Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Pinewood Derby and Fun with Photo Editing

a la Picnik and Heather over at Humblebeads!  She has posted a couple of really inspirational posts on jazzing up your blog/website photos by using techniques like rounding the corners  and using some super cool effects to make your photos really unique! Thanks, Heather!

I already had a premium account with Picnik, because I love all that you can do there...my font I use on my website and blog banner is from there.  Really, to me it is easier than any other online photo editing site I have tried.  I have to admit, though, that until now I have always been a little bit chicken to really push the boundaries of basic crop, resize, exposure, sharpen!

First,  I experimented with rounded edges which I really like, but then I found "vignette" effect which puts that darker hazy border around the edge (you can totally change the color as well).  My photos of the gorgeous bead soup I got from Summers Studio incorporates these effects.  Today, when trying to get some shots posted of my Webelo and his pinewood derby, I decided to go a bit further. 

using "gritty" and "vignette" with rounded edges
 
using "cinemascope" and "vignette" with rounded edges

These photos were  pretty bad straight out of the camera - blurry, not composed very well The lighting was terrible in the church rec room, and B was all over the place, so getting good shots was just not happening.  His car that we all worked on so hard together didn't do very great, sadly. He was trying to maintain some sense of sportsmanship (not totally successfully on that front) and not melt down with disappointment :(  Life lessons learned that day! 

I think using these different treatments on them sort of saved them...they aren't perfect, but that's a okay. They sort of  have an air of the surreal, which can be almost comforting.  Okay, I'm just making things up now.  He really did not feel like smiling in this shot...poor guy.

"infrared", "vignette", and "soften" with rounded edges (again)
 I re-did my blog banner last night as well  and tried to incorporate some different shots and effects...I like it!  What do you think?



5 comments:

  1. Yea, I thought that was a revised banner...but then I thought maybe I was losing my mind...great pics! I haven't used Picnik yet, I'll have to give it a try.

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  2. I am going over to have a look at Picnik. I really like what you are doing with this program. The new banner looks great. Thanks for posting your results with this!

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  3. The rounded corners are pretty! You are really creating cool pics with this program~~:-)

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  4. Picnik is fabulous...I've been on a real kick lately. Usually I just do basic edits in PSE... I used that vignette option on my recent Wire Style 2 pictures on my blog as well.
    I think your pictures from the Pinewood Derby are soooo cool. I like that surreal look, I don't think you were rambling or making things up! And your banner has an updated, edgy look and I like that!
    Our Pinewood Derby is this weekend. The kids still have finishing touches to make on their cars...

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  5. Your experiments turned out AWESOME!

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I love reading your comments!!!

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