Live, Love, Travel: April 2011

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Click it up a Notch is having a photo contest to submit your favorite photo taken in April. So I've posted this before, but I think its my favorite photo for April!

I was talking to a friend the other day who showed me an artist on Etsy that took photographs and made them look like paintings. She asked if I knew how to do that. I didn't, but I said I'd give it a try. I've never really messed with the more abstract filters on Photoshop before, but it was fun, and I kinda liked the result, so I thought I'd share my process!

I took one of my pictures from Paris, which you may recognize because the black and white version of this pic is in my header, and I attempted to turn it into a "painting." This was my result.

I really like the colors and the almost canvas like feel to it. This was the original picture I started with.

To create the affect, I went to Filter-->Artistic-->Palette Knife. It brought up a few options.
I adjusted the stroke size and stroke detail until the affect was obvious enough to see, but detailed enough that you could still tell what the picture was.

Then I took this texture and dragged it over my picture:

I changed my blending mode to "overlay." I like how the pink tones subtly showed through, and made the blues in the picture pop even more. Also by added texture, it gave the picture more of a canvas feel and helped sell the idea that the picture is really a painting! Its not a technique I imagine myself using often, but its fun to play around with every now and then!

Lealah

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

This is my boyfriend with his roommate's chihuahua, Lealah. Is it just me, or do you think she might be one of the most loved dogs on the planet?

Linking up to Simplicity's "pets" challenge.

Flowers in Black and White

I find it extremely challenging to get good black and whites of flowers. Flowers are so colorful it seems a shame to put them in black and white. But I've seen such great black and white flower shots out there, that I occasionally give it a try. And since I've pretty much only been taking flower shots lately, its just about all I have for black and white Wednesdays!

More Spring Flowers!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Just like my holiday bokeh obsession you all had to deal with a few months ago, I now have a spring flowers obsession!

Baby Hummingbirds

Monday, April 25, 2011

I hope everyone had a great Easter! Now please enjoy some pics of adorable baby hummingbirds and their mama!

The focus isn't great because they are SOO unbelievably tiny and I don't have a macro lens, but they were just too cute not to share!

Then just for fun, I put this one in black and white and added a little texture. It occurred to me that I could use it for Allie's "sibling" challenge, since technically the baby birds are siblings!

Selfie Saturday - Jumping Challenge

Sunday, April 24, 2011

I haven't participated in Selfie Magic's self-portrait challenge in a few weeks now, but this week seemed like too much fun to miss! Elena gave a great tutorial on shooting yourself in a jumping shot! This is really tricky when working with a tripod and self timer mode. The camera beeps faster when its about to take the picture, but do you jump when the beeping first gets faster, or wait till the end and then jump?? The timing is definitely a bit tricky and I got quite a few shots with my feet still on the ground or barely off the ground. But I did get a couple "money" shots! If you haven't tried this yet, I recommend it! Once you get over the fact that there's probably people looking at you like you're crazy, its lots of fun!

Mid Century Modern Palm Springs

Saturday, April 23, 2011

One thing I love about Palm Springs is the strong 50's influence throughout the town. Things have been updated but you can tell that this town was in its hey day in the 50's. I love the mid-century modern look that remains.

Entering this last photo into Friday Photo Fun, who's theme is "peace and quiet." Have a great weekend :)

Give me your best shot at Better in Bulk

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Before and After - Palm Springs

Friday, April 22, 2011

Here's a shot of my friend LiAnne out in Tahquitz Canyon, Palm Springs. My before shot just has minor touch-ups done to it--I think I ran Pioneer Woman's Boost action, and that's about it.

Before:

Then I converted to black and white and added just a small touch of texture to it. My texture was tan, so it added a tiny bit of a sepia tone into my picture.

Palm Springs Part 1 - Every Lens Has a Purpose

Thursday, April 21, 2011

I spent the past few days in Palm Springs and had fun taking some cool desert shots. One day my friend LiAnne and I went on a hike through Tahquitz Canyon. At the start of the hike we were getting our stuff together and I knew I didn't want to carry too much but I was having problems deciding what lens to go with. I almost solely shoot with my 50mm 1.8, but I knew it wouldn't be good for wide sweeping landscape shots. My only other lens I have is a 17-70 3.5, which is large and heavy, but it goes slightly wide which is great for landscapes. But I knew I'd want the 50mm for close-ups and plant life, so I decided to bring both lenses. I knew I didn't want to constantly stop and change lenses, so I decided to shoot at 17mm on the way there, and 50mm on the way back. And the different lenses offer quite a different perspective of the dessert.

Here are some of my 17mm shots on the way there.

This lens really helped show how large our surroundings were, especially when you see LiAnne so tiny in the bottom corner of that last picture.

The destination of the hike was a waterfall, where we cooled off, regrouped, I changed lenses, and we returned.

These are some of my 50mm shots on our return.