The Daily Photo

hearts

2011-02-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

i heart faces is doing hearts this week!

Self Portrait

2010-12-07T11:50:00.000-08:00

This week at I Heart Faces is all about self portraits.

Orange

2010-11-08T08:16:00.001-08:00

This weeks theme at I Heart Faces is orange. I snapped this photo a couple weeks ago of my daughter playing in the front yard at my parents house. The light was beautiful.

Smirk

2010-09-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

This image is actually an out take from my the one year portraits of my twins. I ended up loving this photo so much, that it was the only one I had printed. The little look my son is giving is his, "I'm up to noooo good" look. Check out the other smirk photos at I Heart Faces.

Photojournalism

2010-08-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

This weeks theme for i heart faces is photojournalism. Basically, we can pick an image or images to tell a story. I have plenty of photos that when put together, tell a story. However, I wanted to choose just one image that could stand on its own. I was debating if I wanted to actually tell you what is going on or let you come up with your own ideas. I decided that if I had to actually tell you what was going on, then the image itself wouldn't be telling the story. I hope you enjoy.

Over My Head

2010-07-18T22:44:00.000-07:00

My sweet little boy discovering the joys of a colander! Check out the others at I Heart Faces

All About Baby

2010-06-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

This week at I Heart Faces they are doing babies. I had a really hard time picking just one, but I finally decided on this little chunker.

Yellow

2010-05-23T20:51:00.000-07:00

Head over to I Heart Faces to see everyone's yellow themed photos.

Flowers and Faces

2010-05-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

This week I Heart Faces is doing flowers and faces. While this technically isn't a flower, it is still foliage, so hopefully it counts.

Day 122: Dramatic Black and White

2010-03-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

Dramatic black and white is the theme this week for i heart faces. Check out what everyone else did too!

2010-03-21T18:55:00.001-07:00

I heart faces is doing angles this week. I have some very strong opinions on this style of photography. One of the things I figured out early on when I was taking all my photo classes in college is that things can appear to have more movement or appear more interesting when taken at an angle. Now, while this may be true, I really think it needs to be done right. There is this crazy epidemic going around of people who take a photo straight on, but it looks like they had a tripod that with one really short leg. They are the ones where the subject looks like they are almost laying on their sides or can fall over at any moment. Sorry if you are one of those photographers, but it drives me nuts. A little tilt is OK, but I just don't like it when it is taken to the extreme. Again, I don't mean to offend anyone, I just had to put it out there. OK, on to my photo. This was taken at one of our little play dates at a local park. Very fun day!

Day 120: Wagon Babies

2010-01-24T14:04:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things about photography today is the ability to use a computer to manipulate and edit an image. This week iheartfaces is doing textures. I love adding textures to my photos. This one was taken just before Thanksgiving dinner.

Day 119: Family

2010-01-17T16:49:00.000-08:00

iheartfaces is doing families this week.

Day 118: Ella

2010-01-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to iheartfaces! This week we have a fun theme. We had to pick our best shot that was taken either this month or last month. Since I got my new 7D for Christmas I have been taking a lot of shots that I really like so I was having a hard time picking one. That is until yesterday. I took the kiddos out onto the front lawn to play in the sunshine and I took this one of Ella. I think she is eating some grass here.

Day 117: Logo

2010-01-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

I had a bunch of ideas I wanted to do for the theme this week, but just ran out of time. Check out what others have done at iheartfaces.

I am submitting this photo into the I Heart Faces logo photo contest. By entering, I am granting I Heart Faces LLC permission to consider my photo for use in the marketing and promotion of their website.

Day 116: Playing with Puppy

2009-12-13T19:46:00.000-08:00

I know this is not an award winning photo or anything, but every time I see it, it makes me smile. It was hard for me to pick a photo for this week. I have a ton of really good ones of different animals, but I still keep coming back to this one. It got me thinking about what photography is really about. Is it about the perfect exposure, focus, composition, or processing? No. I realized it is about making you or your clients smile. Your client most likely has no idea what any of those terms mean, what they do know is that when they look at a shot that makes them smile, it doesn't matter if it is technically perfect. That's how I feel about this one. Sure there are some problems, but it makes me remember how much fun we had that day! See what photos other people have chosen at i heart faces.

Day 115: Sleeping Bear

2009-12-06T10:04:00.000-08:00

There is just something so sweet about a sleeping baby. Check out the other sleeping faces at iheartfaces.

Day 114: Tushy Time

2009-11-29T21:23:00.000-08:00

This week I heart faces is doing I heart tooshies! Here is my little girl in one of her 1st birthday photos. I love her little silver tooshy!!!!

Day 113: Book

2009-11-11T21:54:00.000-08:00

So do you all remember my Pat in the Hat photo? Well, it has been officially published in the I Heart Faces book from Blurb. Pat even made the front cover! He thinks it's because he is "man pretty," his words, not mine. I think it is because I am awesome! If you want to see all the photos check it out here!

Day 112: Fix It Friday

2009-10-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I have had time to sit down and take part in a Fix-It-Friday for iheartfaces. I did everything in Lightroom and Gimp.

Original

Black and White

Textured

Color Fix

Day 111: Pink

2009-10-18T20:06:00.000-07:00

This week is PINK in celebration of Breast Cancer Awareness month. This picture of Ella was snapped a while back while she was just chilling in her little pink chair. See more pink photos at iheartfaces.

Day 110: Excitement

2009-10-12T15:12:00.000-07:00

iheartfaces is doing excitement this week. This was Ella's first time on a swing and she was squealing with excitement! She loved every moment of it.

Day 109: Bath Boy

2009-09-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

For iheartfaces this week, we are supposed to post a candid shot. Here is a shot of Jack I took the other night when they were taking their bath.

Day 108: My funny little man

2009-08-09T15:22:00.000-07:00

iheartfaces is doing silly faces this week. My little man loves sticking his tongue out at us.

Day 107: A Day at the Beach

2009-07-26T21:27:00.001-07:00

Ok, so for iheartfaces this week, it is all about the beach. I know my photo doesn't technically have a face in it and will probably be disqualified, but I just don't care. I love this photo.

This is a picture of my son on his first trip to the beach. We had such a great time! My twins fell in love with the sand and I am still finding it all over our stroller.

Day 105: rejected feet

2009-07-19T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here are the feet photos I didn't use for iheartfaces.

Day 106: Feet, feet, and more feet!

2009-07-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this week for iheartfaces, they are doing feet week. This was really hard for me! I have sooooo many feet photos that I love!!! I finally narrowed it down to this one. If you want to see my rejected ones, you can see them here.

Day 104: Elephant!

2009-07-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

Yay for pet/animal week at iheartfaces. This was taken at one of our favorite weekend spots, The San Diego Zoo. This was taken with my lensbaby.

Day 103: Slacker

2009-07-09T19:48:00.000-07:00

uh oh! I have been slacking. Here are a couple of new ones of the munchkins.

Day 102: Let's hear it for the Boys

2009-06-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

In honor of Father's Day, I heart faces is doing a boys only theme! Yay for boys. The first one was taken when Baby Boy was just 2 weeks old. He was so sweet and tiny. Now, Baby Boy is almost 9 months old and is still just as sweet.

Adults Entry

Kids Entry

Day 101: Friday

2009-06-19T00:08:00.000-07:00

Original

Fix 1

fix 2

Since I am tired and need to get to bed, i am only doing two versions of the fix-it-Friday photo for iheartfaces. Hope you like.

Day 100: Nature

2009-06-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

It wasn't difficult to find something relating to nature to photograph. Two of these were in another post, but since it's my blog, I am allowed to do that! Head over to I Should Be Folding Laundry to see what others have done.

Day 99: Sepia

2009-06-15T15:21:00.000-07:00

This week at iheartfaces we are doing sepia toned photos. For the adults entry, here is my wonderful husband acting like himself!

For my kids entry I have Baby Girl playing with her favorite ball.

Day 98: Backyard

2009-06-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have mentioned before that one of my favorite blogs is Shutter Sisters. Well, they really challenged us readers today. We had to go into our backyards and take some photos as soon as we finished reading the post. It didn't matter what the lighting conditions were or anything. I loved this challenge. I like taking ugly things and turning them into something beautiful. My backyard is no exception. We have given our backyard over to our dog, Luchbox. Of course, I had to take a picture of him. Just look how handsome he is!

Right outside our backyard, we have this hideous palm tree. It drops its little seeds all over our patio and it just makes a huge, ugly mess. One of those seeds found its way to a little piece of dirt in the backyard and started growing.

After the backyard, I headed out the front door and saw my horrible lilies. I hate lilies. I don't know what it is about them, but they are just not the prettiest flowers to me. Since I don't like them, I decided to take a picture and try to make it into something that I could love. I love the way it turned out!

The two flowery pictures were taken with my Lensbaby Muse, and the one of Luchbox was taken with my 50mm 1.8.

Day 97: A Fun Shoot

2009-06-08T14:27:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege to photograph a friend and her daughter for a Father's Day gift. We headed over to the Spanish Village since we were both going to be at Balboa that day. We really lucked out with the weather. We have what's know as June Gloom here in San Diego and most mornings are very foggy and gross.

I try and learn something new every time I take photos. This time I learned that I am not looking forward to when my twins turn two. The little girl was a little grump, but we made it work. here are a few from the shoot.

Day 96: Friday

2009-06-05T16:15:00.000-07:00

Original

Fix 1

Fix 2

Fix 3

It's that time again at iheartfaces. Fix-It-Friday.

Day 95: Pet Week

2009-05-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

I love when they do pet week for iheartfaces! Even though this picture has graced my blog before, I am showing it again. It is one of my very favorites.

Day 94: Fix it Friday

2009-05-28T20:47:00.001-07:00

For fix-it-Friday at iheartfaces, we have a picture of a sweet little girl. I don't write down what I do, so if you have any questions, I will try and answer them for you.

Original

fix 1

fix 2

fix 3

Day 93: Secret Sister Revealed!

2009-05-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks Angie! I have had such a fun month. I will see you soon.

Day 92: Family

2009-05-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

Although I had family in from out of town this weekend, I didn't take many shots. Hopefully the others at ishouldbefoldinglaundry.com got more pictures than I did.

Day 91: Memorial Day

2009-05-25T21:11:00.000-07:00

My family and I went over to Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery here in San Diego on Sunday to place flowers on the gravestones of my Grandparents and one of their daughters. I thought this post was rather fitting since it is Memorial Day.

Flags on each of the graves

Headstones at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery

My Grandfathers headstone. My Grandmothers is carved into the other side of the stone.

I hope you all had a great Memorial Day!

Day 90: Sweet Feet

2009-05-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

The theme at ishouldbefoldinglaundry this week is SWEET. Rather than do the standard, picture of candy, I went with the slang version of the word.

These are my totally sweet new Chucks. Don't you just love crisp new shoes! Ever since the twins, I have had to go through and replace my shoes because my feet grew. This includes my collection of Chucks.
They even have that new, sweet Chucks smell still. Give it a few more days and the sweetness smell will not be so sweet anymore!

Day 89: Answer

2009-05-21T12:09:00.000-07:00

Answer time. This is an out of focus picture of Christmas lights taken with my lensbaby and the heart shaped aperture.

Day 88: Sidewalk Love

2009-05-19T15:39:00.001-07:00

So what do you do with a heart drawn on your walkway? You take a picture of it duh!

Day 87: Seriously

2009-05-18T21:50:00.000-07:00

Ok, Seriously, I have the best husband EVER! He has to put up with a lot from me, including, being my model. Not just a model, but a model in bright orange shoes. He won't admit it, but he hearts those shoes. Can you tell who picked them out?

Day 86: For the love of Chucks

2009-05-18T12:22:00.000-07:00

I decided to start a new little project. I think I will call it project Chuck. Here is a "self portrait" of my wedding Chucks. Now I just have to find some people who are willing to have their feet photographed.

Day 85: Pat in the Hat Again

2009-05-17T20:16:00.001-07:00

This week at iheartfaces is pretty cool. We get to pick our favorite face photo and it will be eligible to be submitted for a book they are putting together. Once again, here is Pat being awesome.

I am submitting this photo into the www.iheartfaces.com Blurb book photo contest. If chosen, I grant I ♥ Faces permission to use my photo in a printed version of a book for commercial use and possibly advertising of a photo book on both the Blurb and I ♥ Faces web sites.

Day 84: Friday

2009-05-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

Original

Fix 1

Fix 2

Fix 3

It's Fix-It-Friday time again for iheartfaces. I never write down what I do, I just do a bunch of experimenting. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I will try and answer them.

Day 83: Color

2009-05-13T12:25:00.000-07:00

I took this one with my Lensbaby Muse. I have the creative aperture kit, so I was able to get some great heart bokeh. Any guesses what I took a picture of? Maybe I'll tell you in another post. I will keep you guessing!

This is my new favorite place. I know, I know, I have a lot of favorite places. This is the Spanish Village in Balboa Park. I love the way the pavers were painted. It is giving my some ideas for when we do our patio. This is a hint for you, Dad. Maybe you should just move down here for 6 months so you can do all my projects!!!

When I first started out with photography, I would only shoot Black and White. I hated color. I think it was because I didn't have any control over the processing. Now that I am armed with a computer, I have all the control I want. I have found a new appreciation for bright, bold colors. See how other have interpreted color here.

Day 82: Expression

2009-05-07T07:31:00.000-07:00

What does expression look like? It looks like this! I am sure you will be seeing these ones again. Se what others did at I Should be Folding Laundry.

Day 81: Down South Part 2

2009-05-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

Day 80: Down South Part 1

2009-05-06T15:43:00.000-07:00

For this series of photos, I will be doing 3 posts because I couldn't just pick a few. These were taken a couple years ago when I was getting some dental work done in Tijuana, Mexico. We had such a fun day of shopping! Also, I have set up a flickr page here that has all my photos. I still have a bunch to add, but rather than seeing a handful here, you can see them all there.

Day 79: My Little Flower Girl

2009-05-04T21:33:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to post this!!! OK, so for my kids entry at iheartfaces, once again I am using Ella. She is wearing her adorable hat from Grandma. She did not want to hold still while I was taking this.

Day 78: Pat in the Hat

2009-05-03T20:16:00.000-07:00

I was totally excited about this weeks theme at iheartfaces. Hats! Being a teacher and growing up with a mom as a teacher, I have a great appreciation for Dr. Seuss. I did Read Across America this year and ended up with an awesome Cat in the Hat hat. Can you tell how happy Pat was to model for me?

Day 77: Fix it Friday

2009-05-01T15:10:00.000-07:00

Original

Fix 1

Fix 2

Fix 3

I finally got around to doing my fix! I will admit that this one was hard for me. If you have any questions about how I did something, please feel free to ask. I don't write down step for step what I do, so I will do my best to answer questions. All fixes are done in gimp. Check out what others have done at iheartfaces.

Day 76: Joy

2009-04-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

Have you every been asked the question, what brings you joy? How would you answer? For me this is a no-brainer. My family brings me joy. Even when the twins wake me up at 5:30 for breakfast, I go to their room and see their bright smiles and I somehow forget what time it is. I also find joy in my hobbies; cooking, knitting, painting, photography.

Day 75: On a Mission

2009-04-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

Mission San Antonio de Padua is a pretty cool place. It is just down the road from my parents house so I have always been able to go there when I needed pictures of something. I always find new things to photograph there.

Day 74: Reflections

2009-04-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

I almost didn't enter anything for iheartfaces this week because I was not totally happy with the photos I took, but I changed my mind. This was taken at Queen Califia in Escondido.

Day 73: Alone on the Tracks

2009-04-28T10:48:00.001-07:00

I have been going through a bunch of my old photos, cleaning them up and stuff like that and I realized there are a few groups that I never posted. I am going to start with one of my favorites. These were all taken in King City across the street from Hearn's. This was one of those day when I was able to leave Pat and the babies at Grandma's house and escape. It was a very gloomy, cloudy day.

Day 72: Letters

2009-04-24T16:32:00.001-07:00

Pat and I took the twins to OB today for lunch. Of course I had my camera with me so I took a ton of photos. These are my "letter" photos.

Day 71: Fix it Friday

2009-04-23T19:15:00.000-07:00

Original

b/w fix

Color fix and crop

Color fix

Yipee for Friday! Today's picture is of a sweet newborn. All I really did was fix some blemishes, run a script for the coloring and crop. The other I did a b/w conversion, adjusted the curves, and burned the edges. I chose not to do a texture because I didn't want to cover the sweet face. I also rotated the image, but I think you can figure that part out. Go see what others have done at i heart faces.

Day 70: Daughters

2009-04-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

For we picture {this}, the theme of the month is Daughters. I chose this picture of Pat and Ella because I think there is such a special bond that develops between fathers and daughters. I know Pat is gonna kill me for putting this up, but that's OK.

Camera: Canon Rebel XT
Lens: Kit lens
Shutter: 1/80
Aperture: 5.0
ISO 400

Day 69: My First Baby

2009-04-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

For our Anniversary, Pat got me a new lens. I got a 50mm 1.8. I have been dying for a 1.4 or 1.8 for a long time. I love a shallow depth of field. I have to say, I LOVE my new lens!

I was playing around with it today and Lunchbox decided he wanted to be a model for me.

I usually don't like showing what the pre-edited versions of my photos look like but for Shutter Sisters, one of my very favorite blogs, I am showing my sooc shot.

Day 68: Harmony

2009-04-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

I went to Harmony with my dad yesterday to look for a geocache, and ended up with a ton of photos. For those of you who are not familiar with Harmony, it is a little tiny town just north of San Luis Obispo. The population is 18. There are a couple neat shops but for me the main attraction is all the doors and windows. Besides my kids, these are my favorite things to shoot. Here are a couple of the ones I took. Since these also fit into the You Capture theme this week, I am putting them over there too.

Day 67: Me

2009-04-19T21:45:00.000-07:00

I am really excited about this weeks theme at iheartfaces. Self Portrait. When I was in college taking all my art classes, we were always told that a self portrait needed to reflect our true self. A pretty picture doesn't tell your audience who you are. I have always remembered this. For this shot I wanted you to get an idea of who I am.

Day 66: f-i-f

2009-04-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

The Original

My fix

The picture for today's fix it Friday is of a cute little boy walking through a rock tunnel. The picture is alright, but it does need some help. Most people have chosen to mess with the color or convert to b/w. I wanted to do something completely different. iheartfaces.com

Day 65: Magic

2009-04-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a break from faces this week so I decided to show some of the photos I took at Queen Califia's Magic Circle. This is one of my very favorite places to go. When I went the sun was very bright and I just loved the way it was hitting all the glass.

Day 64: WAP

2009-04-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

I took the kiddos up to the Wild Animal Park to visit the animals and it was great. The animals were all out and about and there was even a new baby elephant. I couldn't get close enough for a good photo, but there were plenty of other animals to focus on. I have always loved the flamingos. They are soooo pink! My favorite. If it dosn't rain all weekend, we may head back up there.

Day 63: My Fix

2009-04-09T16:03:00.000-07:00

I am really excited about Fix-it-Friday this week. We get to fix up one of our own photos and actually get some constructive feedback. I chose one that I took this past weekend up in Escondido at Kit Carson Park. This is one of my favorite places to take photos. There are so many great colors and opportunities for reflection shots. It is also just a fun place to play around.

usually I do a color, a b/w, and a textured version of the Friday photos. This time, b/w did not work. There are just too many pretty colors that it would be a shame to get rid of them. The textured version did not work either. I wanted to showcase Ella and the great glass. The texture took away from the glass. I chose to do a straight forward edit.

I did some cropping, adjusted the curves, and added a slight vignette. The problem I am having is the blownout areas. It was such a sunny day and I didn't bring my diffuser/reflector so I have an area that is a little bright. I do all my editing in Gimp so I don't have the filter that helps with those areas. Any help or suggestions would be great. I am hoping to go back this weekend to reshoot. This time I will remember my diffuser. Any suggestions with the angle would be great too. Thanks.

Day 62: My Friend and I

2009-04-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

This weeks theme at iheartfaces.com is "My Friend and I." As soon as I found out the theme, I knew which picture I was going to use. This is a shot of my twins when they were two weeks old. I didn't have a blanket that was right, so I wrapped them in a scarf I knit.

"Born together, friends forever"

Day 61: Friday

2009-04-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

For Fix it Friday we have a nice senior photo. It has some problems, but overall, not too bad. The color looks a little bland to me and the focus is slightly off. The background actually reminds me of my engagement photos! I love dirty walls like this one. I did all my fixes in gimp. head over to iheartfaces.com to see what others have done.

Original

Fix #1
For the first fix I decided the background, although wonderful, was a little distracting and I wanted the photo to focus on the girl. I made a duplicate layer and took down the saturation. I didn't want to completely desaturate it, so I left a little color. I then went in with the erasure and got rid of the girl, revealing the full color version underneith. I ran red skin fix script and flattened the image. I then added a vingnette and viola!

Fix #2

I don't remeber everything I did on this one. I do know I ran a color fix script as well as the "Make Wonderful" script. the MW made it way to bright so I took down the opacity to about 30%. I may have desaturated a little, but I don't remember.

Fix #3

For starters I tilted and cropped. I know the photo is a little out of focus, but I still like the compostion of the crop. I desaturated the whole thing, adjusted the curves, and added a vignette.

Fix #4

For my texture one this week I went with a graffiti texture. The wall she is standing against felt like a blank canvas just waiting to be tagged. I also added a border texture.

Day 60: Mr. Box

2009-03-29T21:34:00.000-07:00

I am taking a break today from pictures of the kiddos and posting one of Lunchbox. I guess I like to call this one a happy mistake. I was messing around with the setting on my camera last year and Mr. Box was actually holding still so I got a quick shot to check the settings and this is what I got. I think this is probably my favorite picture of him. Check out what others have done at iheartfaces.com

Day 59: Friday

2009-03-26T22:55:00.000-07:00

Original

fix #1

fix #2

fix #3

fix #4

It is fix it Friday at iheartfaces again. I am short on time so if you have questions about how I did something, just ask.

Day 58: Water Star

2009-03-23T21:35:00.000-07:00

For we picture {this} this month is all about black and whites. When I was going through my photos I couldn't figure out why I didn't have many black and whites since they are my favorites. I realized most of my favorite pieces were done on film and processed in a darkroom. It got me thinking that I need to start shooting more. Lately I have been focusing on the twins because they are my main focus so it took me awhile to find the perfect one.

Day 57: Shadows

2009-03-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

As you may know, I love to take photos. But what is there to do with all these shots I take? Enter them in things!!! I used to enter my photos in the KC fair every year and I would win every year. I really don't have time to do that anymore. Now, I have found places online to enter them. This time I found one on the I Should Be Folding Laundry blog called You Capture. This week the theme is all about shadows. I LOVE SHADOWS! I like the way they take ordinary snapshots and turn them into great photography. This is one of my very favorite shadow shots.

Day 56: Move In

2009-03-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

For the "no flash" theme at iheartfaces I chose the day we moved into our house. This is our realitor/best friend carrying my husband over the threshold. This was such a fun day!

Day 55: Jack

2009-03-22T19:53:00.000-07:00

So the theme this weeks for iheartfaces is "no flash." I love natural light photographs. This picture of Jack was taken in front of our living room window. I love the look on his face.

Day 54: Fix it Friday

2009-03-20T11:43:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to list the steps I took for each image. I get a lot of questions about what I do, so hopefully this will help. I use GIMP, so I am not sure how well my explanations will translate into Photoshop.

Photo 1: This is obviously the original.

Photo 2: The first thing I did was crop. I just felt the background was a little too much and took away from the face. Next, I lassoed each of the eyes and created new layers with each one and adjusted the curves to brighten them up a little. Next, Flatten the image. For the one, I hit it with the "Make Wonderful" script. It is part of the FX-Foundry script pack. Finally I flattened the image and made slight adjustments to the curves.

Photo 3: OK, first I opened the image that had been previously cropped. I also opened two different textures. The first texture is just a grungy gradient that I use on a lot of my stuff. The second was one with blue and white stripes. I copied and pasted each texture to make a new layer. I adjusted the scale of each texture to fit over the photo. Next, I erased the stripes off the kid and left them in the background. On the other texture, I did the same thing, but with a 50% eraser so there was just a little bit left on the face. Flatten the image. I lassoed the eyes and created new layers with them. This time I did a dodge layer to lighten them up. Flatten image. Finally I did a vignette to emphasize the face.

Photo 4: This was a quick and easy one. First, I hit it with the "Dawn Clouds" script found on deviantART. Next, I lassoed the eyes and dodged them as I did in the previous photo. Finally I adjusted the curves and flattened.

Photo 5: I think this is my favorite this week. I desaturated it and then gave it an S curve for contrast. Brightened up the eyes. Next, I gave it a nice vignette. Finally I did a soft light chocolate layer at about 40% just to warm it up a bit.

Let me know if you have any questions and I can try and explain it a little better. Also head on over to iheartfaces to see what other people have done.

Day 53: Jack Green

2009-03-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, I figured that since Ella got her few days in the spotlight, it's Jacks turn now. The twins had a great St. Patty's Day!

Day 52: Green Man

2009-03-15T20:59:00.000-07:00

Keeping with the green theme at iheartfaces, I chose a picture I took on my honeymoon. This was at a show where they were doing the Thriller dance. This was actually taken with my little point and shoot camera and I love how it turned out. The only editing I did was cropping it. There were some great blue ones as well. Hope you enjoy.

Day 51: Ella Green

2009-03-15T19:23:00.000-07:00

So this weeks theme at iheartfaces is "green." It just so happens that I took some St. Patty's Day pics of the munchkins over the weekend. Some family friends of ours brought them some really cute onesies from Ireland. I also made Ella a green tutu for a party we will be going to. I hope you enjoy. Happy St. Patty's Day!

Day 50: Friday

2009-03-13T19:44:00.001-07:00

Ok, so I finally got around to doing the fix it Friday for i heart faces. Between crying babies, errands, and a gassy dog, my day has been pretty full. At least I got it done. I did several versions as always. Hope you like them. The top image is the original.

Day 49: Green Bridge

2009-03-11T13:09:00.000-07:00

When I was five years old my parents made me take a ballet class. This is the point I realized I could not dance! One of the great things about this class was the drive home. We would take the back road home and cross over the green bridge. Ever since then, it was always a treat when I got to go over the bridge. Now, when I go home for visits, I always make a point to go over the bridge. After all these years, I finally took a photo of it. I have included several versions because I can't decide which one I like best.

Day 48: 36

2009-03-10T09:02:00.001-07:00

Back when I was in school I took a photography class from a wonderful teacher named Marta. The class was basically about how there is much more to photography then all the technical stuff. It was an art. For our final project in that class we had to create a photo book. Mine was all about barns and old buildings. Of course this was some time ago, so it was all shot with a 35mm. I always liked that project, so now when I see a neat barn, I just have to shoot it. I came across this one while up at my parents house last week. I gave it an Orton effect and just made it look pretty.

Day 47: Hide Out

2009-03-09T13:53:00.000-07:00

iheartfaces.com is doing creative crops this week. I love this picture of Ella hiding in her blanket. She was 2 weeks old when I took this picture. You can see the original and my new and improved version. Hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think.

Day 46: Dad

2009-03-09T12:07:00.000-07:00

This week we are doing a creative crop for iheartfaces.com. I took this picture at my dad's retirement party with my lensbaby. I have included the sooc shot as well as my cropped version. Comments welcome.

Day 45: Fix it Friday

2009-03-06T21:31:00.001-08:00

I look forward to Fridays now, not because Pat is home, but because I get to "fix" a photo. The top photo is the original. The others are what I came up with. Hope you enjoy! Check out everyone's "fixes" at iheartfaces.com

Day 44: Tough Guy

2009-03-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

Yup, time for another face shot for iheartfaces.com. Today the twins got to have cereal for the first time. It was nice and messy. I love his little smile here. The funny part of the whole thing was that he hated the cereal! He pretty much cried through the whole thing. This was the only happy moment he had during the whole experience. I think he was laughing at his sister because she kept spitting it out too. It was great. I love these moments.

Day 43: Friday

2009-02-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

Ok, so once again it is "fix it Friday" at iheartfaces.com This weeks picture really didn't need a lot of work, but I gave it a shot. I have done a b/w, color, and textured. Hope you enjoy. The first one is the original.

Day 42: Inspiration Day

2009-02-25T09:32:00.001-08:00

I have decided to do something a little different today. Rather then post one of my photos, I thought I would post about some other photographers that inspire. I have been into newborn a children s photography lately because of the twins. I am always looking for fun new ways to capture their little faces.

This first photographer has a great eye. I like the way she uses color. I am usually more into the black and white stuff, but I really like her colors. I also like her use of hats. Maybe it's because I recently learned to knit on double point needles and I am now making hats, or maybe it's because they look so cute. alwphotography

I was first introduced to this next photographer from a blog I follow. She also is part of the iheartfaces blog. I LOVE the backgrounds she uses. Someday I will get a portable backdrop holder and I will try and find some like hers. She also does amazing post processing work. peahead prints.

Next time I will post some non portrait photographers.

Day 41: Special Post

2009-02-23T12:32:00.000-08:00

This is a special post for Barbra. Here are some examples of my photomanipulations. click on the thumbnails to view the full size images. Feel free to to look at my other posts as well to get an idea of my more traditional works. Email me if you have any questions.

Day 40: Music Man

2009-02-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

For my adults b/w category photo, I chose my favorite homeless man. He sits on the OB pier all day long singing gospel songs and playing his keyboard. He is very intriguing to watch. For more great photos go to iheartfaces.com

Day 39: Ella... again

2009-02-22T22:03:00.000-08:00

My entry for the b/w category at iheartfaces.com is of Ella. i really didn't do much work on it. Just smoothed out the skin a little and brightened her up a bit. Hope you enjoy.

Day 38: Fix it Friday

2009-02-21T11:06:00.000-08:00

Ok, so over at I Heart Faces, they have a "Fix it Fridays." Basically, they post a photo that has some problems and we are challenged to fix it. Most people use Photoshop to do this, but since I am a poor, new mom, I use Gimp. I am pretty much able to get the same results as using Photoshop or any other editing software you have to pay for. The first photo is obviously the original. The second photo is pretty much a straight forward black and white. The last photo is where I really had fun. I tend to do more of the "grunge" type photos, but this girls looked too sweet, so I didn't take it has far as I normally would. Hope you enjoy.

Day 37: Down by the Sea

2009-01-25T17:28:00.000-08:00

This afternoon we went on a family outing to Seaport Village. The weather was perfect and the babies were in a good mood. We went down to the harbor and saw the ships and stuff like that. There was an amazing glass and metal sculpture called "Lean on Me" by Robert Verhees. It is part of the Urban Trees project. The other photos are of the cleats (I think that's what they are called) down by the Star of India.

On a side note, For as long as I can remember I have loved stars. I think it all started with the concrete slab at my parents house. This last photo is homage to that slab.

Day 36: Dead Flowers

2009-01-21T22:34:00.000-08:00

As an early birthday present, Pat got me the accessory kit for my Lensbaby. We went out to Mission Trails Park this past weekend and I took the kit with me and took a bunch of shots. These are my favorites.

Day 35: Bird House

2009-01-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

I took the twins to the zoo yesterday and while exploring the Children's Zoo, I found this cool pigeon house. All the birds were sitting in their little boxes except this one. It would follow us as we would walk by each window.

Day 34: Lots of Babies

2008-12-28T12:35:00.001-08:00

I was playing with my new lens again and decided to take a few shots of my favorite subjects. My kids! I could not just pick on, so I am putting them all on here. Hope you like. Oh, if anyone ever wants prints of my photos, just let me know.

Day 33: A Trip To the Beach

2008-12-27T11:52:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I got a new lens for Christmas. I got the Lensbaby Muse. If you don't know what that is, then go check out the website. I will be having fun with it. The day after Christmas we went down to OB to take some photos. This is probably my favorite. Here is the original and the altered one.

Day 32: Ella Sage

2008-11-17T13:35:00.001-08:00

Next up is Ella. She is a little better at posing for me, but she still throws temper tantrums when she does not like the position.