Elizabeth Osterloh's Page

Thankyou so much for your kind comment, the photo of the puppy you have is adorable and your wedding shots are fab.

Hi Elizabeth, I know the feeling. Weddings around us have been pretty slow this year. Last year I shot 19 weddings this year I shot 2. I have 2 booked for next year but with the weddings being so slow, and even seniors was pretty slow this year. I have found a way to make a side income and still do the photography that I love while being able to pay the bills. My studio site is http://www.urbansphotography.com and my side that has helped tremendously is http://www.educate4adifference.com.

Yes, Elizabeth I can relate to you. I have a photography shop in Chickasaw, Alabama, and business has been really slow!!!!!!!!!

Hello! You remind me of one of my daughters. Have a blessesd and wonderful day!

Hi Liz,

O.K., here's the down and dirty on what I did to the baby photo in my comment to the 'child portrait' discussion.

First I opened the photo in Photoshop and immediately copied the layer. You ALWAYS want to work on a copy of the original just in case you do something you really can't undo; you have the original available to start over with.

Then (after 'healing' the blemish between the eyes with the "Healing Brush"), I used a 'Layer Mask" set to 'Hide All' in order to mask out the original background. To make the masking easier, I have the original layer visible (so I can see the actual image to know where to remove the masking). Then I ensured the 'Layer Mask' layer was active and the mask itself selected (click on the mask area).

Then, I ensured I have "White" as the active color in the color palette. In layer masks, 'white' reveals and 'black' hides. Now, with the 'Brush Tool' I painted over the subject image I wanted to reveal.

You don't need to worry if you reveal too much since if you do you can easily hide it again by changing the color to black and painting over the area you want to re-hide.

Once I have the subject image(s) adequately revealed, I inserted a substitute background. Make sure the inserted background is at the same size and resolution as the image you're inserting it into. That way the background will be large enough to cover the entire canvas area. When you insert a substitute background, place it just below the layer which has the 'Layer Mask.' This allows the new background to show through the mask (the black area of the mask).

Lastly, I cleaned up the edges of the subject image (the part of the original image I painted over with 'white') so it doesn't have an unappealing sharp edge to it which makes the image look phony and manipulated. I did this by using the 'Blur Tool' with the 'Hardness' value somewhere in the 50-60 range. I ensured the 'Layer Mask' layer was active and the photo image was selected (click on the image box). Now, I moved the 'Blur Tool' around the edge of the subject image but not necessarily touching the image edge. The low hardness value will "feather' the blurring out beyond the edge of the 'Blur Tool' guide. I continued doing this until I liked how the image looked.

If there is still a poor-looking edge (color difference is either too light or too dark compared to the new background), you can use either the ‘Dodge Tool' or the 'Burn Tool' with the same hardness factor to feather in either some lightness or darkness to the problem edges.

You can do better detailed masking and problem area correction by increasing the image size to at least 100% but I routinely use 300% or higher to do my detail work.

Have fun. Got any other questions? Just ask. I'll try to help.

Mike :) Delete Comment

Hi Hank,

The frame/mat in the pic you mentioned is actually done with a photoshop action. Very easy .. just click and presto, your photo is framed. I will see if I can find the action in my files... it is an old one and I haven't used it in years.
Thanks, Diane

I couldn't find the action i used in that photo, but I googled 'frame' actions and found several sites that offer free action downloads for frames.
http://actionfx.com/pfree-addons.html

http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photoshop-blog/2009/01/03/30-beautiful-photo-frames-and-borders-photoshop-tutorials-brushes-and-actions/

http://www.outdooreyes.com/photo41.php3

They all seem to be ornate frames.. can't find a simple black with white mat one like I use to have.

Best investment I ever did for my photography
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