Vintage Feel using Lightroom

I love to be creative with my frugality.
I bought a ream of gray paper for $15 and employ its simplicity when making my own personalized stationary.
I print off photos that I have taken to decorate the front of the cards, adding my own weirdo slogan to suit the recipient.

This shot was taken in a bowling alley one evening whilst I played amongst the friends.
I have been reading King James a lot lately. Forgive me.

I used the ‘Cold Tone’ preset in Lightroom to give this photo its vintage edge. I decreased the exposure in order to see the floor and increased the contrast in order to make out the chair pedestals.
I love how worn out and soft the print now appears.

I ended up going with the ‘Aged Photo’ preset. I decreased the exposure a little, but liked how washed out the floor appeared with this preset.
Simple. Cute.
That’s what I’m into and Lightroom is the answer on these occasions. Don’t get me wrong, I love Photoshop. But sometimes, you just want to quickly edit and be done with it.
This was such an occasion and it worked perfectly.

Using Lightroom Presets

Once in awhile on tour, I have just a minute to edit a photo and publish it, or possibly be away from the internet for days. I typically don’t use presets in Lightroom, but they do come in handy in these instances.
Here are a few quick examples of what those presets can do.

This is the original photo.

I like to import most of my photos using the preset, ‘Strong Contrast’. It gives a punch to the color in the photo and offers deep blacks.

This preset, ‘Creative: Selenium Tone’, adds the retro black and white feel with sharp contrast and a hint of blue.

I love this preset, ‘Creative: Direct Positive’.
It’s a nod to high fashion photography: a yellow hue is added to green, both the color and the lighting is intensified, and it strikes a sharp contrast between blacks and whites.

Using the preset, ‘Creative: Aged Photo’, you can turn a modern photo into something reminiscent of the past, but with sharp detailing and deeper blacks.
I like to mess around with my presets-adding color filters or increasing exposure just to see what craziness I can come up with. It’s really fun to do with portraits.
I hope this inspires you to have fun in Lightroom when your time is short and you can’t get into an intense photoshop edit!

It’s that time of year-Photo Albums as Christmas Gifts

I love making digital scrapbooks. By scanning in an old photo, I can fix any scratches or flaws with one of my editing programs. I also don’t have to give up that ‘one copy’ of my favorite photo. And lastly, I can make several copies for each family member with a click of a button.

I made an album for Biceps’ Grandma and Grandpa two Christmases ago. Grandpa especially loved seeing himself as a young whipper snapper next to his purty car…

…and seeing pictures of his favorite horse. Grandpa had a myriad of stories about good ‘ol Charlie.
And just so you know, Charlie could do no wrong.

The youngest heard from the oldest the stories that make up our family.

When I become a Grandma someday, I can tell stories of the homesteads that are no longer remaining. The albums will have the visual to give my kids and their kids-roots to farming, to Iowa, to a different life.

They’ll hear from me what I heard from Bicep’s grandparents. Stories about horrific spring tornadoes and God’s provision afterwards.

Stories about the untimely death of this man, Grandpa’s son, who was killed by a drunk driver in the 70’s.

And stories about how Grandpa and Grandma visited the man in the hospital who killed their son and prayed for him. They were able to lead that man to the Lord.

These stories should be shared-generation after generation. They should be memorized, written down and never forgotten. I mean, if you don’t know where you came from-how do you know where you’re going?

If you’re looking for that perfect gift, may I recommend a digital photo album? Or if that’s too much work, may I suggest a roll of 100 dollar bills? I didn’t have a roll of 100 dollar bills, so I went the photo album root.

An Indian Ceremony

The two preparations that I was asked to photograph-
The Henna Ritual and An Indian Engagement, preceded this day which I have deemed, ‘The Indian Ceremony’.
I am sure there are fancier names, but since I am drinking red wine out of a plastic cup and lounging in a hotel room-I ain’t feelin’ too classy.
However, the bride-to-be that I was photographing was the epitome of class.

Let me catch you up: The exquisite bride-to-be was escorted to her waiting future husband, surrounded by family, shrouded from harm.

As she and her entourage entered the expectant ballroom-cheers erupted, cameras flashed and children ran willy nilly with excitement.

The couple sat on their designated thrones; available for photographs-all the while smiling for the better part of an hour.

I do believe she’s had enough.

And then the ‘blessings’ for the couple began.

Money was gifted, flower necklaces adorned their necks, more pictures taken, tummy’s were growling…

I think we were all ready for the buffet at this point. Some of us, more than others….