Just a reminder that it isn’t too late to take advantage of the promotional code for the  fantastic ebook – The Magic of Black & White – Part II, Craft, by Andrew S. Gibson.  In it, he gives step by step direction for converting color images to black and white and then adding split toning to further enhance the image.  His directions are for both Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements.  The auther of the ebook has some beautiful images, which he uses to illustrate the different examples he provides.  It is well worth the price of $5 for this download.  I have to say that I even learned a few new tricks, which I will definitely be putting to use. This ebook, as well as some other really fantastic ebooks are available at David duChemin’s Craft and Vision.

If you use the promotional code MAGIC4 when you checkout, you can have The Magic of Black & White – Part Two for only $4 OR use the code MAGIC20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more books from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST JUNE 1, 2010.

I downloaded an advance copy of a fantastic ebook the other day – The Magic of Black & White – Part II, Craft, by Andrew S. Gibson, which launches officially tomorrow.  In it, he gives step by step direction for converting color images to black and white and then adding split toning to further enhance the image.  His directions are for both Photoshop CS and Photoshop Elements.  I tried it in Lightroom and it works as well, but some of the techniques are specific to Photoshop (or probably something else similar).  For the two images here, I converted to black and white in Lightroom, tried the split toning, but wasn’t thrilled with the results, so exported to Photoshop and tried it again – much happier.

The auther of the ebook has some beautiful images, which he uses to illustrate the different examples he provides.  There are 27 pages of discussion, instruction and example and it is well worth the price of $5 for this download.  The ebook launches tomorrow, and if you come back tomorrow, I might be able to give you a discount code to make the purchase even sweeter. (Yes, I’m an affiliate.)  I have to say that I even learned a few new tricks, which I will definitely be putting to use. This ebook, as well as some other really fantastic ebooks are available at David duChemin’s Craft and Vision.

[Update!]   For the first six days only, if you use the promotional code MAGIC4 when you checkout, you can have The Magic of Black & White – Part Two for only $4 OR use the code MAGIC20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more books from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST JUNE 1, 2010. 

I had a portrait session last night with a fun family, whose kids are always on the go.  I set the camera to high speed continuous shooting and quickly filled up my memory cards!  The first photo just makes me giggle – the faces this little guy comes up with are to die for.  And his sister loves to pose for the camera…she makes a great model. =)

For all you city folk stopping by, this is a center pivot used for irrigating crops.  Over on the right where the dragonfly’s head is pointing is the center this pivot, which is in the center of this field…hence the name center pivot.  As you can see, the majority of the pivot follows a straight line, with the exception of this last span, which is at an angle to the rest.  This last span is called a swing span, because it swings out from a 90° angle to fall in a straight line with the rest of the pivot before folding back to a 90° angle again.  This enables the swing span to water most of the corners of a field — picture the field as square with rounded corners.  Most of the field can be utilized, rather than just a circle in a square with the corners sitting idle.  Also, if you have a rectangular field, the swing span waters the long ends of the field when fully expanded.  Center pivots can also be configured in a half circle, quarter circle or three-quarter circle (or anything in between, really). 

Pivots these days can be operated through the use of telemetry and a laptop, eliminating the need to babysit the pivot.  The telemetry sends various notifications via email to a designated operator’s cell phone or laptop.  The telemetry also tells the swing span when to turn on and turn off the sprinklers.  Oh yes, in case you are wondering how the swing span knows when to swing out and swing back in, there is wire buried about three or four feet deep all the way around the circle in the path the swing span needs to follow and it sends out a signal to something located on the end of the swing span. 

Some farms don’t utilize swing spans on their pivots and make use of the corners in different ways.  They are good locations for homes and shop yards.  Utility companies utilize them for locating their sub-stations.  Farmers can also utilize the corners for CRP – Conservation Reserve Program through the USDA, wherein native grasses are planted to provide cover for wildlife and to help prevent erosion.

This shot is actually a compilation of nine different shots.  I let Photoshop do all the work of stitching the images together.  It does it automatically and takes only a few minutes rather than who knows how long it would have taken me to do it myself.  The only thing I had to do was crop it afterwards to even the edges up.  I don’t think I needed all nine of the original images, but you are supposed to have quite a bit of overlap for each photo used.  PS did a fantastic job merging them all together.

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I almost forgot!  I’m up today at Vision and Verb.  If you have a moment or two, check out my post and then linger a while to read the other fantastic posts.

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One more thing…I just found out that my photo of Buster that was submitted to Diane Schuller Photography’s Pet Photo Contest was selected as one of the finalists!  How cool is that!!!  Please go to Diane’s site and vote for #5 – Buster is the Boston sniffing a bouquet of roses – see photo at left.  The shot wasn’t set up at all, with the exception that I took the bouquet outside to take some photos and Buster came over to sniff the roses all on his own.  He’s such a sweetie.  Go vote – you have until Sunday at midnight.

Finally, the grand unveiling of the project that I’ve been working on the past week or so – Christmas/Holiday card templates!  I know, you are so excited.  Actually, I am excited!  I was busily designing these cards for some client orders and got to thinking that it might be a nice resource for someone who needs something other than the standard templates offered and that can be quickly customized by changing the background color or the font and text.  The files shown here are PSD files and are fully layered and easily editable.  This initial offering is of packages of six or seven horizontal and vertical 5×7″ cards, which are actually 5.25×7.25″ that includes the trim or bleed area.  I have another PSD package to upload, and will be offering individual cards as well.  With an adjustment to the image size, they can be used for 4.25×5.5″ cards, and can be used for postcards (with envelopes).

In addition to the PSD files, I’ll also be adding PNG files if you want something super quick and easy.  There will be one package to start, along with some individual files.  The color of the PNG files can be modified by using the Hue/Saturation adjustment in Photoshop.  Just drop your photo in behind the PNG layer and you are good to go. 

Keep checking back – at some point I’ll even include a free PNG file for your downloading pleasure.  Let me know what you think – honest critiques are most welcome and will be taken to heart.

To find these wonderful files – click on Templates up there in the Menu or hover for the drop down menu.  OR, you can click on the images above and you’ll be taken to their respective pages. 

One last thing, these files are available for download in a zipped folder.  Once you complete your purchase through PayPal, you’ll be sent an email with the download link that is good for 24 hours.  Some of these files are HUGE – so please be patient.  If you’d like the files sent on a CD and mailed, please contact me through my contact form.

Okay, so you know how Saturday was spent on the internet following one link after another?  Well, Sunday I started playing in Photoshop with some of the resources I downloaded.  I started in the morning and finally told myself to quit around 10:30.  That would be p.m.  The items that I downloaded are all the free samples, but both resources today have complete templates and packages that you can purchase.

The image above is part of an album template sample available from the designer of my blog theme, Tofurious.  He has made three samples available and I think you can get to them all from this link.  The templates are easy to use – drop in your photos behind the top white layer, resize and you are good to go.  If you want, you can embellish the pages to personalize them as you see fit.  The templates come to you completely clean, for a classy and contemporary look.  The stripes and flowers were added by me for a fun little touch, but I’m not completely sure I like it.  I just wanted to give you an idea of what could be done.  You can also recolor the page to a dramatic black or a coordinating color. I think you are only limited by your own creativity with these templates.

This template is from Brand-ography, part of their free Portrait Experience download.  This template was originally black and white, but I changed it to the chocolate and blue of my website colors.  I also widened it, so it would fit here without being too tall.  Both were easy customizations and then all I had to do was drag in my photos over the top of the template examples and resize.  If you recall, Brand-ography also has a free Bella Baby Marketing System for download.  The only catch here is you have to register for the site and login.  He also has complete branding packages available for sale, if you want to put out the extra cash.

One of the links I started following came from the Brand-ography site and it was to Design Aglow.  They have all sorts of resources for you to buy and download.  I just wish I was made of money, because they have so many cool and helpful tools.

I hope you find these useful.  If you do, please let me know in the comments and maybe I’ll start a regular Monday resource feature.  I’d be sure to mix up the types of  resources, such as plugins to make your blog more useful, Photoshop actions and Lightroom presets, etc.