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Will be working my mine later this week!!! Stay tuned!!

The Savvy Photographer.

{Inspiration..revealed}

They are photographers~ they inspire~ they are inspired by others~ they are inspired by eachother~ they seek to learn... then create~ they are bound by a love of capturing moments through their lens...moments that will now last forever...

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Marsha Mifsud is the founder and editor of The Savvy Photographer and owner of Sweet Bliss Studios. She has spent over 12 years as a professional photographer and continues to be inspired each day.

I began following this blog about a month or two ago, and never has the inspiration been seized!! Ideas shared willingly, encouragement, and just overall greatness....

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The Savvy Photographer

Several of my Zeta sisters from college went on a weekend retreat. My Zeta sis, Raquel, is also practicing her techniques in photography and asked me to "restore" and "add some of my magic" to a couple of photos that she took while on her adventure. This photo happens to be my favorite out of all the ones she sent me. Not only do all the ladies looked relaxed and posed ( I would too after a day's worth of spa treatment), but the composition overall was just fun!!!! While performing the edits on this photo, one technique after another, I decided to try Coffee Shoppe's polaroid emulsion transfer technique. Warning...I did not read the directions, nor did I get the action to successfully run; however, I'm not afraid to play and that is what I did. For all of you...follow the directions...I am the second time around!!! and I'm anxiously awaiting for the 70's polaroid that my dad has stashed in his closet. Not sure of the model, but hey, I still could have some fun with it!!!

In the meantime, ladies, enjoy one of your sneak peeks, and for the rest of you....head on over to the Coffee Shoppe. Rita is great!!! (I will note that Rita and I have A LOT in common....we were both science geeks that became moms that became photographers!!! Small world!!)

SOOC taken by Raquel (or other since Raquel is in the photo)


An attempt of doing a pseudo polaroid emulsion transfer. Yes, more work needs to be done, but the storyboard/canvas came out cute!!!

This is my first time participating, but thought I would give it a try..

It's time for another Fix-It Friday here at I ♥ Faces!! This is our day to learn new photo editing tricks from our contributors as they explain how they “fixed-up” the special photo we gave them. The fun part is that we then all get to play along with the Fix-It ourselves!

We'd like to thank Jaclyn from The Polhamus Family for the beautiful photo we will be working with this week. Jacklyn is the SAHM of seven gorgeous children and the little gal in the photo she submitted is of one of her triplet daughters! We have appropriately named this photo "Beauty." :) ...

a link to iHeartFaces for more information on how you can participate too!!!

OK, now for the finished product...

The Original...


My Makeover...

used Jesh de Rox's Colorshift "weathered rock"....provides a wonderful bw conversion with purple duotones. so appropriate for a princess...
also applied Beth Armsheimer's textures...
created a little storyboard and applied Design Aglow's graffetti art..
and forgot to add...my little recipe of a tilt shift.

Jodi of MCP Actions has got a BIG contest going on and I really really wanna win this one. I'm tired of photoshoping this technique, man!!!! I want it out of camera!!! Hurry, you have until August 23rd!!!

Click below for details!!!!
Win a LensBaby!!

In the meantime, here is my photoshoped version of a "lensbaby"....not as good, but the real thing would seal the deal!!!!!

Here is pretty much SOOC. aperature between 5.5 - 8, iso 200-400 (I was changing the settings constantly while on the beach because we went from full sunlight to the open shades of the ocean caves...oooooo)


and here is adding the lens blur feature in photoshop (I sometimes also add a little bit of radial blur and motion blur depending on what it will look like )....along with some more blurring like gaussian blur...all utilizing as a mask over the background original. In this case I wanted to emphasize Meme and Maddie's hands....converted BW - in this case a straight desaturation, added LilyBlue's Sweet Water from her WaterPlay action set and then some lighting contrast adjustments, and some of Beth Armsheimer's textures {these are totally YUMMY!!!}..


now if I had a lensbaby, I would not have to go through all this work....and I would have tons of fun shooting!!!!

I'm currently transitioning all my client, personal blogging to my "new" blog keeping this blog as reference for all photographers and enthusiasts!!! So to keep all my subscribers in the know, I'll post highligts from my other blogs. Stay tuned for a quickie on lens blurring. and yes, I do want lensbaby so that I don't have to do this all the time in photoshop!!!!

enjoy!!

The Beach...

Butterflies and Blessings...

A little blessing...

Just Because...


First week of Training camp...

I've been following Jesh de Rox's work, well, since my serious beginning 3-4 years ago. So amazed by his inspiration and the expressions of his imagery. I did have the the honor to attend his workshop last August...one year from today to be exact, alongside Jose Villa, and many other gifted artists who came to be inspired by love. Recently, Jesh had released a wonderful tutorial on the "ingredients" of his Colorshift Action set. I had purchased this action moments after release last year and my creative adventures have never seized. Here is an example of my work using Jesh's Colorshift Actions and Textures (separately purchased).

Original:


Colorshift "memory of a friend", "a winter sun", "mountain air" and "soft as a peach" added with lots of adventure and exploration:


Colorshift {same as above} plus textures "moon landing" and "thousand and one"...again with lots of adventure, exploration and beyond....:


Colorshift "Evening" with some adventure:


Colorshift "evening" with a mix of "a winter son" and "memory of a friend" plus more exploration and beyond:


Visit JeshdeRox.com/ENLIGHTEN to get more information on Jesh's actions and textures.

enjoy and stay tuned for more of my post processing favs!!!!

Sandy Puc created some awesome brushes and textures while quarantined in China for 7 days because of a passenger suspected with the Swine Flu while en route for her 3 week journey to China with her two children. One of the reasons for going to China was to do her daughter's senior portraits. Well, the series started at their lovely hotel in Shanghai. By all means it was no lap of luxury. The authentic grunge grouping includes, cigarette burned carpets, cracks in the walls, and filthy bathroom stains. They are available at www.samsworlduniversity.com and all of the proceeds will go to help orphans in China. These kids live like this everyday..... {Visit the Campus Store if your are not a member of Sam's University!!}




Used the following: The Quarantine Brush Set
Wall Stain 3 Texture
Fuse Box Texture
lch Designs, 20x20 sloppy borders


Poor Jack!! Yes, he did feel quarantined in his dragon outfit for Halloween this past year. I know that this would have been me if I were in Sam's place in China right now.

Hearts to you, Sam and your family!!!!

I cannot say enough good things about Leah of Ich Designs. Visit her blog to see the wonderful template she has made for you photographers. Last year she did the same and it totally sparked my creativity!!! Using her Urban Girl Album template, some of her frames, and her "daddy" template, I created a stunning 30x30 piece of art that hangs in the entry way of our home. Gorgeous and just makes me smile everytime I walk past it. Happy Father's Day Keith!!! You're the best daddy ever!!!!

and of course, this is for this year...

Yeah I got it working....my signature and other little graphic stuff. I guess I'm learning html!!! YEAH!!!

A great gem of a site for blog redesign and cool tidbits. The Cutest Blog of the Block