Scavenger Hunt Sunday and Watermarking Photos

After reading several posts about the importance of watermarking photos, I have decided to start doing it. I was hesitant because I did not want to appear like I think my shots are the bomb and therefore watermark them because people were just dying to get their hands on them. Now, however, I see it a little differently. I don’t want to be like the family who saw themselves in an Ikea ad and they had no idea that their picture was being used by anyone, much less a major company.

Little Features

What pair of shoes should I wear?

Custom bokeh

Opposing lines

Before/after

Have you checked out Project Pinterest hosted by Katie Lloyd and me? If not, check it out!

Have a wonderful week!

Sarah:)

Hello Little Meerkat

Before

Hello little meerkat! Where did your little friend go? Why the sour face?

After

I cropped, adjusted curves, ran Coffeeshop’s Tiny Tiny World action and decreased the contrast a bit.

 

Sarah:)

Sky Before/After

Before

This shot was taken in the van (at a stop light of course) above a car dealership.

After

I used the clone stamp tool to remove the light posts and cropped just a tad to get rid of the top of the building and side light pole. I brightened it up just a little using the Coffeeshop’s Little Perk action.

  

Sarah:)

Brothers

Kindred: A group of related individuals

I do not have any brothers or sisters.

They will always have each other. That is so cool to me.

They don’t have a lot of similarities in their personality.

But, they do have the same color eyes.

<a href="http://www.pixelperfectblog.com"> <img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4060/4439779044_27e3214dc0_o.png"/>

Sarah:)

Mother-in-Law and her Camera

What inspires you?

My mother-in-law has always been a picture fanatic, to the point where family sometimes gives her grief about always snapping with her camera. I must admit, I once one of those people who might think it was a bit much. My how things change! She has inspired me to always have my camera handy to snap those important (and not so important) moments of every day.

Before

After

  

Sarah:)

Boo!

“MOM, NO MORE PICTURES!” pleads the younger brother who is down right tired of being mom’s model.

I ran a PW B&W action and played with the edge burn and tones to create a more moody shot.

Sarah:)

Lake Murray at Dusk

There’s nothing like dusk on a beautiful lake.

I loved the green tones of the lake and the green reflections of the trees on the water.

Before

After

I took off the dock, straightened it, ran PW’s Boost, and dialed down the crispness a bit.

Sarah:)

Old Beautiful Church

Before

After

This is a Lutheran church right up the road from us. The boys do scouts there. I think this is such a beautiful old building and loved the feel of the picture. To add some mood and character to the picture I did a couple of things. I ran PW’s black and white action and changed the opacities of the different layers and cropped it a bit.

Sarah:)

Ryan Quiz

 Was this picture taken before or after riding “Pharaoh's Fury”?

Unedited.

Edited using PW’s Boost at about 75% opacity and cropped. I opted to leave the chocolate chip cookie remnants around his mouth for authenticity. ;)

If you answered “after”, you’re correct.

Here’s what Pharaoh's Fury looked like. I remember LOVING this ride as a kid.

Now, I hate to even look at it.

Have a great day!

Sarah

Stanley the Basset

My childhood dog was Charlie the Basset. I got him when I was in fourth grade and being an only child, he was like the brother I never had. The first year I was living on my own after college, Charlie was put to sleep. The sadness we all felt was immense.

Since then, I have had a lab and a mutt because I didn't think that any Basset could be like Charlie. My mom decided to rescue a Basset. His name is Stanley and he's surprisingly similar to Charlie. They are both white and brown, both howl for fun, both love critters (to chase and eat) and both are awesome companions.

This is my lovely mom and her dog Stanley.

This is my edit. I cropped it to feature Stanley's cute body, ears and eyes more and brightened up his white fur. Not earth shattering edits, but make the eye focus on him in all of his stinky splendor.

I use Photoshop Elements 8 to edit pictures.

  

Sarah:)

Before/After: Ryan and the Big Yellow Ball

Before

This photo is not good at all technically, but I love the look on my son's face. He's happy and content here.

After

Since it wasn't a technically perfecty photo, I added to the imperfection by running a few actions (PW Soft Faded and PW Vintage) to increase its haziness and fade the colors.

Sarah:)

Before/Way Cool After

Check out this really cool tutorial on Ashley Sisk's blog. So neat!

This before picture is a landscape shot of Fripp Island. I like it just like this too, but the after adds a whole new dimension of cool!

After

 

Sarah:)

Before/After Blog Hop

Looks like he’s in jail!

I use PSE 8 for editing. I cropped the image (obviously!) and ran PW’s Heartland action.

Sarah:)