Create Stunning with Textures

Textures are so much fun!  You can make your own or buy them.  I've done both and now I have a library of textures to last a very long time.  I have to stop myself from buying more!  There are many tutorials on the web to show you how to use them.  I started with Hazel Meredith who did a webinar for Topaz.  Find her at Meredith Images Blog.  She creates fantastic images of grungy old cars!
I looked through my landscape images and found some potential!

I started with this:

Added two textures to get this:

The textures gave the image movement and cohesiveness as well as color!  I got rave reviews from friends and the public so I decided to continue.  

I looked for an image with a lot of negative space.  This one is a perfect subject but it needed more:

Textures added depth and interest:

I have this image printed on canvas in a show now at the Newburyport Art Association in Massachusetts.  I won an award for it!

Textures, like composites, are cutting edge for photography.  I'm not going to abandon my love of capturing gorgeous landscapes, I can assure you.  But I am also going to expand my abilities to play and be creative in my digital darkroom.  Try it!

Portrait Photography Outdoors

Outdoor portrait photography is a lot of fun and gives you great results when you keep a few things in mind as you shoot.
-When you know your what your location will be plan what your subject is wearing to coordinate and/or stand out from the natural surroundings.  A couple of changes of clothing or props like hats, scarves, umbrella, book, flowers etc. will get your creative spirit flowing.  In this shoot with my niece, I used her hat and a scarf as props.  Her clothes blended with the winter woods and the scarf was a dramatic color addition.

-Don't forget to set your white balance appropriately.  You will still want to play with it in Photoshop especially if the light changes as you are shooting.  In this shoot the sun began to come out and changed the light dramatically.  We stopped when it got too strong.

-I use manual mode and check my histogram frequently.  Aperture preferred mode is also good for portraiture as you can set the f stop and get the depth of field you want without worrying about the shutter speed.  Remember: make sure your shutter speed stays fast enough for a moving person!
-Be playful and have fun.  Be clear with your subject what you want them to do and where you want them to look.  They don't know!

Diving in Grand Turk at the Bohio Resort

" Bohio" means home on Grand Turk.  Our home away from home for our diving vacation.  Grand Turk is a flat, small island that happens to be the seat of government for the Turks and Caicos Islands of the Caribbean - cruise ships come in for lunch and an afternoon at the beach; not very picturesque but the sand is divine.
Unexpected weather kept us out of the water for the first couple of days.  But it did provide a chance for body surfing!

The Bohio restaurant has wonderful food!

 The boat comes right up to our resort beach, we hop on and motor a short way to "The Wall".  The Wall goes down 7000 feet but we explore only the first 100 feet down.  Diving off Grand Turk is what people come here for - not the scenery and not the night life.  The island is also full of dogs, who look alike and donkeys, who roam freely everywhere.

There was a guy on the beach everyday with a horse.  He charged the tourists $40 a ride.  Deb knows how to ride and she had fun!  I had fun getting panning shots of her racing down the beach.

This is the Caribbean - just beautiful!