Lindy Labunski Photography

Catching Up

2009-10-05T13:23:00.001-07:00

Here's a few of the photos I've taken since we bought the D300s. I figured I ought to catch up just a little bit so I don't get even further behind!

The New Addition

2009-10-05T13:21:00.000-07:00

Earlier this year, when I dove back into photography, I was pining over a higher quality camera. At that time, the camera of my dreams was a Nikon D200...I didn't dare dream any higher. But one quick look at our finances swiftly put to rest any hope that a D200 would be mine in the foreseeable future.

Fast forward a few months.

We're debt free. We sold our gas-guzzler, were smart about buying an older yet more gas efficient car, completed our emergency fund...and had money to spare. All the sudden, affording a new camera no longer seemed so impossible. Add to equation that we received a sizable refund check from our house insurance on the house in Baker, and suddenly the dream becomes a reality. A reality that we paid cash for! Except the reality was so much sweeter...we were able to afford a Nikon D300s, which is a model they just came out with last month, complete with HD video capability!

Momma's got a brand new toy!

Ok, ok, it's Daddy's new toy too. And it's not really a toy. Well...sort of a toy. But it's also for business. You see, as professional photographers, it's pretty embarrassing to tell clients, "I've got some great shots for you but the problem is that my camera is, well, old...so the biggest print you can get is an 8x10."

Ouch.

With this camera, we can go as high as a 24"x30" and still get a great quality print. Muuuuuch better.

That's just a smidgen of an example of what is awesome about this camera. I won't bore you with the rest. Just suffice it to say that it's a phenominal camera and money well spent.

2009-10-05T13:18:00.000-07:00

Last night's and tonight's skies were graced by big, beautiful harvest moon. I've never had the chance to do night photography before so I jumped on the opportunity the full moon presented.

Night photography is...HARD!

It takes forever to find the right exposure. And once you finally find it, it's next to impossible to get a good focus on the subject because, well, you can't SEE it! Because it's DARK!

But once you get it right (or as close to right as you can get it) it's breathtaking. Try to believe me that these were taken at 10 pm, with no flash, simply a camera and a tripod. And a reeeeeeally long exposure.

Yep, that's the big dipper in the first photo. Let me tell you, I was ridiculously giddy when I saw that it showed up in the photo!

Have You Missed Me?

2009-08-14T22:06:00.000-07:00

I've missed you. Yes, yes I have. I've missed having my camera plastered to my eye. I've missed tweaking and adjusting in Photoshop. I've missed being pleasantly surprised by what comes from my adventures, and have even missed the photos that disappointed me. After all, we learn from our mistakes, right? At least, that's the general idea. So here are photos from my first foray into Yamhill County (and a couple from Clackamas County)...there's just SO much photo fodder out here!

A Walk In The Woods

2009-05-28T18:39:00.000-07:00

I Have a Fever...

2009-05-14T16:09:00.001-07:00

...and the only cure is more plant photos! (please tell me you get that SNL reference)

At the beginning of this month, I went back on day shift after being a graveyard zombie for two months. So rather than getting of at 6 am, I am now arriving home at 6 pm, and yesterday the lighting outside was de-li-cious. When I come home, I sometimes drive up the alleyway that also doubles as part of our driveway, and in doing so yesterday I noticed some beautiful tulips against a small white shed with a pretty red roof and a black window. The first word that popped onto my mind was "idyllic'. The second was "camera". So I jumped out of my car, rushed in the house, grabbed my camera, ran down the alley, snapped a couple quick photos, ran back up the alley, into my house, and kissed my husband.

Unfortunately, the sun was behind the shed but not low enough to provide good backlighting. Ah well, done is done. I didn't have time to dilly dally outside waiting for the sun to go down further. I had a husband and babies to get back to!

As it is, I was pretty happy with how the photos turned out.

"The Amazing and Astounding Orton Effect" Tutorial

2009-05-12T09:47:00.001-07:00

I'm going to use the first photo I posted in my last post because it simply had the biggest 'WOW' factor.

Here's the SOOC image, no editing what so ever.

Ok, first you open the photo in Photoshop. Duh, right?

See the palate on the bottom right, where you have your layers? That would be your layers palate. Actually, I don't know if that's what it's technically called, but that's what I call it, so that's what we're going to call it. Ok? Good. See the only layer there that says "background"? Right click on that. A menu will pop up. Select 'Duplicate Layer'.

A little window will pop up that says 'background copy', just click ok. You now have two layers.

Now, in that same palate, see the little drop down menu on the top left that right now says 'Normal'? Click on that and select 'Screen'. This will lighten your photo a bit, don't panic and don't do anything to change that!

Now, go up to your layer menu on the top of your screen. In the menu that pops up, toward the bottom is Flatten Image. Click that. Now you'll notice that you're back to just having a 'background' layer in your layer palate on the bottom right.

Right click on that layer again and create another duplicate layer. This time, you're going to go up to your Filter menu, click on Blur, and then select Gaussian Blur. A little screen will pop up. You'll want to change the radius to 3.0 pixels then click ok. This will slightly blur your photo...again, don't panic.

Now, go back down to your layers palate and click on the drop down menu that says normal again. This time, you're going to select Multiply.

And shazam! Suddenly you have a photo that is crisp and colorful in the foreground and has a wonderful blur to the background, amping up any of that yummy bokeh that you may have already had. Here's the SOOC and the finished product side by side so you can really see the change. I did no other editing besides what I put on here, cross my heart.

If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments and then check back there for answers!

Back From the Land of Color

2009-05-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

I feel a little like Dorothy waking up back in Kansas after the brilliance of Oz...only difference is that I brought two munchkins back home with me. The fam and I went to the Portland area for five days to visit family and friends and to test for a potential job. What struck me was how many flowers were in bloom over there! Eastern Oregon is just now starting to get her first cover of green, which every plant, tree, and flower in the Valley are showing their true colors. I, of course, went a little berserk with the super macro setting on our point and shoot. Sorry if you get tired of floral photos, but I just couldn't help myself.

Oh! And next I'll be posting a tutorial on the Orton Effect. You can read about it here. This article has instructions for Photoshop Elements, which I don't use, so for those of you Elements peeps out there, this will help! I'll be showing you how to do it using Photoshop CS...the original version...not CS2 or CS3 or CS4...just plain ol' CS. It is A-MA-ZING with the right floral photos. So far I've only used florals, so I haven't yet experienced its awesomeness on a different subject.

We'll see how long the boys will let me work on this tutorial.

Old Rusted Cars Rock!

2009-05-06T07:54:00.001-07:00

Another One

2009-04-29T08:09:00.000-07:00

Story Me A Story

2009-04-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

On the Coffeeshop Actions blog, I found this action that helps you create a story board. Lovely for people like me who KNOW how create their own story boards but frankly don't have the patience to do it. Here's one I put together real quick of the last photos I took of the boys. Love it!

Rain Drops Keep Fallin' On My Head

2009-04-28T17:34:00.000-07:00

It was raining this morning when I got home from work. I've been waiting for a chance to take photos of rain drops on flowers, but it's been a relatively dry spring here in Eastern Oregon. So when it was lightly raining this morning, I jumped at the opportunity. And yes, I did a little trespassing to get photos of some beautiful tulips and daffodils. But don't worry, it's an abandoned property!

'

2009-04-27T01:39:00.000-07:00

I have a fear of portraiture. Maybe it's irrational, but the idea of taking photos that make up another family's memories scares the crap out of me...that probably stems from the fact that I have absolutely NO experience with shooting photos of anyone besides my own family. Oh, and the fact that I usually try to take said photos inside my house, with regular house lighting. Not exactly studio lighting.

But today went a long way towards making me feel better about my ability to take portraits. I'm in love with these photos of my boys, not to mention the boys' huge beautiful eyes. Maybe I need to be a little easier on myself, and give myself a chance to try more portraiture. Not saying that I want to make a living out of it, but I believe that I should try every type of photography because...well...it's fun!

I'd have to say that my absolute favorite one is the second to last photo, which is of Asher.

Memories Remembered

2009-04-26T01:17:00.001-07:00

The photo is of my wedding bouquet (in the background), but more importantly, of Marla's corsage that she wore at Nathan and my wedding. Marla was my mom's best friend and a second mom to me. Only 7 months after our wedding, Marla lost her year and half long battle with ovarian cancer. The house we live in now is the one she left to us. I miss her so much, that over two years later it still hurts when I think of her, and I would give just about anything to see her hold our boys just once...she was a twin and I can only imagine how much she would love Levi and Asher.

I must say that my favorite part of this photo is how the background just kind of fades away and makes the corsage really stand out. I used Totally Rad Actions' "Super Fun Happy" action to give it the dreamy effect, and then PW's Quick Edge Burn action to pull the focus in to the middle.

Then there were these three photos. I had a very hard time deciding which to post to Mission24. The last two below are actually a different photo from the first photo below and very first photo at the top of the post. The more I like it, the more I really like the B&W just below here. But I also love the colors present when I didn't turn the photos B&W.

Tiny Purple Flowers

2009-04-24T15:57:00.000-07:00

I took this photo ten days go, and just now got around to editing it. Sad, no? These tiny purple flowers are all over our yard to the side of our house, and yet I can't work up the energy to mind. Plus it doesn't hurt that they're really pretty, sprinkled in amongst our (mostly) green grass. Who said a yard had to be all green, anyway?

I had picked a tiny bouquet of flowers to put in the small vase pictured two posts ago, and I love how these flowers go with the doffodills that grow in the front of our house. The best part about all of these flowers? I never have to do any planting, they just come up on their own. Which means I can't kill them...because I have a black thumb.

And doggone it, they're just plain pretty.

More Fun With 50mm

2009-04-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

I made No Bake Cookies today...by far the easiest, fastest cookies in the world to make. And I decided to bust out the camera and play some more. Mmm, cookies.

The best part about this photo? I didn't do ANY color editing what so ever. I cropped it a little bit to square it off and ran PW's Define & Sharpen action, but that's it. And the colors are as close to the real deal as you can possibly get.

Dear 50mm...

2009-04-21T11:12:00.001-07:00

...where have you been my whole life?

Yes, it takes some getting use to, especially the whole being my own zoom since the lens doesn't possess a zoom. But holy moly is it fun to play with! I only played with it for about three minutes on one subject, but look at what I can do with it!

Now excuse me while I go play with my "oldest" son who just woke up from a nap and is luring me in with his adorable babbling. The boys are 7 months old today, which blows my mind.

Trip to Portland

2009-04-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

In the midst of my 24 hour trip across the state and back for a job interview, I actually managed to grab a few seconds to take photos...I would have had more if I had taken my camera with me from my father in law's to the interview, as I had about 45 minutes to burn, but I forgot it. Bad Lindy! Anyway, here's one of the photos of that bunch.

When I was a little girl, there was a huge landslide in the Columbia Gorge, not far from the outskirts of Portland. A whole house was caught in the mud, and you can still see the top half of it through the trees and raspberry bushes that have grown up from the dirt moved by the slide. Unfortunately, it's on private property and hard to get to. This old truck, on the other hand, is just a few feet from the road (up an embankment that I pretended wasn't there) and was gradually being swallowed by the local vegetation. And I, of course, couldn't resist it's call.

I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Just one more, I promise!

Ok, now that you're sick of looking at old, broken down, vine infested trucks, how about a social commentary? If you are a staunch environmentalist who thinks "going green" is worth any price tag, please stop reading.

Did you know that it will take 30 years of whirring blades for each of these bad boys to pay themselves off? As in, it will take 30 years of creating electricity before the THOUSANDS of wind turbines that have been erected along the Columbia Gorge - effectively ruining the beautiful views - to start making a profit. Thirty years before I see any change in my electrical bill due to harnessing the wind. Sweet.

And now that I've made your head spin, how about making your eye twitch? I heartily apologize for this photo. Personally, it makes me want to find a corner somewhere and rock myself. And for some reason that makes me really like it. I don't know. I just don't know.

I wouldn't say this is my favorite batch of photos, but they'll do. I start getting antsy when I haven't posted new photos in more than three days. I'm afflicted, what can I say? It's a tough life I lead.

Here They Are!

2009-04-10T23:38:00.001-07:00

I did it! I am triumphant! I actually managed to finish editing my photos from my little expedition around our 10,000 horse town! I'm not going to write any captions with explanations because, well, I don't feel like it. Some of these I'm in love with, some of them make me feel a bit ho-hum. But I'll post them all anyway.

Another Sneak Peek

2009-04-09T17:43:00.001-07:00

Gradually, one by one, I will get these photos edited. I'm still not completely happy with this one, so I think I'll tweak it some more. Granted, I edited it in approximately 3 minutes. Plus I think Blogger has a habit of making photos darker than they are in Photoshop. At some point you may actually get to see them all in one post. Or...you just may keep getting them one by one.

Sneak Peek

2009-04-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

I managed to sneak out this morning after I got off work and spend a good hour just lurking around town looking for fun photo ops. There are several photos that I really like out of this set, but this one was the one that made me really feel something. It was actually on private property so my zoom came in handy. I haven't really had the time to pick up my D70 in over a week, which makes me sad sad sad. So today was a breath of fresh air.

Here's a sneak peak of today's set of photos. I cropped it a bit to make it more square, used PW's Boost and Definte & Sharpen actions, made it black and white using gradient map, and then made the blacks and whites more true using a Level Adjustment Layer. Good times. I pushed the black and white level adjustment a bit to make it more stylized.

I was going to post it on here in its largest size, but then I realized that it kind of ruined the effect of the photo when you had to scroll up and down to see the full length of it.

I'm Slacking

2009-04-08T18:53:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry.

I haven't taken more than a couple of photos of the boys in the past week or so. But between trying to find a new job, putting our house on the market, going through each room and pulling out things for the yard sale, taking care of babies, and working full time, I'm a little swamped. Some day, once this tornado that has hit our life has settled a bit, I'll continue my love affair with my camera.

I promise.

Be Still My Heart

2009-04-03T18:51:00.000-07:00

I love seeing my family members with my boys. I love seeing my boys with the people who love them. We took a trip to Portland last weekend and this has to be my favorite photo that came out of that trip. Just my baby, Asher, enjoying a nap on his Uncle Eliot.

And then to even things out, here's one of my "oldest", Levi hanging out on his grandpa's floor.

And here's a completely random shot of Jolly Ranchers...it was for the latest Mission 24 assignment. It looks like you can just reach into the screen and eat one, yum.

Ode to My Husband

2009-03-30T01:09:00.000-07:00

I love taking road trips with my husband. I learn so many things about him...

...including the fact that we already own a Nikon 50mm 1.8, which he neglected to tell me despite reading my posts about wanting one so badly. Isn't he a peach?

No, but seriously, I had a great time on our way across the state. The first half of the 6 hour drive was taken up with nothing but photography talk, mostly me picking his professional photographer brain. And then to top it all off, he "suffered" through a musical with me last night, with no complaints. Gotta love that man.

Ode To Flickr

2009-03-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

I resisted, I really did. I was loyal to Picasa for as long as I could be...until I became more serious about taking photos and posting them so they looked good. Once I started wanting to leave my edited photos at their original size for printing purposes, rather than editing them down to web size, I realized I was going to need a better photo storage site.

So I broke down, turned my back on Picasa (I'm super loyal to Google programs, that was difficult), signed up for Flickr after reading blogs of several other photographers who used that site, uploaded my first photo....

...and fell in love. Oh my stinking heck! Did you know that you can, with the click of a button, choose which size you want your photo to upload as, without it changing your original photo? With Picasa, if you changed your photo size, it's changed it permanently. Or if you click on the "more properties" link, it brings up every single piece of information you could possibly want on your photo? Date and time taken, date uploaded, camera type, focal length, shutter speed, image size, photo dimensions...the list goes on and on. I'm sure there are more great features, but those are the two big ones that have stood out to me since I signed up last night.

Don't get me wrong, Picasa is still a good site. But I've noticed the difference; Picasa is great for those who just want to put together albums to share with family and friends, while Flickr was made with serious photographers in mind as a place to store art. Love it.

Donations Welcome

2009-03-26T01:49:00.000-07:00

Anyone feel like donating around $100 so I can get me that purty AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens I'm droolin' over?

Ha ha ha.

No...really.

Now you're wondering if I'm being serious, aren't you?

Fun With a Horse Trailer

2009-03-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

Our neighbors next door, the ones with the burned down house that has been sitting like that since before the boys were born and gives off an awful armpit smell, have an old rusted horse trailer sitting next to our garage...perfect photo fodder. It was also almost the perfect lighting outside for taking photos, overcast and just after sunrise, so no harsh shadows...although I do like me some shadows sometimes. I also got up close and personal with our garage door, which has paint peeling like crazy, as I wanted to play some more with depth of field.

After I was finished taking the photos and had thawed my hands out (it was only 30 degrees outside), Carly gave me some helpful hints on subtle (or not so subtle, depending on your preference that day) editing techniques. Here are the results:

Bricks in the alleyway next to our house. Made black & white with gradient map, then adjusted the blacks and whites with a level adjustement layer. Tied with the third photo for my fave.

Garage door, up close and personal.

Chains and a leaf on the horse trailer. Used both a curve adjustment layer and a levels adjustment layer to adjust the colors.

A small chain hanging from the side of the trailer. Not my fave, as the focus isn't exactly where I wanted it, but I still like it.

More Oregon Trail

2009-03-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple more photos of my fun morning up at the Interpretive Center.

The older wagon with the Elkhorns in the background. "Lovely & Ethereal" action.

A fence line on the way down to the ruts. I did quite a bit of tweaking, just playing.

My trusty dog, Bandit. It took forever to get him to hold still long enough to snap a decent photo.

I'm sure I'll add more photos later, but I've found that I honestly have to walk away from photos I've taken for a day or so before I'm able to pick out ones that I actually like, ones that I can fall in love with after editing. I had so much fun getting more practice on adjusting shutter speed and aperture, and it's so encouraging to realize that yes, I CAN take decent photos in manual mode as long as I trust myself and push myself to get better with every photo. Shooting in manual doesn't leave room for casually snapping pictures, you have to think about how your depth of field and exposure are going to be effected, and how zooming in or out is going to change your settings, along with a host of other things. I love it. It gives my photography experience a depth I've never experienced before.

Photo Perfect Morning

2009-03-23T11:05:00.000-07:00

This morning, when I got off work at 7 am and walked outside, I encountered a perfect morning. The sun was just beginning to rise above the Eagle Mountains and the sky was a flawless blue. So, needless to say, I raced home, grabbed my camera and my dog, and headed up to the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center above our valley. The Oregon Trail runs right through the hills outside of my home town, and the interpretive center is on a hill that affords a wonderful view of the mountains above and valley below. Not to mention that there are photo ops everywhere you look. And Bandit, our Springer Spaniel, had a complete hay day...I don't think he stopped moving the entire two hours we were up there.

I walked 1.4 miles almost all the way down to the wagon ruts and back, but it wasn't until I got almost to the bottom that I realized that the white balance on my camera was set to indoor lighting...which would be why the first half of all of my photos had a blue tint to them. Not cool. Thankfully, I was able to replicate most, if not all, of the photos on the way back up the hill. Granted, the lighting wasn't quite as good was it was an hour before, but I lived. And I won't be making that mistake again.

Here's just a couple of the 113 photos I took up there. I did do some actions on them, mostly things like PW's "Boost" and "Fresh & Colorful", but there are a couple of stylized edits.

One of the wagons with "Fresh & Colorful" and "Boost". Love the colors!

The Elkhorn Mountains to the west of our hometown.

One of the wagons with the Elkhorns in the background. Tiiiiiny aperture for large depth of field, PW's "Heartland" and "Boost".

A box on the side of the wagon in the photo above. With "SuperFunHappy" action. Yum

A very yellow wagon wheel with some color tweaking to really bring out the yellow.

Needless to say, I had an absolute blast and I would love to do it again sometime when the temp is higher than 40 degrees, the wind is blowing less than 10 mph, and I can get out there as the sun is coming up to catch the pink on the Elkhorns. But believe me, I'm not complaining about the time I had today. Not at all.

Detracting?

2009-03-19T07:50:00.000-07:00

Maybe it is taking away from my photos as they are, straight out of the camera (SOOC), but I am still loving playing with the various effect actions that I've found. Last night I discovered the blog of another woman who makes actions and then gives them away for FREE! I love free, it's my favorite price.

For example, take this photo of my son, Levi.

SOOC, his face was a little blurry, his eyes bland, the colors were...ok, I guess. What can I say, it was only my second day playing with the manual settings on my D70. So I busted out a few of the actions that I downloaded tonight. First was Coffeeshop's "Little Perk", which boost the photo's color balance and sharpness slightly. Next I used PioneerWoman's "Sharpen THIS", from her second Action set, which creates a mask over the photos and allows you select which parts of the photo you want sharpened. In this case, Levi's face. Then I used PioneerWoman's "Bring On The Eyes!", which creates another mask that allows you to brighten just the eyes of your subject.

With each of these actions, the changes are HUGE, to say the least. In fact, they're a little too huge, so I backed off on the opacity on each of them, making the changes a little less dramatic. Otherwise Levi would end up looking like a small alien child with bright white eyes. Creepy.

Here's the before and after.

Then there's this photo that I look for the Mission24 challenge, of a statue my mother in law got Nathan and I not long after we got married. I love this statue, it reminds me every day that we have to support each other with love through everything. But the photo itself? A little boring. Hey, it was 1 am, my sources of lighting were, to say the least, limited.

PioneerWoman came up with an amazing action called Heartland. Combine it with her Boost action and it gives me yummy shivers all over.

Now if only I could be awake during the day, so I could take photos of things OUTSIDE of my home. Yeah, that would be great.

Oh Actions

2009-03-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

I'm still fiddling around with the free actions that I received from Totally Rad Actions. The one I played with a little bit tonight was Super Fun Happy. I just love how this guy names his actions so appropriately. Now normally I don't go in for the whole soft focus effect, especially the photoshopped version, but every once in a while I'm feeling a little whimsical. Like tonight. So here's my son, Asher, our second born by one minute, hanging out in his bouncer with his brother, Levi, in the background. I had the f-stop a little too wide open, so this was really the only shot that came out with his entire face in focus.

I love that since I'm using the Minima Stretch template, I can now post larger photo images, don't you?

Minimalism

2009-03-15T04:50:00.000-07:00

I've discovered through my various art explorations (photography, graphic design, theatre, drawing) that I am a minimalist at heart. Too much going on makes me a little uneasy, a little frantic. So when I was trying to figure out what in the world to create for my photography blog banner and background, I just couldn't be happy with any of the designs I had come up with. They were too...busy. To me, a photography blog or website should be as clean as possible, so as not to take focus away from the important stuff. You know, the photos. The actual things we're there to see. Weird, no?

Anyway, after attempting to be clever on several different banners, I finally realized that what I really wanted was a white background. No pattern, just white. With one simple something to the right side, "Lindy Labunski Photography" in pretty flowing script, and an opaque bar behind the script to anchor it. Oh, and a very thin black border around the white background so you can tell there's a banner there.

Then I remembered the calla lily I had hand drawn years ago in college and then scanned into my computer because I loved it so much. Thank the maker, I was able to find it. Create a circle, fill it with color, slap the calla lily drawing on it, lighten it from black to white, and you have a logo. Mmmm. Ok, it took a lot more than that, a process that included layers, erasers, resizing, tweaking, starting all over, doing it all again, etc. The end result is what you see at the top of this page. Simple, clean, happy. I like it. I think I've settled on that script for my watermark as well, which will make the watermark match my banner. How cohesive of me.

Hope you like it, cause I'm not going to change it if you don't.

An Old Friend

2009-03-13T07:00:00.001-07:00

I was looking through the left over photos from years ago on my D70 memory card when I stumbled across the last photo I took with this camera about a year ago. Every morning when I came home from graveyard shift, the light from the window would hit this chair just so, and the combination of the yellow wall, the black of the chair, and the shadows always caught my attention. So one morning I decided to have a go of getting a photo out of it.

A couple of runs of Slice Like A Ninja action, a few tweaks to the color balance, slap on a watermark, and away we go.

Oh My-Lanta

2009-03-13T01:45:00.001-07:00

Ok, I couldn't stop. I have a problem but I don't think there's a twelve step program for this one. Plus laying down did not feel good, at all. Yuck. On top of that, I have a ton of phlegm in my throat and my head hurts...stuff you always wanting to know, right?

Anyway, I've played with my watermark some more and I think I like how it's turned out. Now it's just a matter of seeing what you folks say about the font. Oh, and there's this website...called Totally Rad Actions...the name isn't lying. I emailed the guy and automatically got sent some sample actions. There's this one called...something about Ninja...I dunno. Anyway, look what it did to my wine glass photo!

The crispness, oh the joy! Please, feel free to compare.

Wait...was this suppose to be a blog about the boys? About my familial going's on? Maybe I should start a blog devoted to my photography/Photoshop adventures, so you don't have to keep logging on to this blog and being disappointed over seeing yet ANOTHER photography post.

Sorry 'bout that.

Ick.

2009-03-13T01:44:00.000-07:00

It's 4:22 am, and I'm home sick. I feel nauseous and after sitting at my computer at work attempting not to throw up for an hour, my partner sent me home. Unfortunately, the combo of having slept all day and not feeling real great is leaving me sleepless, so it's back to my old friend Photoshop. This time I found some fun actions for free online, so I tried out the watermark action, which is something I've always wanted to have. Before making my watermark, I tried to think of a creative "studio" name. Ah heck, Lindy Labunski Photography sounds just fine to me. I'm down to a few watermarks that I really like, but I can't decide which font fits my style the best, so it's now up to you to give me your feedback.

Here's Number One:

This would have to be in my top two. It's simple, yet with a little bit of flair to it.

Number Two:

I like that this one looks a little more modern and clean. This one is in my top three.

Number Three:

This one is quite similar to Number Two, but slightly different.

Number Four:

This is a font that my friend Carly, who is a wonderful professional photographer, used for a font a little while back, and I just fell in love with it as soon as I saw it. But I feel a little bad using the same font, even though she's not using it anymore. Opinions? I also like that this one doesn't have any capitol letters in it. Definitely in my top two, but again, I'm kind of being a copy cat. Mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery?

Number Five:

I can't help but feel that this one is a little over the top, but maybe that's just me.

And last but not least, Number Six. (Sorry to give you so many choices, I'm indecisive like that.)

Not real thrilled with this one but I felt like throwing in something completely different. It kind of makes me feel like a little kid, not exactly something I'm going for in my photography.

Ok, there you have it. I really would like to settle on one so that I don't have to keep resetting my brushes and recreating watermarks, which is kind of a pain in the butt, let me tell you. I'm sure there's an easier way to do it and rest assured I will be asking Nathan tomorrow...if I remember. So now it's your turn. This is your opportunity to have an opinion.

And now I'm off to attempt some sleep. Hasta.

PS. Don't pay any attention to how light or dark the watermark is, I can always adjust that according to the photo it's being placed on.

Oh D70, Where Have You Been My Whole Life?

2009-03-13T01:43:00.002-07:00

Or rather, for the past 3 years.

My senior year was, for me, a very discouraging year, photographically. I had, what I thought, a great photography professor, and yet my photo skills were not increasing. I've just started to realize that all of my frustrations have stemmed from one simple problem:

I never bothered to learn how to take my camera off of automatic and actually BE the photographer. I always relied on my automatic settings, never forcing myself to learn how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO all go together. It made for a sad, bleak world.

But then the other night at work, at approximately 3 am when absolutely NOTHING was going on, I 'snuck' onto Pioneer Woman's photography site and read through her tutorials. They managed to teach the basics of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO without being too overwhelmingly technical, yet without sounding like she was teaching a 5 year old.

So tonight, after my eyes started twitching from staring at the computer screen for too long, I dug out my Nikon D70 digital SLR and spent a good hour just fiddling with the controls. Oh my heck, it's like a whole new world has opened to me. I remember playing with my dad's old film SLR (I can still smell the film scent, Lordy how I miss that...where the heck is that camera Dad?) and always working on manual with that one because, well, it was old. And there was no such thing as an automatic SLR back then. Right Dad? But since receiving my Nikon N75 (film SLR, not old, automatic w/ manual option), I became lazy.

But never again! The closest I will ever come to putting this camera on manual will be the Aperture or Shutter Priority, which allows you to manually select the aperture and then automatically selects the 'best' shutter speed, or vice versa. But here's the thing that I've just learned...not all cameras are prefect. My camera, for example, shoots dark. So when I look at the exposure meter inside my view finder and adjust my shutter speed to match the aperture, the exposure is dark. So I have to adjust a couple of shutter speeds slower. Whew.

Let's just say I'm hooked again.

A week ago Sunday, I was watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (a weakness of mine) and the "hero" they were building a house for was a lady who did photography of preemies. She would go into the NICU and capture a family's moments with their preemie baby or babies, often times being there to share the child's only hours on earth. That spoke to me, having been through the fright of premature babies, yet I immediately dismissed it, not wanting it to be yet another thing that I become passionate about and then fizzle on in a matter of months. Plus there's the minor problems of a) we don't live anywhere near a NICU at the moment and b) I didn't think I had the skills necessary to take photos in the sometimes very dim light present in a NICU or hospital room setting.

But now...maybe...if we move somewhere with a NICU someday. Maybe this could be my way of giving back. Who knows. I guess we'll see.

What Can I Say?

2009-03-13T01:43:00.001-07:00

I'm bored.

It's 3:30 am, Levi is asleep in the swing because the little stinker adamantly refused to sleep anywhere else. As in, he fought going to sleep in his crib for two hours, despite a clean diaper and a full tummy. Even after putting him in the swing, he cried for a good ten minutes. Yeesh. He hasn't fought going to sleep like this for months. Hopefully tomorrow night will be better.

Anyway, to pass the time, I'm playing with, you guessed it, Photoshop. Again. I found my photos from Ecuador, which I haven't looked at for ages. So here we go. A photo I took of a cross in the old Hacienda we stayed in, with some beautiful pink flowers in front of it. First is the photo in full color.

Now we do the photo tinting again. Utilize the burn tool over the entire photo (darkens the photo a bit without losing any of the color).

Love it. I think I'll print this one...someday...

Speaking of the burn tool. Next is a photo I took of a native Mayan woman in a small market. I just think she looks so stately. So...I'm not sure what word I'm looking for, but she captures my imagination.

Unfortunately, the color is pretty washed out, and the statues on the table in the foreground kind of takes the attention away from the woman. Bring in the burn tool, run it across her and the statues in the foreground, without touching the great color in the tapestry behind her.

Suddenly she becomes the focus of the photo again. She looks even more like the matriarch that she first struck me as.

Burn tool officially earns a Yum.

Birthday/Christmas List? Already?

2009-03-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

I've decided that the Photoshop CS4 upgrade is on my birthday/Christmas list. That will probably make Nathan cry, as he would just love to have all of the Adobe (the company that makes Photoshop) upgrades so he can play with the CS4 version of Illustrator and Dreamweaver, but beggers can't be choosers. And we do be beggers. At least in this instance. Especially considering the fact that a Photoshop upgrade is $400 less than the entire Adobe Creative Suite package upgrade. And that's just because of a limited time offer. Normally it's a $600 difference. Yeesh.

...I felt the pucker factor on that one, folks.

Anyway, if there's anyone who would like to to donate to the cause, I'll set a tin cup outside of our door. All donations are tax deductable.

Fun With Photo Tinting

2009-03-13T01:40:00.000-07:00

Usually when I come home from a graveyard shift, I stay up for an hour or two in order to wind down, and also to give Nathan a bit more time to sleep before I crawl into bed and wake him up. During that time, I've started playing with different aspects of Photoshop, as is demonstrated by my banners, backgrounds, etc. While browsing through some tutorials, I found one on photo tinting. Combine that with my love of macro photography, and we have magic, people. Pure bliss. Observe.

First we have a white tulip with some of the yellow pollen that has fallen off into the center of the flower.

It's cool enough as it is, I guess. A little blurry except for the fallen pollen. (Hee hee. Fallen pollen.) And it's honestly not all that exciting. Take the same photo, however, turn it into black & white, bring the yellow of the fallen pollen back, and we have something more exciting, more enticing. Suddenly the blurriness of the rest of the photo isn't as apparent and your eye knows where to rest.

Next we have the inside of a pink tulip. Pretty cool, but notice the center. Looks pretty bland next to all that hot pink, doesn't it? Not much color variety to it, and it's definitely not what draws your eyes.

But what if we were to get rid of the hot pink?

Suddenly there's a rainbow of colors within the center of this flower. It's amazing what happens to the boring girl when the show off is removed from the equation, no? I just want to note that I did NOTHING to enhance these colors. All I did was take away the color to make the entire photo black & white, and then erased the black & white adjustment from the center. It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's what happened in layman's terms.

Sigh...I love Photoshop. Now if only the magical Photoshop Fairy would put a copy of Photoshop CS4 under my pillow...we're currently running on plain ol' CS, which is only 3 versions old. Ah well, I work with what I'm given.

For Your Consideration

2009-03-13T01:39:00.000-07:00

Tulips, compliments of my mom. No flash used, just really bright kitchen lights and my trusty super micro point and shoot digital.

Wait...those aren't tulips! But they ARE two cute boys! (Asher left, Levi right)

And So It Begins

2009-03-13T01:34:00.000-07:00

I decided it was time to stop taking the attention away from my family by posting all of my photography and Photoshop adventures on our family blog. As a result, here's a new blog, shiny and sleek...and boring, for the time being, until I have time to fashion myself a decent background and header. I'm also going to attempt finding a way to transfer my previous photography and Photohop posts from our family blog to this one; wish me luck on that.