Click it Forward Photo Contest

Their next theme is Pumpkins!

Check out the website at http://www.clickitforward.blogspot.com/ for entry details

Photo Contest

Check out my photo contest at www.clickitforward.blogspot.com

Click it forward Photo Contest Week 1

Here is my entry!




















Don't forget to check out other great entries or enter yourself at www.clickitforward.blogspot.com

Softbox

I recently got a Westcott Apollo Speedlight kit softbox *throws hands in the air and starts doing the happy dance*.  I Love Love Love it!  It is easy to set up and I love how it changes the lighting on my photographs.  Here is my first attempt using the softbox...

I was using a smaller lumiquest softbox that attached directly to the speedlight, but that would create a harsh light.  I would also use my umbrella which is nice but when doing a portrait it would sometimes tend to flood the room with too much light.  So the new softbox is a great mix between my old softbox and my umbrella :)

Digital Backgrounds

So I have been attempting to learn how to do a digital background...why you ask?  Because I am going to do the Alice in Wonderland shoot and thought it would be really cool to learn how to do.  So I went on the net and spent way too many hours trying to learn how to do this.  I checked out youtube, and there is just way too many videos on random stuff that I found it hard to find what I was looking for.  So here is what I learned.

First of all, I can make my own plain background.  You can google this and find a ton of websites telling you how to do this.  Here is mine

So What I learned after doing this, is that I needed to add a shadow to make it look more real.  You can do this in your layers menu, click 'fx' and then drop shadow.  So here is my attempt...and not a good one I might add to the drop shadow...

 

I am still trying to learn the Photoshop 5 refine tool, and its not working out like I would like to so I am going to try to look up some youtube videos on that next and I will do a post on that once I figure it out :)

So I asked my sisters friend who does graphic design and she suggested deviant art for tutorials and I loved this!  Type in tutorial and what you want to learn and there is usually something you can find with step by step.  Also if you want to have a digital background made, you can get one for around $10 to $20 from Lady Aya Productions. Which is what I plan to do for my Alice in Wonderland shoot :)  So excited to see this :)  And she will place the image if I want too.

So my last suggestion is to shoot with an all black or white background or a green screen if you have one, that way you can extract the subject easier.  Make sure they are sitting about 10 feet away and put a light on your backdrop.  And if you want to put them sitting on something in your digital background i.e. a wall, sit them on a stool when you shoot. 

So I will keep practicing and searching the web on my journey to learning digital art with photography :)  Oh and if you have any suggestions...Please Please Please fill me in :)

Theme Ideas?

I really want to do a shoot that has an Alice and Wonderland feel to it.  I want some ideas of some props, backgrounds, etc.  Anyone?

Test Shots

So Here is my first attempt was using the SB-900 and the umbrella (which blew over in the wind...yeah, not a wise decision. LOL)  This was off to the right of the camera.  I set it on manual and adjusted the light up and down.







This is the second one, where I used the 900 with the softbox off to the right of the subject and a direct light from the sb-28 to the lower left of the subject that was adjusted down a lot so it wouldn't put out too much light.








This one, I was able to get the look I was wanting (finally) *claps happily*
I put the SB900 with the softbox on manual, used a higher setting on the flash so it gave off  more light, brought it close to the subject and pushed up my aperture.  This gave it the affect that made the background look darker.