MomShots

Our newest Tip of the Week is up and it is a really good one.  It is about Adjustment layers in Photoshop Elements and CS.  I highly recommend checking it out - there is some really great information there.

We are starting a new Tip of the Week theme; each week the Tip of the Week will relate to a letter of the alphabet.  Part of this could be because I have preschool aged children at home but part of it is because there are so many things to learn that the alphabet seems as good a place as any to organize our thoughts.  I hope you enjoy these tips.  We have some really, really good ones planned.  By the end of the alphabet we are all going to have learned so many cool things.  I’m super excited!!!

On another note, my children and I are working on two projects.  Both have to do with photography.  I have been sharing my love of photography with my kids.  We have been working on two photo books.  One is based on the alphabet.  We work on learning one letter, it’s sounds, shape, drawing it, etc.  Then we go around our house and neighborhood and photograph items that start with that letter or the actual letter itself.  We have only done three letters so far; A, B & C.  We will probably do D tomorrow or Friday.

Here is an example of one of our pages…

The other project we are working on is a book on colors.  We photographed a whole bunch of objects yesterday and I will put them all next to the appropriate color.   I was inspired by this crafty lady.

Here is an example of my layout for Blue. This is not finalized but it give you an idea of where I’m going with this.

I guess the point of what I want to say here is that photography can be a whole family experience.  It doesn’t have be just mom or dad behind the camera documenting everything.  It can be a tool that helps build teamwork and unity in your family.

So how are you?  

Autumn is in the air here in Utah.  I went away for two weeks and came back to dramatically colder weather.  When we left the temperature was in the high 90’s and now it is about 15 degrees cooler.  I am a bit shocked by that sudden change!  I also noticed that at the very top of the mountains some of the trees are starting to put on their fall colors.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s not freezing here or anything; far from it.  I guess after living in San Diego for 11 years I am still surprised by the changing seasons of Utah.  Strange since I didn’t grow up in a seasonless climate.  I guess we learn to acclimate to where ever we are.

The kids in my neighborhood have all gone back to school and the street is so much quieter in the day.  We are the noisy house on the street now.  We’re a noisy family anyway so that’s no surprise!  We have also started homeschooling preschool this year.  We are having a blast.  My son, Ulysses is always asking me if we can have school at random times in the day.  It’s so cute.  He is such a sponge; he just wants to learn and learn and learn.

Let’s see.  What else?  Oh, I got such a great complement from Tanya today.  Thanks.  You made my afternoon!  She left a comment and said that she was looking at older photos of her son and thought to herself that they weren’t very good “Momshots”.  She wished that she had gotten down to his level to take the photo.  Yaya, Tanya!!!  I love that you were thinking that.  I think if I had to pick one Momshot Tip it would be to get down on their level.  Over and Over and Over and Over I have to remind myself of that.

This week we have a cool Tip of the Week.  Tye tells us how to add SPOT COLOR to a photograph.  It is a great technique to draw the eye of the viewer into your focal point.  It is also just a really fun thing to do!  You an show off your babies big brown/blue/green, etc. eyes or that fiery red hair or a beautiful pink bow.  Thy sky is the limit!  It’s a lot of fun.  Try it out and see what you come up with.  Post it on Flickr and let us know where it is.  We would all LOVE to see it.

Here’s my attempt at Spot Color.  In Palm Springs we took the boys to play at a water fountain one afternoon.  It was a blast.  I love going to new places to photograph my kids.  Seriously, I get pretty bored of photographing them in my backyard…  :)

Tye has made a new Tip of the Week. I think many people will find this helpful. It is about removing a color cast on your photo. Say you forget to change your white balance mode on your camera and you are snapping away all day long. When you upload your photos you realize that all your photos have a blue or a yellow tint to them, now you can make this simple adjustment to help eleminate that color cast.

Great tip! Thanks, Tye!!!

I am writing this post from my mother’s dining room table. We drove up to their house in Bellingham, Washington for a quick visit. We had some errands to run and some people to see. Plus it is one of my sister’s birthday. As usual, we are trying to cram a million things into a very short time. I think we’re going to go pick black berries in a few minutes.

Keep those cameras out and your trigger finger happy!

The above photo doesn’t have anything to do with the new Tip of the Week. It is of my one year old son who fell asleep in the swing at the park. He’s just cute, isn’t he?

Photos using Levels.  Tye Durbin has done it again!  She is sharing her knowledge and helping us learn how to fine tune our black and white momshots using Levels in Photoshop Elements and Photoshop CS3.

Check out our Tip of the Week section for the details of how to do this.  Plus, her niece is so darn cute, you know you want to just nibble on her cheeks!!!

Did you know that Sepia tones were introduced to photography in the 1880’s? The addition of a pigment from the cuttlefish reacted with any remaining silver and converted it to a sulphide which resulted in photographs that would not fade over time. The Sepia tones that we are familiar with, and which define an era of photography, were designed to give photographs a longer life. That is why the only photos that have lasted from that time frame are ones that are Sepia toned.

Since the onslaught of color photography and modern printing methods, this isn’t a process that we do anymore except for the visual effect. And that effect isn’t done by adding pigment from the cuttlefish!

Our Tip of the Week, brought to you by Durbin Digital, is about changing your color photos into Sepia tones using Photoshop Elements (Version 4.0 and later) and Photoshop CS3. Try your hand at a few of your own photos and post them up. We’d love to see your results!

I am really excited to announce that our new Tip of the Week section is up and our first great tip is there for your viewing and post-processing pleasure!  This week Tye tells us how to convert a color photograph into a black and white using both Photoshop Elements (Version 4.0 and higher) and Photoshop CS3.   

The example photo is of my 3 year old son Garland cheesing it up in a great big wink.