It looks like there is a wildfire burning out of town this afternoon. I looked out my backyard window and saw what I thought were storm clouds, as we had had some storms this morning. Then I look closer and they don’t look like clouds, more like smoke clouds. I checked the news and sure enough, there is a fire out there. It’s burned about 400 acres so far. I hope they are able get it out soon.

A fun little photo of me doing what I do… photographing flowers! Taken by my sister on a quest for some flower photos the other night. I’d share some, but you’ll have to wait until the Blossom Workshop.

It’s Fix-It Friday time again at I Heart Faces! This week’s photo to fix comes from Angie! This is her little girl and her best friend. I absolutely love this picture! It just screamed vintage and faded to me, so that’s what I went with this time. I decided to switch it up and work in Photoshop Elements this time. I love how simple and easy this program is!

1. The first thing I did was I added a Levels Adjustment Layer and did my basic levels boost that I do to the majority of my photos. Grab the left and right-hand sliders and slide them in towards the middle just a teeny bit. This gives the colors a boost and takes off the digital haze.

2. Next, I added a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. I wanted to go on the cool side, so I chose the Cooling Filter (LBB).

3. Now I wanted to add in some vintage-y haze, so I added another Levels Adjustment Layer. This time, I grabbed the left-hand slider in the Output Levels box and moved it to the right until I hit the setting 40.

4. I wanted to put in some more vintage tones, so I created a Solid Color Adjustment Layer and chose a nice light purple color. I then set the blending mode to Pin Light and the opacity to 25%.

5. Next, I ran my Darkening Action from Love That Shot and slightly darkened the edges of the photo to bring the focus to the girls.

6. Finally I added my Honey Crisp Photo Veil from Love That Shot and sharpened for the web.

And that’s it! Super easy and a gorgeous result!

The final image:

Michelle Johnson is a fine art photographer and the co-founder of Love That Shot, a website for photographers with tutorials, workshops and fun products! Find her at her blog, My Two Seasons, and her website, Love That Shot.

You may be thinking, “Didn’t she just redesign her blog a month ago?” Well, you’re right! But, as we designed our new website, Love That Shot, we (my sister Misti and I) had the brilliant idea to make our blogs coordinate with the site. And boy, am I ever glad we thought of it! I love my new design! It’s clean and simple and showcases my photos perfectly!

And it’s totally cool, and convenient ,  to have a graphic designer as your sister! She designed my beautiful new logo!

So, tell me… What do you think of the new design?

This little sweetie this week comes from Shelle of  www.mommycantsing.com. She caught a darling little photo of her baby girl at the end of the day after the good light was gone! Oh my, have I sure been there! Indoor lighting can be pretty tricky, often casting a non-desirable color over our sweet subjects.

I wanted to create a very simple edit to clean up the color. Since this was a Project 365 photo to capture a moment in Shelle’s baby’s life, I thought it would be perfect to fix the color and leave everything as is, to preserve that moment as it was captured.

So here are my simple editing steps!

• First, I created a Color Balance Adjutment Layer to fix the color issue. I moved the top slider towards Cyan quite a bit. Then I moved the middle slider towards Magenta a teeny bit. Last, I moved the bottom slider towards Blue a little. The settings from left to right were: -73, -3, +11.
• Next, I created a Channel Mixer Adjustment Layer and selected “Black & White with Yellow Filter” from the preset dropdown menu.  I then set the blending mode to Screen and the opacity to 65%. This lightened the photo up nicely.
• Then I lightened up her eyes a little and dodged the catchlights just a little bit to bring some sparkle back.
• Finally, I duplicated the layers into one by pressing Control > Alt > Shift > E. I applied  the Reduce Noise filter with the default settings.

And that’s it! The color balance tool is an easy way to help fix color-cast issues. It’s not perfect, but for little memory shots like these, it’s a great help!

The final image:

It’s Sweet Shot Tuesday again! We took a walk in the park the other day… the weather has been so warm and sunny! Just perfect for being outside! Too bad we’re getting rain and cooler weather the next few days. I was thinking spring might be here to stay but I guess not!

Anyways, on our walk we came across this squirrel. The girls thought it was so neat! I didn’t want to get too close, he was a feisty little thing! But I only have a 50mm lens so I had to get a bit close to get any good pictures! This is one of my favorites.

Head over to Life With My 3 Boybarians and join in the fun!

It’s Tuesday again and time for another Sweet Shot Tuesday hosted by Life with My 3 Boybarians! I absolutely love this weekly blog party! There’s no theme, so you only have to post your favorite shot for the week! Darcy also hosts a giveaway each Sweet Shot Tuesday, and… this week she is giving away a set of my Photo Veils! Go over and check it out.

Seriously… go there now! You’ll be glad you did!  

It’s been a rainy day again today and I got rained out in my backyard getting pictures! As I was running back into the house before my camera got soaked, I go past my burning bush and see this. It looks as if the taller branch is leaning over to protect the smaller one from the rain. It reminds me that we all need a little protection from our rainy days. For me today, it’s my vitamin c helping me while I’m sick.

Hmm… maybe I shouldn’t have been outside in the rain while I am sick!

Spring is definitely coming around over here. I’m having so much fun watching all my plants bud and bloom! Today had been rainy and cloudy, bad weather for playing in but perfect weather for some photography! I used my extension tubes (the 20mm one) with my 50mm lens for the cherry blossoms shots and my 50mm for the lilac bud.

This is for my sweet mom!  Everything about it reminds me of her! The pink, the soft, dreamy fluffiness! She loves anything soft and pink! Our weeping cherry trees are blossoming now and it is the perfect time to capture them close-up! I’ve really been loving my extension tubes this spring. It’s so neat to be able to take a peek into the beginnings of spring!

For this shot, I used two of my extension tubes attached to my 50mm lens: the 36mm and the 20mm tubes. I set my aperture to f/4.5, shutter speed to 1/100 second and ISO to 100. I always set my ISO at 100 unless the shutter speed can’t be fast enough, then I’ll set it to 200 or 400.

I wanted a tiny bit of the frame to be in focus, with the petals becoming soft and fluffy, so I decided to put the focus on the stamen of the flower.  I love how it turned out!