What have I learnt?? Edited...

Well I have looked around Pioneer Woman's site a bit and read over some of her tut's regarding photography and photoshop. I decided I would have a go at shooting on manual with my little baby: The Canon 400D. I've had a bit of a play in the past but really have tended to stay with the Auto setting, but that doesn't always give the best shots either. So I played with ISO setting and pretty much everything else a bit to see what she could do. The bad part is that I was shooting inside in terrible light but I also had my ISO speed up to high when I got the best expressions from our little truckie training. Below is a SOOC (Straight out of Camera) shot....


Its not to bad but I found that it did look quite grainy and also a bit dull and dark (not to bad for my first go). So I thought I would have try out some of Pioneer Woman's tips and see what I could do with it.

Firstly I added an action or two (I won't go into detail as I'm still learning and really don't know what I'm talking about ... lol!). Then just played with the curves and levels a bit. After that I added a burnt edge action and this is the result ..... (oh I also cropped it tighter)

I also had to add a bit of blur as the grainy-ness (is that a word?) was really showing through. Not to bad for a first try. Although inbetween hanging out washing, feeding, changing and playing with our twin bubs , organising two 4 year olds and doing the dishes - it has taken me pretty much all day! lol!

I thought I would try a bit of a different effect on this one as well. A slightly vintage effect I think it was - see I really don't know what I'm talking about! Or I guess you could just call it a wash out.


Before I go and do the school pick up - see I started this post at 10am and its now 3:10pm! - I thought I would just show you one more. Here is the SOOC....

And here is my edit. Think it looks any better?


On this one I ran a vintage action and an edge burn action then just played with the curves and levels again to get the desired result. I also did a bit of a crop on this one too. It really brightened up the photo. I couldn't really go colour on this one as it was another were the ISO setting was to high and it was really dark. When I brightened it up in colour it became extremely grainy and looked wrong. Anyone out there a whizz at Photoshop and have any tips for me? I'd love to hear them!

Better ran, Ashlee won't pick herself from school nor will the milk and bread walk home from the shop on thier own .. lol.

Take care!Just adding one more pic - ?? Now that I look at it, I actually look really goofy! LOL!!!!