For this week, my NorthWest Set is on sale for $15 instead of $24.95!

I also wanted to do a quick post with a tip on working with actions.

I grabbed this shot real quick to use……he has got that car right behind him though which is a bit bothersome so I wanted to play with it in PS to see if I could make it a little less apparent. I also wanted to encourage those of you that do run actions, to go a step beyond to make a photo yours by adding some of your own steps. Actions run differently on all pictures too so even on my own actions, I will add a step now and then to improve it for that photo.
This one is SOOC (only cropped and resized for web)

This next one I ran my NW Retro action on it.

I felt like it needed some more *umph*, so instead of just running the action, I decided to add a low fill layer (brown) at 24% opacity. I flattened the layer, added about 5% of soft light, went to curves (the blue channel) and went to the top right corner and brought it down a bit.

Below, I ran one of my black and whites from my NW Set. (Started with the SOOC)

Duplicated the layer, “Multiplied” it in “Blend Mode” at 70% approx. and erased them back in slightly.

I then wanted to try out some texture, so I opened a texture that I have and ran the same BW on it so the color would be the same. I dragged the texture over to the picture and used “free transform” to fit it perfectly over the picture. I erased them back in at a low opacity and then reduced the the texture layer to 22%. I flattened the layers and then burned a little bit around the edges.

I hope that helps a bit and maybe even given you some ideas with Photoshop. There is soooo much you can do with it. I am working with CS3 on these and my actions only run on my Photoshop CS and above.

I leave you with one quick snap I got of my one year old. Now that he is mobile, it is so hard to get eye contact which I am sure you moms totally understand! I edited it with VintageGrooveXtreme from my new set. I then overlayed a slight layer of texture.

Okay, my photographer friends, it is about time I unveil my latest, greatest action set. I call it the everything you need kit! 5 Essential BW’s & 7 Essential Colors. I will be having them on sale until this Wed. for $10 but today the deal is sweeter.
Go to the page above listed PHOTOGRAPHERS and you can see this amazing set. I will also continue posting tips and sales and freebies on there over time as well.

Here are a few shots that I edited with some of the actions. . . .

essential color BURST

essential color vintage groove

essential bw vintage (added a tad of texture afterwards)

I have more to come tomorrow but wanted to leave a quick preview of this stunning senior.

Here’s is another fantastic couple . . . .meet Mike & Anna!

Hi my name is Anna Bloxham. I am 25 years old and i have been with my fiance for almost 12 years now this November We met through my brother and sister. And could you say love at first sight! For me that is. My sister was pregnant with her first child. So I was around a lot and so was he! It was not until my sister actually had her daughter that we started actually talking. And it just happened that I had stayed with my sister one night to help her out and he was there. Everyone went to sleep and we were just sitting on the couch talking and watching tv. We just talked all night and had so much in common. I told him that I had been crushing on him for a while now. And he looked at me and said I have been too! We kissed and it was like MAGIC. I had never felt anything like that before. And I just new it was meant to be. You can’t controll when, where or how old you are going to be when it happens. It just happens and you grab it by the reins and hold on! And from there we were insepertable, until my family found out! It was a really big mess! He was almost 4 years older than me and at the time that was a lot. No one wanted us to be with each other, but we knew that we loved each other and we didn’t want to be with anyone else. I had to tell my Mom that I was going to be with him weither she wanted me to or not. So for a while I had to hide and go behind everyones back. Then one night she caught us and she was so mad but I had already told her I loved him!! So we sat down and talked and she finally got it. It was happening weither she liked it or not. She could either support it or know nothing about it. And now look at us 11 years later and who would of known??? Well I can say gladly that WE DID! We have had our ups and downs, but throught it all we have always been right beside each other. We now have 2 daughters,6 and 2. They are our world!! And well i guess I am writing this to you because we are not rich by any means. And all we have ever wanted was a Special Wedding Day and we have put it off for so long because we just can’t afford it! But now our 6 year old keeps asking why we are not married. And the answer is always money. But I have been thinking about this a lot lately and that is just not a good enough answer. So in 2010 we will be getting married and even if we have nothing but a dress and our rings. At least we have each other and our BEAUTIFUL girls Pictures are the only thing that mean alot to me so I just love having the chance to write to you and maybe have a chance at some beautiful memories
Thank You so much for your time!
Anna & Mike