Colleen and I got bored one morning, So we decided to have a photo shoot around the house, Enjoy.
All these were shot at 50mm f1.4. i just love the super soft depth of field that this little gem of a lens gives you.
All natural light with a very minor filter effect added using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop.
Every now then we get some extra special work come in to LABB , we have a little section called LABB LOVES.
LABB certainly loves the BLUE PEARL. Created by Danish Photographer Flemming Fals Bahrt Leitorp, The BLUE PEARL spread is fantastic addition to the TEXTURE volume of LABB.
BE SURE TO CHECK OUT THE LABB WEBSITE FOR DETAILS
Its been a while since my last Photoshop blog, so i wanted to create something fun for everyone !! Because I am nice like that.. I thought summer style Party Promo Club might be just the thing to bring summer here ! Lets make a HEDKANDI STYLE PHOTO !!
So then STEP ONE !!
Find a model, my lovely model was Nicola Stevens, My photo was taken f4.8 @ 135mm, A little light from either side and a blue gel from the back. A fan was used to lift the hair. The photo was kept darker to enusre no detail was lost . I knew there was going to be loads of post pro , so i was not too worried about make up. It was more of a snap than a proper Photo Shoot…..
Once you have your photograph, Pop into into photoshop direct. Edit up the skin, Make up , body shapes, and all the stuff that you want to do. I use a few ticks using lens blur layers after a good going over with the stamp tool 
Blur sharpen, repeat… If you do wanna know more about this, section… fire me an e-mail or get a make-up artist !!
STEP TWO !!
Create 2 new layers -
Make some funky over lays and pretty patterns. This is very random and hit or miss. I kept very simple and created two quick elements that sit into my comp.
These elemets very very simple and created using the Brush tool and some very simple layer styles, a simple inner glow and outer glow, A flip into screen colour mode and your done.
Lets work on the lighting cord. (Pen tool> creat wiggle>remove sections behind arm>add layer style) I used a custom shape brush and a Wacom Tablet set on the airbrush mode to let me fade in and out, a nice soft brush does work well here.
Here I again made a custom brush for my fake Bokeh effect. (create brush shape>edit brush settings>paint>done !!) Once you have your settings for the brush its half the battle. You dont have to make your own brush.. but i think its cool. The settings… F5 will make your brush manager pop if you have not got it open. play around with some stuff in there like size and shizzle.. I dont really want to say what i used.. just play and see. Its a very very Powerful tool.
After you have made your layer, add about 3 or 4 more layers.. paint some whacky colours on there (one colour per layer) , Pop them into colour mode (blending layer) and see your Bokeh colour up !! This should start to colour your background photo now too..
STEP THREE !!
Colour up your photo and merge it all !!
You should almost have your comp done.. A few more colour layers set to Colour blend mode and some more whacky colours should start to build up the over all photo..
Dont be worried if your photo looks like this !! its cool.. Build it up duplicate the layer, add some Lens Blur, Screen mode , sharpen this.. add that and add back in your elements you make and Bingp Bango
Watch it all come together..
STEP FOUR !!
Opps.. ok .. so only 3 steps.. Erm.. ADD MORE LAYERS , work some cool layer styles and build build build !! Dont be worried about trying things ! I have about 20 odd layers in mine.. some pure blue layers, some blurred up layers. Lots of screen mode layers. God Bless the Alpha Channel !!
Thank you !! send me your versions !!
While on a shoot the other week, Oscar Alexander came up with this stunning make up. Thank you Oscar !!
This shoot has become an inspireation for a whole set, which will be shoot in late Feb.
Adobe Lightroom 2 +
Just some workflow insight ,
I have been a HUGE fan of Lightroom for a while. Proof checking, editing, printing, web gallery creation, the list of time saving functions is crazy. If your a Pro photographer and your not using Lightroom, your doing something wrong. If your working with a batch of frames, Photoshop is only really used in a final editing stage. Most of my edit work happens with in Lightroom these days.
There are a few functions that I would still love to see in Lightroom, It would be great to able to run Photoshop actions (using the photoshop engine) inside Lightroom, Add layer styles, create comp layers also, it would be really cool to able to sync your Presets into layer styles in Photoshop. Just some of these little additions would make Cross Platform (cross software) editing much streamlined projects when colour matching is important. Using the correct tool for the correct job. Why use Photoshop for simple things like contrast changes.
Anyway, here is some Lightroom fun , You can put the Web module of Lightroom into “advanced mode” (an “experimental and unsupported” feature – so try this at your own risk) which will expose MANY more customization options in the Lightroom panels.
To go into Advanced Mode you’ll need to use a keyboard combo:
“Control Alt Shift /” on PC
“Cmd Alt Shift /” on Mac
Do the same to Return back to the normal version.
I get asked alot, what the best editing processes are , Its really simple. Do whats best and most logical for you. I use this work-flow as a rule
Adobe Bridge > Lighroom > Photoshop > Lightroom > Bridge
I use Bridge to remove blank frames or frames that are clearly not useable, Rename files and upload into Lightroom a quick selection of photos that are going to be edited.
Lighroom is used to pull out a final selection of photos, Crop and Colour the photos, Overall pages edits are done. Vignettes, tones, curves, hue, saturation and Camera Calibrations are also done ( I never sharpen at this stage !!- you only ever want to sharpen a Final Product. Its always the last step. If you are not going into Photoshop after, then finish your photo in Lighroom )
There is no way I could list the steps in here of what can you can do. As a rule though, Skin is touched up and sharpened for which ever media the product is headed towards, Change colour Sets depending on the Products destination ie : RGB or CYMK etc..
After this stage no other editing process should be needed.
Back into lightroom to make batch size changes, Create Web Galleries, Contact sheets, Slide shows etc..
Bridge is then used as the content management tool, Using the Pre-made Actions you can send photos into other programs such as Photoshop to add watermarks borders, Prep for web, Border or any other Presets that you use.
Each stage is very important, and should leave you with a clear workflow. Pick the Photos, Edit the Photos, Make them PERFECT, Edit them for purpose. Store them in a correct manner.
If you use your noodle, you should not go far wrong. Just do what works for you, but ONLY IF YOU ARE USING LIGHTROOM !!
Mini Guide to how I made this.
Photoshop CS3 ,
Stock Photo taken by myself,
I just wanted to show how quick and simple a couple of photos can be used to create some dramatic photo-manipulations. This one has yet to be named, It took less than an hour. I guess if you have used photoshop before at some level, you should be able to follow this. If not. sorry !!
There are roughly 8 or 9 steps, I have tried to keep it nice and simple. Using a process of layers and masks it should be pretty easy to follow. Remember, using masks, is great for going back to re-edit steps at later levels. Photoshop is designed to edit in a non-distuctive way.
To start with, open up your main photo element, make sure you have a clear focus on where you want to go and ensure you have enough room to work with. Any simple photo edits should be done now. The photo I used was a pretty good starting point, I used the stamp tool (key short-cut (s)) and did some quick free hand work to clean up the back drop. There is not a lot of point in doing any make up changes or skin changes at this point as I know we are going to use lots of colour in the final photo.
I wanted to keep some light background clouds and tree line, using the mask layers remove the bits you dont want.
Using another layer and another stock photo, I added some more baseline details, the layer was flipped into screen mode (blending layer). This dropped out the darker sections of the photo and gave me just the details i needed. Create a mask and remove the bits you dont want.
Create a couple of new layers, I used 3 or 4. Using the brush tool, add some funky details. I grabbed some custom brushes, created some layer styles and combined them down into a group, then flipped them in to Colour Burn mode. I kept most of my small details away from my Treeline on the bottom layer and away from the main subject. If you just Google for Photoshop brushes you can find loads of great freebies out there. Next step is to add some colour.
Open up another layer ( try and keep them named and group them !) I used a golden gradient set at a 45 degree across the photo to give stronger colours at the edges. I think the layer was in screen mode, or overlay. Have a play around, see what fits for you. If you want, mask the layer, highlight areas or darken others. Remember, using masks is the only way you should be doing this. Next step is to add the main element, the wings. Don’t worry to much about your main photo getting hidden. Everything is masked, or maskable. we can go back and sort this later.
Using the stock photo of the flames (try i-stock or something), I cut out one section, created another layer, flipped it over, grouped them and duplicated them a couple of times. Once I had a couple of wings, I used some motion blur, made some bigger and layered them up to give me a fuller wing shape. Once I was happy with the shape. Once again the mask tool was used to leave some flick of flame across the photo. So we should have almost our photo coming to shape at this point. For my photo, a really strong facial look was important so i could not leave my model under the flames. I went back the very first layer (the stock photo of Emma), duplicated it and brought her onto the top of the stack and masked out the the background.
Once I have my photo its time to make the fire burn. I find its much better than having to worry about colour as I go. Using some photo filters, curves and levels ( all using masks to place where I want the certain changes to fit on the photo), I brought in the sides and started to enhance the flames. I use the rule, of masking every single layer. Its very rare a change I make will look good on the whole photo.
This paper look texture, flipped into overlay, or colour burn, or what ever funky layer style will give you a great look and save you a whole bunch of time . Using textures combined with a mask is fun and effective. From here, I edited up the skin, the border with another set of levels and curves. Added my logo, added some smoke to the flames and gave Emma some evil skin. Simple ! Oh some cool motion blur around the feet with some flames around the feet. There is no limit to the things you can add ! Just remember to use lots of layers, masks and you wont go far wrong.
Send some sample of what you can come up with ! All the elements used are below !!
Andy and Laura shared married on the 5th of September.
After a intimate ceremony in Lichfield it was on to the reception where we were joined by the wedding guests after nice dinner and cutting of the cake!
After Andy and Laura shared there first dance together, they left the dance floor for Andys Mum and Dad to share there first dance together since there wedding day to.
Weddings can be stressful times at the best of times, Sam was 9 months pregnant when she married Shane. Even with this added challange it was an fantastic day with fantastic people. Thank you so much to all the people that made this a lovely day.
(You can order prints via this link)
New Hall is an amazing choice of venue, set in Sutton Coldfield, the house has a grand history involing Kings and the glitterarti. Jennifer and Neil could not of found a more stunning veune to tie the kn0t. Its just a little shame we did not have massive amount of time to play in the grounds before the rain came down.
To order photos please click this link
Its been a while since I have been up into Lincolnshire, Todays veune was Norton Lodge, just of the A45, near Newark. It was one of those venues that i did not hold out much hope for while looking at the website, it was only when I was there that I saw why such a fantasic couple would have such a venue. All most the perfect venue, maybe ! Dave and Alex are an amazing couple with some amazing friends. Thanks to Daves mates we almost had broken bones, people in the pond and flying grooms. Do they have more fun up north!, maybe!
