Hart Photographics

Several years ago I shot Craig and Stephany’s wedding here in Geneseo.  As with all photo shoots, I make my way through the shots, checking for problems, making corrections, etc.  A lot of times I find myself chuckling as I browse, remembering some of the funny moments that occurred during the day. As I made my way through Craig’s wedding photos, I came across the photo below. I remembered this one in particular because initially they were all going to “punch” him in the face at the same time. Craig played this up as well as seen by his expression. There was something about this photo that I had seen before.  In Craig’s face….. for years I couldn’t quite place it. Well earlier in 2009 I finally made the connection!

The original photo by Ron hartman

You be the judge

Photograph by Robert H. Jackson

My edited original

You’ll see in the following images that less is indeed better. My oldest daughter, performing a leap during her floor routine looks MUCH better once we got rid of the people and the chairs in the background. This conversion was early on in the development of my photoshop skills. This one just took a lot of time, patience and a steady MOUSE!  Enjoy. Please comment if you like.

First is the original capture:

Next is the final edited version.  This cleaned up version presents a much more dramatic leap than the original.  The focus can only be in one spot!  Technically speaking, if you look closely, you will see some flaws in my editing.

And as an added bonus, I used the above photo as the background for a composite.

Here is a second version of Nicole using the same grass texture.

Here is my latest in experimenting with textures.

I was born and raised in Geneseo Illinois.  Love the town, love the people.  This post will be dedicated to showing you some of my favorite views of “my town”.  I hope you enjoy!!  For more information on Geneseo Illinois, please visit some of our city links:

• Geneseo.Net
• Geneseo.Org
• CityofGeneseo.com

Enjoy!

Taken in Victorian Geneseo Illinois back in 2004, this photo has remained one of my personal favorites.  What you see is what you get in this photo. There’s nothing artificial.  The colors are real, the setting is real.  The photo was taken at the city park in Geneseo.  The park is as pretty as you might think!   Nowadays, the city crew is quick to get the leaves picked up as they fall.  I feel fortunate to have captured this moment.  I have a framed copy at my house that looks very nice on my wall.  If you’re interested, I would be willing to sell copies of this particular photo.  Just let me know.

Having not left the couch the entire day today I found time to do some Photoshop experimenting.  I started doing some reading on textures and looking for ways manipulate photos and such with them.  I followed in the footsteps  of some of the samples from the articles I read and tried some of what they were teaching.  In this example, I started with the photo of Nicole, and the photo of the chipped paint.  The third image is my final result.

Here is another makeover. Some basic lightening, color enhancement.  The idea behind me showing these, is so you can see just WHAT we can do with photos.  The “Possibilities” thread will really be an ongoing project. As I experiment with new techniques, discover new COOL things.. I’ll post ‘em here.  In all my posts, the first image will be the original, second the edited version.  Thanks Nicole for being my gal – Free pics when ever you need ‘em *Certain restrictions apply

One of the things I love about photography are the TOOLS!  And when it comes to photo editing, it doesn’t get any better than Photoshop.  You will find competitors and imitators, but Photoshop is truly King.  Below is a very simply make over. I smoothed, softened and warmed up her skin. Gave her a bit more color on her lips and for the fun of it, I gave her green eyes!  I do think I over did it slightly on the skin softening.  It’s on the verge of not looking real.  Well here they are, I’d appreciate your thoughts if you have any.