Photoshop tutorial: Dream-like

Since a few of you expressed interest in how I did the dream-like photos in one of my recent posts, I have an easy step-by-step method to share with you. I figured this out on my own one day, so please note that there are many different ways to accomplish something in Photoshop, and this is just my way. I can navigate around in PS, but am self-taught and still have much to learn.

I can’t emphasize that enough.

Here’s the finished version of the image I will be working on for you:

 

I took it this morning while having my coffee outside on the patio. I love the dreamy quality.

I use a PC and the CS5 version of Photoshop.  The first thing I do is to open the image I want to work on, then make a copy of it. Never work on an original image. After I make a copy, I fool around with it to get the color and the contrast the way I want it. For this image, I started with Red Leaf Studio’s Velvet Sage action, lowering the opacity until I liked what I saw.

Now it’s time to get the blur. Have your photo open in PS.

 

STEP 1: Copy the background image.

To do this: In the layers palette (bottom right), click on the thumbnail of your Background layer and drag it on top of the ‘Create a new layer’ icon. It’s the second over from the right at the very bottom right and looks like two rectangles – one on top of the other.

 

STEP 2: Set the Background copy to Gaussian Blur.

To do this: With your Background copy thumbnail highlighted, go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur.

 

STEP 3: Set the amount of blur desired.

To do this: Use the slider to get the desired effect, then hit OK.

 

STEP 4: Add a layer mask to remove blur.

To do this: In the layers palette, with your Background copy thumbnail highlighted, click onto the ‘Add layer mask’ icon. It’s the third from left and looks like a rectangle with a circle in the middle. Then, using a large soft black brush, with your opacity and flow set low (mine was at 17%), gently brush off the Gaussian blur from your desired focal point.

You will find your brush in the toolbox palette (far left of the screen). I used ‘soft round pressure opacity’. Then I changed the flow and the opacity in the bar above.

 

Look at the layers palette (bottom right corner). As you brush off the layer mask in the Background copy, you can see how you’re progressing as the area being removed turns gray on the thumbnail. If you make a mistake, just change your brush color to white and paint over the area you want to correct. Don’t forget to change back to black to finish.

At this point, I make my brush smaller and really go over the area that I want to disappear so that the object is more clear (in this case, the bird). If you like, you can raise the opacity and flow a little, or you can just keep going over the same spot. The longer you work your brush over it, the darker the spot will appear in the thumbnail.

 

STEP 5: Flatten the image.

To do this: At bar across the top, Layer > Flatten Image.

 

At this point, I ran Florabella’s Sweet Color action, and lowered the opacity considerably. Then, because I was publishing this photo on my blog, I duplicated the image. I never use the original image on my blog page, always resizing to a smaller width, and often using a watermark.

To get the watermark this time, I simply typed it. To do this: On the duplicated copy , I created a new layer (in layers palette bottom right) and using the Horizontal type tool in the tool palette (far left), I typed my name in Freebooter Script, lowered the opacity, then moved it where I wanted it.

 

Then I set the image size to 800 pixels width. I hit control / alt / I – but it can also be done by going to the top bar and selecting Image > Image size.

 

Hope this helps. Seasoned pro’s will know of a better way to do this, I’m sure. But this works for me and I hope it does for you, as well.

Enjoy ~

I love movies

This past weekend, I went to the local movie theater with my friend from school, Margie. Because of the rain, it was a perfect weekend to watch a flick. We went to see Hope Springs with Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as an older married couple whose marital spark had bit the dust. They attend a weekend in Maine at an intensive counseling session with Steve Carell who plays their psychologist. I thought it was a sweet, quiet, and touching movie.

Quite unlike The Hunger Games, which I watched Friday night. Loved it, but it was super intense.

When I came home after watching Hope Springs, and throughout the weekend, I actually felt as though I appreciated my husband all the more. I still feel that way.

Here’s the trailer.

 

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I love watching the previews of new movies while I’m at the theater, and am including two that I’d really like to see.

 

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Looks interesting.

And then this one with Clint Eastwood.

 

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I don’t go to the theater very often, so it’s kind of special when I do. Just wanted to share with you and hope your week is off to a good start ~

Rainy day, dream away

I slept late on this rainy Labor Day morning. And by late, I mean after 8 am. It’s been pretty dreary the past couple of days but I have no complaints about the weather.

I’m not big on complaining.

 

Looking out the living room window.

 

Rain collecting on the old screens. I like these screens, actually. They’re quite sturdy.

 

I made a cup of coffee and George and I went to sit outside on the front porch. As we watched the gentle rain coming down, I could hear the steady chirp of crickets, traffic in the distance, and that beautiful sound of the rain.

Found a spider web to photograph.

 

Raindrops like tiny diamonds.

 

Rainy day, dream away
Ah let the sun take a holiday
Flowers bathe an' ah see the children play
Lay back and groove on a rainy day.

~ Jimi Hendrix

 

George does not seem thrilled with this weather.

 

 

But I am thrilled with my coffee.

 

Doesn’t take much to make me happy.

 

Usually.

 

ha ~

 

 

It’s a good morning to curl up with a book.

Happy Labor Day, everyone ~

 

ps – my friend, Hilary, is home and doing well after brain surgery.

life is good.

A Saturday Drive (& some link love)

It’s been an insufferably muggy day around here and the temperature outside was too high for comfort. It’s sad to say that most of the day was spent in air conditioned comfort but I kept busy with a few housekeeping chores and then playing around with some images I snapped this morning during George’s first outing in the new car.

To those of you who are new here, George is our 5-year-old border collie. The only car he’s ever really known is our Honda Element and exactly one week ago, we bought a new Subaru Outback and he had yet to go for a ride in it.

So today was the day.

He looks a little disconcerted to me.

But he soon perks up as we head down the driveway for a “ride in the car.”

Say that in our house and watch what happens.

(Pure doggie bliss).

We drove south for awhile, then headed over the Chesapeake City Bridge after buying some fish at a market along the way.

This is a high bridge that traverses the C&D (Chesapeake & Delaware) Canal.

My view west.

When I looked at all these images on my computer, I felt they were too glaring. I wanted softness, something much more calming, and so I edited them in Photoshop using a Gaussian blur technique I learned. Let me know if you'd like to learn it and I'll do a post about it.

Now the images were what I was looking for.

Hey!

It’s hay.

:  :  :

We drove around for a little while, looking things up in the car manual, my husband getting a good feel for this vehicle (which is awesome, btw) and then we headed north towards home, coming through the back side of Chesapeake City.

The town park by the water.

My favorite restaurant is the last building by the water there.

We have been going there for (OMG) nearly 30 years, since back when we lived in Pennsylvania. It was so good, and so worth travelling the extra miles for this place.

The Bayard House Restaurant

And then some more driving, and finally home and we were heading up the driveway towards the old manor house on the hill. We opened the windows so George could stick his head out (one of his favorite things).

Exciting, yes?

You don't have to answer that.

Almost home.

:  :  :

And now for some Link Love:

Please don’t be hurt if I read you regularly and you don’t see your name here. These are simply a few blog posts that I read early this morning that either touched my heart, made me swoon from the photography, or just plain had me smiling. And so, in no particular order, I give you:

not necessarily in that order by Kelly Letky at that’s mrs. mediocrity to you

Once in a Blue Moon by Hilary at The Smitten Image

Hello September by Caroline Manrique at Constantly Evolving

To a Beautiful Weekend, Dahlings! by Georgianna Lane at her Photography & Other Magic

DC Drama by Kat Warren at Low Tide High Style (there’s a Giveaway there, as well)

waiting by Daryl Edelstein at Out & About in New York City

:  :  :

And, with that, I bid you adieu for now, my friends . . .

thank you for stopping by to visit.

Sending good vibes

Hanging out at home this evening after a long first week back to school. For those of you who don’t know, I run the office of a K-12 private school in Maryland. Tonight I’m going to watch The Hunger Games which came today in my mailbox from Netflix and this weekend, after some long-overdue housekeeping chores, I plan on relaxing. I hope you can as well.

I can’t believe summer is nearly over, can you? I’m glad in a way, I really am. I am more a fan of Autumn (although Spring is pretty wonderful too). And lately, the weather has been more pleasant, those long dog days of August behind us for now.

:  :  :

This was one of those perfect New England days in late summer where the spirit of autumn takes a first stealing flight, like a spy, through the ripening country-side, and, with feigned sympathy for those who droop with August heat, puts her cool cloak of bracing air about leaf and flower and human shoulders.  ~ Sarah Orne Jewett

 

 

“The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.”
~ Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

 

I figure I’ve lost a decent amount of readers due to my sporadic posting of late. Long-time readers may remember that I used to post religiously on an almost-daily basis and although I’m sorry to see them go, at the same time I know that this is what works for me at this moment in my life. I think it’s wonderful to be able to write something every single day, but right now I’m more inclined to go with quality versus quantity.

Not that this is high quality or anything, but you know what I mean. At least, I hope you do. Sending good vibes to all of you on this long Labor Day Weekend ~

A decent day

These little hummingbird photos were taken this morning by my husband, and shot with our old camera, the Nikon D80 and the 70-300mm Quantaray lens. I believe he went back and forth between different auto modes (sport, auto, landscape).

They are pretty much SOOC (Straight Out of Camera) and I love ‘em!

Pay no attention to that big white blob in the background. It’s just the birdbath.

He keeps the feeder filled daily with fresh liquid.

And he says they come to the window when he’s sitting there on the computer and they look in on him. I think that’s pretty cute.

: : :

School is going well, yet still super busy. Our son (the one who is living with us) is in between jobs at the moment and today began helping out in the maintenance department as a volunteer until things quiet down. I think he really enjoyed being there today, and everyone was so happy to see him. He graduated in 2005 and doesn’t often come back to visit, so some of his teachers haven’t seen him for years.

The nicest part of my day came when I was leaving, as my boss – our new Head of School – pulled me aside and told me that there was one thing she had to tell me. We’d been talking about her day and how her class went, and then she told me this story that she said I needed to hear. She told me it was the best part of her whole day. She was extremely busy, and was walking down the hallway after her class, and as she walked past the Alumni Room, she began to hear the most beautiful music floating in the air. She stopped at the door where it was coming from, and quietly peeked inside. And, to her surprise, there sat my son playing the piano. She went in and talked with him a little bit and was astounded to find that he was self-taught.

Shaun taught himself while waiting for me to get finished school every day. Both of my boys always rode with me to school, and their day ended at 3 unless they were playing sports. If they weren’t practicing or at a game, they had to wait around until 4 or 4:30 to go home with me, so Shaun would amuse himself by playing the piano in the Alumni Room. He plays by ear, and is really quite good. (Proud mama talking here).

It was a decent day. And what made it all the more better was seeing my son feeling good about himself and being appreciated for whatever help he could give.

Hope your week is going well ~



Here’s a shout-out to my friend, Hilary, whose brain surgery today was a beautiful success. Rest easy, my friend. You are in good hands and we will be here when you get back.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

My slacks are ironed, my nails are polished, tomorrow’s lunch is set aside and I’m going to try to go to bed early and hope I don’t have bad dreams like I do every year before the first day of school. (I always worry that there will be a crowd of students in the office whose schedules are off, or some such nonsense). Some of our teachers have told me that they, too, have worrying dreams the night before school starts.

Our office is finally ready for opening day and I even hung a couple of my hummingbird prints that I had framed, the black & white ones I like so much. They make me happy (and I hope the children like them).

This weekend I was stung by a European working hornet, and those sure are big suckers. They’re camping out in the old lilac bush right by where I sit to take my photographs. They weren’t there the day before, and as I was setting up my little table and my chair, they came out to investigate me, then several of them began swarming above me – and I took off running toward the house - but not fast enough.

I was lucky to only get stung once. I’m sure they were defending their nest and my chair was pretty close to it. And today my arm is itching like crazy . . .





We also bought a new car this weekend – a 2013 Subaru Outback. We kept the Honda Element because we do need a second car after all, but the Element is a 2003 and we figured it was about time. I am falling in love with the Subaru, but climbing into the Element this afternoon to run an errand felt like coming home to a dear old friend. It’s going to take a long time before the Subaru feels like that but I’m looking forward to getting to know it a lot better.

The accompanying photograph isn’t all that and a bag of chips, but I enjoyed playing with it while waiting for my nail polish to dry. I took it last weekend and thought it was sweet that the little chickadee was actually inside the old birdcage that’s hanging in the yard. I waited until he perched on the rail to take the photo.

Hope you all have a good week ahead ~ until tomorrow, then.


As for the post title - gotta love Ali.

Thank heavens for weekends

I took a lot of photos over the weekend, and tonight I spent some well-deserved idle time and edited several of them. Bring creative feels so good sometimes, doesn’t it?  And besides, it was nice to concentrate on something and get my mind off of life’s goings on.

There is something to be said for sitting outdoors on a beautiful day, and enjoying nature simply by listening and being still.

As I sat with my camera and my book, I could hear the call of a pileated woodpecker, followed by its noisy drilling into an old dead tree in the woods. I could hear the flutter of the wings of the birds who come to the feeders, then looked up when I heard the swishing of a larger bird as a turkey vulture flew overhead. When I sit quietly with my camera, or while reading, I forget about my cares. My movements are slow so as not to scare off the birds, and when I’m treated with good images as a result – it’s a win-win.

There you are, you elusive little hummingbird.

This one might be my favorite.

This little tiny hummingbird came right up to me and hovered for a moment, checking me out. (And maybe taking a little pee, to boot).






Then it darted past me through the air and around the old lilac bush, then zigzagged over to the garden where it drank from several morning glories. Then off it went again, finally landing on a dead branch high up in the dogwood tree.

And that's when I snapped the photo above.

This is for my sister, Ginny.

Virginia.

We’ve always called her Ginny, though.

Or Gin Gin.

Friday, August 24 is her 50th birthday.

This V’s for you, Miss V.

I like this one too – the butterfly against the dark of the hedge.

There’s a lot going on right now and I can’t begin to speak of it now. Some of it’s bad, but some of it is good – or it will be good when all is said and done.


Sorry to be so cryptic.


School is dizzyingly busy. If that’s not an adjective, or even a word, then it should be. I look forward to a day when things finally calm down. And until then, I’ll just take the calm of the weekends.

Thank heavens for weekends.

: : :

So how are things going for you?

Things I never knew about Frederick Law Olmsted

As I mentioned the other day, I’ve been ensconced in a biography of Frederick Law Olmsted, known to many as the father of American landscape architecture. I purchased two books, both of which are listed below, and have finished one and just started the second. Some things I never knew:

• He was a late bloomer.
• His father helped to support him financially - well into his thirties.
• He married his brother’s wife.
• He was a surveyor, a clerk, a sailor, a writer, a farmer, the owner of a magazine, and a gold-mine operator – all before he became what would be his claim to fame – a landscape artist.
• He was a self-taught landscape artist.
• He had much sadness in his life and at times suffered greatly.
• His namesake, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., was christened Henry.
• A carriage accident in the early days of Central Park left Olmsted crippled for the remainder of his days.
• And he was tough as nails.

The books I’m reading are:

Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted by Justin Martin 

A Clearing In The Distance by Witold Rybczynski

I have no idea what got me so riled up about FLO, but it could have occurred was when I was looking for vacation rentals in Maine, and remembered that the Olmsted family reportedly summered on Deer Isle. I had always thought the family had spent plenty of pleasant summers there on the Sunset side of the island . . .

Well, I was wrong about that. There is a house on Deer Isle that long ago was owned by the Olmsteds, but wife Mary purchased the property (46 acres) and had the house built in 1896 as a place to take her husband to convalesce who, in his old age, was suffering from depression or dementia, and possibly Alzheimer’s disease. I don’t think he had any say in how the house was to be built or how the grounds were to be landscaped. The house was (and still is) called Felsted, and has appeared in two movies, Mel Gibson’s The Man Without a Face, and a movie called Finding Home. Olmsted lived there less than two years.

FLO was a late bloomer. When he was in his thirties, his father was still sending him an annual stipend, just so that he could survive. He married his brother’s wife, Mary Perkins, in 1859 after said (beloved) brother, John Hull Olmsted, passed away from tuberculosis. John left several children, all very young. FLO’s mother died at a young age, and he experienced much sorrow in his life. He was many things before he became the great man that we know him to be and everything that he did and everything he experienced helped to form the man that he would become. When the board of directors for Central Park was looking for a person to supervise workers to clear debris before the park could be built, Frederick Law Olmsted applied for the job after hearing about it from a person he’d just met. He knew he was terribly under-qualified to be the boss of so many men, but he desperately needed the work and it sounded interesting to him. And the rest, I guess, is history.

Frederick Law Olmsted went on to design landscapes for the Capitol building in Washington, DC to universities, parks, other schools, and some private residences (including Vanderbilt’s Biltmore Estate in North Carolina). Olmsted was a visionary, a truly gifted genius when it came to design and future use of an area.

“I have all of my life been considering distant effects and always sacrificing immediate success and applause to that of the future.” ~Frederick Law Olmsted

“Genius is no more than a greater aptitude for patience.” ~George Louis Leclerc

Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. (Rick) was christened Henry Perkins Olmsted. When the boy was about 6 or 7, his father changed his name as “a gift”. He hoped that someday his son would carry on the family name and the profession. And he did. Even after Rick died in 1957, Olmsted Associates continued to thrive until the year 2000.

I think it’s time to get off my soapbox now. But I also think you can tell I’m addicted. I love history, and there’s much of it in each of these books.