kimi kreations

I had a shoot this afternoon. I promised her Mom an image up on my blog as soon as I could. I only got a couple of smiles but my gosh, she is one beautiful child. And yes, her eyes really are that blue! So, I introduce you to Miss G. What do you think? ~kimi~

If you have a rar. folder that you need to unzip. You can download a free trial of winRAR here. CNet has a very good record of safe downloads. It is a 40 day free trial. I downloaded it a couple of days ago and it worked great. When your 40 days are up, you can uninstall it from your computer and be back to normal. Next... If you come to a texture that is just an image such as the Antique1 texture. Right click and copy it. This will copy the image to your computers clipboard. Open CS or Elements. Hit Ctrl N for a new document. Your computer will remember the copied size and make a new document to fit it. Once your new blank document is opened. Hit Ctrl V, this paste your image into the document. Now save in your texture folder. Another thing; if you watch the video but you are working in Elements and don't have a layer mask button. Do This. Open a new levels adjustment layer. Click ok without making any changes. This now gives you a layer mask to paint on. Click on your mask to m...

Grace's little brother was born this morning. Meet Cameron. 8 pounds even. What a sweetheart! A quick peek for family and friends. Portraits to follow. BIRTHdays are really nice. :) ~kimi~

Taking this class has reminded me how much I truly love the look of textures added to an image. Being in the local camera club and trying to stay in line with the strict competition guidelines, I have forget my own style and have lost my way. NO, this won't make a 1st, 2nd, or even an honorable mention, but this is me!! How does that song go... I gotta be me!! I just love how this image of Grace turned out. First because the look is soooo Grace. :) You don't normally process an image of a child making a mad face. The parents want happy and big smiles. I do have to admit... she has come a long way as a Model. From the first time we had to send her Mom home to get some shots and then she cried because her Momma left he,r to the shots I did the other day, where I would say give me something fierce and I would get all these crazy poses. She is more comfortable with me now and unfortunately she is growing up. I am not sure when this was taken. I have so many images of her in my file...

Thanks to Elaine over at the JS site for finding this really great video on smoothing texture over skin. Take a watch.... If you find it taking too long to start. Click here! And here is a link to a set of mighty cool textures! Remember to leave her a thank you. Princess-of-Shadows Happy Monday!! ~kimi~

Today we learned about applying texture to an image. Well anyone that knows me, knows that is one of my favorite things to do!! LOL!! So to go along with the class, I give you two textures I made and clipping mask #3. There is a secret when applying texture to a portrait. You need to keep the color of the texture going through out the image but you don't want your face all grunged up. Apply your textures as you like. Then using your lasso tool, make a loose selection around the face area. Make sure you right click and apply a nice feather to your selection. Something high, between 60 and 100. Now go to filter, blur, gas blur. Give it a nice blur. 5 to 8. Now you still have uniform tint through out your image but the face is nice and clean. Cool huh? You can keep your selection active and highlight each texture layer and run the filter on each layer. Super easy! You can also adjust your texture effect. Open your brightness/contrast and drop down the brightness and give a little bum...

So we are on day 4 of Jessica Spraque's free photo editing class. Today she is explaining how to use a photo clipping mask. I gave a clipping mask away a while back, but while making the first one I had made 4 different versions. Here is an example of #2. I just love clipping mask. I always tend to add a small bevel to mine, changing my bevel to size 1. If I have a paper or light background, I will also add a slight drop shadow. Together they tend to add a nice effect. So for your download pleasure... I give you my second mask. Have Fun!! If you scroll down a bit to the first one. I have directions posted on how to use it. Have you subscribed today?? sorry, time is up Happy Thursday! ~kimi~

WIN AN SLR LENS: Brand New Tamron Lens – 18-270mm or 28-300mm Go to MCP Actions and follow her directions. :) And here is a link to the tutorials she has posted. Spend some time there and your images will never be the same again!! Thanks for everything Jodi!! ~kimi~

I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July! A couple of freebie papers for you today. (I just had to, we are up to 250 subscribers) I am so honored! :~) I made the lighter version first, then I used yesterdays lesson. I duplicated the layer and changed the blend mode to multiply. Reduced my opacity on the second layer until I liked the color. Same paper but 2 different looks. Try and keep this in mind with the materials you already have. It is a quick and easy way to change the look! For future designs.... do you have a favorite? Light or Dark? Download sorry, time is up here. The link will be up for 24 hours. Happy Day Everyone!! ~kimi~

Let's talk about Portraits a bit. When you look at an image, your eye is automatically drawn to the lightest area. Many times our lightest area is the background. When this happens you tend to get a flat image and the person you shot get lost in the image. There is an easy quick fix for this that will change the look of your Portraits. Process your image in your normal fashion. When you are finished you will want to merge your visible layers together or use the shortcut Ctrl, Alt, Shift, E to merge all of your layers into a new combined layer. (this is my favorite shortcut) In Elements open a Levels adjustment layer and click OK without making any changes. In Photoshop you would create a new layer mask. Now you want to change the blend mode to multiply. Changing your blend mode to multiply will darken the entire image. Click on your layer mask to activate it. Pick a soft round brush and make sure your foreground color is black. Here is the fun part... pain over your person. This wi...