Lost Aussie on the loose

Where Did The Day Go?

It's just as well I don't have to make school lunches, put people on the bus or think about making dinner too often these days.
The hours have passed today, too many to count precisely, and most of them spent, pen on tablet, fussing over pictures in Photoshop.
but.... I daresay that if it did not 'float my boat' then I would not do it......

I've pretty well foresaken using stock photos for my digital work, relying solely on images that I shoot myself.
The downside is that I often spend many hours backtracking, keywording and cataloguing photos taken over the years to make into a useful library.  Oh the value of hindsight!

The upside of trolling through files and folders to organize (as well as create) is that you find images that you thought you had forgotten and somehow in the fresh light of day they foster some fine inspiration!!

Both pieces above are composites (one more obviously so than the other!)
Winter's Light is comprised of 3 different photographs as well as (home grown) textures a whole bunch of adjustment layers and Receeding Waters is a composite of 4 photographs plus sundry other goodness.

And yes......if you thought I was working on some new class files you could be right!

Announcing - "Paint, Sketch, Play" - an online class for painting in Photoshop

Are you ready ???????

4 Weeks, 16 projects.  High end fun stuff that will float your Photshop Boat!!

Comic, Sketch, Warhol'ish, Smudge, Paint, Art History, Mixer Brush, Tool Presets, Landscape, Architecture, Portrait, Patterns, Presets, Plug-Ins, Abstract and HDR Toning and if you are good ... a little Illustrator for those who can.

This will be a cracker of a Class.

Are you ready ????????

The full syllabus is available for you to check out HERE.

The class is designed for Photoshop CS5 users but many of the projects will work in Elements.  You can also download a FREE trial of CS5 from the Adobe website to use for the duration of the Class.

After The Party

Yet another class sample image that I have been working on.... painting with blending modes.
What fun!

Here is the "before"

stock image courtesy of mizzd_stock @ deviantart.

I'm thinking the class will be up and ready to go for a start date of April 19th!  So stay tuned.  This will be a more advanced class and you will need a good grasp of your BASIC Photoshop tools to make the most of what we will be doing!

Are you ready?

Overthinking To The Point of Blurry

I'm getting ready to head off to Italy to take my dream workshop with David Nightingale.  To say I am excited would be an understatement.   To say I am terrified would not be too far from the mark either as I don't really consider myself to be a "photographer" per se and I am worried I will get lost amongst all the f-stop, shutter speed professionals.

I am pretty darned good at Photoshop and making the most of what my camera sees, but as far as capturing the "perfect shot" ... well, I don't know about that at all.

The whole business with tripods, flashes, assorted lenses ??? And the long list of what to take - (I wish!).

So I burned a hole in my Amex and bought a new tripod.  I added a flash, since I have never used one and supposedly they will teach us how.  I already had a good overall lens for my 5D to do wide angle and some telephoto. 
Add the good prime portrait lens and then for fun I'm going to take the fun Lensbaby along as well. 
I probably should have something longer 200mm - 400mm? but it's going to be really cold over there and I just don't know if I want the weight of a hefty long lens to carry around for 2 or 3 shots? Who knows?  I am at the point of overthinking this whole thing and figure I should just carry the lenses that I know I will use and not have to worry about.

After all, I know I can fix the pix in Photoshop right :-))    ....and there's always the iPhone for the tricky shots yes? :-)))

Let's just hope the canals are not frozen over and I don't end up having to push my own Gondola!

 

And A Little More ...

Thanks so much for the fabulous response to my thoughts on a Painterly Class.  The more I think about it the more excited I get!!

 
I love to find creative ways to use my own photographs as well as stock material and I think this class will be just about PERFECT for combining the two.

The above image incorporates some stock from SenshiStock over at Deviant Art as well as my own photos of Caumsett Park, personal textures and a couple from Shadow House.

Hm'hmm humming to myself here as thoughts percolate inside my head :-)
(You rather have to be here :-))!

On another and less savoury note, my blog has been targeted by spammers of late.  Typepad does not seem to be able to help very much and so for a while, I have instituted the dreaded IDIOT CODE for comments.

I am sorry about this but lewd, rude and porny kinds of stuff are not the links/comments I want on posts, whether they are old or new.

I appreciate your patience in the mean-time.

Doing A Little Demo

If you are in the neighbourhood, I am going to be doing a Mixed Media demonstration using Golden's Digital Grounds at Jacksons in Joondalup.  I'll be talking about creating your own mixed media substrates and the use and application of the digital grounds for inkjet printing.

Here is the blub from Jacksons Facebook page!

 

Digital Magic Updates

Across on the Digital Magic Blog I am opening registration for the Fall session of the Photo Magic Class.

This class is jam packed with Photo Editing tips, Portrait retouching skills, fab Blur, Bokeh and other special effects including the use of Displacement Maps.  We will also look at techniques for uploading your images to the web, including design of Avatars, Buttons and Custom Blog Banners!  Lots and lots of digital goodness so I hope you will consider joining me, if you have not before.

If you subscribe to the Digital Magic Online Newsletter there is a $20 discount coupon code available in the current issue.
Subscribing is as easy as signing up in the sidebar of the Digital Magic Blog!!

The newsletter includes Digital Magic updates as well as a spotlight on two of my thriving students - Bonnie and Nancy as well as current industry news and some FREEBIE Photoshop Stencil brushes.

Happy reading and Enjoy!!

Video Mama

Project 1 for the new Photo Magic Class

My new Photo Magic Class starts soon and so for the moment, all thoughts of encaustic and other creative pursuits have gone out of the window!

I've actually had to try really hard to deliberatly switch mental gears and it's been tough, as all I have wanted to do is go "PLAY" in the studio after last week's workshop.

Anyway, it is what it is and I am liking the way the new class is coming together - and that is all that counts.

I've even managed to stitch together a quick "Intro" video for PSE9 users as I have a couple of noobie newbies in this session and I figured it would not hurt to give them a "leg up" - so to speak.

It's been a while since I did any serious video editing and I am a demon perfectionist when it comes to good production - no weird noises, no hollow rooms or echoing floor boards.  I don't even let the cat purr on my lap :-))  So the intro video was good practice for the next 10 for the week! 

Oy Vay... why do I do this to myself I ask - yeah but I really rather love it, so don't worry!

Works in Progress

I'm busy working on projects for the new Photo Magic Online Class and enjoying working with tools that are less often used but ones that have much creative potential nevertheless.

Registration is now open for the Class which starts on June 24th!

I hope to see you there!

 

*News* - Photo Magic - a new Online Class

Well I have finally got my "A" into gear and posted a new Online Class.  This one is called "Photo Magic" and will be geared for all levels of of Digital Divas (and Dudes).

We will be looking at basic photo editing - cut, crop, straighten adjust, doing the Fab Face thing (ie. erazing zits and some frown lines), employing a little creative Mojo with the texture, blur and bokeh thing as well as getting your images all zippy and slim for the web, blog and even teaching you how to make your own Crackin' Header and stuff.
And that's just the short version!

Anyway, I'm excited.  I think it will be fun and applicable to just about anyone who has a camera, be it a Point and Shoot or super dooper DSLR,  and wants to make their images SING! - Beethoven or Kings of Leon - your choice!

And yes, there may be a little crossover from the Digital Magic class but there will always be snippet or two that I did not tell you last time and hey, you don't want to miss out? right?

ALSO - I have set the Digital Magic and Journal Magic Classes to run as self-paced learning modules.  So if you were waiting for those to appear again, the good news is that now you can sign-up and take them any time.
They really are quite different from the new class that is on offer.

So, now I feel like I am in good shape.  NO, the videos are not made yet, ask any good friend (or my husband) - they are usually done in the wee small hours and the 10th one at that.  For me, the conceptualizing of the Class is the hardest part.  Production we can deal with!

I just hope you will join me for the next fun ride!