Lilahpops

This is my entry in the Share the Love Project

OK, it might be lame but I love my cat! In fact, I love both my cats but only one would deign to sit for a photo today.

If you follow Neil Creek’s blog you’ll know the reason for this project. If you haven’t been reading then head over and check it out.

When illness strikes at your loved ones the rest of the world (and its problems) shrinks to the size of a pea in comparison. You realise the insignificance of those petty annoyances: tele-marketers; that b@stard driver who cut in front of you; that neighbour playing loud music. Nothing matters more than those close to you.

Stress like this, however, needs a little relief and light-heartedness. I imagine Neil has picked this theme - Share the Love - for this very reason. I can only hope he and Naomi like cats!

My partner is a little camera-shy, so you’ll have to make do with Cordelia (above). She takes light-heartedness to the extreme … I mean how cool can a cat be? She is quite aloof but knows when lap-sitting is required after a long day at work.

The light was quite poor when I took this. Post-processing was only an auto levels adjustments … she really does have those golden-coloured eyes. Mesmerizing.

iPhoto editing features can make an ordinary photo extraordinary

This is the next installment in the iPhoto series.

One of my cats, Cordelia, agreed to help out with this post. Gorgeous as the subject is, the image is a bit dull; there’s not much color and the background could have been better. And, I unfortunately cut off the tip of her right ear. But she is worthy of rescuing with iPhoto!

Before I begin I’ll make a copy of the image.

Open the special effects windows

In this iPhoto edit we’ll combine a few special effects features. So, select Edit and open both the Effects and Adjust options.

Move the special effects windows to either side of the image so you can see the changes as you edit. The editing sliders in the Adjust window are all at the default settings and you should already see the special features from the thumbnails in the Effects window.

Adjust the levels to brighten the image

Adjusting the levels is always my first step when editing. Sometimes a slight levels adjustment is all a photo needs. The left-hand slider controls the darker tones and the right-hand slider controls the lighter tones while the middle slider helps to balance the brightness and shadow. Play around with the settings to see which best suits your image. I moved each slider for this image. I also slightly increased the Exposure (to 0.24) and bumped up the Contrast (to 20)

See the difference these changes have already made. The background is more washed out and Cordelia is more prominent.

But, we can do more.

A tiny retouch

In the original photo do you see the tiny blemish under Cordelia’s right eye? It looks like I took the photo before she had finished grooming. Using the Retouch tool, I moved the slider to roughly the size of the blemish and simply clicked over the spot to remove it. Much tidier.

OK, let’s adjust those settings.

Add some warmth and saturate the colors

The Temperature slider can cool down or warm up your picture. In this instance, we want a bit of warmth so I moved the slider to the right (set to 6.5). This has changed the colour of her eyes to the correct shade of gold. The picture still needs some more color so I slid the Saturation to the right (up to 61). To remove a bit of the darkness on the fur I moved the Shadow slider up (to 6.1).

Each change is small but significant.

A crop and a matte finish

Cordelia’s is looking slightly more reddish than she should be (well, she is a Chocolate British Shorthair after all, not a Reddish British Shorthair) so even though her eyes are now a more true to life colour, I added a slight Tint (to 9.8) to tone down the reddish fur and bring out more of the chocolate color.

Now to the Effects window, I selected Matte. Then a slight Crop to finish. Why the crop after the matte and not before? I did try it that way but the crop was too tight and the matte finish covered part of the cat in white. So I added the matte and then did a couple of crops to get it just right. Having said that, the matte does help disguise the fact that the tip of her right ear was clipped.

Et voila!

If you have other iPhoto tips you’d like to share let us know in the comments. If you’d like to write a guest post about using iPhoto then get in touch with me via the Contact Form.

Related posts

• How to resize an image in iPhoto
• Add special effects to your images with iPhoto
• Use the tool in iPhoto to edit your images
• Duplicate an image in iPhoto

Find your creative streak and turn your photos into comic strips!

I recently read a very detailed, comprehensive tutorial about enhancing your photos with a retro comic book effect. The tutorial is an excellent example of one of the many and varied post-production techniques you can apply to your own photos. I was inspired to try out this comic book effect on some of my own photos.

Again, one of my cats has the starring role.

The original images

As a proud cat owner, you would be right in assuming that I have amassed gazillions of photos of my cats. I took these shots a while ago, and although they were sadly overexposed, I thought they were quite expressive and decided to hold onto them until I found a use for them. And then I found this tutorial.

Adding the comic book effect

The tutorial over at the Photoshop Roadmap is easy to follow. There is also cartoon-type fonts for you to download. It’s fun and you’ll be pleased with the results. I’d love to know how you go in the comments.

I only took one deviation from the steps which was to use iPhoto to make the initial adjustments to the levels, saturation and color. Click the images below for the higher resolution versions.

So there you have it - my first comic strip!

• See other related PhotoShop posts

I talked about a cat photographer called Mr Lee in a previous post and have now stumbled across a cat pianist called Nora. A truly talented feline, this piano playing cat knows her ivories. This YouTube video is the sequel to the original Nora The Piano Cat. Watching this cat play the piano is one of the most enjoyable sights I’ve seen in a while and the piano play off that Nora has with her owner/tutor is lovely. If you need a laugh then watch Nora practice the piano.

Now I want to get a piano…

I finally got my film developed. I tell you, after being so accustomed to the immediacy of a digital camera, the wait was agony. It must have been quite a novelty for the camera shop too, as I received a free film when I picked up the photos. Plus the photos were saved to a disc.

Opening the envelope brought back memories of the excitement, surprise and occasional disappointment of that first glance through a roll of film. I was also a bit of fearful that none of them would turn out. Of course, some shots were total disasters, but I expected that.

Taking the photos

Using the vintage camera wasn’t as complicated as I’d initially thought. In fact, I had a lot of fun. It was more a matter of remembering to set everything: the speed, aperture and then the distance. After that I was relying on blind faith to do the rest! With a bit more practice it will come naturally.

The results

As usual, my cats kindly modeled for most of the photos. Some photos were over-exposed. So I’ve taken closer notice of the hints from the manual. I don’t think I can blame this vintage camera for all my bad shots.

Good focus

These two shots of Lilah were a great surprise - she had been moving around so much, jumping from chair to chair. Eventually she settled down and she is perfectly in focus. The one directly above is almost portrait like with its noticeable depth of field.

Cordelia loves a back-scratch on the pavers in the backyard. Even though it might look over-exposed, this is the actual color of the pavers…and of Cordelia.

Over-exposed

Unfortunately, this one is disastrously over-exposed. It’s a disappointing result, as the sky was intensely blue and the kite was very colorful. Afterwards, I re-read the tip in the manual about slightly pointing the camera down when taking a exposure reading.

Blurry

With this one I hadn’t adjusted the speed aperture correctly and the result was a slightly blurry tree. Even though the camera felt steady, I had misread the setting. However, it really is a great tree. I’ll go back and practice this one again.

Bright

A nice shot to end on, in focus, if a tad bright.