Saying good bye

I am pretty sure I will be shutting down this blog.  I am going to save all my post as they are a journal of sorts for me.  But I never blog anymore.  All my spare time is put into www.stephaniehorwedelphotography.com so I am going to blog more there.  Thanks to my couple of readers and as soon as I figure out how, I will be taking this one down. 

Scott's Senior Pictures - Bakersfield CA

I love the light in this picture.  I didn't edit it much because I didn't want to change it.

Freak Out Update

I have the old external hard drive being looked at to see if I can salvage any pictures.  The new external hard drive is with it ready to catch them. 

My camera has continued to give me the error message.  I have two senior picture sessions that I have to get through then I can send it in to be serviced.  Thank goodness I filled out the warranty card on that one. 

My senior pictures have been so fun to to do.  But I have two appointments that I have rescheduled several times due to weather and illness.  So keep your fingers crossed for me on Sunday and Tuesday.

Next up is trying to schedule family pictures...

Freak Out!

So I am freaking out a bit.  I haven't had any time to look into this problem but it sits in the back of my mind freaking me out. 

My external hard drive where I keep all my pictures is not working.  I don't know if its a crash, or what. 

Who knew you needed a back up of the external hard drive.  I kind of thought it was the back up. 

I have all my pictures for my business on my computer.  Phew.  But every other picture is on the hard drive.  I know I have flikr as a pseudo back up.  However, I only put a fraction of the pictures I take on it.  Plus I started my flickr when I was pregnant with Hannah.  There are pictures on the hard drive that I need for the cook book.

The other problem is i have been getting an error message on my new camera.  Now I love that thing, more than I should, so this is breaking my heart a bit.  In the process of uploading the pictures from pizza night the other night and clearing  my card to go take senior pictures I have erased or lost all of the pictures of pizza night at grannies.  Now this wouldn't be a big deal except for the fact it was the first time all of the great grand children were together and I was the only one taking pictures of the night with a camera and not a cell phone. 

So I am going to take a couple of deep breaths and hopefully find someone who can help me.

Nicole - Senior Portrait Bakersfield CA

This week has been crazy.  But the best part is I got to take some Senior Pictures.  It was a bunch of fun.  Thank you to Nicole and her Mom Michele for the opportunity.  Here is a peak.  I love sun flares and I like experimenting with them.  That's why I am sharing this picture on this blog.

cc

A little constructive criticism is good for everyone.  I added a few of my pictures to a site for some constructive criticism today.  Funny, I think only the bullies came out to play.  I don't mind and I actually thought the same things that they did. But they had nothing nice to say at all.  It's a hit to the self esteem.  But I keep on rolling and will share another picture here. 

Where no bullies will comment.

Oh, I crack my self up.

Jessee & Cody Engagement Pictures - Parkfield CA

These two were so photogenic and we had a good time wandering around the pasture at Horse Camp.  I can not thank them enough for letting me photograph them.

This is just a sample of many outsanding pictures these two took.  It's a great start for Stephanie Horwedel Photography as well.

The Monkey of the House

Adventures in Actions (photoshop that is)

Actions are a series of steps in photoshop that are recorded.  You just click it and it does all the work.  You can adjust them to your liking or leave them as is.  Here is my peanut at the river with several different actions applied to her picture.  Some are as is and some are adjusted.

A.  The Original SOOC (straight out of camera)

B.  This is the action as is

C.  This is the action adjusted some look at peanut's skin

D.  This is the action as is

E. This is two actions put together and the first one adjusted down

F.  This one I played with a bunch and completely changed the original purpose of the action

G.  This one used two different actions that I adjusted

Which one looks best?  My head starts spinning after playing with it too long.

The Many Faces of Caroline

practice

Self Portrait

I think all aspiring photographers take the self timer self portrait at some time.  Here is my best shot.  The kids didn't recognize me when they saw the picture.  I don't know what that means or says about me.

How does color please your eye?

I seem to be drawn to warm colors.  I am finding as I play in photoshop I enjoy warming up my photos.  I think that's how you develop your style.  The blogs that I like the most have the warmest colors.  I need to print my pictures one of these days to see if I have taken it too far.  I wonder if the computer screen and printed images have a different look.  Here is one picture that I played with 3 different ways. Trying to enhance the colors of the grass and Caroline's skin in different ways.

First one is the original.  Followed by a skin and light enhancement.  Then I only adjusted the saturation of green in the picture.  The last is a color curves action that does all the work for me. 

Editing Practice... again