Julie Mead and Friends

NEW: Artististic Photo Overlays #5

Just arrived this week!  Artistic Photo Overlays #5

This set of 14 watercolor overlays adds the most exciting looks to your photos.  In Photoshop, you simply add the overlay on top of your photo, resize it to fit, then experiment with the blending modes and opacities to get a never ending variety of looks to your photos.  They are sure to spark creativity for you.

The set includes 14 overlays sized at 11 x 14 inches, resolution at 300 ppi.  These overlays are original watercolor paintings by Julie.

It comes in a professional use and personal use versions.

Samples of overlays with photos.

Spring Photos

May I suggest a white Inner Glow on those beautiful spring photos?  It's simple and adds such a soft look.  Choose Layer Styles.  Here are my suggested settings.  You can adjust those to suit your photos best.

 

All of my beautiful spring flowers are just popping out.  The grape hyacinths are blooming along with apple blossoms and tulips.  Before adding the Inner Glow press Control L (mac: Command L) to open up the Levels.  I like to lighten it up quite a bit by moving the right slider and the middle slider to the left.  Not too much, you don't want to lose the color, just enough to lighten it up.  Then move the left slider in to the right to bring in the dark colors.  After you get the Levels just right add the Inner Glow.  NOTE:  I changed my inner glow color to white.

Apple Blossoms with a macro lens

Grape hyacinth with macro lens

Pink tulip with macro lens

Apple blossoms buds with macro lens

Before and After Photo: Silver Liquid Drops

A few weeks ago it was rather rainy here.  On the way home from work I stopped to take a photo of a rainy road.  I don't know what kind of person gets excited about puddles and reflections but I definitely fall into that category.  This post isn't even about the muddy road photo I stopped for but the last one I took before heading on home.  Just as I started to roll up the window the side mirror on my car caught my attention.  Al the drops on it were pretty cool, they reminded me of a song we sing at school about Silver Liquid Drops.

Here's the original photo.  It's a close up of the mirror and the reflection is looking back to the rear of the car and the road behind me.  Rainy days are dark and dreary so I sent the photo into Photoshop.

 

Here's the After photo.  I like the contrasts, it's not so dreary any more.  Use Levels to achieve that.  Play around with the slider but be careful not to overdo it.  I added one of my overlays to this.  That's where the frayed paper edge came from. 

It's Looking More Like a Room!

This week the studio is coming along quite nicely!  It's actually looking like a room now.  They are now in the process of mudding the walls. 

 

This photo is looking towards the front entrance. 

 

Here's the lunchroom for the crew!  They even have a microwave oven.  

 

This will eventually be MY storage room.

Tilt the Camera Reminder

Don't forget to turn your camera when taking photos.  You might be really good at remembering to change from vertical to horizontal photos with your camera but also add a slight tilt to it too, especially if you are capturing fun moments like coloring Easter eggs.  A small angle added to the camera can add a bit of pizazz  and make your photos really stand out! 

On these photo I did the following:

-Added a dark edge.

-Created a small amount of blur to the outside of the photo.

-Increased the Saturation just a bit to make those colors pop!

 

 
For this photo I set the camera to Aperture Priority Mode.  The depth of field is shallow and the focus is on the hands.  For a photo like this I would select a large aperture like f/1.4.  Once I set the aperture the camera selects the correct shutter speed.  If the part you are trying to focus on is blurry your camera is choosing a shutter speed that is too long.  You may need to use a tripod or change the aperture setting.

The Studio Roof

I let one week go by and now I have major changes to share.  The studio changes every day.  

This photo is going to be the entrance.  Hopefully we will have much more than a plank for everyone to walk up.

 

This photo shows my prop closet and where most of photography stuff will be located.

 

I think I am really going to love this wall.  A large desk will be built under these windows.  My computer will be here and I'll have a beautiful view!

 

This photo is looking towards the front entryway.  A large work island will be located in this area.

Life's Unexpected Surprises.... Even at Wal-Mart!

With the holiday weekend being here my family and I headed to a movie Friday evening.  After the movie we needed to run by Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of items before heading home.  The plan was to drop off my daughter and I so we could run in and run out.  I got my 3 items and hurried up to the check-out.  As I approached I noticed carts had been left everywhere!  Full carts were left in line at the register, there was no one there to check me out either.  I was quickly approached by an employee who told me to go outside immediately that there was a fire!  Being the loving mom that I am I wasn't about to leave the store without my daughter so I left the cart and started walking through the crowd trying to find her.  I caught a glimpse of her coming to the front with her cart but wait..... she turned!  She was still shopping oblivious to the people evacuating the store.  I hurried and chase her down.  I had to actually convince her that we needed to evacuate the store.  ( I realized that the intercom plea for customers to evacuate was barely audible)  She left her cart and we hurried to the front.  We noticed other customers were shopping too, oblivious to the fire!  Fortunately as we got to the front an employee met us and said they had things under control.  The fire department had arrived and the fire was electrical. The store was beginning to reek of rubber burning.  I located my cart and tried to find a check out.  Just getting checked out was a story in itself!  The throngs of people were heading back inside, some needed to finish checking out which was a big headache trying to get all of the registers going again and check all of these people out.  The people around me were all very kind to each other amid this chaos.  Everyone was trying to take their turns at the check out, making sure no one was cutting in line.  It's always nice to see the best in us come out.  As my daughter and I headed to the car the guys had missed all the excitement!  They had left Wal-Mart and when they returned to pick us up firetrucks were everywhere!  What a story we had to tell! 

The Walls are Up!

The floor has been put down and the walls for the studio are now up!  Things are moving very quickly.  With the walls up I can now have a better vision of how big this is going to be.

 

This small room at the back will be my props and supplies closet.

Antique Photo Tutorial - for Photoshop Users (FREE OVERLAYS)

March is Heritage Month.  A great time to learn an easy way to turn any photo into one with an antique look.  I am also including free overlays for you so you can follow along! 

1. Choose a photo to use for this tutorial.  If you want to follow along download the Antique Photo Overlays.  This is the photo I will be using.

2.  You will need to set up 3 layers above the original photo.  (by the way, it's a good idea to duplicate the photo and put the original one away)

Now drag the overlay to your photo using the Move Tool.  Position it in place.  Duplicate it by dragging the thumbnail icon to the New Layer icon.  Now change the Layer 1 copy to black and white, this is found in different locations depending on which Photoshop program you are using.  Use your favorite way to turn a layer to black and white.  Change this layer blending mode to Hard Light.  You can adjust the opacity of this layer and all layers when you get everything in place.  Set the blending mode for Layer 1 to Overlay.

For Layer 2 you will need to open a new layer and position it above the background layer.  Choose a brown color in the foreground color palette located in the tool bar, choose the paint bucket, and then fill this layer with brown.  Set the layer blend mode to Color. 

 

Now play with the opacities for each layer.  Every photo is different and so is everyone's personal taste.  Take a few moments to adjust the opacities of each layer.  By the way, feel free to try different blending modes too!  You might find a blend mode that works even better for your photo.  Experiment!!!

3.  Now Flatten all of the layers.  Let's add a little noise to make it look old.  Choose Filter>Noise>Add Noise. 

 

Set the Amount to 12%, choose Gaussian and Monochromatic.  Press OK.

 

4.  Now a little Burning around the edges will give it the final touch.  Press O to open the Burn Tool.  In the Options Bar choose a soft edged brush with the Exposure set to 45%.

 

Burn the edges of the photo and anywhere else you want to give it a darker look.

 

Here's a another finished sample done without the edges burned.

Download the Antique Photo Overlays Here!

Thanks for stopping by!  Please feel free to send your photographer friends here for the free download.  The 2 overlays included in the download are for personal use only.  If you want to use it for a photography business or professional use of any kind please contact me by email located in the TOU file.  Any use of these files for professional or commercial use is prohibited.  Any sharing of these files is also prohibited.

If you like the free overlays you might want to try other overlays for photos that I have created.  I have these linked to the Professional Use Versions for photographers but there are personal use versions available too!

       

     

Laying the Groundwork for the new studio

Follow along as I share with you the building of my new studio.

I started planning an addition to my house over a year ago.  The addition was to house a new photo/art studio for all my passions including photography, digital designing, and painting.  Last year we hired an architect to draw up the floor plans.  It took a long time before we could get a contractor to start but now the building has begun.  They started digging the ground for the footings. 

Here's another picture to show how deep the hole is.  The forms are ready for the cement.

It was really quite interesting to watch them pour the cement.  They had to work very fast. 

And, of course, my grandson had lots of fun playing in the big piles of dirt!