Adobe Photoshop Tutorials on You Tube

I am gradually replacing the video tutorials on one of my web sites with better quality ones. These are the tutorial videos I created for using Adobe Photoshop which go with the step-by-step guides you will find on my web site here http://www.sally-jane.co.uk/tutorials/adobe-photoshop.html . The new videos will be uploaded to You Tube and can be seen there at this url http://www.youtube.com/user/SallyTsVideos of viewed as normal embedded into my tutorial pages on my web site as previously listed. I've only done 4 so far dealing with fairly basic stuff but as I get through them they will become more complex. The original videos they replace were silent and relied on viewers downloading the file before they could be viewed. I hope these new videos will be of more use to viewers.
If anyone have any requests for topics to be covered do let me know.

Reaping Rewards

There is a long story to this photo so I hope you are sitting comfortably with a cup of tea or something a bit stronger :-)

The fields behind our house have been bought by a new farmer who intends to grow just salad stuffs but as he wanted to get them planted quickly he planted wheat in all but a few. The land is transected by a road and the fields on the far side are more picturesque as they are gently undulating. As the wheat ripened this year I hoped to get a good shot of them reaping in these fields with the north downs in the background. I walked Brac over there every day as the time approached but on a day when I walked in the morning, they managed to cut all of that side in the afternoon! They must have had several machines going at once to get it done. Anyway, there were still the fields on my side of the road and as our house backs right onto them I would be sure to hear if any reaping was going on.

The weather turned bad from that point on. Barely a day went by without some amount of rain or if not it was damp. No reaping could take place until the crop dried out or it would rot. As the weeks went by a black mould started to appear on the husks so something had to happen soon. Finally we had a dry day followed by another but it was not until that night that the combines moved in. I laid in bed listening to them working through the night.

The forecast was for more rain in the morning. When I woke up it was raining and had been for some time. I took Brac over the fields and was relieved to see that there were still two fields they had not managed to get done. I was still in with a chance.

Ok, so back to walking Brac over the fields every day with camera in hand only now, as the fields left were the least interesting photographically, I was only taking my little sony P&S camera as I didn't feel it was worth the effort of carrying my very heavy D300. Another week went by and nothing happened. Then, one day I went out with my Sony in my pocket and as I entered the fields I could see the dust rising in the distance. They were reaping. At last I could get some shots. I walked over to the field they were working on and got my camera ready only to discover I had left the memory stick in my PC! AAAAH! That's it, it's just not meant to be. I finished Brac's walk in disgust.

When I got in I thought about it some more. that was likely to be my last best chance of getting such a shot as from now on they will only be growing onions and lettuce over there. I had to go back. I grabbed my D300 and headed out knowing that they were 2/3rds finished when I saw them last.

Brac couldn't believe his luck; two walks straight after each-other!

As I headed out in a hurry now a neighbour who's wife had not been well for some time was in his garden. I knew it would be rude of me to just pass by so I had to stop and ask after her. It was a longer conversation than I really wanted but what could I do?

Finally I head off into the fields. By the time I got to where the combine was there was only a few strips of wheat left to reap. No matter, it would be enough. The tractor was parked at the end of the rows and the combine was going to it to unload the grain into its trailer as the field was quite small so no need for them to work in formation. I positioned myself at the other end of a row and waited for the combine to come towards me. As it approached I started snapping moving around for a different angle. I than saw the combine extend its arm and to my express delight the tractor pulled up along side. They decided to transfer the grain in formation and I'm sure it was for my benefit. To make matters even better the sun decided to poke it face out for those few minutes too. When they got to the end of the row the combine driver gave me a wave as he turned to go back.

If I had remembered to check the memory stick in my Sony I'd never have got these shots. I guess it was meant to be after all.

Spring

Brac's second day on the job

Today was Brac's second and final day on the photo shoot. This time he was being walked by a different model and in a park. What he really wanted to do was what dogs normally do in park but instead he had to be content being walked back and forth while more photos were taken. It wasn't all boring though. A little later on he was to get involved in a group frisbee game in the park which, as it had been raining lots lately, was extremely muddy. Brac, who had only been bathed yesterday in preparation for this photo shoot, ended up plastered but at least he had fun.

Brac's a Star...but we knew that anyway.

Brac was used in a photo shoot for an advert today. This is the second time he has been used in advertising. Last time was for worming pills and today was healthcare. He assignment was to walk on the lead with the model so nothing too taxing. What amazes me about this kind of set-up is just how many people it takes to take a photograph.
Brac is required back again tomorrow for some different shots. I'm not sure yet what they will require but what ever it is he will be only too happy to be in the centre of attention.

My Garden Stalker

Although not native, pheasants are '10 a penny' in the UK and a quintessential part of the British countryside. I don't , however, live in the country, so you can imagine my surprise at seeing this beauty in my back garden. Ok, I've only got to go a few miles down the road to find some and It's true I do back onto farmland, but it's arable so at this time of year especially there is no ground cover. Being on the edge of a town means these fields are regularly patrolled by endless dog walkers and there is a clay pigeon shoot the next field over. All this generally keeps these birds well away so maybe this one had got lost and thought my garden a place of safety? He clearly hadn't spotted Brac watching from the French doors. He's gone now but not until he had spent a good few hours searching between every blade of grass in a general leisurely way for some morsel to eat. I wonder if I'll see him again?

Side Tracked

First let me apologise for neglecting all my blogger friends lately. Partly this was because I was either very busy entertaining over Christmas or I was away visiting between then and New Year. The other reason has been my Christmas Present. 'Santa' in the form of my wonderful husband, was very generous this year and bought me a Nikon D300 complete with a 18/200mm Nikor zoom lens. As I have been strictly a point and shoot photographer up to now converting to a top of the range professional DSLR is a bit learning curve that I'll continue to climb for some while yet. As my first photoshoot of the year is set for this morning I needed to get up to speed with it or content myself with using my old camera today. I'll take my old Nikon 8800 with me just in case but I feel fairly confident I can get my new toy to perform adequately. Let's hope I'm not speaking too soon!

Up Date
The photoshoot when like a dream thanks to my new toy. I got a little carried away and took over 120 frames but this was not because they were no good. It was simply because it was like picking cherries. I simply didn't know when to stop. Only a handful were not fully focused. I'm now spoilt for choice as to which image to use for the portrait. This image is just a detail from a full face and neck shot. I think I'm going to really enjoy this camera. :-)

10,000 flickr visitors

I've only been using flickr for 6 months but incredibly I had my 10,000th viewer to my photo stream today. I find that quite awesome and amazing. If any of you enjoy digital photography and haven't already done so you really ought to check flickr out. My skill as a photographer has expanded enormously since I have been sharing images on it. There are so many creative ideas out there to try. But more than that, it has encouraged me to experiment more with my photographs rather than simply file and forget them. Sharing ideas with other photographers gives me a real buzz too. Be warned, flickr can become addictive.

Every Home Should Have One!

Chances are, if you don't like creepy crawlies or spider then you won't like this one but if this is the case then this is exactly what you do need. A House Centipede (scutigera coleoptrata). OK, I'll admit, I didn't know what it was when I saw it other than to have a pretty good idea it was a centipede. We don't get these in the UK as it's too cold but they are apparently common in the southern half of Europe. This is only the second one I've seen and it was in one of the châteaus we visited whilst in France. They love shady dampish places and prefer indoors to out especially if the temperature is a bit cool. OK, I know what you are thinking..."Why on earth should we have one if this is exactly the kind of thing we can't stand?" I admit it does seem a bit bizarre at first thought but this creature is apparently an amazing hunter of all things creepy crawly. You are not ever likely to become infested with them as they are fairly solitary and they will kill and eat anything from spiders to flies. They can apparently run fast enough to catch a fly before it can take off!

Personally, I think they are amazing creations that look like something out of prehistoric times. For this reason I could not resist having a play with this image in Photoshop for uploading to flickr. Here is the result. Much more impressive.

Dog Tired

Dog Tired
Originally uploaded by Kangaroo Shoes.

I've just seen this image on Flickr and thought it too good not to blog. I reckon they are on a metre!

Flickr

For any of you interested in digital photography Flickr is a really good site to check out. I discovered it thanks to An Aussie, a Frenchman and a Burmese blog and an from a video lecture posted on Digital Photography School blog. So I took a look, explored the site a bit, read the T's & C's and decided to give it a try. You can use the site for free but there are some constraints but nothing too serious if you are just a casual photographer. To get full, unlimited use of the site there is an annual fee but it's only about £12.50 currently so it's not going to sting that much.
I think it's the kind of site that will appeal to bloggers as you quickly get to know and chat with other photographers with similar interests particularly if you join some of the special interest groups.
I've signed up for a year's membership and have been steadily uploading images and getting feedback on my work. If you click on the thumbnails below you can see some of the stuff I've submitted so far. What I really need to do now is get out there with the camera but it's not stopped raining since I joined!

www.flickr.com

11 Tips for Better Candid Photography

I came across the Digital Photography School's blog today and read this great article about taking candid photographs. If you like photography this article is really worth a read.

Original Photographic Art & Photography by Sally Jane

Looking for something to brighten up a wall? Something that is a little different from the normal run of the mill prints you find in high street shops but that won't cost the earth? Visit my web site at www.sally-jane.com and see my photographic art gallery. All prints are signed by me, the artist and sent out mounted and ready to frame. The gallery subjects include landscapes, flowers, architecture and animals. There is also a monochrome gallery for black and white or sepia images. Prices vary depending on size but start from as little as £18 plus postage and packing. Mount sizes are cut to fit standard size frames but special sizes can be catered for if required.

Monochrome Photography

In these days of quick digital photography it is easy to forget about what happens after you press the shutter release. For many, the images are simply stored and viewed occasionally. Some people go to the trouble of straightening their images and removing red eye but that frequently tends to be the end of it. For me, the click of the shutter is just the beginning. Playing around with my images once I get them on my PC is where the fun kicks in.

You might think it strange in a world where colour is taken very much for granted that anyone would want to remove it but monochrome photography still has a very significant place among any photographers skills. Have you ever had one of those photographs that are well composed and sharply focused but for some reason simply don't work? Chances are it's the colour in the image that is distracting. Try removing it and see how it works then. Colour doesn't always add interest to an image, sometimes it can simply clutter it up.
The image I have shown here was created with a timed exposure and a moving torch to produce the light trails. I then played around with it in Photoshop removing the colour and adding a gradient map which partly inverted the brightest values in the image. It was a bit of fun. If you would like to see more of my images just click on this image to go to my monochrome gallery.

Taking Better Pet Photographs

Taking pictures of our pets is almost as popular as photographing family members. For many of us, our pets are a part of our family so maybe that's not so surprising. Chances are you have loads of photos of you pets but how many of them are good enough to frame? Do any of them really show your pet at his or her best? Most photographs of animals fail for a few simple reasons. If you would like to be able to take better pet photographs then visit my web site where I am publishing a series of free fact sheets. I will be explaining how you can take really good pet photographs without any specialised equipment (save a camera) and have something you can put in a frame. The first two fact sheets are available now and further fact sheets will be added over the next few weeks so keep checking back. If there is anything you would particularly like covered or need explained in more detail leave me a note here or send me an e-mail from my web site.

Last Minute Presents

I've been a bit quiet on the blog side recently but that is because I have been kept busy with a last minute rush for Pet Portraits as Christmas presents. Not that I'm complaining, it's great to be able to do this. It gives me a real buzz creating something that other people will cherish and hang on their wall. I get to meet like minded people - animal lovers - and some really great pets like this little Cairn Terrier. She was a real character who was not too impressed with being photographed and I don't blame her as it was a dismal day and blowing a gale. Despite this she came up trumps when she stared right into the lens as if to size me up just before legging it!

Customised Pet Greetings Cards

When ever I create a pet portrait I always create a greetings card to go with it. A sample card is given free with the portrait and further card can be ordered at any time. Most of these cards are also available for general sale. These cards can be printed with any message inside or simply left blank. Each card looks like a watercolour painting. They make great congratulations cards for anyone involved in either dog or horse competitions. View a gallery of the cards available by clicking here. Or click on the title of this blog for more information.

Working Sheepdog?

Brac (pictured) achieved his first step on the road to fame and fortune today by taking part in a photo shoot for an advertisement. Advertising worming pills! If the images are accepted his picture will be in veterinary practices all over Europe. I have to say (even though I am biased) he took to it like a duck to water and I was very proud of him. He is, of course, used to posing for me (as here) but never before under studio conditions.

Pet Portraits

Pet Portraits by Sally Jane

I am now creating pet portraits which are proving to be very popular. They are created from digital photographs that I take myself and have the look of a real painting once completed. Prices start from £40 for a mounted print ready to frame. With each portrait I also create greetings cards that can be purchased either with the portrait or at any time in the future.

Clicking on the image will provide you with a better view.

For further information visit my web site for further information at www.sally-jane.com/photographic_art

Other pieces of digital art work are also available including landscapes still life portrait commissions.

Hello

This was my entry to Imaging Resource Photo of the Day competition.
http://www.imaging-resource.com
It won it for June 1st.