Happy Monday!

And what a beautiful Monday it was! Sunny, HOT, and just an all around good day :)

And it was a good day for changes, hehehe... Chris says that bleached blond is so LAST YEAR! The new color is ORANGE, LOL! Jim stayed home from work today. He worked on Chris's hair, after Chris got home from summer school. (BTW, Chris is getting an A in geometry! Way to go Chris!)

Chris LOVES his hair! He wants to get it done again before school pictures so that his hair will be orange on his ID card... well, that will liven up his portrait, that's for sure!

Photoshop Class Day 13

Yesterday's class was an extension of Friday's class. Instead of a three photo storyboard, it's a nine photo layout. The size of this one is 8"x8", at least this one will print on our printer. I don't know where to get Thursday's 7"x14" storyboard printed.

These photos are from our trip to Hawaii last summer. I'm working on a photo book of our 2008 trips. This will be one of the pages in the book.

This is our last day of instruction. The very last class (which is today) is just another test. I haven't logged onto the site yet to take it.

Registration for Jessica's new classes starts tomorrow. I'll post again tomorrow to remind you! If this class was any indication, the new classes will be GREAT!

Friday-5... 5K Mud Run!!!

Here are promised photos for the mud run. It was less than exciting... I mean the mud run AND the photos. I didn't marry my husband for his photography skills, that's for sure, lol!

It was HOT, it was CROWDED, it was CRAZY! Every time we got to an obstacle, there was a huge backup of people. I ran with Cheryl, and Chris took off with the front pack... there's no holding that guy back. He even admitted that he's too competitive. It drives him crazy to have anyone pass him.

Here we are before the race. We couldn't find the staging area, so we waited at the starting line.

Here's Chris going by. You can see one of the mud pits behind him.

Here's me... or at least half of me.

Here's Cheryl. She ran the entire way (except of course where the group came to a dead stop.)

Here's our after photo. You might be wondering why Chris isn't muddy... well, he fell in crossing the lake.

There were photographers on the course so maybe they'll post some photos of the race. If I find some good ones of us, I'll post them later.

Maybe I'll feel different about it in a week or so, but to sum it up in a nutshell, "That was kind of FUN, let's NOT do it again..."

I hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Photoshop Class Day 12

No Friday-5 today... I'll post my 5 photos from the mud run tomorrow!

The class is almost over, BooHoo! I'm really enjoying this class. I read on Jessica's blog that the next class will be a 20-paged digital book completed in 20 days. I'm definitely going to take that one! It's supposed to start at the end of summer. I'll keep an eye out for the registration and let you all know.

Today's lesson is on storyboards. I loved the clean professional look! Can you just image these printed out and framed?




Note: FONT - Renaissance

Photoshop Class Day 11

Today we learned how to use layer masks to mask off colored areas of a photo. I've done this before, but I used a duplicate layer and erased the areas I wanted colored. The teacher said that this works much better because it's easier to fix mistakes. I don't think that's true... with the undo key, I can fix ANYTHING! LOL!

I took this photo of my daughter and my niece last summer. They are showing off a few mountain apples that grow in Kauai.

NOTE:
Hue/Saturation layer - hue:35 saturation:5
Paint black on the Hue/Saturation layer to show the color underneath.
Add punch to a B&W photo - Add a levels adjustment layer and move sliders. move left slider to right, move center slider to left, move right slider to left.

This is your chance to go to Mars!

How fun is this?!!!
Enter your name, and it will be included with others on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011!

Photoshop Class Day 10

Is it day 10 all ready? I've learned so much! Textures, clipping masks, frames, brushes, text, adjustment layers... Here it is all put together in one lesson!

This is a photo that we took on our cruise to Ensenada. It's such a grey photo (it was a grey day). But look how beautiful it is now!

NOTE:
Create clipping mask using the rounded rectangle tool.
Font: Adler, Porcelain
Textures: Brown-paper-Texture, grungepaper2_by_fudgegraphics
Remember you can set blending modes to brushes: soft light, overlay, multiply

Photoshop Class Day 9

This is a cool technique! It's a way to darken the edges of a photo, leaving the center bright. That way any distracting backgrounds can be muted, bringing your eye to the main subject of the photo.

Here is the before photo:

And here is the after photo:

The look is very subtle, but it does make a difference. The background of the photo drops further into the background. I tried this on a bright, colorful background and it didn't work as well. It's much better with a background that will wash out by darkening it.

NOTE: Edge Burn
Create levels adjustment layer. Move middle slidger to .62 (right).
Black shows what is beneath. White hides what is beneath.
Use gradient tool. FG:black, BG:white. Selcect feathered circle.
Set GRADIENT mode (not layer mode) to Multiply. Click on center and drag to outside.
Use brush tool to color black on the adjustment layer to brighten areas.
(increase/decrease effect by changing level layer adjustment or changing opacity of the layer.)

Photoshop Class Day 8

What happened to Day 7, you ask? Well, Day 7 was test day... and I scored a 100%! YAHOO! Today's lesson was on Typography. Using type on PSE is just like my old PS7 program, so I took my spare time today and added: a clipping mask, an adjustment layer, a texture layer, and text...

This is a photo from Chris's 2009 track season. This quote by Steve Prefontaine is one of his favorites:

The only race pace is suicide pace and today is a good day to die.

NTOE: Font KarbinE

Photoshop Class Day 6

Today's class was on replicating a TTV look. She never did say what TTV stands for but it's a worn, faded look. Photographers will actually take photographs (often using a macro lens and a light blocking device) through the viewfinder of an old camera. The result is a photo with blackened edges, distortion, scuffs and scratches and marks - pretty much what we've been looking for all our lives, right? ;o)

Here is a beautiful photo of my mom that I scanned into the computer. Why anyone would want to grunge up a beautiful photo is a total mystery to me.

Here is the image after applying the TTV filter and some brushes... I have to admit that I like the look!



NOTE: Adding TTV Texture
Most old cameras took photos as squares, so we'll be cropping square for authenticity. :)
Now add either a vintage desaturated look, OR a sepia-tone look using the instructions in Day 3's lesson.
Open and add your TTV texture to your image, resize as needed so the black edges go all the way to the edge of the image.
Set your TTV layer to Multiply.

Friday-5 (on Saturday)

Well, I just finished going for a run. WHEW! It's 96F out today, hot, Hot, HOT! Here is my promised Friday-5. I'm so proud of myself! I even edited the photos using my new Photoshop Elements program, YIPEE!

Here they are... the promised photos of our trip! It was hard to limit myself to just five. I have a TON of photos! LOL!

Here we are still in Long Beach, exploring the ship, getting ready to leave. Look at my hair! I'm so in need of a haircut!

Here is the ship, Carnival Paradise. It seems small when we're on it, but standing next to it at dock like this, it's like standing next to a huge condo complex!

Snorkeling in the Catalina Marine Preserve... There were SO MANY FISH! No colorful tropicals (except the Garibaldi). The water was FREEZING! Brrrr.....

Now this is the life, kayaking! I LOVE kayaking! We took a bus to Bufadora, rented a kayak and paddled to the Bufadora Blow Hole. Look at the water BLOW! I think it's bigger than the Poipu Spouting Horn, but it's hard to tell. I've only seen the Spouting Horn from the top of the cliff.

I had to put this one in! This is the first time that I've dance with my husband since our wedding! I dragged him out of his seat during the dinner show. I knew he wouldn't refuse with all the other people at the table watching him, hehehe...

It was so nice to get away, even for just a short while. I paid for it this week though... it was insanely busy at work! I'm so glad it's weekend!