My Favorite Photoshop Effects of 2007 - #1 "Flood"

I just thought I'd throw this together for my 'end of year' post! Photoshop has a plethora of stunning effects, and if you use them well, they can really blow everyone's mind (including your own), and cause a veritable grahic revolution in your office or home!!!

This particular effect is not a Photoshop native effect, rather a "Plug In" I purchased to use in conjunction with Photoshop called "Flood." It is by Flaming Pear Software, and is worth the $40 investment, trust me. Take a regular old landscape and add a beautiful, wavy water effect under it. Looks natural or surreal, you control the parameters completely. This is the best Photoshop effect plug in I've ever used, and it wins my 2007 Photoshop effect favorites hands down! I thought the effect lent itself very well to my example here of lightning I shot over Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. The photo is just a black foreground with a bright lightning bolt overhead. The flood effect adds a beautiful foreground that is much more exciting!

My Favorite Photoshop Effects of 2007 - #2 "Poster Edges"

This is a really fun one, posterize your photos using "Poster Edges!" Very simply just adds a funky edge to your photo, and makes it look a bit more like a graphic than a photo, like almost hand-drawn or ink outlined. The poster edges effect is under the "Filter" menu at the top of the Photoshop work space. Click that, and then click on "Artistic" from the menu that pops out, and then just scroll down and click on "Poster Edges." That's it, simple, yet extremely effective and cool. Check out this example I've posted of some pansies I photographed that were not the best of my flower pics. However, using the poster edges effect called attention to the photo in a better way, and now I like it much more.

My Favorite Photoshop Effects of 2007 - #3 "Invert"

Okay, here is my third favorite effect from the Photoshop..."Invert." All this does is take your photograph and basically invert it. If it's color, you'll get the complement to what the colors in your photo are. If it's b/w you'll get black where white is and vice versa, so the opposite effect of your photo. It is simple, and requires only one click on the top flydown menu "Image" then click "Adjustments," and finally "Invert." That's it! Simple, but outrageously effective! Note my example of a leaf that I shot this fall. This is the 'inverted' version.

Winter Photography Tips

Brrrr. Yep, it's cold here in the mountains of northern Utah. However, that doesn't stop me, and shouldn't stop you from venturing out into the snow for short intervals of time to snap a few wonderful nature pics. I love the way icicles form on my pine trees and building eaves. Just bundle yourself up with warm clothing, and even if it's snowing, go out with your digital camera and snap a few shots. You might surprise yourself when you see the results. Always digitally enhance these photos unless there is a blue sky that helps the contrast. Snow can photograph rather blue shifted, so be sure to set your white balance to more neutral, and when you get the photos onto your computer, don't forget to use "levels" and fix your color and contrast there as well. Winter does not have to mean you sit indoors bored out of your mind. Be smart about your attire, and take a few minutes every other day, and go out and shoot...Here are some of my results above :-)

Make Colorful, Fun Backgrounds Using Photoshop

If you have a scanner hooked up to your computer, this fun little exercise might be just for you. I had lots of fall leaves I picked up off the ground outside my home this autumn and just dried them. I don't often do this, but there were so many, I just couldn't resist them. After I dried my leaves, they didn't look as bright and cheerful, so I thought about what would it be like if I placed them all on my scanner in some haphazard configuration, and then scanned them? So, I tried this out, and ended up with a rather nice little 'collage' of autumn leaves on a white background. This looked all neat and cool, and I saved it as a .jpg file in Photoshop. That was when I thought to myself, what if I use some special effect filters while in Photoshop? Hmmm. I tried a few out, and this one I have posted really was a neat one, I just used the neon filter. I really liked the color it came out. See the image on the very top, it is the altered image using the neon glow effect in the Photoshop filters menu. You can, of course, control that and make it any color you like, but I love blue, so I used that for this design. You can then save that as a new named .jpg file and you'll still have the original to play around with. You can also change the contrast and the lightness of it, and you might even use this end result for a web page background, or just a festive 'fall color' type of graphic for a newsletter or other project you are creating. Don't be afraid to experiment with the different filters in Photoshop, the sky is the limit...so just go do it!

Welcome to Zoe's Photo (and Art) Blog

Hello, I am Zoe "Digital Midge" Marlowe, and I am 'revamping' this old blog of mine to reflect my interests in photography, digital photo manipulation, photo restoration, and Photoshop and Illustrator special effects for all things photographic. Now and then I will share with you some interesting tips and tricks for dealing with your digital photos, plus, I'll share digital photography tips with you. My credentials for being able to blog about this? I have an Associates Degree in General Studies with an emphasis in Commercial Photography, and I am also currently finishing my Bachelor's degree in Graphic Design. So, I do have some excellent qualifications in the area of photography and design. Now and then I will fly by the seat of my pants in regard to some photographic experimentation, but for the most part, I've tried out all the techniques I will share on this blog! I hope you enjoy the content, and I will try to post something new at least once or twice a week.

The Photo that is at the beginning of this post of the cup with music notes is an old photo that I shot with a manual 35mm camera using b/w TMAX 100 film. I hand processed the film and printed the print. I then scanned it into Adobe Photoshop and manipulated the image a little to make it look more like an artsy print. This is just one example of the amazing things that can be done with your photographs...regardless of the type, subject or media you want to use, the sky is the limit!