Adding Pretty New Skies

One of the fastest and prettiest ways to add a pop of WOW

to your photos is to switch out the sky!

When photographing portraits, I am always setting exposure

for the face, so often...especially with backlighting,

the sky will be blown out and look white.

I keep a folder of beautiful sky photos and simply

place them into the white sky.

If the sky isn't totally white, I actually paint it white

so the clouds from the sky overlay are bright white.

This original sunset photo has a lovely dark blue sky,

but you can add more pizzazz with a new sky!

Be on the look out for beautiful evening skies and sunsets

and keep the photos in your sky folder.

I pretty much replace all my skies in portraits!

You can add drama, or just dreamy color with a new sky.

To learn how to add a new sky and blend it correctly with your photo

Watch my Video Tutorial.

Daisy Portraits

June is such a happy month when we finally have

sunshine and DAISIES...what I consider the sunniest flower!

They only last a few weeks, so I have been busy capturing the

simplicity of daisies.

I found a hand-smocked yellow dress at the thrift store

and KNEW it would go with a daisy shoot.

 

But it photographed almost white.

So, I painted in some yellow on the dress in this next shot.

Watch my video tutorial to see how to do this,

and how to control your yellows in Photoshop and PSE. 

CLICK HERE

Simple clothes seem to go with this simple flower.

I make head wreaths from thrift store flowers.  You can

also make one from fresh daisies!

We added a few fresh daisies in this head wreath.

Running shots really show the field of daisies.

Shoot with as wide an aperture as you can to make the

daisies blur in the background and foreground.  I used f2.8

 

For two people this close together, I narrowed to f.3.5

We have a wonderful walking path near my house

and that's where I shoot all my wildflower portraits.

 

Every week seems to add a new variety.

In editing, play around with color saturation...

I like both bright

and subtle color.

I hope you can find some daisies growing near you

and take advantage of the sunny June flowers!

Rainy Day Photos

 

Don't let a summer rain get in the way of

practicing your photography!

 

To prepare for a rainy day, buy yourself a rain cover for

your camera.

 

I have this one that I got for only $15 on this Amazon.com link.

 

 

 

If it's raining hard, set out a dish on your back patio.

I used the top of my grill because it is a delightful RED!

 

Use a FAST shutter...200 or above to capture the drops as they

hit the water.

Also use a deep depth of field..try an aperture of f8

to keep things in focus.

 

 

The one strange thing about rain...it's very hard to photograph

it falling!   It was raining hard when I took this next photo.

 

But you can barely see the streaks in the dark green tree area.

 

 

So, I added some fun, whimsical rain in Photoshop.

I show you how in my video tutorial.

CLICK HERE

 

You can download my rain brush for free CLICK HERE

 

 

This technique works well when it's cloudy and gloomy,

but you prefer to shoot when it's not raining.

 

 

I even added some SPLASHES...

 

 

I got the splash brushes by midnightstouch, from Deviant Art.

CLICK HERE  to download the splash brushes for free!

 

 

So, if it rains this summer and your kids are bored...

photograph them in the rain!