I have found my new favorite photo location at the skate park.

Sometimes I feel pathetic that all I do is click a button.
That is just how beautiful day-to-day life is.

Sometimes all it takes is a self-photoshoot to make yourself feel beautiful.

This picture was such a pain. I'm still not 100% satisfied with it, but I do like it.

It was originally going to be me drawing with pencil, but I found the paint and become inspired. It took a lot of photoshop to get the painted effect, but I also removed the shadow of my leg on the paper so it would look 2-D and not 3-D.

I am most proud of my conceptual photography.

New Bangs! and my meditative picture of the night.

No photoshop magic with this one.

Really, if you chuck water at yourself 50+ times, one of them is bound to turn out cool.

The making of "One Poison Apple."

As you can see, this final photo was made of six different pictures. Isn't photoshop awesome?

Anyway, here's my procedure:

First I took a picture of me holding a red scarf in a dangling position. I also took one of my sister since I thought it would look better with her hand than mine. I ended up liking the position of the scarf in my picture better but liked her hand grip in hers. So I took the scarf from mine, and her hand from hers and BAM! Anna's hand is pulling on my scarf.

Next step was the apple. I needed a bite out of an apple for this shot, so Anna volunteered to eat an apple. I took a picture with a white background so it would be easy to cut out the apple in Photoshop.

My next pictures were the ones of me jumping. Everyone who sees the final image asks me if I laid on the ground for the picture, and I feel like a moron saying "no." I jumped for this picture simply because I didn't even think of laying down! But back to the pictures, I did not like a single one of the photos I took, so I ended up taking my upper body from one photo and my lower body from another. I combined them in the final image. I didn't need to necessarily do a perfect job since the red scarf covered up my middle section pretty well.

And lastly, I took an old photo of a park by my house to place everything on. It was wintertime when I decided to do this, but I liked the picture with a spring image better. I added a texture overlay to the image, and then I was done!

This is my friend Jill, wearing three frames.

I bought some paintings on clearance at Old Time Pottery (the big picture frame was $3!) and popped the inside out so I could have some cool props for my photos.

I edited the interior of the big frame in this picture so it’d look like Jill was trying to escape from a different painting.

I'm content with my image today.


I took a ton of shots, but sometimes the best ones are the simplest ones.

View on Flickr.

The making of “please, please set me free.”

This was my first real, conceptual, super-edited picture. I was still adapting to Photoshop but I was able to create an incredibly surreal shot. The couch, however, was added later and isn’t on my Flickr version. Anyway, Here’s the magic behind it:

I used three pictures for this shot. The first photo simply consisted of me standing like an awkward moron, holding a picture frame with one hand, and reaching towards a vase of fake flowers with the other.

Editing my hand off the picture frame was one of the hardest parts. I ended up copying a segment from the opposite side of the picture frame, flipping it, and pasting it over where my hand would be.

I edited out my body using Healing Brush and Patch tools. The editing wasn’t perfect, but adding a texture at the end helped cover the imperfection and create a mood for the photo. I chose to make my body black and white so it could look in place next to the two other black and white photographs.

The second photo I used was one of me holding up a separate picture. I wanted to include a picture on both sides of me, but the spot where I took the picture only had one. I was lucky to find this old framed one in a back room, and I held it where I wanted it, trying to show the least bit of hand that I could. I edited out my hand and the flash reflection, and then I cut it out and pasted it onto my first photo.

The last picture was one taken in a completely different room. After I completed my image for the first time, I decided there was too empty of a space where my body had previously been. I took a picture of my couch, and did my best to cut it out (with a tad bit being unsuccessful). I edited the color because the original tan blended in with the tan walls. After that, I warped the perspective slightly to give the couch a similar angle to that of the side table, to make the photo more look more believable.

I was really content with my end result. The tricks and tools of Photoshop are inspiring me to create surreal images more often than before.

Please excuse the minute-by-minute posts..I'm copying old posts onto here.

I supposedly look like this when I take pictures..

Why I love taking pictures of couples best:

-Most pictures aren’t posed. It’s usually about just catching them in their moments together. I just say, “Pretend I’m not here, and that this is a sweet date.” I love the candids the best.

-The two people generally make each other happy. My first pictures were of my friends Ali and Will. They have been dating for more than 2 years, and they are a match made in heaven. Will does things to make Ali happy, and Ali does things to make Will happy. Their relationship is about putting the other person first. I have a feeling that is how they've lasted so long. The second couple in my pictures were my friends Jack and Jena. They had been dating barely two months, but they had so much fun together. When I was taking their pictures, Jack couldn’t go more than 30 seconds without making Jena crack up. He adores her so much and loves making her laugh. And you can easily tell how crazy Jena is for Jack as well.

-The pictures have potential to give viewers a catharsis. A single person picture is lovely, but seeing two people and their interactions with each other really brings out the aw’s in people. When you can see emotion in photos, you’re more likely to enjoy the photograph.

The making of “The Creepy Zipper Shot.”

I took two pictures for this image, and then I used a texture as an overlay as a final step.
The first picture I took in my sisters room (because her room looks so much better in photos than mine.) I took several pictures of my back before realizing my shirt wasn’t low enough in the back to show a lot of zipper. At this point, I switched my shirt backwards, so the low-hanging front was now on my back. Perfect.

Once I had a shot I was content with, I took a picture of the zipper on an American Eagle sweatshirt of mine.

I cut the zipper out in Photoshop and pasted it on my back. I used some distorting and warping to give it a twisted appearance. I thought it looked better than a straight zipper.

Lastly, I edited the colors, and placed a texture over the top to complete the creepy/intriguing vibe.

Voila!

hi! this is gonna be my go-to spot for photos, the-making-of photoshop creations, and any random thing i feel like putting on here.