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Entries in vintage effects (8)

Tuesday
Sep062011

RadLab by Totally Rad - True Awesomeness

mouse over to see the before 'RadLabified' and Texturized image

Today, I'm super pumped to share a little video review of Totally Rad's new Photoshop plug-in, Rad Lab! If you've used their actions or presets, you already know that Totally Rad is amazing! But, Rad Lab is BEYOND amazing. 

'RadLab is a revolutionary new way to style your photos.  Unlike using Photoshop actions, RadLab allows you to get instant previews of how your image will change.  You can layer together effects, called Stylets, in infinite ways, and customize your Recipes with simple, intuitive sliders.  RadLab comes with 78 Stylets for you to use, and operates as a plugin for Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements.'

It's seriously sock-dropping stuff, my friends!

Please take a moment to check out my little vid... then run on over to Totally Rad and check it out!!

I processed today's image in RadLab and then added a little texture to seal the deal.
I just can't help myself! I'm a texture addict!

How 'bout your? Have you been doing any creative processing lately? Maybe you've tried something new, or just changed things up a little. Share with us today!  We'd love to see.

.....

p.s. Don't forget that we are giving away one $100 Paper Coterie gift card EVERY SINGLE DAY of September! Is that not awesome? Share a comment each day before midnight EST for a chance to win that day's random drawing. Be sure to leave links to your story shots!!
Soooo exciting!!
 

Sunday
Apr032011

sunday school: lightroom presets for the {unapologetically} nostalgic

She wants a puppy, just like any other happy-go-lucky six-and-a-half-year-old little girl. Alas, I am in no position to get a dog of her own, so we visit Mayu, my friend's lovely and playful Peruvian pup. The sun peeks out, slightly warming the frigid March air, giving us hope that spring is finally remembering to return to us.

Someone once characterized my photography as being "nostalgic." I like that description. It's true; one of the reasons I take photos is because I am nostalgic-to-the-core, and unapologetically so. I sometimes exhibit this side of me in the way I choose to edit my photos in Adobe Lightroom, by applying "vintage-esque" effects that accentuate my emotional ties to the memory captured in the photo.

To celebrate spring finally coming back to the Windy City (fingers-crossed/knock-on-wood...), I've created a set of spring-and-nostalgia-inspired Lightroom Develop Presets for you to play around with. To see larger photos of these examples, you can go to this gallery of images and click on any thumbnail on that page to see a larger version.  To download a zip file of these presets, click here.  You can view instructions on installing presets here. Please note that these presets were developed for RAW (uncompressed) files, but most of them should work for JPEG files as well; you'll just need to tweak a little more here and there. You'll also want to change the basic exposure/brightness to your liking, as most of these presets do not affect those settings.

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only nostalgic vintage-effects-loving photographer around here. Please share with us today your favorite vintage editing effects, or, if you're a Lightroom user, try one of these presets and share the results with us!

Wednesday
Dec302009

Look Out 2010

2010 is fast upon us.  Time to put 2009 to bed and look out into the wide expanse of possibility the new year always brings.  So far in my short career as a photographer, I've been on the look out for the shots that are tight and close, revealing a certain kind of tenderness or connection.  This year, I intend to do the same, but maybe from a few steps back.   I wonder what I'll notice about the ways we long for one another with something (anything!) other than my trusty 50mm on my camera.  I wonder what I'll see up close this year with the point of view that the frame can say just as much a little bit more empty, a little bit more wide.

What would happen if you were on the look out for something slightly different for the coming new year?  What would you see through that lens?  What would you explore that's brand new to you?

Show us "the classic" picture you always love to shoot--the vintage you 2009.  Then share something new you'd like to do with that camera as we look out to 2010.

Saturday
Oct032009

Superhero Photo Challenge: Vintage look

Maybe it was the dress. Maybe it was her beautiful skin or her hair or her classic beauty. But there was something so old world about the shots I captured of Gypsy Girl Alex that day.  

As many of us post-process our images, we start to recognize when a shot lends itself to black and white or a more saturated Lomo look, or something even dreamier. This is one of my favorite parts of digital photography these days.... being able to decide what the shots wants to be even after the fact, or surprising myself by saving a mediocre shot with a bit of creative post-processing. 

Do you have any shots that have a special look to them now? Maybe a vintage wash was just the right thing, or a super saturation or a vignette? Show us your creative shots that surprised even you.

Monday
Jul202009

when stories come alive

 

I went out there with my camera feeling like a ghost hunter. And I was, in a way. Looking to find evidence of spirits that exist in this very place, or in some other parallel version of it.

Plenty of things make you a medium. Words, a camera, a paintbrush, an instrument. Voices whisper and nudge, wanting to be passed on, and so we do. And hope to god we don't get a tick in the doing of it (IN THE EAR NO LESS).

What you see above is the land where it all happens -- this is where a story was born which became a book, and where Eric, the pirate hunter, lives in that other dimension. That's his farmhouse, which smells like fresh cut wood. His parents bake bread in a kitchen wood oven, a glowing iron hearth that is the pulse of their home. They keep peacocks and they milk goats and yes, Virginia, there are ticks.

Eric and Missy, and Joe, and all the others -- they talk to me, whispering in a way I'd never hear if I didn't know to listen. They tell me how they need things to be. One day the pirate hunter said to me You're going to have to show them. You've got to convince people it's real, just like I had to.

I know,  I replied. But I don't know how.

Didn't I tell you?  he replied. I've got my dad's old polaroid. That's how I record the evidence that's too big to fit into the sailmaker's chest.

And so on his behalf I became a twelve-year-old boy on a mission. I became my character. I skulked through the woods watching for clues, and I felt watched. What I ended up with was a peek inside Eric's journal, complete with observations, speculation and context.

Photography helps stories to crackle and spark, don't you think?

+++

Today, show us how you've applied photography to storytelling, or applied it in other mediums. Show us scrapbooks and collages, canvas prints and websites. Or, show us processing that lends a vintage or artistic feel. What about that treatment made your photo feel 'done' -- and what role does photography and processing play in your storytelling life?

Thanks to all of you for bearing me as I pull the trigger, to share this enormous day. It's my birthday, and the day of the book site reveal (in preparation for the release in October). The photographic aspect has been the cherry of the creative process. Pure maraschino joy. Shutter Sisters is my home, and when I'm at home and happy I dance around naked like a fool. And so here you have it.