Your Touch Brought Color To My Life

Jeff Smith and I, along with 13 talented and interactive moderators, created The Art of Self Portraiture Community on Google+ this year. We’re inviting people to share their self portraits as well as challenging them to learn and grow with us.

Each month, we post a tutorial that we hope will help the community grow and try something new or brush up on an old skill. With each tutorial, we tie in a monthly challenge with prizes from our fantastic sponsors: SmugMug, Think Tank Photo, and Capturing Couture.

This month’s tutorial by Tamara Pruessner discusses using selective color and textures appropriately. The Challenge is to submit one fantastic self portrait using selective color and/or textures. You can read more about prizes and rules for submission on the Event Page here.

This is an example that I created for this week’s Selfy Sunday Project Event (we do this bi-weekly) that uses selective color to tell the story. Just touching this rose is causing color to flow into my body – this illustrates the story indicated by my title. Selective Color done purposefully can be a wonderful thing! Beware, though, it can easily be ultra cheesy.

Everyone is welcome to join in on the monthly challenges, and join our community to share your self portraits regularly. Hope to see your work there!

I Will Slip Myself Into Your Pocket

invisible, do what you want
do what you want

i will sink and I will disappear
i will slip into the groove and cut me off
cut me off

There’s an empty space inside my heart
where the weeds take root and now I’ll set you free
i’ll set you free

Radiohead – Lotus Flower

Prints Available For Sale Here

08 x 10 $10
11 x 14 $25
16 x 20 $68

Spinning: Best Known Use For Any Office Chair

At February 24, 2013
By Lotus Carroll
In Challenge, My Son, Photography, Self Portrait
1

This is my #SelfySunday Photo – See More At The Event Page

It’s also an Action Shot! Take a Self Portrait Action Shot before the 28th and submit it to the February SP Challenge for a chance to win fun prizes from Capturing Couture, Think Tank Photo, and SmugMug!

Rules and Details Here: February SP Action Shot Challenge Event (Open up the details and scroll to read them all.)

If you need some Action Shot tips, get educated and inspired by watching Jason Jakober‘s amazing tutorial here: http://goo.gl/O5Isu Crazy stuff!

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Would you like to join the Art of Self Portraiture Community? Come on over! You can find it here: http://goo.gl/M7XTQ

if I Said It 100 Times Before, Expect 1000 More

At February 23, 2013
By Lotus Carroll
In Landscape, Photoblog, Prints For Sale
0

Prints Available For Sale Here
(click the shopping cart at the top)

You Make Everything Beautiful Seem True

Prints Available For Sale Here

08 x 12 $15
12 x 18 $38

More sizes available.

Your Sighs Harmonize With Mine

Prints Available For Sale Here

08 x 12 $15
12 x 18 $38
16 x 24 $80

How To Make Bokeh Shapes

This is the time of year to play with light bokeh and force it into cute shapes! In a nutshell, to create light bokeh you want a very wide aperture (small f-stop number, like 1.8). Then adjust focus so that the lights are out of focus. They will be blurry, pretty circles.

If you want the bokeh to take a certain shape, you need to use a filter on your lens. You don’t have to spend any money, though! I’ve made my own filters in the past, and you can do the same. Here’s how.

Bokeh Shapes DIY Supplies

• black posterboard or construction paper
• tape (black is a bonus, but regular works)
• cutting implement like x-acto knives, scissors, shape punchers
• optional: lens filter ring
• recommended: your sense of wonder

Instructions

Carefully trace a circle around your lens on the black paper. Cut out your circle.

Next, you want to draw and then cut a small shape (about 1/2 inch, or 15-20mm) from the middle of your circle. If your shape is too big, you get poor results. Popular shapes include hearts, stars, and crosses. You can get creative here, and that is part of the fun. Be very careful with your shape – clean lines, no tears, clearly shaped and cut. This is easier to do with x-acto knives or shape punchers than with scissors.

Cut a strip of black paper to wrap around the lens, about 1 inch wide, like a cuff. Tape that shut on the lens, and tape your circle carefully to that, so it sits in front of your lens. This must be flush; no light leaks!

Another method is putting your paper circle inside a lens filter ring. This eliminates need for tape. Experiment to see what works best for you!

If you don’t want to make the shape filters yourself, you can cheat and order this cool set of shape filters http://goo.gl/JcNFs from Photojojo, like I did last year. They are awesome and there are blank disks included so you can make more of your own!

Whichever you choose – purchased or DIY, just put the filter on your lens, use the settings mentioned above, and voila!

PLAY WITH THE LOVELY BOKEH. SMILE. REPEAT!