Waiting for storms to pass

So I'm all jittery after waiting to find out if the storms in Oklahoma had affected my family there. Luckily, they are all doing good and no damage has been reported yet.
I have three new photoshopped pictures for you tonight.

I'm still trying to figure out how to change the eye color and keep it as natural looking as possible.
This first one is probably my favorite because the altered eyes look the most natural out of the three.

 With all three pictures I started out by cleaning up the image (blemishes, wrinkles, discoloration, etc.). Then I went about putting "makeup" on using Photoshop Elements and my Bamboo pen & tablet. I started out by applying a very light shade of pink to the lips (I kept the opacity levels very low so as to avoid it looking like I was coloring in Microsoft Paint). I then went about applying "mascara", "eye liner", "blush" and a few light shades of "eye shadows". I have the quotes to show that these things were not an original part of the picture and that they were artificially added thanks to Photoshop. Then I saved the image and started applying different filters saving the ones I liked the most as separate images.

Here you can see the color that I chose for the eyes this go around. I wanted to attempt the beautiful crisp ice blue that my grandmother has, I unfortunately didn't do that shade of eye color any justice but I still like my end result. Here you can see the applied "makeup" and I used a filter that is supposed to resemble a painting. Since my attempt at ice blue failed these eyes are much darker and the filter I used ended up making them look even darker.

This picture reminds me of the old hand tinted black and white pictures from the late 1800's and early 1900's. Those old pictures always appealed to me because they had such a soft look to them. I understand now that they looked that way due to the processes involved in taking and developing the pictures but I still find them very pleasant to look at.

In this picture you can see more clearly the color I was trying to reach in the eyes. When I started I chose a very bright, but pale, turquoise and then accented it with pale blue, nearly white. I then took my eraser tool and setting the opacity low began to "shape" the eye colors and revealing the pupil. The filter I used was called accented edges and you can see along the jaw line where the edge is brighter then it would normally be. I chose this filter because it showed the brightness of the eyes and gave it a texture and softness like a painting.

I hope you have enjoyed these, I am enjoying creating them and learning as I go.
XOXOXO

Fun with Photoshop

So my wonderful husband bought me the Bamboo Fun Pen and Tablet yesterday so I was up late last night playing in photoshop with it. I was trying to replicate these luminous eyes that I had seen in "fantasy" pictures online. I haven't quite gotten it down but I had a lot of fun messing with these.

Photo of the Day 5/16/11

Photo of the Day



































This is the new baby elephant at the Oklahoma City Zoo. ISN'T SHE SO CUTE!!

Pictures from when Blogger was down

So while Blogger/Blogspot was down for maintenance, I posted a couple pictures on Facebook and Tumblr. Here they are for your viewing pleasure.

This one is, again, of my co-worker. The files in the background are no longer there so this was kind of a once in a lifetime opportunity. Using simple filters and layers in Photoshop I was able to separate my subject from the background and change it to black and white. This picture was taken with my Minolta camera and is a bit blurry and grainy because of it, but I ultimately love the way it came out blur and all.  We took about 4 or 5 pictures, all different poses, with in a couple minutes (Yes, we were taking a break, boss. I swear!) in the records vault at our job. Next time you go to the doctor's office look at the shelves where they keep the patient records, the shelves usually are on tracks and are rolled using a crank to save space. These types of shelves are really fun when someone is down on the floor at the back and you "accidentally" start rolling the shelves one way or the other. I actually screamed the first time it happened to me because I thought it was the much older vault clerk and that she wouldn't hear me unless I screamed.

These are some pretty little roses (I think) at the Oklahoma City Zoo. I loved the color of the petals and leaves, so bright and vibrant.

Enjoy. XOXOXO

Photo of the Day 5/15/11

Just because it makes me smile. :)

XOXOXO

Fun with Hair & Makeup!

So last night I had a "fun with hair & makeup" session. It started out as me just playing with my hair while my husband was getting ready to go to work. After I piled my hair on my head I thought, "Oh man! I should put on some crazy makeup and set up my camera!" So that's exactly what I did! I had so much fun and I will probably do many more sessions like this in the future.

This black eyeliner was hard to apply (mainly because I have never worn eyeliner this thickly before) and was even harder to remove!

Enjoy! XOXOXO

Mid-day postings!

Hello!
So I was unable to post anything because Blogger was down but now it is back so here is a quick post!

This is an adorable likkle froggy from the Meinders Garden Crystal Bridge in OKC. I'm still pretty amazed that I didn't get a glare from the glass. :)

Okay, I'm going back to my brunch now (Hubby made me an awesome omelet!!! <3)

XOXOXO

Good morning, Good Morning!

Hello world! I am about to leave for work but will start out the day with a picture before I go.

These were taken about two years ago at Restland Cemetery on Memorial Day.

As you can see these were taken with my little Fisheye camera (it was the only camera I owned at the time). Each flag represented a soldier lost during the current war, there is a name on every flag pole.

Have a wonderful day and always stop to say thanks to our military personnel who keep us safe and free.
XOXOXO

Photo for the Night

So I am about to head to bed and will leave you with a Photo of the Night since I didn't post one of the day. :/

This is a picture of a vacant lot somewhere outside of Brownwood, TX. My husband actually took this picture with my little fisheye camera because there was a fence blocking this lot off from the public. I am short so he had to hold the camera up over the top of the fence. I just really wanted to see what was behind the fence. I think it came out quite nicely though.

XOXOXO Good night!

Stopped on the side of the road for this one :)

So I was coming home from taking some things to my hubby at his job. It has been raining here for most of the day so far and as I was driving, the sun came out and made everything orange. So naturally, I pulled into the right line of Greenville Ave, turned my hazard lights on, parked the van and took these pictures. No one was behind me so it's not like I was impeding traffic or anything, but I still felt very bold doing it. :D

The first one is probably my favorite and the last one was me trying to get the gold reflection from the gold building (yes the windows of the building are gold tinted). There was a much better shot of the gold buildings but at that point there where people behind me and I wasn't bold enough to put on my hazard lights then.

Anywho, I figured these would be enjoyed. XOXOXO

Playing with Photoshop CS5

So I have a trial version of Photoshop CS5 that I get to play around with.
I haven't worked with Photoshop is a few years so it is still pretty new to me. I selected a couple pictures to play with and then had to figure out how to compress them so that I could upload them to the interwebs.

 

This is a wonderful picture of my co-worker, hard at work as you can see. ;) 

This picture was actually taken with my old Minolta camera that is currently out of commission due to a broken advance lever. I really enjoyed using the Minolta because it is a film camera and it held more nostalgia, but in the end most of the pictures came out a bit grainy. I'm not sure if the graininess is due to the age of the camera (25+ years), the lack of skill on my part or the type of film I was using. I have some other pictures with the same subject and camera, I will have to find those and get them up here pronto! ;)

I went through it with the cloning tool and "covered" some of her blemishes. Then I played with some filters and colors. I wanted to put a watermark on it but Photoshop wanted me to use a third party company (Digimarc) and I wasn't quite comfortable doing that just yet. 

Enjoy XOXOXO

Photo of the Day 5/10/11

Just for you, Dad. <3

Slow going

Sorry for the late post, I was sick and then on Vacation visiting my parents.
Speaking of visiting my parents, they live in OKC and were able to take my husband and I to the Meinders Garden in Downtown. It was so beautiful! There is a "Crystal Bridge" there that houses so many colorful tropical plants it was amazing.

Here is a picture from outside of the garden showcasing the name. 

The "Crystal Bridge"

The soon to be (or is it already?) Tallest Building in Oklahoma

My wonderful Parents.

I will post a blog just for the beautiful plants later. This will have to suffice for the time being!

XOXOXO see you again soon!

Icky Sicky Poo

So it is 9:00PM and I just got back from CVS getting my meds. I left work early after feeling pretty awful all day, sat in the doctor's waiting room for about 3 hours and left with two kinds of meds. I was diagnosed with "Acute Pharyngitis" from stress and allergies. Plus! My doctor is going to try a sort of detox from Advil with some other kind of med that I have to take for a month. I have headaches usually everyday and he thinks that the Advil was causing me to have reoccurring headaches. Yay!
Any ways, here is a picture of my lovely dog, Marla!!! I don't have my memory stick at the moment so this will just have to do!

Much Love!

Photo of the Day

Since it is such a gloomy day I figured I would post two pictures from over the weekend that made me smile.
Below are my "Godparents" Larry & Tammie Bivins. I met Tammie through a sewing circle (yes, I sew/quilt) and mutual friends, we became fairly close and she and her husband joke that I am their adobted daughter. Anyways, these were taken in front of the church where Larry and Tammie were married and she wanted pictures with the flowers.