A woman With Great Will Power...Tracy

     I had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful woman during this past Spring's baseball season. She's a wife, a mother of 3 boys, a loyal woman of faith, and does it all!  Her two wonderful sons were on our baseball team. Her charming husband was the assistant coach, and I now consider their family- great friends. 

Tracy told me she was having surgery,  Weight-loss surgery. I was and still am excited for her! She had her surgery and started her blog to track her journey to a new her.  You can see it here....Tracy's Blog. 

She went to her first doctor's appointment 2 weeks after her surgery and made the announcement...she had lost 20 lbs! 20lbs! Of course my first response was..."You go girl!" Then, naturally, being the person I am my second response was..."We should totally do pictures of your progress!" 

That is exactly what we did! I am beyond ecstatic to be on this journey with her! I can't wait for the next shoot, and I am already planning it! :) 

Way to go Tracy, I am so proud of you and good luck to you! 

Check out this purty lady! 

A symbol that means a great deal to her and her family. 

I could not get over how different she looked! 

 That's one happy lady right there! 

Just beautiful! Thank you again Tracy for letting me a part of this! :)

   

The Ritter Family

While we have had some yucky weather lately, the afternoon that we did this shoot was absolutely perfect! This is actually the family that got "experimented" on with my coffee filter foolishness. See previous post all about that.  I am so happy with the results, and I hope they are too! They are one beautiful family!

See that gorgeous smile on that momma! She had just gotten off her braces and she has perfected how to show off that smile already I think!

Her kids always crack me up! Her youngest has the funniest faces.

The oldest was doing such a good job on showing little brother on what he was supposed to be doing.

Gah...love it! 

Look at her showing off that smile! One adorable family!

Thanks you guys for such a great evening and letting me be a part of another year of family photos! :)

A Coffee Filter In My Camera Bag

I am cheap, its ok, I have come to accept it. Photography equipment adds up quick. We all know it. So can you use stuff around the house to supplement some equipment?

Sure can! 

I have always used a coffee filter as an expo disc to set my white balance. It has never failed me, and my results are always on point. 

Well, yesterday I couldn't find my diffuser for my flash. I would like to thank my 3 year old for that. I had a shoot in 30 minutes and didn't have time to search high and low for it. So, I took a rubber band and placed a coffee filter over the flash. 

Oh did it work! I think it worked better than my expensive diffuser. 

The lighting was perfectly even. 

It was really windy so I didn't have my flash off camera either. This was on my camera, pointed at my subject. Which is a big no, no because its harsh, it creates gross shadows and causes your subject to be flat! But, this is just great. I love it!

I wonder what else I can do with a coffee filter!

Pinterest for Photographers - The Shoot It

Holy mother of pearl! I have found where I will be spending the majority of all my time for a very long time. 


How is this site not more popular? Or, am I just out of the loop?


Go check it out  The Shoot It - Where Photographers Share

 It's a Pinterest style site for photographers of all levels. How cool! 


The tips, tricks, ideas, and discussions I found within 5 minutes had me hooked. It even has a "Shoot It" bookmark just like the "Pin It" for Pinterest. Also, instead of it saying repin it says reshoot. I love that...so cute! Its really the small things in life! 


Have fun, and your welcome for giving you something to do to completely waste away your day!  But hey...you're learning right!


Amanda

No more Excuses!

We have all seen it! "Sorry my image looks yucky, stupid Facebook!" Blaming it all on Facebook. I used to do it!  I have even seen some say that Facebook distorts their images. Insert what the heck face here: O_o! We'll talk about why those images look "distorted" later: 2 words; Skin Smoothing.


Any how, now is the time to throw away that excuse. There is a way to get your images to not look "yucky" on ye old Facebook! And, you know what? It's easy!


There are several actions out there for Photoshop to make the process smooth as glass! Here are a few:


My favorite!
MCP Actions - Facebook Fix


Another Favorite:
Paint the Moon - Facebook Resizing


Did I mention those were Free?! If you want more, simply Google: Free Facebook resize actions. You will get a list of others.


Now what do these actions do? Well they do exactly what they say they do! They resize the image which is extremely important, and then they sharpen them which is equally important. Some of the actions will even put them in a story board for you, and give you the option to add watermarks and more. Once you have installed your action, simply hit play once you are completely done editing your image and follow the directions the action gives you.




Why is resizing important? A lot of reasons! Here are a few:


1: Bigger images take longer to load, and may not be viewable on standard monitors. Also, when the image takes to long to load it could bore and frustrate your clients.


2: It helps show the detail, color and more at 72 pixels per inch (ppi) which Facebook automatically sets for you once you upload any image!


3: It helps with images to not be stolen! If you upload at full size, someone could go and take the full size image no problem.


4. Your image is bigger than what Facebook wants it to be, so its going to resize it for you (if you don't) when you upload it. Therefore, destroying any quality the image had! 




This is the way I think about it, a 5x7 frame (facebook)  can only fit a 5x7 picture, right. Well you have an 8x10 (your image), its not going to fit! Of course you can try, you can fold it, crumple it up, cut it, or force it; whatever you want to. But, now its all messed up! It's "yucky." So what you do? Resize it to fit to the 5x7 frame (facebook) according to its regulations! And now its no longer "yucky" its just right!


Another question is, do you upload images to Facebook at High Resolution? No! Never! You are asking for your stuff to be stolen, and printed, and actually it doesn't make the images look any better. Did you hear about the family that went to Ikea and saw their family photo printed in one of their frames? Stolen off of Facebook. Ikea didn't steal it, its people submitting them to any stock photo companies that are stealing them. So, no High Resolution!


Lastly, don't let the resize rules stop at Facebook, these should also be applied for any site! :)


Questions? Let me know!

Gotta Love Boudoir Photography 18+ Only!

I have done quite a few boudoir shoots, and I haven't been really sure if I have wanted to jump in both feet first with the boudoir. But, I had the opportunity to work with my student yesterday on her first boudoir shoot and we had a blast! It was then I realized....I wanna jump in to the boudoir world whole hearted!

It was a normal day, normal boudoir shoot...my student is also a make up artist and she was doing make up while I was setting up the little bit of lighting in the clients bedroom. Now, let me take this chance to tell you how important make up and hair is to a session like this. Trust me....spend the extra money to have a professional do it! You WILL be elated with the outcome...just trust me! You will feel more confident, more sexy and your images will be to die for! Then what is there to regret when your done? Then after your shoot while you are looking all sexy....treat yourself and go out! :) Best gift to yourself ever!

The thing about this shoot that caught my attention is that both of these women (whom are friends) were so nervous. Bless their hearts, but they were! They got their make up done, showed us their outfits and they were ready to go! They are both mothers, and wives and they looked and felt beautiful which is so deserved! And, isn't that what every woman wants? I know I do! For me its a treat to go out and get my eyebrows waxed, its like a weight has been lifted off of my forehead. But, daggit I feel better about myself and by golly I deserve it!

We ended up having a lot of fun, joking around and laughing! Loosened things up a bit to make it fun, joking around, and make the ladies a little more comfortable!

By mid way through, they seemed as if they were the pros!

This shoot was special to me and a revelation because I feel its important that us moms remind ourselves that dang it we ARE sexy, and we are allowed to be beautiful and that we still got it!! Flaunt it sista! :) Its a special time that we are rewarded and our men are rewarded. Or, I have had divorced woman do it, woman you have lost a lot of weight. It doesn't matter why, but as women let us flaunt it and feel sexy again!

Contact me today to schedule your shoot! And feel beautiful again! :) Special price for shoot with makeup! You have the choice of a private session in studio or in the privacy of your own home!

Logos...to leave it plain & simple or do it up...that is the question!

For us photographers it seems the newest thing is to have these logos that are beautiful and extravagant. Which is perfectly fine, by all means show off your style! But how much is to much?

I personally like to keep my logos plain and simple. A simple font, a simple design and I am done,especially if it is going onto a picture.

It is important not to take away from your image. I see to many photos where the logo is overpowering the photo with swirls, and flowers and crazy big fonts. In the end all  this is doing is drawing my attention AWAY from your photo and to your logo. What do you think this does to your clients? They see your logo, but not your work. I personally want to be remembered for the awesome picture they saw!

Now if you are a designer, I could see where the logo drawing their attention would come into play. But, you want people to hire you based on your photography skills! Not that logo that someone else made! :)

Keep it small and simple, sometimes less is more!  Please weigh in on this in the comment box below!

Here is one of my favorite logos that I have...small and simple...perfect for kids photos! :)

Subtle Actions

Here is an action for you that I have created for FREE. This action is for very subtle changes to the eyes. I personally as a photographer love those little actions to the eyes, not those overwhelming actions where the eyes look completely fake. These two actions included will do just that. One will add more definition to the eyes and one will make them pop out more. 


Now, please if you have any questions or problems please let me know because this is literally like the second action I have ever made. 


You can download it here: Eye Pop Action

Tutorial: Replacing the background Easily in CS5!

A great friend of mine over at AE Photography whom is the master of replacing backgrounds actually taught me how to do this. You should check him out....www.facebook.com/aephotographyct. What he showed me is a wonderful way to replace the background of an image using layer masks. Which means that you can work non-destructively! Also, this method of removing your background also allows for you to get those tricky loose hairs! The only thing with this tutorial is that you have to have a solid background! So you can't take like a couple on a beach and put them in a forest kind of thing.  Lets get started!


1st: Open the image you want to edit in CS5. Note: If you have a "wrinkly" background and are going to edit it smooth...now is the time to do it. For example purposes only, I am not smoothing my background...yet.

Step 2: Drag in the background that you want to use on top of your original image! For my example, I am using a pink damask. Make sure to fit the background to fit your image. Note: Press the SHIFT key while resizing to avoid any distortion.  You can rename your layer too to avoid any confusion.

Step 3: In your layers pallete change the blending mode of the first layer to Multiply. Note: For lighter backgrounds that you are switching out...you can use soft light.

Step 4:  Add a layer mask to the first layer by pressing that little square with the circle in it at the bottom of your layers palette.

Step 5:  Next above the layers where it says adjustments, beside it says masks...click it....then go down to invert and click that. This will invert your mask that you added earlier. You will notice that the square on your layers palette went from white to black.

It should look like the original now.

Step 6:  Select a soft round brush with the color white selected at opacity 100%. Note: Did you know that you could change between your foreground and background color by hitting the "X" key?

Step 7: Now, making sure that the layer mask is selected ...simply paint where you would like your new background.

Continue painting all over your background until its completely covered making sure not to paint over your subject. See how any stray hairs are not disappearing? Cool huh?  Now if you mess up and accidentally paint over your subject do not result to the undo button. Simply press that "x" key changing your color to black and paint over where you accidentally painted. Tada! All fixed! Just make sure to switch back to white to finish painting your background. It should look something like this:

Now if you want to fine tune your painting you can press the ALT key and click on your layer mask. This will show you your exactly what you missed and painted.

Now on mine you can see the black spots where I missed, so now I will paint with the white brush and fix my missed spots! Then press the ALT key and click the layer mask to turn it back to normal!

Step 8: Now is the time to do any adjustments to your background. You can make it lighter or whatever you would like. If you want to make adjustments to the entire image subject and background you are fine go about it normally. But, for mine I think my background is a little to dark. So, I am going to just make adjustments to only my background. To do this, I make my adjustments while only paying attention to the background. Then after I am done with each adjustment I am going to add a clipping mask to the layer by hitting the ALT key and clicking the line in between my adjustment and my new background. Your subject, or original you will go back to normal then.

  Step 9: Now if you want to make separate adjustments to your subject click on the original and/or background layer and make your adjustments. Because this layer is under your new background it will only change the original image and not the background too.

For mine I just did some slight curve adjustments, got the red/pink tones out of her face by adjusting the saturation, and then adjusted my levels a little. Then I did a little burning to add a slight shadow.

Step 10: At this point you are done, you can flatten the image, save it and TA DA!!! Or, you can do any other editing that you want, add vignetting, or other effects to the image then flatten and save!

Yay for easy background replacement! :) Any questions let me know! I will be happy to help!

Model Casting Call

Hello everyone! I am looking for the new face of LMP! Are you interested? For now I am looking for women or men 16 and up who would be interested. Your face will be used for advertising/marketing and other promotional material for LMP. You must be reliable and ready to shoot! Of course any shoots you participate in will be free and you will receive a disc with your images.

If you are interested please send an e-mail with a self portrait to Lovingmemoriesphotos@yahoo.com

 

Whats for Superbowl?

I love the Superbowl! Nevermind the fact that I barely know who is even playing. But, its a good excuse for me to eat and of course make a hodge podge of yummy stuff! Or as my oldest calls it -  Free dinner!

So what's on my menu tonight? Lots of stuff!!! Here they are with links to their recipes!

1: Of course Hooters style wings! I have been making these for forever, and they taste just like hooters wings! Also, you can use shrimp instead of wings to make their famous Buffalo Shrimp! YUM!! Might I suggest adding a little bit of cornstarch to the flour too, if you want the breaded part a bit thicker! And, this recipe calls for Crystal Louisiana hot sauce, I used Franks...its just as good!
Here is the link:    http://secretrecipes.blogspot.com/2008/02/hooters-buffalo-chicken-wings.html




 2: Garlic Cheesy Bread - yummy!!! Thankfully to my Pinterest addiction I found this gem of a recipe! Very delicious! Don't be afraid of the call for bread flour in this recipe. Last time I made this I was out, and I just substituted all purpose flour for it. The bread was not as "springy" but it still tasted the same!

Here is the recipe:  http://www.laurenslatest.com/hasselback-garlic-cheesy-bread/











3: Cinnamon and Sugar Pull Apart Bread: Yes, we love bread...and sweets! For this one, I am already cooking a bread that I have to fully make homemade...sooo...I use biscuits instead!  The Pillsbury layered style biscuits work great!! I just follow the stacking instructions, and the filling part and I am done! Very super easy.
Here is the recipe:
http://iheartfoodandsocanyou.blogspot.com/2011/11/cinnamon-sugar-pull-apart-bread.html












4: What kind of person would I be if we didn't have something chocolate?! So, I am making peanut butter chocolate crescent rolls - yes you read that as awesome! I wanted something else easy! I don't want to be in the kitchen all day and all night while the boys sit on the couch all night watching the commercials! Oh, and the game. I only watch the commercials.   This recipe is super easy too and super delicious!
Check it out here: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/lifestyle/129109228.html








5: Last but not least on the list is my kids favorite! Homemade cheese crackers. These puppies taste just like cheez its, if not better. And yes, there is a difference between cheez its, and cheese nips....cheez its are so much better!
Check out the recipe here:
http://kathdedon.wordpress.com/2010/09/10/melt-in-your-mouth-homemade-cheese-crackers/














Of course this is not it. There will be the regular veggies and dip, chips and salsa, fruit, deviled eggs (i had some eggs to get rid of)  and so on. Best part about all of these recipes is they are not only great for adults but also for the kids!

Hope everyone has a great night enjoying the superbowl! Go Giants! :-)

Gotta Get this off my chest! Copyright Infringed...what!?!

Ok, so sorry, I have to get this off of my chest before I explode. I am a nice person, I really am! But, you cross a line when you say I stole something.

The other day I posted a few logos that I had made. Just playing around...seeing what I was capable of, right! Well apparently this girl off of Etsy owns the rights to be able to doodle a camera. O_o Yes, I said that right. Because, I drew a camera that looks just like hers I stole it. Here is the problem that i have with it. 1: Amanda don't steal 2: I worked for 4 hours on that durn thing! 3: did I say I worked on it for 4 hours?

Now, here is the other thing....How does someone get to think that no one else can draw the same image or use the same concept? That would be like me going to every other photographer who used the same pose as me and telling them they infringed my copyrights.  Do you think America's Next Top Model goes after all these photographers and says that they are infringing their copyrights because they are copying their shoots? No. Now, I could see where infringement would be an issue if the item was being sold and taking away from her sales, or maybe I was pretending that I was this amazing designer. Truth is, I suck at drawing and its not for sale! If you look at the camera that I drew, and the one that she drew you can see that the lines on mine are much wider. Also, that mine looks like I don't have the steadiest of hand- which I dont! lol!

 I as an artist I feel extremely flattered when someone copies me. It means that someone really enjoys my work,and that I have inspired them! The important part of that is they have to make it their own! Thats what I saw when I saw her work - Inspiration, and I feel I made it my own, I worked hard on that thing!! Not to mention, I saw it on a google search of - camera doodles while looking for free vectors. But, why do we as artists do what we do? We were not born and say oop im a photographer, or oop im a designer! No, we were given inspiration for something. You could have taken an art class in high school and realized that you were an amazing painter, or you could have been given a camera for Christmas and realized that you loved taking photos. Whatever it was, we did not just wake up one morning and say "hey, I think I want to be a photographer (or other) today."

Here is the other part that really bothers me. Lets use this hypothetical situation: What if I was going to school for design and I was asked to create a logo for a photography company and I came up with that same looking camera without looking at hers? What if I came up with the even just the same concept.....Would I still be "infringing" as she thinks? I think she would think that I was...so its a lose, lose situation!

On her facebook page she has an album of her "offenders" where she states that they have stolen her design. One of the alleged "thieves" has a photo of an owl where she claims that this is 100% her design. I laugh at this because, I have the same exact owl that I downloaded completely legally off of 123vector. com. Not to mention if you do a google search for free camera clip art....her "design" comes up on several sites for free by other authors.

I send her a message letting her know that I drew the camera myself, and that I am indeed not a designer, that her art was an inspiration, how much I loved her work, that I have no problem at all linking to her (you know since mine isn't for sale & hers is *marketing*) and that I hoped I didn't cause any hard feelings. I asked her to remove the childs face from the image that she took (yes took) and got no response. Then she posts my blog on there....my bad, forgot I had it on there...changed it and linked to her! No problemo! The odd part is that according to Etsy, she changed her policies as of today....hmmmm- its killing me to know what she changed...lol!

Bottom line....I can breath easily knowing that it was not stolen! Its people like her that make the industry so hard, everyone has to start somewhere and learn and do. That just happened to be my doing point, not my starting point! If I could bang out a drawing like that just starting out I am doing the wrong thing.  So should I be flattered that I was able to replicate her camera to the point where she thought it was one she did? YES!!!! and I am!!!! I give credit where credit is due, the end!  And, you can't own the copyright of something so universal like a doodled camera or a concept as she puts it, especially when its plastered all over the internet for free! If we could do that, I call dibs on the copyright of my fav pose!

For goodness sakes I have 2 followers on my blog and one of them is me!!! Seriously...I don't think its reaching that many people! But I am definitely sharing this! :D 

Thank you for letting me vent! :)

Logo it up!

So, I have always tampered around with logos but, I never fully got "into" them. That was until today when I got a little deeper into them, and had an amazing photographer tell me she was going to kick my butt if I didn't start doing more designs. Well, I don't want a butt kicking! So, I spent a lot of hours tinkering away, and, well needless to say; I am hooked. Kind of like a pinterest addiction hooked. Here are some of the things that I came up with! Let me know what you think! :)



      This first one is kind of a biggy for me! I actually hand drew this camera! Took me 4 hours, It was based off of a GREAT artist!! You should definitely check her Etsy out, she is a great inspiration! I wish I was this fluent in it like she is, but she is amazing!! 
                                        Check her out here:   www.helloaimi.etsy.com
My lines are all squiggly, and wide, hers are perfectly proportioned! Think im going to stick to vectors! 
Oh, and sorry about the big 'ol copyright C, but I gotta protect my stuff!

 Hope you enjoy! A quick tutorial on how to make one of these logos coming up soon!

Do you have a request?

Do you have a request for a tutorial? Or maybe a question, need tips, anything! Let me know here!

Line Logo Tutorial in Photoshop CS5

I have been requested to create a tutorial for those cute little line logos that you are seeing everywhere! Any questions, please let me know! :)

First you want to open up CS5 and create a New Document  with the width of 3872 pixels - height 2176 pixels, resolution 240 pixels/inch and Transparent Background contents.

It should now look like this

Create a new layer and then you then want to select the rectangle marquee tool and by dragging it across your template select the size line you want.

Then you want to select the paint bucket tool and fill your "line" with whichever color you would like. Normally to get that opaque look you should select a darker gray, or off white color. For this tutorial I used #a69e9e. You then click on your "line" filling it with your selected color.

Then you want to go back to that layer and adjust the main opacity of that layer to your liking. For mine I normally use 30% opacity.

By hitting CTRL-D you will deselect the "line." so that you can go on to make your box in the middle. Create a New Layer, then select the rectangle marquee tool again and create a small box in the middle of the "line" you may use the rulers to make sure its perfect.

Go to the paint bucket tool again and select the color that you want to be in the middle of your line. After selecting that color click in your box to fill it with your selected color. I chose a pink for this example.

Hit CTRL-D again to deselect the square and then create a New Layer. (this part is optional if you want a two toned square)  Once you have created your new layer select your rectangle marquee tool again and create a square in the middle of your other square. Here is the change, after you have made your second middle square go to SELECT and choose REFINE EDGE.

Then adjust the edge by the changing the smoothness and feathering of your box so that the lines are not as defined. Click OK.

Then select your paint bucket tool and fill that box with another color, whichever you choose. For this example I chose white. Then you hit CTRL-D to deselect the square.

Now you are ready for the prettys! Click on your first layer which is Layer 1 and then add a New Layer. This layer is going to be your background pretties...if you want them! Choose a brush or other vector that you like and paint it behind the square. Because of the sequence of the layer the paint/vector will be behind two tone square that you created. It should look something like this!

Now my brush only goes one way, so to get the swirlies on the other side of my square I am going to create a NEW template. Go to FILE create NEW and just keep the same settings that are already there, just make sure that the background is transparent. Once the new template has opened using the same brush/vector paint with the same color as the one that you did on your logo. If the new one is bigger than the other, no problem...we'll fix that!

Now you are going to go to Image and select Image Rotation and then Flip Canvas Horizontal.

It should now look like this

Select the move cursor and drag the painted swirlies from the NEW template to your logo template. It will automatically create a new layer when you drag it!

Now, its the not the same size right? Hit CTRL-T then using the diagonal corners drag out or in to the right size.

Then hit ENTER. Then choosing the move tool move your new swirl layer into place behind your square. You should have something like this!

Then comes the easy part! If you have to many layers at this point you can right click on your layers pallete and choose Merge Down on each layer. Its important NOT to choose flatten image because then you will loose the transparency of the image. Then choose your Text tool and click in the middle of your square. You can put just an initial in here or whatever you would like,  at whatever font you like, and whatever color you would like. I am putting an L for the first letter of my business with a pretty font I have called Jelly Cake. Don't worry to much about the perfect size at this point....there is an easier way! :)

Then to get that oh so perfect size just hit CTRL-T, then drag the corners of your box to your desired size, and then you can move around that box to make sure its where you want in the box! Told ya...much easier! :)

Press ENTER to lock in your size, and then you can be done if you want! But, I want people to know what that L means if they see it somewhere other than somewhere like Facebook. So, selecting the TEXT tool again I just click on the right side of my gray box and type in my business name. Again, you can use whatever font, color, or size that you want. Don't forget about that CTRL-T to resize your lettering if you need to.

You are DONE!  Congratulations on your new logo! Save the file as a PSD file and it is ready to go. It can now be put into any image that you want! :)  When you place it on an image and its to big use that CTRL-T to resize it to fit your image! :)

You can be as creative as you want with this logo. Instead of a square in the middle maybe use a circle. Really its all up to you! Have fun!