3 Quarters Today

My Life, my photography, my passions

Photoshop Friday

Graduation Invitations and Announcements

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Looking for graduation invitations and announcements for a graduating senior there are many designs to choose from. 

I love designing and since I’ve had three seniors graduate in three years senior graduation invitations and announcements were high on my priority list. 

Design Your Own Graduation Invitations

If you don’t have Photoshop you can use pre-made graduation card templates at Zazzle and have them delivered right to your door.

Create your own Graduation invitations for high school seniors. Personalized high school graduation announcements and party invitations.

 

Graduation Card Ideas

High School Graduation Announcements

If you are not having a party then graduation announcements are a perfect way to recognize the success and accomplishment of your high school or college student.

Photoshop Graduation Announcement Templates

Save On Gas, Use Horsepower

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I think gas prices are a little high when the department of roads starts using horsepower the sides of the road. This is a sight you don’t see very often, a team of horses mowing the grader ditches. I know the Nebraska state budget isn’t in that dire of straits, but I wonder if gas prices have just gone up a little too much?

Draft Horses (SOOC)
Draft Horses (SOOC)

My husband and I spotted these Belgian mares north of Lincoln Nebraska mowing the grass and also saw them four days later, raking the same ditch to turn the hay. They do not belong to the state of Nebraska, nor are they doing the county’s job of maintenance. Of course I had my camera with me, you never know when you will find a photo opportunity, and talked to the farmer. They had just mowed over two miles of grass and would go back in a few days to bale the hay. He believes that horses need to be exercised on a regular basis, especially draft horses, and what better way to do this than put them to work. 

 I don’t remember their names, but they are full sisters, one a seven year old and the other other eleven.

Team of Belgians Mowing
Team of Belgians Mowing

Edits were done in Lightroom 4 with a decrease in exposure, increase in clarity and opening up shadows on the horses to bring out detail. The sky was still washed out so I used the adjustment brush and decreased the exposure in the sky to get a better balanced image. Voilia! Clouds appeared.

 

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  • Horses (littlemarichris.wordpress.com)

Model A Ford, It’s For Sale

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1931 Model A Ford Coupe
1931 Model A Ford  Deluxe Coupe

One of my favorite customers at work drives a 1931 Model A Ford Coupe and every time I get a little thrill when he pulls it up to the front door. Bill just turned 90 this past week and he sold used Fords in the 1930’s. At the time you could buy a used Ford for $15.00, can’t even fill the gas tank for that amount now. His goal, to own every model built between 1929 and 1937, not all at once, but before he dies.

This one he purchased about a year ago in Chicago, he’s done a little work to it, and is now ready to move on to the next. So, if you’re in the market for a true American classic  and a piece of living history, this automobile is for you. Even comes with a rumble seat, which is so cool, next time Bill comes in he said he would give me a ride around the parking lot.

I told Bill I would spread the word, so if anyone is interested please send me your email address and I will forward the information and connect the two of you together. The car is located in Omaha, Nebraska and is being sold by owner.

Sometimes You Just Have to Hug a Horse

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Before and After, A Girl and her Horse

The first part of March my hubby and I attended the Great Nebraska Horse Fair in Lincoln Nebrasaka at the Lancaster Event Center. Meet some wonderful people including Jess and her yearling Belgian horse above. Photo was taken inside a horse trailer and lighting was just a little poor. Didn’t want to use my flash so just opened up the aperture.

I first rendered this in GIMP and adjusted the white balance. Although it rendered the image accurate the photo just didn’t give me the warm fuzzies. So after cropping in Photoshop I used a the Color layer adjustment with orange at about a 10% opacity to give the overall image a warmer tone.

What do you think?

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Correcting Exposure Using the Histogram: Rowboat

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Using the Histogram on your Camera to get Better Photos

Now that I’ve improved my photography and editing skills I’m going through photographs from past years vacation and reworking them in Photoshop. This time I’m using the  histogram to set optimum exposure and getting much better prints. So here is a good example of editing a photo in Photoshop using the histogram, if you remember I took a trip to Block Island, Rhode Island and have hundreds of photos I absolutely love. Too bad I wasn’t shooting RAW then.

Using the histogram in Photoshop
Rowboat on Block Island, RI edited in Photoshop

First I straightened the image about 2 degrees clockwise. I was a little off kilter taking the picture.  The swimmers in the water were bothering me, so I cloned them out.

I’ve learned I cannot rely on my computer screen when it comes to the light balance in a photo. My computer screen is pretty bright and as a result I always misjudge the exposure in my edited photos. The best best is to use the histogram. The same is true when you take photos on your digital camera. Don’t rely on your camera LCD screen, especially during the summer. Use your histogram tool.

As you can see in the initial histogram below, the histogram is pushed to the darkside (left). In the levels adjustment tool I used the far right prompt and brought it to the edge of the curve to brighten up the whole photo. Much better.

Using the histogram in Photoshop
Example of initial histogram in the Photoshop Histogram

Even with my Canon Rebel camera and exposing to the right, I still throw my exposure off, but I am getting better. Although I try not to chimp (constantly look at the camera screen after each shot) I will occasionally check the histogram in camera to make sure I’m not clipping my blacks or whites. As you can see int he photo above the left side of the graph is barely touching, so I didn’t lose very much information in the dark regions.

Canon DSLR Photography Quick Reference Tip Cards & Cheat Sheets for Canon Rebel T5i T4i T3i T3 T2i T1i XSi XS XTi XT 60D 7D 6D 5D Mark III IIBuW OMES L-3 Photography Exposure Meter / Continuous Light Meter with LED Display

If you shoot in RAW then you can recover a lot of digital information in the lights and darks. But I prefer to get a photo properly exposed in the camera as best that I can to eliminate major digital darkroom edits.

Any of the below programs have a histogram function in the editing mode. If you are a beginner then Photoshop Elements is where I would start. That will give you the biggest flexibility as far as text, layers, cloning and photo manipulation. If you just want to edit your photos and not get really creative with layers then Lightroom is the way to go, I LOVE Lightroom. Many people choose to subscribe to the Adobe Cloud for the $10/month you have full usage of both Photoshop and Lightroom and never have to worry about outdated software.

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 How to Use the Histogram to Get Better Photographs

Using the Histogram to Get Better Photos – Pentax Forums

Have you ever wondered what that graph-looking thing on your camera display or in Lightroom was? Or what you are supposed to do with it? If so, then read on to find out more about the mysterious histogram and what it can …

News Shooter | Blackmagic Design add histogram and …

Using the histogram scope, customers can now easily and rapidly set exposure in a shot as the histogram shows the the distribution of luminance in their images and if highlights or shadows are being clipped. Images with …

Histograms Explained: How a Simple Tool Can Help You …

There are a few drawbacks to using the histogram to judge exposure, however. Since it only gives you an overview of exposure by showing you the density of pixels, it can’t give you any specific information about which parts …

Lightroom Histogram Cheat sheet | Photographer Abroad

The contrast of the image can also be determined using the histogram. The more spread out the values are in the graph the more contrast is in the image. Conversely, an image with all the values concentrated in one zone is …

Blackmagic Camera 1.9

Using the histogram scope, customers can now easily and rapidly set exposure in a shot as the histogram shows the the distribution of luminance in their images and if highlights or shadows are being clipped. Images with clipped highlights or shadows …