White teeth the easy way!

I just wanted to do a quick post to share a picture from my sister's birthday party on Tuesday gone. I was pretty lazy with my photography on this night as it was a week night and I was hella tired from work. But I noticed that curtains make great backdrops... right?!

I also did a little fiddling around in photoshop to reduce saturation just a tad and reduce the redness overall - haha my sister always has very pink cheeks!! I also whitened up the teeth a little on my Mum :-) I like to do this sometimes because I think it really makes a person look younger! (My mum looks pretty young for her age anyway don't you reckon?! Sorry I'm not going to reveal her age here :P) I didn't do too much editing as my mum didn't really need it. Its all about trying to keep the photo natural but enhancing it at the same time.

To lighten up the teeth slightly I reduced the yellow tones and lightened it. To do this I made a selection around the teeth using the magnetic lasso tool. Once I have my selection I created a new layer by going layer > new layer via cut. The next step is to go to Enhance > Adjust colour > Adjust Hue/Saturation. I then change the drop down menu from Master to Yellow, then use the sliders to reduce saturation and increase lightness. You can do the same thing to reduce redness or overall saturation to you liking.

I don't usually edit each individual photo like this in photoshop, I normally use iphoto. But I do like to fiddle with family photo's to make then a bit more special . It's not everyday that we get together as a family, so its nice to have a few memorable shots. And because I was only using my compact camera, it did need a bit of sprucing up!

Hope you all have had a great week!! Another blog post is in the pipeline so watch this space :o)

April Photowalk & Some EXCITING NEWS!

Our April photowalk was located at Eve's bush and Orewa beach. Now I think so many Aucklanders really underestimate Orewa. We tend to see it as one of those places you stop at on your way north , or on your way home. But its actually a really nice beach., its spacious and there is a good sized grass area where the play ground is and space for volleyball and basketball. It's not half bad if you ask me! I must admit though., its not my first choice when deciding on a beach to visit but I do like Orewa.

So here are some of my favourite shots along with the usual blurb...

Oh and just a little aside note., its a definite no no to go into the bush wearing only ya jandles LOL. I learnt my lesson the hard way haha. Got eaten alive (mozzies). But it was worth it. I got a few cool shots I think ;-)

I used the wide angle end of my lens for this shot below and was therefore able to capture the maximum amount of scenery that was in front of me. I have to be careful using the wide angle end, as I tend to go a bit extreme sometimes and it can often have a distorting effect. But I still like how this turned out :-)

Ok so all day I was trying to get those cool lens flares in my shots. I didn't quite get it (haha FAIL) but I like this shot. I like how I have one trunk in the front but you get the sense its one of many from the blurred background.





Could be my favourite pic of the bunch. This shot is bathed in light. . .loooooove. To get the spider web in focus I used the manual focusing ring. The auto focus just can't hack it :P





I took two different exposures of this one., and chose the lighter one. Sometimes I think that its too light., but I like this anyway. I like the rounded bokeh. . . awesome... I tried to keep that moss in focus as well.




I love pink so this picture just speaks for itself. ;-) gorgeous colour. This didn't really need to be enhanced or tweaked at all.





Waiting for sunset. . I like this photo because of the repetition of the trees and how it goes from big to small. . Couldn't have arranged it better myself.





Daisy pointed this out to me., the seagull on the pole and I thought., yeah its cool but I wouldn't be able to pull it off., the light being too low and it was quite far away. . But I think I did ok! The gull was making a good ol racket up there so I waited till it had its beak open again and took the shot. Before hand I increased the exposure compensation because I knew otherwise it would be too dark. This way you can still kind of make out some detail of the bird and the weathered pole.





I LOVE FLUFFY GRASS. Does anyone know the name of this yet? ANYWAY., originally I hadn't thought to put this shot in black and white but Joy mentioned it might look good - and she was right! I just converted it to B&W in iphoto then increased the contrast slightly as well to really make those fluffy heads stand out.





So we waited., and waited and waited., no sign of a sunset. SIGH... "oh well guys lets go home.," and just as we started walking back to our cars, THIS HAPPENED. How cool is that ? Just when you think it was going to be another FAILED sunset.




Never give up., you never know how things can turn out. ..

And on that note., I would like to re-announce that I passed my Foundations exam!!! (Previously PCE1). This is a professional accounting exam that you need to sit in order to become a Chartered Accountant in NZ. There's still one other exam to be sat., but the fact that I didn't pass PCE1 first time around makes this victory all the more sweeter. . . I was kind of shocked actually!! But BOOYAH lol. I passed the workshop and all 3 exam questions. They have made it harder this year (changes to the curriculum), so I'm just sooo stoked I made it through.

Just want to say thank you to my family and everyone who has been wishing me luck and praying for me. All my hard work and late nights paid off!! I'm so glad. :-)

“What we can or cannot do, what we consider possible or impossible, is rarely a function of our true capability. It is more likely a function of our beliefs about who we are.”

—Tony Robbins

TRUE THAT! Enjoy the rest of your week pebbles :-)

Pacific flavoured ART

Ok., so quick update :-) Yesterday I had the privilege of helping out my friend Ernest Auora to get some shots of his artwork to send off for an exhibition. It was very last min as the deadline was today!! But we got it done just in the nic of time ;-)

I decided it was best to take the pix outside as there was more light., and the fact that it was a little cloudy really gave some favorable lighting conditions. His artwork is awesome and I just love the vibrancy of the colours. I hope that he is happy with the result! I thought it went pretty well... Below are some of the pix I took.

For reference purposes his Facebook page is here.

Its really hard to get a feel for the size of these pictures because of how small they show up on this blog., but they are actually quite big.. about 2 x 1 m (rough estimate) but you get the idea.









If you are interested in purchasing any of these prints., please email Ernest at trunesian@gmail.com.

Random fireworks... I'll have some of that!

So I was sitting in my living room eating dinner when I heard fireworks. I turned to my right and there they were. Not the pitiful ones you get from the warehouse but the proper professional type!! Talk about midweek excitement! (ok so it was monday).

So frantically I put down my fork and ran to the bedroom, trying not to bump into anything in the process. Rushed back with my bendy tripod and camera meanwhile I had no idea why there were fireworks or how long they were going to last. Its was almost torture seeing the beautiful fireworks and knowing there was a possibility that by the time I had my camera set up it would all be gone....noooooo. And no one would believe me if I don't get a picture right?!!! LOL.

I finally did get some pictures., some were crap and blurry so I had fun being arty with them in photoshop. Does anyone know what they were for?

2 days till the weekend people wooo :-)