Blogger UnWrapped: Uploading Large Images on Blogger, UPDATED AGAIN!

I love Blogger as you know.  However, it has always bugged me that you could not load custom-sized or large images through Blogger unless you tweaked the code as seen in this older post.  Honestly, it was a PITA.

However, Blogger finally listened to me ;-) and made it right! 

To post large images, you can resize your image to the final size you want to post (make it easy and use one of my free web actions; Web Frame It, Web Color Block It, Web Drop Shadow or Web Rounded Corners) and then upload it through Blogger's new uploader.

Then click on Original size as seen in the screenshot

Happiness is as simple as sand, surf and sun.

We had some family visiting and I decided we needed to spend a few days at the beach.   WITHOUT a computer.  Note to self:  Never buy a laptop.  Did I mention I only use my phone to call people? 

The weather was perfect (low 80's, no humidity during the days, cool nights and not a cloud in the sky) and we had a wonderful time at Galveston Island.  I love the beach and I love Galveston.  I have been to beaches all over the world, but there is something to be said about the beaches you played on during your childhood.  And now my children are running on the same beaches I did as a child.  Life is good, especially when you homeschool.  :-)

I love the combination of nature and beach trash in this photo.  I used  my Butterscotch Vintage action and the Pear Cobbler texture from Chasing Dreams (soft light, 100%).  I know people thought I was crazy when I pulled out my camera to shoot this.  Many people just don't see art in this type of beach scene.  Maybe they are right.  ;-)

Now below is the real reason I dragged my camera to the beach.  Sure, most of the time it is in the hotel  room because I would rather live the moment and not lug my large camera around and scream at my kids to turn and smile for mommy.  But sometimes you just suck it up and don't worry about your lens fogging up, or the weight of that lens (your favorite), or getting sand in all the wrong places (in the camera) and you capture a magical moment. No screaming, no smiling, no posing, no squinting; just two kids enjoying life.

Life doesn't get much better than this.

CoffeeShop Vintage Damask Frame 1!

I wanted to make some new vintage photo frames that would be perfect for web posting or printed cards and this is my first one.  The CoffeeShop Vintage Damask Frame 1 is a layered .psd image which must be opened in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements. The colors are completely adjustable as you can see in the sample below. This is just one in a series!

Open the  frame like any other image.  You can change all of the colors by clicking on the color fill layers at 1-4.  Drag your image on top (5) and group it with the clipping mask layer and Ctrl-T to fit.  You can find a tutorial on using  clipping masks here or here. Just flatten the image when you are done.

Download the free CoffeeShop Vintage Damask Frame 1 HERE!

I just found some of the coolest free fonts at Misprinted Type 4.0.  Please check them out!  And thank you so much for visiting my blog.  :-)

Do you want to download my favorite CoffeeShop PSE/Photoshop Actions and Lightroom Presets or Design Elements in one convenient zipped file AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures.

For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!

ColorInc 24x24 Gallery Wrapped Canvas Giveaway!!! CLOSED!!!

I have to start off this post pointing out the coffee-crusted steak  recipe over at KevinandAmanda.  I am a Texan so I have to confess I love a nice rare steak.  But adding a coffee-crust??? I think I might have died and gone to heaven. Remind me to call my husband today and ask him to bring home some steaks so we can have one of our romantic late-night dinners on the front porch after the kids go to bed. ;-)

Guess what!  ColorInc just sent me another great giveaway for my readers.    Once you read all about it below just leave a comment with your email address and I will randomly pick one winner on Friday morning.  Only comments with emails can win (since I have to send you the information). 

If you haven't checked out ColorInc yet, there is a great coupon code on the bottom of this post. Not to mention you get five free 5x7 test prints before you order to make sure you monitor is calibrated properly.  And I have found ColorInc's customer service and print quality to be outstanding.  Please check them out!!!

CoffeeShop Lustrous Pop PS/PSE Action!

I love to add a bit of contrast pop to my images and I wanted to share one method that I use quite often in Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. I called this action CoffeeShop Lustrous because it makes your images "shine".  

Isn't Maple the doggy cute?  I need to post a new photo of her because she is already so much bigger.  If I could only get  her to stay still and pose for me.  ;-)  To quote Duke, "I love my little doggy!".

This action allows you to individually adjust both the highlight and lowlight contrast/brightness and does a lowlight contrast boost so you get a nice color "pop" in the process. This action really saves you so much time compared to doing it by "scratch" and it is completely adjustable.

Run this action on an image that has white balance correction. When you start the action it will flatten your image and then ask you to do a lowlight and highlight adjustment (see below). Just adjust the sliders to taste.

This action also sharpens your image for the web or print.  Simply adjust the radius.  Don't worry about over-sharpening at this point because you can dial down the opacity of the sharpen layer at the end.

After the action runs you will have three layers (background, sharpen and color pop).  You can adjust the opacity of the color pop and sharpen layer and use the white layer masks to "paint out" enhancements you don't want (use a soft black brush in NORMAL MODE on the white layer mask).

Download the free CoffeeShop Lustrous Pop Photoshop and Photoshop Elements action HERE!

I will be posting Perfect Portrait 2 and also a little tutorial on making fun little buttons using free icons like the ones I have on the top of my blog.   Plus plenty of other goodies!  Thank you so much for visiting my blog. 

Want all of my favorite CoffeeShop Actions or Design Elements in one simple download AND help support this blog? Just click here for my action pack or here for a download of some of my most popular design elements, storyboards, and textures. For complete info on installing all of my actions, click here.

{Friday Photo Bliss} and Chasing Dreams Texture Winner!

AJ of roos4040@gmail.com, you are the winner of the Chasing Dreams Texture packs! I will send you an email. :-)  And until the end of the month all of my readers get 15% off each textures pack if they use the coupon code coffee!!!

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!

A few things I look at when I am walking on the treadmill.  There is no sound like the ring of an old fashioned phone...   I used my Polaroid Emulsion action kit on this photo.

Coffee With Colleen: Using Textures Tutorial and Amazing HUGE Texture Giveaway! - CLOSED!

The giveaway is closed to new entries and I will be posting the winner's name and email tomorrow!!!  And until the end of the month all of my readers get 15% off each textures pack if they use the coupon code coffee!!!



I meet Colleen of Chasing Dreams Photography when she asked me to design her blog.  I checked out her website and noticed she was selling gorgeous textures and she told me that not only would she would love to offer all four sets as a giveaway to one of my readers, but she would be interested in writing a tutorial on using textures for my blog. Anyone that will send me a great tutorial AND giant amazing giveaway and let me have the evening off is going to be my friend.  I heart Colleen!  The giveaway information is at the bottom of this post.  :-)

I also wanted to mention Colleen sent me her textures and they are gorgeous and worth every penny.  If you don't win the giveaway please go visit her site and check them out.  Support small businesses!

My Name is Colleen.

CoffeeShop Tutorial: Nifty Fifty Macro!

If you have been following my blog for some time you realize that I am a bit frugal. And I honestly believe if you are shooting for yourself (and not a professional high-output photographer) you can capture beautiful images with simple inexpensive equipment, as long as you understand the basics of photography. 

Right now I shoot with an old beat-up Canon Rebel XT. Yes, it even has some cracks in the body by the shutter-button. But it still works (it was my first digital camera) so I haven't the heart or the money to replace it. My favorite lenses are my Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 and Nifty Fifty. The 28-135mm lens I have had for years and years and used it originally on my Canon Elan (a film camera). I have had the nifty fifty for over two years and it is still working flawlessly.

I honestly have a passion for photography and I am constantly playing with my camera.  So imagine how excited I was to find this great tutorial on Photojojo.  I have always wanted to do some macro photography but didn't want to invest in another lens.  So imagine how thrilled I was that I could just simply take off my $100 nifty fifty, turn it around, and hand-hold it on  my camera and shoot decent macro shots! 

This was one of my first images I photographed. I was focusing on the metal thing and this ant happened to run by and I managed to capture it.  It was 100% luck, but  I love this image.  I especially love the soft bokeh

We must not forget.

Remembering all of those innocent men, women and children who lost their lives on Sept. 11th, 2001.

May we never forget.

{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!

This was taken today with my nifty fifty lens. I ran one of my favorite Photoshop actions on it, Butterscotch Vintage, and then added the ShadowHouse Creations Dirty Paper 2 texture in soft light blending mode. Finally, I used my Web Drop-Shadow action to make it web-ready. 

I also wanted to mention that Jerry at ShadowHouse Creations has a little donation button on his site, so if you use and love his free textures/brushes/tutorials/clipping masks treat him to a coffee if you get a chance!  Jerry is one of the most generous, creative, and incredibly nice people I have met in the photography-editing world.  Heck, he might deserve a couple of beers.  ;-)

First Week of School, First Week of Homeschooling!

This week I started homeschooling Duke. He is 5 and would be in kindergarten if his crazy mother hadn't decided to teach him at home. And so far so good!

I am using the The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home to figure out my basic curriculum and we are also reading many of the books from Ambleside Online.

Imp being Imp

A characteristic of the normal child is he doesn't act that way very often.

~Author Unknown

CoffeeShop PowderRoom After Dark Free Action!

 

I have had so many people email me that they would like a retouching action that would work great on darker complexion/eyes. So here is my new version of PowderRoom, PowderRoom After Dark (named by Tanisha). This action will work on all portraits, but it is perfect for enhancing darker skin and eyes.

You can download the free action at the bottom of this post,

{Friday Photo Bliss}

Inspired by the SouleMama blog's {this moment}, I am posting one image every Friday, taken that week, that really makes me happy. If you end up doing the same I would love to see your photo linked in my comments!

I thought children were hard to photograph, but that was until I tried to take a photo of Maple (our newly adopted family member, on the right) and her brother Blaze (Maple's brother, adopted by my sister Heather). I posted this photo to show that sometimes a blurry badly-composed image can still be a keeper!  I used my Mocha B&W LightRoom Preset on this image and added the drop-shadow using my Web Drop Shadow action in Photoshop.

Thank you so much for all of your amazing naming suggestions my newest retouching action! I think I picked a winner and will be posting the action this weekend!!!

Need Your Help Naming My Newest Version of PowderRoom!

Baby PowderRoom, PowderRoom 2 and Perfect Portrait are probably my most downloaded actions on this site. However, I have received so many requests to write a retouching action that is specific for darker eyes/complexions.  I was excited to finally start working on this action because I am a bit tired of using my boys, chickens, weeds and dog in all of my action tutorials and screenshots.  :-)  You might think I don't photograph anything else...  Well, you are right, I don't get out much!

I am not a professional photographer so I asked Morgan if she would send me some photos from some of her model shoots to work on so I could design the action. All of the images she sent were stunning, but this was one of my favorites.

The top images is "before", the bottom is "after" using my new retouching action. I am really happy with this action and can't wait to post it!  It has a skin smooth, skin brighten, eye sharpen and eye pop layer and everything is completely adjustable. I did a tiny bit of cloning to remove some spots before running the action, but that was it other than the action.  I tried to use this in moderation so that the model's skin didn't look plastic.

So I am asking for name suggestions. I would love to keep PowderRoom somewhere in the name if possible, but I need a unique name that mentions that this action is great on darker skin/eyes.  I already have a PowderRoom 2.  And if you have a great name that doesn't use PowderRoom, that would work also!  Just leave a comment below if  you have a suggestion. 

On a side note, my next retouching action (after this one) will be the new and improved Perfect Portrait.