Photoshop Homework Week 3 & 4

I finished my Photoshop class!
I probably spent about 4 hours on this last assignment using all the retouching techniques I learned.

Here is the original picture:

There are a million things I could pick apart about this picture. I REALLY didn't want to post it.
But I guess you have to see the before to appreciate the after.

And here is Lesli "Photoshopped".

I added eyelashes.
Got rid of the bags.
Smoothed the skin.
Brightened the eyes.
Deepened the lips.
And much more I can't tell you about.

Is the last class we learned how to make our own actions.
(If you don't know what actions are, click here.)
I used to add my "watermark" to each picture for my blog one by one. Now with my "watermark action" I can to it a LOT faster.

I'm sad the class is over now, but it was soooo worth it.
Here's the info again if you're interested.
A Photo School by Jedediah Photography.

Shooting Guns and Pictures

Tom and I went shooting last weekend with some friends of ours.
I figured I would do most of my "shooting" with the camera, but our friends brought sooooo many cool guns.
And I got to shoot all of them!

This is me shooting the 9mm handgun. You can even see the cartridge flying out of the gun! How cool is that!

I even got to shoot a high-powered rifle. Check out the size of the ammo! That gun had more kickback than a shotgun!

Here's another pistol I got to shoot.

This is the gun Tom got for his birthday.
He's sighting in the rifle.

You better be smiling Tom, that gun and scope was PRICY!

The Barsh brothers shooting their guns.

Gaby, James, and Brother Barsh shooting three of their guns. Do you see how many more are on the ground? This family is hard core!

Our good friends Steve and Gaby. Gaby looks HOT holding a gun!

Tom and his new .22!

This is the latest gun Tom added to our little collection. He bought it with me in mind because it's a lot shorter and lighter than his other shotgun.

He even bought me some PINK shotgun shells!!
(They matched my pink boots!)
I've never been so excited to go shooting in my life!

This was my first time shooting clay pigeons.
I'm proud to say I actually shot one!
Those pink shells were good luck!
(Funny story, when I posted this on my Facebook, some family members thought I actually shot a pigeon. I had to clarify it was made of CLAY.)

My shotgun shell casings. Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

Just looking at this picture makes me SUPER EXCITED to go and shoot more pink shells!
But I have to wait until my shoulder gets better.
It is soooo sore and bruised today. (Because I'm a weakling.)

Photoshop Homework Week 2

Last week we learned how to use filters in my Photoshop class.
And not the lame-o filers like "make-your-photo-look-like-a-painting filter".
The coolest filters are the liquify and lens correction filters. The liquify filter is probably my favorite because it's the one that makes you SKINNIER.

Here is my "Photoshopped" image:


Hopefully it doesn't look too Photoshopped. As my teacher says, subtlety is key.
Here's the original:

Now I'll take you through my transformation.

First I wanted to make my arm skinnier, then I went for my tummy.
My teacher said I made my eyes too big, but you can't blame a girl for trying.
I made Tom's eyes a little bigger too.
Then I used the lens correction tool to add a vignette.

Next, I adjusted the color. I mostly just upped the saturation to bring out the skin tones and bright colors.

Third, I took out some blemishes that were bothering me. Like red spots on my arms and face. I also minimized the bags under our eyes.
(I don't know about Tom, but I didn't sleep very well the night before our wedding...)

Lastly, I used the High Pass filter to sharpen the image. This is something my teacher says you HAVE TO DO to every picture you Photoshop. It will make any picture you print much better.
It's hard to see a difference unless you're looking very closely at the details.
Here's the final image again.

I may have to print another wedding picture...4 years after our wedding!

Our second Photoshop assignment was to make a collage using layers and layer masks.
I made a collage of some of my nieces and nephews (on Tom's side). It was just a quick homework assignment so I didn't have time to gather pictures of all my nieces and nephews. I may have to add more later. (We have 46 nieces and nephews in total with 5 more on the way!)

If you'd like more information on the Photoshop class or any of Jed's Photography classes, go to his website or find him HERE on Facebook.

I meet Mark Brunetz!

Mark Brunetz is the designer on CLEAN HOUSE!
It's a show on the Style Network Tom and I used to watch ALL the time when we had cable.
Now we watch it ALL the time on Netflix!
He's in town for the weekend for the Spring Home and Garden Show (which I'm going to tomorrow) and today he came to do a segment on Studio 5 on how to make a "mom cave".
Of course I had to sneak in to get a picture!

Not sure why the flash went off. There was more than enough light in the studio. I knew I should have brought my SLR.
Note to self: Celebrities deserve the SLR.
Brooke looks FABULOUS is this picture. I'm jealous.
I was so excited Mark's arm was around me, I think I forgot to look pretty.
But I don't care because I GOT TO MEET MARK BRUNETZ!!!
He was sooooo nice and he even gave me a hug. Or maybe I gave him a hug. I can't remember. It's all a blur now.

Have you noticed this post is basically a complete ramble? It's because I'm still so excited!!!

Here's a little promo for Clean House if you've never seen the show.



Basically they go into a ridiculously cluttered home. Convince the owners to part ways with ugly nick-nacks. Sell all their junk at a giant yard sale. Then they use that money to redecorate, refurnish, and reorganize the home. And mixed in are a ton of cheesy one-liners and bad jokes, which usually make me and Tom fall over laughing.
It's GOLD!

Photoshop Homework Week 1

I am LOVING my new Photoshop class with Jed from A Photo School.
(And not just because I'm taking it with my friend Mallory and we talk and giggle the whole time!)

I've been using Photoshop for years, so I wasn't sure how much I would learn in the first class.
But HOLY COW, I learned more than my little brain can hold!

Our first homework assignment was to take a Raw image (a photo taken in raw format on a DSLR camera) and using only the Photoshop RAW tools, make the image better.

So here's my RAW image.
This was part of the shoot I did for my mother and father-in-law for their wedding anniversary.

And here's the one I changed using only the tools in Photoshop's Camera Raw.

It doesn't look like I did much more than make it black and white, but I swear I did.

Our other homework assignment was to create an image in Photoshop and play with as many tools as we wanted.
Here's my masterpiece.

Pretty sweet right?
My drawing skills haven't improved since I was 3.

I CANNOT wait to see what Mallory came up with.
Our second class is tonight.
Wish me luck!