Cass

So I have to say that I have been really unusually busy this past week--things from the Bridal Show have really gotten rolling and I've been going to meetings and appointments like crazy. So I have not yet gotten to the picture I need to take for my website and the suspense builds, but I did still want to post pictures and try to learn some stuff.

Thankfully, in the midst of being busy, I've also had some significant time to sit down with Photoshop and peruse the internet for free actions that I can download. So for this one, I have revisited an old favorite picture and used the Urban Acid action on it. (I forget where I got it, but it's a pretty easy Google.)

Okay, so here is the original of Cass at Matt and Kim's wedding. Obviously the picture has some fuzzy edges and I remember when I first saw it that I almost deleted it, but I just kept loving it so much that I couldn't bring myself to do it. The color is also a little funky, being under fluorescent lights and all, but especially if you know Cass, this is kind of a perfect picture of her. But even in spite of loving it, I've never been totally satisfied with it and I keep trying to think of stuff to do to it, so basically every time I learn a new Photoshop trick, I bust this picture out and give it a go.

This is the result with the Urban Acid action. I really like it, even if I can't really explain why. I think it just gives it more of a surreal look, or perhaps enhances an already surreal look. Something I did learn about this action as I tried it on like ... a zillion other photos is that it doesn't always work really well on people, especially if they aren't the focus of the shot. It seems to add in some serious yellow and/or green (sorry for all the technical buffs out there--I tend to be more on the artistic approach side of things, messing with stuff until it "looks good" and not really crunching numbers to figure out why) and therefore seems to work better on warmer toned pictures. I also have a feeling that it would be most awesome on buildings, but since I dont' take a lot of pictures of buildings, I'm not sure.

Although I might have to go revisit a picture I took while I was at Herron and try this out. I think as a photography gift to myself, I'm going to buy one of those sweet looking journals that looks like it came from Lord of the Rings (you know, where you tie it shut with leather?) and make notes of the pictures I want to take and what I want to do with them after. I've been feeling really creatively inspired lately, so I need to stockpile it for when I need inspiration.