Photoshop borders

Here’s a new thing I learned recently.  Super-quicky custom borders.

Both methods start the same.  You can take a new PS file (I used an 11×14 300 PPI because I don’t see a good reason to upsize any custom-made PS files; I would much rather downsize).  Create a new layer.

How you proceed can go one of two ways.  You can take the lasso tool and scribble a haphazard rectangular area, select the area and fill it in with black.  The alternative is filling the entire canvas with black and taking a specific clear stenciled brush to the edge.

Whatever area ends up in black will be where the photograph shows through, so take care to have a useful shape.

The clear brush (or blank area) is the key to this working.  If you end up with a black and white palette, it won’t work.

Drag the new layer onto whichever photo you desire the border.  Adjust the size of the actual border layer to fit on top of the desired photograph.  After the retrofitting, move the base layer above the new layer.  If the base layer is the background layer, either convert it into a movable layer or drag the background onto the “New Layer” icon to turn it into a new, alterable layer (this is an option I consider infinitely more desirable than altering the background layer) and place that new layer above the border layer.

Move your cursor between the two layers, and press option+mouse to apply the border layer to the base image as a layer mask.  If it doesn’t work, make sure your border layers are black and clear… not black and white- which will result in no change.

Images to come!

Love,

Erin

Why, hello there!

Welcome to my next project… namely, updating this blog and finally getting some work done!  I can’t wait to get some new photoshop work up here as well as some new photography!

And I’ve got to have a new look for a brand new day.  The moon landing’s officially over.  We’re moving to Mars!

Love,

Erin

Moon landing

Well… I suppose this is it.  We’ve just finished our final exam with Chuck.  This has been a complete disaster of a week but I think I did fine on the exam.
This concludes my final class with Chuck Egerton and I feel kind of weird about the whole thing.  We’ve still got the group critique for the joint project today and one more class with James.  Then I’ll have something interesting to show.

And is today the 40th anniversary of the moon landing?  I heard it on NPR this morning and I’m not sure if I misheard it.

Model shoot

Last week, we went to the theatre here in Asheboro and James had some models arrive for some portfolio shots.  All in all, it was probably one of the more hectic shoots I’ve ever participated in.  I had a really neat shot lined up but it appears that my lighting was somewhat off, so this is the best of my usable shots.

I really loved the setup.  It sucks that so many of them turned out to have motion blur.  Oh well, you live you learn.

Canon 40D

f/5

1/15 of a second.

White lightning and natural light.

New business

Today, our final Chuck Egerton assignment will be turned in.  I’m feeling oddly nostalgic and quite strange.  Assignment 4 is to create an “iconic” image that represents our photography.  I’d been playing around with a business name that I actually kind of like and wanted to create an image based on that name.  So without furthur ado- my iconic image.

And finally, the business card.

Since it is a composite shot (I was foolishly working with hot lights… never again) there is no static exposure value.  I still really love this shot.

Yes, THE Chuck Egerton.

Assignment 3 for Chuck’s commercial class was a bit of a doozy.  It’s an executive portrait… of Chuck.  Chuck, our instructor who grades everything we do. Chuck, the man, the myth, the legend.

So this is a photograph of my instructor, Chuck.  For the record, while he refused to sign a model release, he did give me verbal permission to put this up on my blog.  So he can’t sue me, right?

Here’s Chuck!

Look at him! Loooooook!

Shot on a Mamiya 645 Af with a Leaf (Aptus Kit) attachment.

120mm lens

f/7.1 @1/125

*needs more cowbell*

One more time

Pucca

Puppy

My kind-of how-to

Yeah… I don’t have the instructions to make these delicious almond-butter and macadamia nut cookies because Rob’s method of cooking is essentially finding a recipe, studying it carefully and then completely ignoring it and doing whatever he wants.  So I’m going to try and wing it based on what I remember.

Alright… so we’ve got some macadamia nuts… some salt and some baking powder, vanilla extract, butter, cane sugar, whole wheat pastry flour, some different cane sugar, and some almond butter.  I’m pretty sure that’s everything that’s up there.

Okay… chop the nuts.

Since cane sugar is so huge, we had to take it to a mortar pestle to get it down to a usable size.

Mix the wet ingredients (es) and then sift the flour on top.

After you mix it together, it’ll look like this.  Mixing takes a while.

Form the dough into little balls and put ‘em on a cookie sheet.

Use a fork and do this thing with them… I’m pretty sure Rob called it cross-hatching.

Bake for a pre-determined amount of time and then you’ll have cookies!  Yay for cookies!

Exterior night

So, I’ve learned that I completely screwed this one up.  Go me!  I’ll definitely have to revisit this and actually do the assignment as James intended… not as I misheard.

Interior multi-pop

Here’s a composite shot of the library at RCC.  This was a ton of shots that were merged together in photoshop.

That weird little bird sculpture was such a pain in the butt.