Monday’s Makeover: Fun with Lightroom & CS3

by Sherri on June 22, 2009

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Photo #1 - Kayaking on the South Fork of the American River, near Coloma, California.

Today’s makeover is just for fun. This photo probably wouldn’t cut it for publication, but we don’t have to be serious all the time do we?

Every since I started using Lightroom 2, I haven’t done much with PhotoShop CS3. I used to love playing around with the filters and the distort filter Spherize was one of my favorites.

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Photo #2 - This is what the photo looked like straight out of the camera.

The Makeover – (Lightroom)

  1. Created a Virtual Copy.
  2. Set White Balance to daylight.
  3. Used the Nikon D300 preset.
  4. Increased the Highlight Recovery to tone down the hot spots.
  5. Increased the Luminance Smoothing to reduce the unwanted noise.

The Makeover – (PhotoShop CS3)

I used the distort filter Spherize. What I like about this filter is that it brings the subject in closer. It also kind of looks like the photo has a frame around it.

I hope you enjoyed this “Monday’s Makeover.” Opinions are always welcome!

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Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week

by Sherri on June 19, 2009

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Kayaking Lake Clementine, Auburn, California.

Back by popular demand is another round-up of favorite Lightroom tweets. Once again, I have way too many to include in this post. That means, I will be doing the same thing again next week.

Thank you to all of you who either commented on last week’s blog post, started following me on Twitter, retweeted me, or included me in a post. A HUGE thanks to @MattKloskowski for featuring me on worth-a-click on the Adobe Lightroom Killer Tips Website. [click to continue…]

Wednesday’s WOW: No Hands Bridge

by Sherri on June 17, 2009

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Woman running with her dogs across the famous “No Hands Bridge” in Auburn, California.

I chose to feature this photo in my “Wednesday’s WOW” post for a couple of reasons.

First of all, I really like it and secondly the annual Western States 100 Endurance Run is coming up June 27-28. If you have never heard of this race, it is a 100-mile foot race which starts in Squaw Valley, California and winds up in Auburn, California 100-miles later. The participants of this race will cross No Hands Bridge minutes before reaching the finish line at Placer High School. NOTE: This bridge is in both El Dorado and Placer counties. [click to continue…]

Monday’s Makeover: A Pair-O-Gliders

by Sherri on June 15, 2009

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Photo #1 - Paragliding in the Sierra Foothills.

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Photo #2 - Paragliding in the Sierra Foothills.

Sometimes I have a hard time tossing out a photo just because it’s out of focus. This photo is one of those photos. What I like to do when this happens is to apply my favorite artistic filter in PhotoShop CS3 “Poster Edges.”

Photo # 1 – In Lightroom 2, I set the White Balance to daylight and applied the Nikon D300 preset. Then, in PhotoShop CS3, I turned this out of focus photo into a digital art photo, by applying the “Poster Edges” filter.

Photo #2 – This is the way the NEF looked straight out of the camera.

Does this work for you? I’d love to hear your comments.

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to leave a comment, simply click on the “comments” link (add your message in the box) at the bottom of this post.

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Wednesday’s WOW: Sierra Paragliding Adventure

by Sherri on June 9, 2009

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Paraglider flying over the Cronan Ranch, Pilot Hill, California.

This week is the week for starting new things. On Monday, I started “Monday Makeover.” Today, I am starting something else new and exciting. I am going to post a photo that makes me say “WOW.” But, that’s not all. I’m going to tell you why I think it qualifies as a WOW photo.

5 reasons why this photo makes me say WOW!

Feeling or emotion – The first thing I get when I look at this photo is a feeling. While I can’t actually say I know what it feels like to take off like this guy is doing, I can feel it in the photo.

Composition – I love the composition. The elements in the photo are well balanced and are very pleasing to the eye.

Color – The color really pops in this photo. I did use the Nikon D300 preset for Lightroom, to add a little punch to the color.

Lighting – Even though this photo was taken in April at 1:40 in the afternoon, the lighting works for me. The way the wing is illuminated by the sun really catches my eye.

Timing – The fact that this was shot during take off makes it a really strong image too. These guys don’t always get enough lift to get off the ground.

Don’t go away just yet. I am also going to recommend that you look at this WOW photo by Kathleen Connally. If you would like to suggest a particular photo to be included in an upcoming Wednesday’s WOW post, please send me an email @sherri@sherrimeyer.com.

NOTE: The idea for “Makeover Monday” and “WOW Wednesay” were both inspired by junk email or snail mail I have saved. I knew they would come in handy for something someday!

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to leave a comment, simply click on the “comments” link (add your message in the box) at the bottom of this post.

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Top 10 Photo Related Tweets of the Week

by Sherri on June 5, 2009

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Kayaking on the South Fork of the American River, near Coloma, California.

I have rounded up another group of my favorite photo related “Tweets of the Week” for you all. I hope you like them too. Please let me know in the comments section below if you picked up any new folks to follow, or any useful information. You can also suggest a favorite photo related tweet of yours, for an upcoming post.

Here is my “Top 10 Photo Related Tweets of the Week” in no particular order.

  1. @blackstar 10 Ways to Fight for Your Digital Rights as a Photographer http://twurl.nl/73sxyv
  2. @newmediaphoto Do you let clients stomp all over you? http://bit.ly/16V1ly
  3. @enlightphoto Travel & Leisure: Best Views of US National Parks they could find = mediocre. You get what you pay for http://bit.ly/BUDkH
  4. @FreelanceSw: 12 Breeds of Client and How to Work with Them http://bit.ly/yUgTr
  5. @davidsanger: Finding stolen Stock Photos with Tineye: Fakorama http://bit.ly/13M8Be
  6. @jimgoldstein 5 Tips to Get The Most Out of Twitter | JMG-Galleries – Jim M. Goldstein Photograp… http://bit.ly/1blPUd
  7. @ricksammon Top 10 Tips for Successful Social Media Marketing: http://tinyurl.com/lrurzp
  8. @younesbounhar Learn to see creatively http://younesbounhar.com/blog
  9. @paul_indigo How much photographic equipment do you really need? by  http://bit.ly/RBdZq.
  10. @chasejarvis Consequences of Creative Vision (the final straw!) http://twurl.nl/zpx5c6

Here are the links to the last 2 weeks Top 10 Photo Related Tweets of the Week in case you missed them:

Week 1 – Top 10 Photo Related Tweets of the Week

Week 2 – Top 10 Photo Related Tweets of the Week

You can retweet (RT) this post, by clicking on the lime green retweet button at the bottom of this post. It will take you directly to Twitter. If you don’t know about the importance of retweeting, please refer to this post by Jim Goldstein.

Coming next week – Top 10 Lightroom Tweets of the Week

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to leave a comment, simply click on the “comments” link (add your message in the box) at the bottom of this post.

You can also sign up for a “free” subscription to this Blog. Just look in the upper right hand side of the Blog under “Subscribe to Sherri’s Blog.” Then, either click on the orange button, or enter your email address and click on “subscribe.”

Visit our Stock Photo Website for links to photo galleries.

Pay Attention to the Small Details

by Sherri on June 3, 2009

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American River Rocks, near Weimar, California.

This is a close up photo of the large rock Peg was sitting on in this photo. These little rocks were arranged just like this, when I stumbled upon them.

Holes like these are created by the water washing over the large rock into a small hole. When a little rock gets caught inside the small hole, it tumbles for a long time, making the hole bigger. Eventually, more rocks make their way into the hole as they did here.

I could have missed this photo opportunity, if I hadn’t paid attention to the smaller details in my “big picture.”

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to leave a comment, simply click on the “comments” link (add your message in the box) at the bottom of this post.

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Visit our Stock Photo Website for links to photo galleries.

Featured Images: Hiker, American River, California

by Sherri on June 1, 2009

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Peg spotted a rock with a built-in seat.

Jeff and I went on a great hike/photo shoot with our friend Peg on Memorial Day Weekend. We were planning to hike the “Codfish Falls Trail” near Weimar. But, when we got down to the river, it was way too crowded for our liking. So, we crossed the bridge and hiked the trail on the other side of the river. Jeff and I had never hiked on this trail before. It was awesome! [click to continue…]

Top 10 Photo Related Tweets of the Week

by Sherri on May 29, 2009

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Paragliding over the Cronan Ranch, Pilot Hill, California.

I’m doing another Top 10 Photo Related Tweets of the Week. Last weeks post was such a huge success in terms of spreading great information, it just might become a weekly habit!

Hopefully, you will find new folks to follow and/or tweets that you missed during the week. That is the beauty of Twitter. We are all in this thing together and the only way it will work is to help one another.

You can retweet (RT) this post, by clicking on the lime green retweet button at the bottom of this post. It will take you directly to Twitter. If you don’t know about the importance of retweeting, you will learn all about it when you read #2 below.

  1. @jimgoldstein Why Social Media Matters to Photographers | JMG-Galleries – Jim M. Goldstein … http://tinyurl.com/p224md
  2. @jimgoldstein The Birds and the Bees of Social Media Connectivity http://tinyurl.com/pe35en
  3. @scottkelby talks about his shots in Nikon World Magazine http://is.gd/HmF0
  4. @damienfranco 20 Amazing Photographers From Around The Internet http://tr.im/mFRm
  5. @fotozine 8 Daily Photo Blogs That Provide Inspiration – http://is.gd/Ild8
  6. @ricksammon Sex, Lies and Photoshop: http://bit.ly/1216aE
  7. @BHPhotoVideo Three ways to shoot a quick, last minute portrait. http://bit.ly/g5w6t
  8. @featureshoot: Q&A with Photo Editors- Loyalty vs. New Talent: http://bit.ly/bt79n
  9. @davidsanger Hollingsworth on Stock Photography and the future http://bit.ly/13brQp and http://bit.ly/10il7Z
  10. @ricksammon And now for something complete different from me. See today’s blog post about Successful Social Media Marketing: http://bit.ly/gLEob

Thank you for visiting. If you would like to leave a comment, simply click on the “comments” link (add your message in the box) at the bottom of this post.

You can also sign up for a “free” subscription to this Blog. Just look in the upper right hand side of the Blog under “Subscribe to Sherri’s Blog.” Then, either click on the orange button, or enter your email address and click on “subscribe.”

Visit our Stock Photo Website for links to photo galleries.

Baby Boomers Dance in the Sky

by Sherri on May 27, 2009

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Paraglider getting a bird's eye view of the Cronan Ranch Regional Trails Park, Pilot Hill, California.

If you are looking for a great place to have a paragliding adventure, check out the Cronan Ranch Regional Trails Park.

This shot was taken during our most recent hike at the Cronan Ranch. This guy (I think his name was Randy) was having a great flight and he put on a great show for the camera.

As it turns out, the majority of the group (about 8-10) he was flying with that day were “Baby Boomers.” That was really cool, because photographing active Baby Boomers is one of my specialties. I stumbled upon a gold mine, when I found these guys! [click to continue…]

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