Explorations In Learning » tutorial

Light Painting

Magan — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:37:16 +0000

This photographic technique is pretty easy to do. Set your camera to a low ISO and slow shutter speed. Make sure your camera’s on a tripod or something steady, and pick up a light source such as a flash light, which is what I used. I know that my focus is way off as evidenced by my blurry portrait, but at least the light part came out well.

This one almost looks the previous one, right? But I created this in Photoshop going off of Fabio’s tutorial. I didn’t follow it directly; instead of using the pen tool, I just straight up used the brush tool with specified settings. Actually, I’m not fond of how it came out since it doesn’t look that realistic to me. I probably should’ve added a very soft glow to it.

Dolphins, Sharks, and Travel Photos

Magan — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:40:45 +0000

Saturday: After watching Planet Earth, Jungles, we watched the Shallow Waters edition. The Planet Earth videos are seriously awesome! One of my cousins said that you can tell a shark from a dolphin by its tail. I never really thought about it, but it’s true; sharks swim side to side, and dolphins swim up and down (look at their tails to see the difference). Here’s a drawing I Googled.

Sunday: I discovered something about myself (and others, too, perhaps?) that I never really noticed before, and it’s not something I like, so I’m not going to share. Ha!

Today: Take travel photos like a pro! I’m in a library right now, so as soon as I get the chance, I’ll test this out. I definitely need to improve my [limited] photography skills and pretend that I’m a tourist. No one needs to know…

Beer & Doll-Faces

Magan — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:16:53 +0000

Yesterday, I went to a very nontraditional baby shower with my cousins. What made it nontraditional was that it was typical of a family gathering with women inside doing their thing and men outside drinking beer. Out of respect, I had to drink (I am almost 23, by the way) half a can of “reds,” as I learned Budweisers are called. “Blues,” if I remember correctly, are the Budd Lights. I abhor the taste of beer, so I was sipping it casually, thinking of a way to get out of it until the host approached me for toasting and sharing gulps. I willingly obliged only to find out that chugging beer is so much better than sipping it; it’s just easier to avoid the taste that way.

I’m really not a drinker, so I don’t know much about these things at all.

Now, onto something more constructive! It’s been awhile since I’ve done a tutorial, so I’ve decided to take on The Maiden and Hummingbird Photo Manipulation Photoshop Tutorial.

I added my own touches to it, of course, which included excluding the hummingbird. I didn’t like the hummingbird anyway. Doing this, I learned more about the liquify filter options and played around with one of my favorite Photoshop adjustments, curves.