually follow.

1. Crop (I do this first to help me know what I’m working with).
2. Brighten add Contrast (this can fix a lot of color problems).
3. Make color Adjustments (does the picture need more saturation, more warmth?)
4. Draw the eye to the most important part of the picture (use lasson to lighten area of interest, a simple vignette can focus the attention to the area of interest).
5. Sharpen

Following a recipe like this, just a few simple steps, should only take a few minutes.

Good luck! Remember, I’m here Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

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