Disneyland Album First Layout!

Today, I am thankful that God gave me patience, intelligence and ability to find resources and education to teach myself to digital scrapbook to record my family's memories. I am sure my husband is thankful I have hobbies which keep me busy! Here is my two page Disney layout. I decided to try to use paint and my burn tool technique on these pages. Two Peas currently has a Weekly Challenge about adding paint to digital pages. I use these challenges to push myself to finish my layouts and post them to their gallery in addition to my blog. A few kind Peas have given me nice compliments on this layout, and the preceeding Disney page I blogged earlier today. It is great to have feed back on my work, aside from my family members who will enjoy the photos for years to come.

***All work on my blog or found through links via my blog should not be reproduced or duplicated***.

Weddings Seem Like Fairy Tales With Exceptional Photography or Photoshop

Have you ever hired a photographer to capture your wedding memories? You can pay quite a bit of money for amazing photos then photoshop them yourself. Or, you can pay an outstanding amount of money for exceptionally excellent, photos from a photographer who calls themself  a photojournalist.

Many photojournalists in the Sacramento area will charge you $2,000 to $3,500 then provide you with shopped photos that meet and/ or exceed your expectations.

Or, you can hire a photographer  that will give you options. I went with the option to shop my own photos or use them AS IS. I had an outstanding photographer named Shannon owner of Hazel Images in Santa Barbara, California.  http://www.hazelimages.com/

(I got married in Southern California. I found the photographers were plentiful, extra talented and full of flexible options. Not so much luck here in Sacramento. I spent just 25% of the average price given to me by 25 photographers I contacted in Sac. I am not dissing them, just sharing my findings. Apparently, in this area, wedding photographers think they shouldn't  have to work as hard as photographers in other areas to make a dollar.)

Back to my wedding pics...They are amazing photos! Most of them are perfect the way they are. But to get a few extra  incredible, perfect shots, I am using Photoshop Elements.

To understand what I am bloggin here, see the before and after photos below!

I removed the chair legs and peoples legs/ feet. Then, I added a colorful sky. Last, I brightened up the colors which adds depth to the photo. Hopefully, the more practice, the better I will become at coloring a sky. This was not easy.

 I don't know about you, but the people in the picture look like they are having a pretty awesome day! The weather was a typical overcast, ocean side June day near Ventura, California. The edits improved the quality drastically.

Many photographers will edit photos before showing them to their client. Ask your photographer if they can just color improve the RAW files. Then, sell you the images on CD in JPEG format. This will save you a significant amount of money.

Of course, no amount of money  can buy me my time back  that I will spend playing with these photos. Luck for me, the therapy and  joy I get from my hobbies including photography, photo editing, and digital scrapbooking hobbies is priceless. (For everyone else, you may consider spending the money! Photographers do have a lot of work to do in order to impress their clients!)

Disneyland Album Title Page & What's Happenin' Today?

I finished the first page of the Disney album! What's happening in your life today? Today, I am kid-free and enjoying myself. Last night, Gerry and I drove out of town to go to see New Moon with nine (9) additional friends of ours. The movie was EXCELLENT (minus the annoying teenage moans and groans behind us). We stayed up late last night then slept in a little today since we did not have our two-legged alarm clock, a.k.a Jasmine, waking us up.

I have sat behind my desk, plucking away at the keys of my laptop for a few hours. I made a huge pot of posole for us to eat throughout the day as well. I made this Disney page, as page one, of many pages I plan to make! I visited Disneyland with my sister, mom and two nephews the week of Christmas 2000. It has been a long time since that visit. Any how, I bought a template, Crystal Wilkerson Inked Edges #1. I thought I was going to claw my eyes out for a short time. BUT once I found and read, then re-read, and re-read Googled directions on how to use it, I made an AMAZING layout. I thought I was good with PSE but something about this kit was not working well for me today! It is a GREAT kit, I was the problem. I was NOT smarter than the kit! Here is it...my new pride and joy...

(Made with template in addition to Sahlin Studios Enjoy kit).