get that Vintage

Hand - Tinted look on your photo....



here is the promised tutorial!


i am not using the same photos i did on this layout. i found this cute one of my son from many years ago. as much as he has changed, he is still the same cutie he was then. same smile, just on an older face.




this is the photo that came straight out of the camera.

i should also add that i cannot take the credit for taking this photo. it was part of a photo shoot set up by Leah Warkentin from Design Pics. basically they do free photo shoots in exchange for using your photos for their stock photography business. the photographer will also give you a disk of the photos they took. i had a few favourites and learned some things at the same time. back to the tutorial!




this is the final result of my photo. a bit different than the ones of the kids on the bridge.

to start, open your photo in PSE (Photoshop Elements) or CS (Creative Suite or Photoshop).

the photo will appear enlarged in your screen. it should also automatically appear on the right column under "layers". there is a thumbnail version of the photo too. often it gets named to 'background'. simply meaning that it is your first layer. think of it like the foundation of the photoshop photo.

you now need to duplicate your background layer.

you can do this by clicking on IMAGE -> DUPLICATE in the pull down menu. or right-click the layer name and choose 'duplicate layer'. on a MAC, i just use the shortcut 'command j'.

make sure you have highlighted the 'LAYER 1", then click on SOFT LIGHT in the LAYERS pull down menu.



this is what the main photo looks like at this point. definitely more rich in colour.

this set of steps is very nice for a photo just on its own. but we will continue....

going back to the 'background' layer. click the eyeball icon in the little box to the left of the thumbnail photo. we want to HIDE this layer. notice we are back to where we started. or so it appears!

DUPLICATE "Layer 1". {you have to make sure that it is highlighted in blue when you do this.}

and back to "Layer 1" again. this time we are going to remove the colour from this layer.

if you have PSE, you may need to do this step differently. try ENHANCE -> ADJUST COLOR -> REMOVE COLOUR. don't over think this step. you just want to have a layer that is DESATURATED  or BLACK AND WHITE.

in CS it is a bit different. this window pops up and you can adjust the colours in even more detail. i did not. i clicked OK and moved on.



this is what my photo now looks like.

back to 'Layer 1" again. this is our DESATURATED or Black and White layer. now DUPLICATE this layer.



it is getting quite dark now. notice the change in the denim overalls? cool, isn't it?!

DUPLICATE 'Layer 1' a third and final time.



super dark. definitely not a great one to print out. even if the denim overalls look amazing.

at this point you should have FIVE layers in total. the middle three are all in Black and White. the bottom one is still hidden. the top one is still the way we left it. all of the photos have been copies of the first one, to which we added a SOFT LIGHT effect.

sometimes it helps me if i label each of my layers. you can do that at any time if it helps you. for now i will left the names as my computer labeled them. hopefully it will help you compare my screen to yours.

only a few more steps remaining!

this time we are going to work from the 2nd layer from the top of our list, or the last layer we were working on. the label i have is Layer 1 copy 2. pull down the LAYERS menu and select SCREEN.



notice how much lighter the photo got?

okay. one more major step!

still keeping that 2nd layer highlighted....go to FILTER -> BLUR -> GAUSSIAN BLUR

i choose any number between 8 and 10 pixels. it creates the dreamy and glowing effect.

if your photo needs it, you can also add this same effect to the 3rd layer. again play around with the pixel size.

in this case, i went with 8.0 pixels. but i also chose to lower the opacity of this layer. the photo is quite dark around his feet, and very light around his face. i wanted to keep the dreamy effect...but not so much. one option i had was to use the erase tool for his face. but i was happy with the result of decreasing the opacity and went with that. this step i did not have to do with my other photos. sometimes you just get the perfect lighting and layout! and sometimes you don't.



this is my final result.

the last step is to FLATTEN your image. choose LAYER -> FLATTEN IMAGE. 

and you will be asked about that layer you hid. click OK. your image will not be affected.

but you will notice that all of your layers disappear and you are left with just one.

you can choose to save your image with all of the layers, but it will be saved as a .PSD file. and it is HUGE. it is great to have while you are deciding on photo effects. but it is a big space waster for your hard drive. flattening the image will convert it to a .JPG file and is much smaller.

however, we can make it even smaller. a typical point and shoot camera is not really meant to take photos for enlargements above the 5x7 size. sometimes you can get a good 8x10 print, but often they are a bit grainy. my default print size is 4x6. however i make them a bit larger or smaller if i know they are for a specific project. sometimes i will add the size into the name so that i don't forget or confuse it with another similar photo. for instance i would label it "aidan 4x6.jpg".

if you are sending it to a commercial printer, you don't need to set your resolution too high. last i checked most printers are not capable of printing higher than 250 ppi (pixels per inch). my habit is to set my computer to 300 ppi. only because it makes me happier. ha!! if this is a concern just ask the photo manager at the shop where you are getting them printed.

if you are interested, i did a comparison between London Drugs and Costco this winter. London Drugs came out higher in price, but the quality also matched it. the paper was heavier and the photos definitely had more depth to them. Costco was the lower cost, but the paper was really flimsy and the colours lacked the pop. presently i still use my printer for the photos i use in my scrapbooks. it is just the most convenient. depending on my project and the type of quality i want in the photo will determine where i get them printed.


if i am sizing it for my blog i set it lower. computer screen resolution is 72 ppi. you can keep it at 250 ppi, but it won't make it better and it will take up a lot of space. this sizing is the same for sending photos to Facebook, email or other sharing sites. if your photo is too small, you can always try to crop it at a larger size. sometimes that helps.


okay! if you are still reading....kudos for sticking around!! this was really two posts in one. i hope you find this helpful. i should note that i messed up my own photos a few times. i didn't do the duplicating enough times to the right layers. i had to go back and undo things while i worked on my reading and comprehension skills...ha!!

all that glitters is gold....

pink gold!

our challenge at Urban Scrapbook for February is GLITTER.

i did play with a new technique, but could not make it work with my layout. darn! i have some leftover supplies.....so perhaps i can work it into a card?

i used my border punches, sookwang tape and glitter on my banner at the top.
Craft Glitter is fine, like pixie dust (yes, i have a preschool girl in my house...why do you ask?!). i used a fine point glue pen to draw on my butterflies, letters and lace doilies. the glitter sticks like a charm. and oh so sparkly! i even used it on the 'je t'aime' card. i outlined the hearts on the doily centre and cut it out for the centre of one of my pinwheels.




my inspiration for this layout came from Steph Devlin who had a layout on the Pink Paislee blog awhile back. i loved the banner and the pinwheels with the bold borders. yes, you can see i heavily lifted that layout.








this paper is all from Making Memories Je t'adore valentine line. it really is amazing. i am not exaggerating when i tell you that the paper just sat on my desk for several days. several days. it was all so pretty, that i could not decide which piece to use for what!

i decided to use my ticket die cut to make tickets for my banner. i also just bought the Martha Stewart scoring board. i have never made the pinwheel flowers so fast!




this is my husband and i nearly 16 years ago.


we decided that we did not want to have a long engagement, nor did he want a big wedding. i have a multitude of cousins and aunts and uncles...the smallest we could make it was 125 people. Kris had no idea what he was in for! keeping the wedding under 200 caused a lot of friction to my family. great start for us! it was a Friday night, and very short. given the short engagement i knew that my aunts were already making guesses as to how many weeks early the baby would be born! i remember thinking that if we were to get pregnant it had better be at least 12 months after the wedding. there was no way i would want add more debate and speculation among my family to my life with my new husband! {no babies would enter the picture for another 9 years. take that! ha!!}


we were so poor! we were extremely fortunate that an old high school friend of Kris' was a professional photographer. the session was a gift from him. we gave him 30 minutes. can you believe it?!! he printed out a selection of 4x6 photos and put them in an album for us. we never did make any enlargements. out of all the photos i think only 12 were just of the 2 of us. which is why we probably never enlarged any. we did keep a few out in frames for awhile. our favourites was a series of 3 comical and spontaneous shots of us...those were framed and hung on our wall until we moved here.


i'm sure he still has the negatives. we should call and buy them. 


thinking about that.


i decided this photo would be perfect for the layout. it is also the FIRST wedding photograph i had ever scrapbooked. gasp! but the colour was just not quite right.


i scanned it. the photo is glossy. not great for scanning! enter Photoshop Actions. a little more intended blur, desaturation....voila!


i know i won't scrapbook a wedding album for myself. but i think it would be nice to have some more photos from our early years in scrapbooks.


i have done other layouts. just haven't photographed them yet. that is odd for me! they are hanging on my wall so that i can admire them though.


in other news.....so excited for CHA next week. there have been sneak peaks of lots of new stuff coming out. my list has already been started! whenever my family hears me 'gasp' they no longer come running. so true! once CHA begins then all the secrets will be out and we can see what new products we can expect. i just hope that none of the good stuff makes us having to wait for too many months. that is just plain mean! right?! yeah, you know what i mean!

okay, first class of the year is already for teaching. next class is on my desk waiting to be created. the weather is still keeping me indoors. perfect!

for today

i sat down tonight to actually choose some favourites from a recent photo shoot. i often find it difficult to do immediately afterwards. i either can't decide which one i like best....or frustrated that i didn't get exactly what i was hoping to capture. silly.


i discovered for the first time a few weeks ago the number of RAW photos i can get on my present photo card. up until now, i had not fully filled it! the number is 920. i actually had to delete a few on my camera so that i could get more photos of different poses. i also follow the advice to take multiple shots...so i take 3 (at minimum) instead of 1.


i came across this one tonight. i am still in shock that i was the one who took it!






i love that you can see the little pores on his nose. he was only 4 days old here. Elias. a new cousin.

his hands and feet were all wrinkly. just starting to peel. his skin was still clear. oh those sweet first days!



i actually used an action to take away some of the redness in his face. then i added a PW quick edge burn  to the edges. i tried some vintage and colourized actions. but i decided i liked colour the best.

i hope he stays this cooperative for me! i wasn't in love with photography when his older siblings were born, so i hope they don't mind that i monopolize him. although they are really good with letting me snap photos of them too. i really dislike "posed" shots. so much more fun to get them when they're relaxed and being themselves. they also cooperated very nicely for me that day too! perhaps it was nice for them to have some attention on themselves for a change. not that 4 days is a long time...but for kids it can seem like eternity.



the sun finally reappeared today. i actually have more layouts to share too. i was too busy soaking up the warm sunshine to stop and take a single photo. of layouts or otherwise. so sad! i also finished the layout for the August monthly class. yes, that is a record to be done so quickly.

i probably would have done another layout or project tonight...but i'm wiped! late night crop was last night, so i'm a little tired today. not to mention the sun really does pull some energy out too. my body is a little sore as well. i made a visit to the duck pond with a few neighbours. with all the rain this week, it flooded. it all descended quickly, but left a lot of mud behind. i did not stop to think that the wet grass, mud and my flip flops would not be such a great combination. without warning and without a witness - that i'm aware of - i found myself laying flat on the ground and looking at the clouds! i am a little sore now!! ironically nearly every one of our kids took a spill on their bike rides today. i guess i joined the ranks of the kids?! fortunately i did get to avoid any of the road rash that they were treated to. i guess you could say it was all in the name of 'growing up'? ha! anyway.....

got advice

if you read my previous post, you may recall reading that CS4 is making a big impression on me.

i have already experimented with the Pioneer Woman's actions. {so happy to finally be able to use them...admired them for a long, long time!!} hooray!

i also go to CoffeeShop for a few of her actions. i was always so happy to have them in PSE. {and besides, how can you go wrong with a name like 'coffee' as part of the title?}

as for actions i also manipulated a few on my own. it always helped to have found a few tutorials in books and online to point me in the right direction.

i do still need to transfer my brush/abr files over. i had not anticipated the ease of adding the actions into CS...never would have anticipated the 30 seconds it took. for real! if you have ever done that task in PSE, you totally know the length of time i'm talking about.

the question for the day. or week. {my kids are on spring break --- insert happy dance --- and i'm not sure if i will have time to be blogging - but i will be reading other posts for sure!}

any recommendations for good sites to get quality actions, brushes, templates, etc?

do share!

i think it would be worthy of a post to link the favourites.


honestly i feel like the change from PSE to CS is like going from a 2-speed pedal bike to a 21-speed road bike. they will still take you to the same places, but the road bike will take you there faster and with less wasted energy! i came up with that comparison when i was trying to explain it to my husband. can you tell he likes cycling? 

learning curves

we needed to update my laptop. my husband {Kristian} is the tech guy in our home. discussions lately have gone like this...

me: i need something that is portable in the house. 
ko: laptop for web browsing and desktop for photos?
me: ok. but i'm not sure i want to be stuck in one place to edit the photos. is it possible to have some kind of portable drive so it can be done in another room if i want?

and off he goes shopping. he actually likes this kind of shopping.

ko: lots of techy-talk. (but he found a portable laptop and decided on a desktop that was on sale that could hold the million photos we have.) plus it is on sale!!
me: that is awesome.
ko: can i show you?!

enroute to the store we continued the conversation. me with the "is it possible" kind of talk....and Kristian with the "here are your options" replies.

i should add that although my laptop has been handy and very useful, it was a huge disappointment in terms of power to Kristian. it was a Christmas gift one year. it took him several days to load the software and have it work. it has also been in for service once. he has had to reload a ton of stuff on it. for some strange reason it has always had issues connecting to the internet, and took him a very long day with several support people to get it to work. it also happened to collide during the busiest work schedule he has ever had. Kristian is a smart and educated man, so really it should not have been that difficult. all that to say that he was not wanting to repeat that scene.

sooooo....we are at 'the store'. he shows me some of the options he looked at. we have also discussed a change to Apple. however that dream has always ended as soon as we've seen the price tag! until now.

the crazy part?

we were looking at the new Apple computers and all 4 of us were impressed. photobooth had Aidan and Kiara quite occupied! we asked where the "tower" is. because all we could see was the monitor....wireless keyboard and mouse. the Apple genius' have combined the screen and tower. then we checked the price again...they had to be hiding something. nope!

score!

less money than a new PC desktop and notebook. of course we could also subtract the cost of another desk (less shopping!)

the screen is too big to have on my lap to edit photos or surf the net. but it is big enough to do both at the same time at a desk or table. yay!! it is not everyday that my "hopes" and bank account can agree.



the big decision for me now lies with Adobe Photoshop.

i have PSE7 on my laptop. Kristian wanted to get me PSE8 when it was released...but i requested we wait and perhaps purchase CS4 later.

for free, i could update PSE8 to MAC. if i had it. unfortunately i can't do that with PSE7. bummer! now i am faced with an earlier decision between PSE8 and CS4.

for free i can trial CS4 for 30 days. and here i am.





the original photo. now stored in i-photo. which in itself is totally cool and gives me a lot to learn.

i really want to get my photos tagged with faces, and events or places. this is not working as quickly as i want though. is it me or the mac?



i am in shock over the amount of post-processing a person can do in CS4. black and white is not just black and white anymore. this is black and white. cropped.



this is black and white with a blue filter.



black and white with a red filter.

this is not the photo for that process. however i thought it demonstrated the difference very well.

now the  question is if i can understand photography well enough to be able to use this program. you can tweak the most minor changes. that is a huge learning curve. especially added in to learning Apple and i-photo.



this was adjusted just using one point on my curves. can't remember which one now! way more flexibility than PSE.



this one had a vignette added.

i will definitely need some help learning CS. at least i have 30 days to decide!

for the record, i have only spent 30 minutes on it with just the one photo.

i suppose i should think about organizing something so that the house gets cleaned, laundry done and meals cooked while i learn? so far the kids have not complained about being ignored or allowed to play games on the laptop. okay....actually a certain 5 year old boy has requested his own time on the Apple. he thinks the games are cooler. i am now off to check to see if there are any equally cool PC games available.

joys!

a new twist

FINALLY have been taking the time to play with actions in PSE.


so fun!

you can check out my first attempts here.


however, i've dabbled with textures for awhile. they are simpler. and also a lot of fun!


i was reading this post...and HAD to try this texture for myself.

LOVE this photo that my husband took. pretty easy start i would say. this is unedited. amazing! the BEFORE.

the AFTER!

i am hooked.

thanks leah and tara and trish!!!!

and.....i have FINALLY been doing some scrapbooking stuff. we're off on holidays for a bit....then i should be able to get this updated. just because i care!

photoshopping

from the previous post...."a" is done with Adobe PSE7 and "b" is done with Picnik.





i was doing more playing around in PSE7 this week.

the shade under his hat is a bit of a problem. but aside from that, it was fun to work with!

i used lots of layers for the photo itself. enhancing the hue/saturation levels and colours.

then some brushes to create the scratched appearance.


and i managed to finish two scrapbook pages yesterday! i'll share those after the weekend. daily routines are starting to emerge......yay for that!!

more comparing

can you tell which one was done with Picnik and which was Adobe PSE7?



is it "exhibit a"?

or "exhibit b"?


so fun to play with photos on a lazy day!


and one more question.....
do you prefer one over the other?

i'm still deciding. maybe i will be able to choose once i see them in print?

adding type

i was impressed how great this photo looked straight out of the camera.

once in awhile i get lucky like that!

this lilac bush grew at our old house. it's a Miss Kim....so smaller than the old fashioned shrubs. and the blooms are also tiny.

i thought i would show you two ways i used to alter this photo!!



with PICNIK.

can't remember if i used "ortonish" or "colour boost". it's possible i used both.

i also added a "vignette".

and type. tons of options here!



with my PSE7...

i did add more saturation to bring out the purples and greens.

i experimented with the type....loved how this turned out. it's Becky Higgins font. the black outline is a shadow effect, built in to PSE.

with PSE, you can also move the type. change the font after typing. change the colour. style. all you need to remember is to select the layer that has the type! but don't forget to add a new layer...don't type on the same layer as your photo. it is more difficult to make changes to the picture if you have the photo and type on the same layer. trust me.

i did not mention before that ADOBE also lets you trial their programs for 30 days. go here and download the one you want! it does take up a fair amount of space on your computer....and then when you have gotten addicted, you will need more room for all the photos you've adjusted!!

Adobe certainly has a lot more flexibility and wider range than Picnik. in my opinion! once you get comfortable with Adobe, you can do a lot. A. LOT. however....for beginners (and those more advanced!), Picnik is totally user friendly. someone new to photo editing can figure things out very quickly.

have fun!!

just thinking about the advances made in photography in the last 75 years....so funny that we are changing photos to look similar to those taken 75 years ago!

photos

ever had one of those days?!

it has been an incredibly busy, emotional, stress filled week. last night i finally sat down and gave myself a break. laundry did not need to be done. dishes did not need to be done. cleaning could wait!

so i turned the tv on and spent some time online.

then i had an urge to do some digi-scrapping. as i worked, i had my heart set on doing some masking. but could not got my head to work through the process! closed that file.

so i decided to try a new technique with photos and couldn't get it to work with my edition of PSE. after multiple attempts of figuring out a different way to do it...gave up on that too.

my next desire was to look through the zillions of photos i had taken in the past few weeks. suddenly had a new urge to do some alterations to them. thankfully that went very well for me. i even have some that will be ready to print! {and later scrap!!!!}

seriously not their best faces. but still so cute! Aidan's serious face and Kiara's smile....so cute!!

the trick with photoshop is to think in LAYERS. and get your mind to see each layer like a TRANSPARENCY. some layers will affect the layers beneath it, while others don't!

several layers make up this photo. super saturated colours. de-saturated colours. sepia tones.

i wanted the heart to stand out. with my eraser, i removed the sepia and dulled colours until i could see the bottom layer. this is a very cool technique for some photos.

i am soooo loving the effects you can achieve with PICNIK. i'm wanting to learn how to get those effects on my own. i still need to practice using actions. but i know that will be a new addiction....

old photo

this has been one of my favourite photos from my childhood.

not too many photos of the cousins back in those days.
can you guess which one is me?!

love those old paper photos from the 70's. i actually took one of my recent digital photos and aged it to look kind of like this one! too funny.

this is straight from the scanner.

kind of washed out. the photo itself has seen better days. a few cracks and rips.

here it is after some tlc. some adjustments to the colours, brightness and shadows. and a lot of cloning to get rid of the tears and cracks.

i did some more tweaking here. i would like to learn more about how to adjust some levels in photoshop to make improvements. but this was good for now! i am actually torn between which of the two i like better. this last one is quite dark.

BUT quite the difference from the initial photo.

and then i thought it would be fun to play around and put the photo into a layout. digital layout.

here is a bonus with digital. i was working on the layout, and it just wasn't working. i could not figure out why! moved elements around. changed elements. deleted elements. then it struck me! try changing the size of the photo. voila! that is what it needed. a 4 inch square photo on a 12 inch sheet of paper....yeah kind of tiny!

i still think it needs something. i'm sure i'll find something vintage online to use with it. it would be so cool to find an old John Deere bill of sale or something cool.

by the way....i was four years old when this photo was taken. my cousins were three. and my sister just turned two. i'm sitting in the back of the tractor on the far left. my cousin, Melanie is in the middle, sitting beside my other cousin, Brent. my sister, Heather, is standing in the front. so odd to think that my own kids are in this same age group right now.

productive day

rain can be refreshing.

the cloudy day yesterday was perfect for the zoo. most of the animals were out and easy to spot.

and since we can't go outside, it is fun to do stuff we haven't done since...uh....i can't even say the "W" word....

and i got a scrapbook page done for Aidans' album. i did have one problem. i used Ranger dimensional paint for a chickie eye (i'll upload the page tomorrow). then i forgot it was still wet. i usually do the wet stuff at the very end anyway. then i added some rub-on words. and totally got my hand into the paint and up my wrist and "stamped" a couple of dots on the page! and you would think i'd feel the wet paint. yeah. you'd think. sigh. at least it was repairable. there is nothing like working hard on a page and then doing something nutty like that! maybe i'll get the silly things out of my system and not do something embarrassingly stupid on Saturday. i'd like that. a lot.


and tonight while i waited for the kids to go to bed i came across some photos from the weekend. and this one was screaming photoshop. ooops, no that was my kids. anyways i just wanted to do something to it.

this is the photo. yes you may see that i did some photoshopping on this one already. but just the crop and the edges.

then i lowered the saturation level. copied it. used a low opacity on the soft light on the copy. then flattened my image. more edgework. i think it makes it more rustic looking.

same photo as above. except i added a soft blur to the entire photo. which softened it. go figure.

i may try to clone out the water jug in the window next. or not.

it is a fun one. no faces to have to worry about distorting.

i love that it tells a story.

and yes i'm sure you will see this one on a future scrapbook page. how could i resist?