Bokeh Hearts!

So I was going through some pictures and I saw this one, and the tree makes it look like hearts.

(Unedited, Canon EOS30D, Paper over lens) 

If you're wondering how it's unedited and still looks a little pinky, It's because I put a piece of paper in front of the lens and cut a heart out, and the points of the heart gave the photo a pink look for some reason!

That's the paper!

MD

Downloading Fonts From Online

How to download fonts from  dafont.com

Step one:  Download the app Phonto, It's free(:  If you already have it, make sure you have the latest version.
Step two:  Go to dafont.com (<< Link
Step three: Browse the fonts, pressing download on the ones you want. (I think they're all free.  All the ones I've seen are.)
Step four: Plug your iPod/iPhone/iPad into the computer, press on the device tab, and go to apps. scroll all the way to the bottom where the "File sharing" tab is.
Step five: Press "Add" and the documents file should pop up.
Step six: Type in the font you've downloaded, make sure it's a .ttf or .otf and press ok.
Step seven: Look on Phonto>My Fonts and it should be there!
Repeat as many times with as many fonts as you want!

Some suggestions:

Skinny
DK Canned Whale
Console
Pearl Jam
Dhechildfont
Hand Times
New Facebook
Sanchez Mustache
Red Snapper
Skinny Jeans
Simply Glamourous
Sweetly Broken
Znikomit No. 24
ML Sunglow
Honeyscript-Light


Have Fun(:

Apple Editing

I edited these using my computer.  If you have an apple computer, you can pull up the photo in preview, take the tools tab,  pick adjust color, and have fun(:  Vintage looks are easy, just add a lot of sepia, bright, and exposure!  For lomo, do some saturation, bright, and less exposure.

Thank you Haley Claire for being a model!

Mary Dean

Watermarking

  This isn't a very hard thing to do.  At all.  A watermark is your name or a little symbol on the picture that 1) keeps people from stealing your photo and 2) is a "digital" way to sign your photograph.  I use an app called Phonto in the app store to do my watermark.

  When I watermark, I try to make it as little as I can without ruining the picture.  I've done some bad watermarking on some of my older picures... Like making it too big, in front of something, or in the center of attention.

My current watermark:

  If you're going to use phonto, you can use any of their fonts, or you can download them from online.  It's kind of a long process, but you'll figure out how to do it. (If you can't figure out how to download from the Internet, leave a comment and I'll do a follow-up post.)  Type what you want your watermark to be, and then shrink or grow it as you want.  Pick a font, color, and put it on the picture.  There you have it!  A custom watermark that shows just how original you are(:

Those are some of my favorites(:

(All of them, except throwmyhandsupintheair, are pre-set on phonto)

Bokeh And Light Art

Sorry for not posting in a while, so I'm going to make it up to you by telling you two of my photography secrets(:

Bokeh

Bokeh is something I've been trying out lately, and it's all about the focus.  If you have christmas lights, those work best for bokeh.

Bokeh works by having the christmas lights in the picture, but not the focus. literally.  Take something else (The table, for example) and focus on it, and wait for the lights to blur.  It gives it a bubbly, airy effect.  I used christmas lights for this.  Bokeh is the Japanese word for "blur", and you can see why.   The pronunciation is Bo-Kay mainly, but Bo-Key is acceptable too.

Light Art!

Light art is all about the shutter speed.  I like to use a 25-30 second shutter speed, it has the best results if you want a lot of light.  There is an app, I think, for iPhones that can make a slow shutter speed.  If you have a camera, I would look it up if you don't know.  (I would explain how to do it on a camera, but all cameras are a little different)

You have to have a flashlight, or christmas lights.

Turn off the lights, or wait for night to do this.  Make sure it's as dark as you can get it.  Start the camera, the shutter won't close, so it sounds like you're taking half a picture.  Wave the flashlight or draw what you want, and always keep the flashlight facing the camera.  For christmas lights,  Start the camera and shake them around, or if you have them strung from something to something, shake them for a wall of light.  It makes a really cool effect.

The way it works?  

When you take a picture, the shutter opens up to let in light, and closes really fast so the photo isn't flushed because of too much light.  Too much light is called Over-Exposure.  By changing the shutter speed, the camera lets in more light.  This is also the reason why you want it to be dark when you're doing this.  So when you hear the little click, and it stops (like you're taking half a picture)  that's because it's letting in more light.  Have you ever stared at the sun, looked away, and you still saw it?  That's kind of what's going on here.

Any questions?  Leave them in the comments!

Mary Dean(:

How To Duplicate Yourself In A Photograph

Y'all, I'm well aware that I'm in my PJ pants.

But I'm going to tell you how to do this!

Take however many pictures that you want of yourself, making sure the camera ( Or phone) stays still, like set it on  a table.  I used a trash can for this(:

Once you have the pictures, go to www.pixlr.com and pick any of the (I'm just going to use 3 as an example number) 3 photos and make it the "Background".  Choose the tab that says "Layers" and pick the 2nd photo. Choose the eraser from the tool bar, and to erase  the area where your first picture is.  You don't have to erase it exactly, that's where holding the camera still pays off.  The background should (For the most part,  I  took this on a windy day and the Wisteria was blowing so it's a little bit off ) match up.  Now repeat with the other picture(s).

If you do it a bunch, you really get the hang of it! 

Try not to do what I did with my shadow on the ground.  I didn't fully erase it and only just noticed it.  I bet you didn't notice it until I told you about it.  But like I said, try not to do it(:

Depth Of Field

Depth Of Field works with pictures that have a main subject, so if you're using a camera, make sure it's focused until the subject IS the subject.  Foreground, middle ground and background are important factors in this. You have to pick your subject, and focus on it.  (If you have Instagram, you can use the tilt-shift button in circular mode and only focus in on your subject)

If you have an iPhone, tap the subject until it's the only thing in focus.

How I Photograph Nature

Contrast and Detail.

On the note of contrast,  The sky as a backdrop for anything makes great contrast, take the colors as an example: green and white; brown and blue.

On detail,  Nature is full of it so why not capture it!  Veins in a leaf, puffy clouds in the sky, or the natural spots on a rock provide enough detail for a day in the backyard with your camera.

My Photo Shoot

The other day I had a photo shoot with my friend Haley Claire. She's a gymnast, and the most flexible person I know! Here are a few of my favorite photos(: