The Story of the Water Can! A Special Story!

This may look like just an ordinary hand-painted water can but it is so much more! The mother of my husband's best friend died recently joining my husband's best friend in Heaven who also died unexpectedly a few years ago. Unfortunately my kids were sick and my husband had to go to her memorial service without me.

When my hubby arrived home, I hugged him tight. He said it was a nice memorial and that he thought she and I had a lot of things in common. She was crafty and liked to cook. This made me smile that he noticed these things.

He told me that he brought me a gift. I was intrigued, what could it be?

He said that his friend's Mom collected water cans. She had 287 water cans around her home. At the memorial service, all of the attendants were told they could pick one of her water cans to take home. Gabe said his first thought was to take a small one, but then he saw this one that was hand painted with a Christmas scene. I am a Christmas fanatic. I love everything Christmas, and he picked this one especially for me! I was touched so deeply by this. Touched by the story, by his gesture, by recieving this water can and what it all meant.

What an amazing, priceless gift. Although I had never met this woman, I am touched by her spirit. She loved her children, she liked crafting and cooking and collecting water cans. Her life was meaningful and a piece of something she loved belongs to many different people now. Some people she knew well, and others she didn’t, like me. I know that I will think of her everytime I see this water can displayed in my home and her memory will live on.

I collect crosses. I have a wall full. Most have been gifts to me, each one is special in it’s own way. I hope by the time I die, I have one hundred or more. I hope that at my memorial my loved ones will let each person pick one to take home. A little something to remember me by.

Thanks for reading my story, sorry it turned out to be so long! Thank you for your comments!

My first attempt at layers!

Amazing, I am actually on theme with water!

My pic today is kinda lame, but I've been wanting to give this a try! Layers! I set up my tripod in the bathroom and snapped a few different pics of my little guy, Grant, taking a bath! I got the three stages of bathtime.... playtime, washing up and drying off! A little noisy, I forgot to change my ISO, it was at 400. I can't wait to do something similar with my kids in the pool!

ETA: I had so much fun with the layers that I decided to take my 13 year old dd outside and do the top photo in my backyard! I am so excited about it, she thinks I am the coolest Mom ever and has it posted on her MYSpace now!!!! I added this photo at 8pm tonight, I wonder if anyone will see it!

Instructions for creating the above photos ~Layering~

I have never written a tutorial before, forgive me if my instructions are unclear, I am self taught in photoshop so I don't know all the correct terminology.

Layers:

1. set of your camera and tripod and be careful not to move it through out your entire shoot.

2. shoot different pictures of your subject in different poses, try not to overlap their positions

3. next upload your photos and open in photoshop. I have photoshop element 6.0 so these directions are based on using that program, but I am sure it will work just as easily in all photoshop programs.

4. Go to file and open as many pictures as you would like to layer.

5. open the first picture to fit workspace

6. drag photo #2 from the picture bin onto your workspace photo and resize it dragging the corners and edges to overlap exactly over photo #1.

7. go to the layers palette and change the opacity of the top layer to around 50% or where ever you can see both photos. If the photos do not line up perfectly you can drag the top photo to adjust the lines and overlap exactly.

8. Next simplify your top layer (go to the layers bin, right click on the top layer and select "simplify layer"

9. choose a soft brush and erase at full strength. Erase entire photograph except the subject on the top layer.

10. when you have completed your erasing, go back to the layers bin and change the opacity of the top layer to 100%

11. Voila it's magic! Both subjects should be on your photo

12. Next, right click on the top layer in the layers palette and flatten layer

13. to add more subjects in different positions, just repeat steps 6-12

Old West, Tucson Arizona

The theme this week is water, well this is a take on the lack of water we have here in the desert, just dry and dusty!
I am so jealous of all the green plants, green grass and beatiful lush scenery I have been seeing on everyone else's blogs! I live in Tucson, Arizona where there is very little green. We are desert and dirt and cactus. We do have some gorgeous mountains and breath taking sunsets though! This is the Old West. This is my friends property. There was an old tack room and some awesome antique farm equipment that I just had to take pictures of. I don't know my settings, I used every setting there was and I either got my photos too dark or the dirt looked over exposed! We have a lot of sun here and it was high noon so it was very very bright! I used some of Jess's actions to make them look a bit more old west! I would love some CC. Thanks for looking!

Ya know those happy babies in the Giant Tea Cups?

Well Mine isn't one of them! Grant was not feeling the giant tea cup like I was. He was definitely not having it. I managed to burst off about 4 shots before he was up and out! I tried giving him candy and a Popsicle, nothing worked! I played around with them anyway! I know my backdrop is wrinkled and the colors are wonky, the focus is terrible and the shadows, aye aye eye the shadows!!!!! Still, I have my Mommy goggles on and I think my rugrat is totally adorable, even with his wonky skin color and crazy hair! I just hope he is not permanently traumatized with a phobia of giant tea cups for the rest of his life!

Textures!

Now that I actually know what a texture is, I see things so differently lately! I took my boys to playgroup yesterday. It was at a lady's house this week. Holy cow this house was a photographer's dream. I am so glad I had my camera with me! It was a ranch style house, with a tack room and a hitching post, very old west! The desert and the views were beautiful! Thankfully she is an slr canon owner and so she didn't think I was completely nuts for snapping pics the way I did! The textures were amazing! I found about 20 different textures. I can't wait to apply them to some photos! For now though here are my textures, if anyone is interested in them comment me and I will email you the full file! I would love to see any edits you use them for and hear your comments and opinions on them. Are they even worth using????

The Giant Tea Cups!

So there is this awesome message board that I have been lurking on for about the last 3 months. I have already learned so much from reading the daily posts. Well, they are such "enablers" over there. Before this message board I didn't have any clue as to what textures or actions were, now I am addicted to playing with them. I thought I was a photoshop geek before, but now I definitely am and there is still oodles more to learn.

Lately, one of the big topics is these giant tea cups, supposedly found at Walmart for $18.88. They are actually planters, found in the garden department of all places, but in the world of photography they are a hot commodity for a prop. People stick their toddlers or their puppies in them to make for the most adorable photo ever. So, last night I find myself lurking on the board at midnight and actually contemplating getting in my car and driving 25 minutes to my nearest Walmart in search of my very own giant tea cup. Never mind the fact that I don't have a child or a dog that will fit in it. Never mind the fact that I barely know how to use my camera yet, never mind all of that, I had to have one or two!

I could barely sleep last night in the anticipation of finding my tea cup. I got up early this morning, and dressed my boys and off to Wally World we went! I went into the garden center in search of my tea cup, I didn't see anything. I started to get bummed. I flagged down an employee and asked her if they had them. I thought I was going to jump up and down with glee when she said "Oh yes, they are inside the store on an end cap display!" WOO HOO, I was so close. The lady walked me inside where she pointed them out. I could almost hear the angles sing and then came the disappointment!

These were nothing like the ones I had seen people post photos of. They had these ugly flowers on them and they were all wrong! I wanted a striped one or something with colors not purple flowers. There was one pink pot that was striped but it had a big busy bow on the front. Luckily there was no bow on the backside. I grabbed it. It was better than no tea cup and it would look cute with a widdle baby girl in it. I put it in the cart and decided to look around some more.

Out of nowhere my 4 year old son says "look Mommy that one has pokey dots" Laaaaaaaaaa, it was like the Heavens opened up, the sun shone down upon a small stack of beautiful polka dot giant tea cups. It was really high up on the far back wall. I had to get an employee to get the ladder to get it. But there it was, MY giant tea cup! So I got both giant tea cups and a little bird nest thing for 2.99 that will look super cute with a newborn in it! I have no idea how to photograph them but by golly when I learn, I will have my giant tea cup for a prop! SCORE!!!!!!!!!!

pfaff posted this very informational thread on abreviations, tutorials, etc......

I got this from the 2peas photo board! I am copying it here so I can easily access it later! I hope that is okay!


18% grey/midtone grey: Average tone the camera meter wants to make the picture. If there is lot's of light or dark in the image, exposure should be adjusted accordingly.

2 Peas Dictionary - Pea Dictionary
2006 - 2 Peas Photographers List - 2 Peas Photog List
28-105mm - (or numbers like these)Zoom lens wideangle to telephoto
430EX - 580EX - Canon Speedlight flashes
5D - 10D - 20D - 30D - Canon DSLR's

A - Aperture Priority Shooting ACR - Adobe Camera Raw - raw file converter in PS products Adobe - company that produces Photoshop and Acrobat among other products
Action - automated steps to achieve a change in an image - B&W - Sepia - Color pop - see bottom of post for more on actions
AE Lock - Way to set focus
AF - Auto Focus Alien Bees - a brand of studio lights Aspect Ratio - the ratio of height to width of an image.TT's demoThe traditional 35-mm film ratio is 2:3, which is frequently expressed as 1.5 to 1 It is what makes an 8x12 work as an uncropped image and also what makes an 8x10 not work as an uncropped image.Aspect Ratio
AV - Aperture priority
Avatar - Profile Picture - under username in posts
Back Button - Thread on BB Focus
BetterPhoto - BetterPhoto.com- Offers classes - photo hosting and more
Bil - Sil - Fil - Mil - Brother, sister,father,mother-in-law
Bi-scraptual - digi scrap and paper scrap or a combination thereof
Bit images - can be 8 bit - 16 bit - 24 bit
BKT - auto bracketing
Blog - Web Log - personal website hosted by a blog site - FAQ Thread about blogs
Bokeh - the background blur from a wide aperture.
BOS - Book of Scraps - Place to save threads you want to keep track of
BTT - Bump Thread to Top
Burn Tool - PS tool to darken areas of an image - darkroom term
Business - Photography Business Questions
B&W- Black and White photographs
CC - Constructive Criticism ( try to be helpful but nice)
Card Reader - device used to move files from memory card to computer. Some printers and computers have card slots to read cards.
Catchlights - the white spots in photographed eyes - caused by the way light is reflected off the eyeball - oftened lightened in PS - TT's tutorial
Challenges - Post pictures on a certain theme - if there are rules they are stated at the beginning of the thread
Collage- Grouping of photos TT's Tutorial Color Space - RGB, sRGB, AdobeRGB, etc Thread about Color Space
Contracts,forms and releases - Skye's Site- Standard forms and releases
Conversions - converting a color image to B&W, sepia etc. often done with actions.
Copyright Release - Thread about
CPU - Central Processing Unit
Crop - cutting off portions of an image Curves - a feature of PS for fine tuning colors in an image CWB - Custom White Balance
D50 - D70 - Nikon SLR's
Defog - Thread on Defog
DD - DS - DH - Dear Daughter, Son, Husband - or darn depending on the day
Diffuser - something you put over the flash to soften the light - tissue - hankie - deo cap - purchased ones like Lightsphere
Digital Zoom - forget your camera has it - using it lowers the quality of your image
DPI - dots per inch ( resolution when printing)
DOF - Depth of Field - how far out is your lens going to focus
Dodge tool - PS tool used to lighten areas of image - darkroom term
DPOF - Digital Print Order Format
DR - aka 300D - Digital Rebel Canon
DR - Dynamic Range - PS procedure to enhance some images - usually landscapes DRebel - Drebel XT -
DRebel XTi - Digital Rebel as adverse to the original Canon film Rebel
DSLR - Digital Single Lens Reflex Camera
DVD - Digital Versatile Disc
E300 - Evolt 300 - Olympus DSLR
EC - exposure compensation
escrappers.com - dgermain - aka Denis has great tutorials Denis' Tutorials
ESP - meters light at and around subject
Erase - Delete - Remove - get rid of images on a memory card
ETA - Edited to Add
EV - exposure value
EXIF - Exchangeable Image File - information attached to image file - also called Metadata External drives - HD's either portable or connected to your computer for the purpose of redundancy
Eye's that POP- Teya's Method
Fast lens - one you can shoot wide open - fast shutter speed
FAQ - Frequently ask questions
FAQ - FAQ 2 Peas site
FAQ photoboard thread -FAQ - photoboard
File extensions - 3 digits at end of computer file name ( jpg - tif - png - NEF - CR2 - MP3 ) Firmware - software installed in a digital camera - can be upgraded from the internet
Format card - put your memory card in camera or computer and run format for your camera
f stops - (f/2.8) usually maximum aperture for that lens
Google - Google.com - Web search engine ( Queen of Googling - our own Mar - Thanks for all the links and info )
Grey card - or cloth used to set exposure and white balance.TT's Tutorial
Green Lamp - focus lock
HD - Hard Drive or can be High Definition
Hello - Instant messaging with photos - Picassa product
HHCC - Hard Hat Constructive Criticism - no mommy goggles - can take criticism of childs picture - or are ready to have your perfectly great picture really picked apart to help you move to the next level.
HQ - High Quality HI - high speed sequential shooting
Histogram - a bar graph that shows the distribution of an images pixel values
HTH - Hope this helps
ILP - i love photography.com
Image Resolution - how many pixels
IMO - In my opinion IMHO - In my honest opinion
IPTC - International Press Telecommunications Council - ( info you can change in the Metadata file )
IRL - In real life
IS - Image Stabilization
ISO - Speed of film - used as a setting on a digital camera - lower the light higher the speed needed
JK - just kidding
JMK - just my kids
JMO - Just my opinion
JPEG,.JPG,.jpg- Joint Photographic Experts Group - popular image file extension
Kelby - Scott Kelby - famous PS guru and author of the PS books Peas often reccommend
KM - Konica Minolta - now associated with Sony
KWIM - Know what I mean
L - Best quality Canon Lenses
Layers - makes it possible to work on different images - see them all then combine them.
Levels - Image editor feature for setting shadows, midtones and highlights.
Lightsphere - a brand of flash diffusers designed by Gary Fong
LCD - Liquid Crystal Display
LOL - Lot of laughs ( not lot's of love)
Lossy - jpg is a file format that compresses each time it is saved Lossless - tif - png - don't compress when saved
Lurker - Watches the MB but rarely posts
M - Manual shooting
Manual - TT's How to shoot manual Tutorial
Macro - up close shooting (close up photography)
MB - Message Board Megapixel -
MP - ( 11 megapixel= 11 million pixels)
Memory card - where images are stored in a digital camera. Examples: Compact Flash, Memory Stick, SD Secure Digital, XD, Smart Media.
Mommy Goggles - someone who gets defensive about their childs picture when someone offers CC
MPEG - Motion Picture Experts Group - Video file extensions - mp2 - mp3 - mp4
Multi - metering all over - maybe in 8 different spots
MF - Manual Focus
NAPP - Natioal Association of Photoshop Professionals
Newbie - New Pea to this board - yes you are welcome - join right in - start posting pics and posting - we are waiting to meet you.
Noise - grain - digital static - specks of the wrong color - usually in the dark areas of a photo. Most likely to happen with lowlight, slow shutter speed - high ISO
Oly - Olympus cameras
Optical Zoom - good zoom - get as much as you can afford
OS - Operating System
OT - Off Theme of the board - also overtime for sports types
OP - Original poster to the thread.
Output - how an image will be used ( website, email, small print, large print, magazine/catalog, newsletter, slideshow, framed, scrapbook )
P - Program shooting
PB / PB'ing - Portfolio Building - Thread about PB'ing
P&S - point and shoot cameras as adverse to DSLR's - usually have a fixed lens
PE - Premiere Elements - Adobe video editor
Peamail - has never been totally set up the way it looks like they meant to - you can send one and it will go to the pea - one thing about peamail - some peas registered on 2Peas with email accounts that they don't check unless they are expecting mail - so you will sometimes see posts letting someone know that they have peamail.
Photoboard Ettiquette - What a Newbie might want to Know Thread
Photobucket - Photobucket.com - free and paid photo hosting site
Photo Gallery - as adverse to the LO Gallery Layout Gallery here at 2 Peas
Photoboard Library - Photoboard Library Thankyou Melissa
Pictbridge - camera to printer ( no computer )
Picture in Picture - Thread with Tutorial by TT
Pixel - Picture Element
Pixel Count - the width and height of image in pixels - these are minimal pixel counts for printing: 640 x 480 - wallets 2x2 3x3 4x4 1024 x 768 - 4x6 1152 x 864 - 5x7 1600 x 1200 - 8x10 2000 x 1500 - 11x14 3000 x 2000 - 24x36
Plug-ins - software made to work in the framework of another software - VP in PSE or PS PNG - Portable Network Graphics - supports 24 bit images -
PNG preserves transparency in grayscale and RGB images
POTD - Picture of the day - challenge to take and post a picture every day
PP - Previous Poster
PP - Praise Please not ready for CC
PP - post process ( processing of images after they come out of the camera )
PPI - pixels per inch Prime lens - not a zoom - one focal length (50mm) Pro - photographers who makes a living or money selling their images
PS - Photoshop - Image Editing software by Adobe - common full versions of PS are PS7 - PSCS - PSCS2. (about $600 )
PS7 - Photoshop version 7
PSCS - Photoshop Creative Suite
PSCS2 - Photoshop Creative Suite 2
PSE - Photoshop Elements - Hobbist version of PS ( about $80 ) Has most tools needed by hobby photographers. Common versions - PSE2, PSE3, PSE4 - and the newest PSE5.
PS'd or PS'ing - used or using Photoshop
PSP - Paint Shop Pro Tutorials
RAID - Redundant array of independant disks
RAM - Random Access Memory ( need lots for image editing)
RAW - images not processed in camera - must be post processed in an image converter (ACR)Thread with Raw Workflow info
Redundancy - preferred way of saving digital images to save them from disc rot and HD crashes - have several copys of an image in different places on different media.
Resizing - Resizing
Resolution - can mean several things - in the print industry it is dpi - in the computer imaging industry it is ppi. PPI and DPI are not the same but are often confused and used interchangablly which causes confusion. In your camera manual it usually means the jpg setting you want to set your camera for - high, medium or low pixel counts.
RGB - Red, Green, Blue values of the pixels
ROFL - rolling on floor laughing
ROFLMBO - rolling on floor laughing my bum off
ROOTC - Right out of the camera
Rule of Thirds - a guide for composing images - split your image in thirds vertically and horizontaly - then put subject at intersections of the lines
RYFM - Read Your "Fine" Manual - the one that came with your camera or your lens or your flash.
S - Shutter priority shooting
SAHM - Stay at home mom
SB - Scrapbook - can be a noun or a verb
SBP - Scrapbookpictures.com - pro printers associated with 2 Peas
Selective Coloring - colored item in B&W image - Thread with Tutorial by TT
Shoot wide open - using a wide aperture ( small # like 1.4)
SHQ - Super High Quality - jpg setting
Sig - Siggy - Signature - auto added at bottom of your post - can have tickers, pics, blinkies, links, quotes etc
Sigma - 3rd party maker of lenses for popular cameras
Slow lens - one that needs slower shutter speeds
SLR - Single Lens Reflex camera (aka 35mm ) S
oda Bubble Macro's - How to Thread
SOOC - Straight Out Of Camera ( no enhancing done in an image editor)
SOTC - Straight out of the Camera
SRGB - Standard Red, Green, Blue
Stock - sites that sell images for photographers - mostly for use in publications and commercial uses.Thread with other thread links
Storyboards - series of pictures that tell a story - TT's Template TutTT's Storyboard Tut - TT's other Tut for storyboards
Spot - meters just auto focus
SS - Shutter Speed DSLR cameras
stD - Pentax Camera
T - telephoto
Tamron - 3rd party maker of lenses for popular DSLR cameras
Tara W - Tara Whitney - MissT - many Peas find her blog inspirational - Tara's Blog
TFL - Thanks for Looking
TFS - Thanks for Sharing
TIA - Thanks in advance
Tif - tiff - Tagged Image File Format - lossless image file
TOU- Terms of Use
Troll - name used for a poster who is being mean spirited and attacking another pea in a very negetive manner. Please don't post on a trolls post - that just keeps it at the top of the 1st page. If you want to support the Pea being attacked, start another thread and do a supporting post there or peamail her/him. Ignoring a troll is the best way to get rid of one. A troll usually has only a few posts, no photos in the gallery, and is maybe jealous of the Pea he/she is attacking.
TT - teppotama - aka Paul does wonderful tutorials and shares them with us - TT's Tutorials Tutu's - Tutu Tutorial
TV - Shutter Speed Priority ( or Television )
UE - "Understanding Exposure" - By Bryan Peterson. A pretty darn good book.
USB - computer cable connector type
USM - unsharp mask (PS - used to sharpen)
VP - Virtual Photographer - PS or PSE plug-in VirtualPhotographer
VR - Vibration Reduction - Nikon's image stablization
W - Wide angle
Watermark - opaque letters, symbol or logo across photo to make it hard or impossible to print or use without permission of photographer. TT's Tutorial - TT's more coverage Tutorial - TT's Tut on make your own action Watermark
WB - White Balance
WE - Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer)file organizer
WHCC - White House Custom Color - online pro printer
WOHM - Work out of home mom
Workflow - steps taken to get image from capture to output TT's Raw Workflow Tutorial - KrisztinaK's Workflow - Thread on organizing images

Here is a suggested workflow
1 - Capture
2 - Tranfer to Computer
3 - Save to CD - DVD - External HD
4 - Delete bad shots
5 - Raw conversion if you shot raw
6 - Rotate, crop, resize
7 - Correct color and contrast
8 - Repair
9 - Enhance
10 - Save working file
11 - Sharpen
12 - Save archival file
13 - File
14 - Output


XMP - data file ACR makes when changes are made to a raw file
XT - aka 350D - Digital Rebel XT Canon
XTi - Digital Rebel XTi Canon

Adding Images at 2 Peas When posting images at 2 Peas there are four different catagories of images:
1 - those posted in the Photo Gallery
2 - those posted in a post
3 - those to the left of a post - the avatar or profile picture
4 - those that are automatically added at the bottom of the post as part of the signiture

To put your images in the Photo Gallery

There is a Layout Gallery and a Photo Gallery. Being a scrapbook site the LO Gallery came 1st. You need to post to the Photo Gallery if you want your photos there - but it says LO Gallery in a couple places along the way to the photo Gallery so don't worry about those. Just follow step 2 real close.

1 - prepare your images in an image editor that sizes by pixels - size it to 600 pixels or less on the longest side - 72 ppi/dpi or 300 makes no difference - it's the pixels here. Save.

2 - Sign into 2 Peas Click on Photography ( Up at the top of the page - the line under the header ) Click on Photo Gallery ( Up at the top of the page ) Click on New Post ( Up at the top of the page )

3 - Post a new Layout Gallery ( this is one or the places where it uses LO Gallery wrong )

Photography Gallery Category - pick one from the list
Private - leave unchecked
Format - leave 8.5x11
Pages - If you want to load 5 pics put in 5
Title - ( example ) Pea & S Self Portrait
Your Album - Skip
Garden - Skip
Comments - ( put in here what you want to say about your pics -
Camera -
Lens - if it is a zoom lens what mm did you use 70mm -
Shutter Speed ( SS ) 1/60 -
Aperture ( f stop ) 2.8 -
ISO - ( this is a leftover from film days - film came in different speeds - for lots of light - l
ow light - digital uses the film speed designations ) 400

Canon DRebel XT 18-200mm at 50mm 1/2 sec at f/8 ISO 100 PS'd - crop,curves,levels,USM,sized for web

To find this EXIF or Metadata - In PS - Open image - File - File Info - Camera Data I

4 - Hit Submit ( Skip the stuff under Submit )

5 - A new screen comes up - scroll down to the red x's
- hit Browse
- select your picture
- open
- hit submit
- wait for it to load.

6 - A new screen comes up
- scroll down
- your 1st pic should be there. Click browse by red x under your 1st pic
- Select
- open
- submit
- wait.

7 - When all your pics are loaded scroll back up to "update " and click it.

8 - Now go give someone some Pea Praise and give 2 Peas time to load your stuff.

9 - Check gallery - your pic should be there. When you go to the gallery there will be a red "Edit Me" by your entry. Only you see this - it is so you can fix your post if something is wrong with it - or delete it when the time comes that you want to do that. 2 Peas hosts our LO gallery entry's and our Photography Gallery entry's. If you want a picture under your username, if you want to put a picture in a post, if you want a picture at the bottom of your post - all these have to be hosted somewhere else on the web -

2 Peas won't host them. There are photo hosting sites like Photobucket that let you post some pictures for free. When you upload to Photobucket there is a URL listed under your photo - you copy and paste that address into your profile or post here at 2 Peas and then we see your photo.

For the photo in a post

- Size your pic in an image editor - not bigger than 600 pixels on the longest side works. 72 - 300 ppi/dpi doesn't make any difference both work
- Upload the photo to a site such as Photobucket
- When you have it uploaded then there is a URL address under it. Copy that address.
- Sign in to 2peas
- start your message
- then click down there where it says Insert Pea Code
- click Image
- a box opens
- paste your URL ( Ctrl + V ) OK your done. The Html is in your post - it will be the pic after you hit submit.

Do you want an Avatar or Profile picture

These also need to be hosted off site like at Photobucket. They need to be 65 x75 pixels.
- Copy the URL
- Sign in at 2 Peas
- Up top there where it says you are Logged in as ( your user name ) Click on My Home
- then My Profile
- then paste the URL where it has the space for Profile Picture URL
- Update
- you're done

Picture in Signiture at bottom of Post
- size in image editor
- this also needs to be hosted off site like Photobucket, upload, url
- 2Peas sign in
- MY Home
- My Profile
- Then way down at the bottom there is a signiture box
- paste your URL there
- Add the HTML tags before and after your URL. You need the word Image between the square brackets like these [ ] - the set at the end needs /Image between the brackets - click Update - done.

2peas can be a little slow - so if the pics don't show immediately read a couple posts then check again and your pictures may be there. If not then run through the steps again and check the HTML.

How to link once you have your photo in the gallery

Once you have the pic in the Photo Gallery - go to your photo in the gallery - copy that address up there in the address line - then start your post to this thread - down where it says INSERT PeaCode - click on URL - paste ( Ctrl + V ) Type in what you want to name your link - hit OK.

If you can't find threads you want to keep track of try this

Up there where it says - You're Logged in as - go to My Book of Scraps ( BOS ), we were just locating it for later - now go read a thread.

Now go to a thread you want to follow - make sure you are logged on or some of these things aren't there - In the green subject bar at the top of a thread there's a green plus sign - click that - the page will reload and say up in the ad area that this thread has been added to your BOS

Now when you want to find that thread - click on BOS up there at the top of the page - you get a screen with a couple drop down menus - in the first one pick - APOSTS - leave the other drop down on UNFILED - hit VIEW. All your saved to BOS threads should be here. You can now find, follow, file or delete them.

Actions

This is a frequent subject on this board. Actions are somtimes called conversions as they convert an image. But conversions can be done without actions. Actions are a set of steps that software will apply to an image, with just one click. They run within an image editor and only in the image editor they were created for. There are actions you can download for free - and actions for sale. There are actions that make your image B&W, duotone, soft focus, acid wash, midnight sepia, sepia and much more. All these can be done manually with the software but some like the ease of having the software do it with just one click. Some of the actions stop at different points so you can pick the effect you want - some just run through it and that is what you get.

There are actions written for PSCS2
There are actions written for PSCS
There are actions written for PS7
There are actions written for PSE
There are actions written for PSP
There are actions written for other softwares
These actions run in the software they were created in - sometimes they run OK in later versions of the same software. Before you download make sure the action will run in your software.

To see what actions do check out this site. They have examples you run your curser over to see the before and after images. E-Z actions by Photoblast

Loading Actions in Full PS - Linna's Tutorial

How to get 2 images on 4x6 for printing

Thread with several suggestions Copyright information posted by TT - I will preface this by saying I am not an attorney nor profess to be an expert in copyright but I have researched this in depth over the years and here is what I believe to be correct for the United States of America. You should check with an attorney that specializes in copyright should you decide to proceed with any litigation for copyright infringement. Foreign Copyright Laws may vary in some areas so you should check with your local copyright attorney for information. I am making this post because I think it’s something that all should be familiar with.

When it’s created (when you press the shutter button), you own the copyright to the image unless it was created under a work for hire situation or as an employee. If you work for a photography studio as a legal employee, the studio owns the copyright. If you are an independent contractor and a studio hired you to photograph a job, unless you signed a work for hire agreement, you own the copyright.

Now, let’s say you own the copyright. Before you can proceed with any litigation, the first question a competent copyright attorney will ask you “did you register the image with the Copyright Office?” The image(s) must be registered with the Copyright Office before any action for infringement of copyright can proceed.

You can find information about copyright registration at http://www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html

How much you can recover in damages will depend if you registered it BEFORE or AFTER the copyright infringement. If you registered it before the infringement, you can possibly recover actual as well as punitive damages along with attorney fees.

If you registered it AFTER the infringement, you can only recover actual damages and possibly attorney fees. If you did not register it, a competent copyright attorney will tell you to register it before you can proceed.

Should you proceed with litigation. IMHO, it’s not worth it. First of all, you have to file the action in Federal Court and you must fund the litigation on your own in hopes of a judgment in your favor. Average estimate (according to sources) can be upwards of $20,000.

What can you do? You could ask your attorney to write to the infringer to cease using the images and remove it from the offending web site. You could include with the letter an invoice for the use of the images. Of course if you decide to have an attorney write a letter, make sure you have hard proof of the copyright violation. - TT ------------------------------------------



Thread 1 - Two Pea's Photo Terms, Acronyms, Links and Tutorials
Thread 2 - Cropping, Resizing, and Sizing for Web
Thread 3 - PSE - Actions, Plug-ins, Borders, Frames, Storyboards, Tutorials
Thread 4 - B&W Conversions - Selective Color

Helpful Tips from FarrahC (2peas)

What makes a photo look less like a snap shot and more like a professional photo and some tips on achieving more professional looking photos? First...let me say that this isn't a complete list, so anyone can feel free to add to it. =)

The first step for any photographer is to READ YOUR MANUAL and get to know your camera.

1. Correct exposure- Achieving the correct exposure will not always happen if your camera is set to Auto. Depending on the amount of light and specifically the amount of light where your camera meters off of, you can get a horribly incorrect exposure in Auto. What to do? Get off Auto! Either shoot in Aperture Priority or Manual mode. Personally, I use AV about 75% of the time. In either case, you'll start by setting the aperture you want and I'll discuss why a little later. The 2Peas 12 week course is a good place to start practicing getting the right exposure.

2. Focus- Getting tack sharp focus is more difficult to learn because honestly, the only way is to practice practice practice! Some tips: For quick moving children, try Back Button Focus (BBF) and AI servo because your camera will continuously focus until you push the shutter button. Also, only use one of the focus points and aim for the corner of the eye that is closest to you. Lastly, make sure you sharpen your photos for the web when posting photos.

3. DOF- I think this is probably the biggest difference between a snap shot and a professional looking photo. Don't be afraid to open that aperture up! I often shoot at f/1.4-2.8 and really love the look. You want the subject's eye/eyes in focus and the background OOF. If your camera is in Auto, it is likely going to choose f/9-11, which gives you a better chance of getting the subject in focus, but also the background. If your lens will only open up to f/ 3.5-5.6, or if you're shooting outside in bright sun and you are not be able to open up, you can also achieve nice bokeh by stepping back a ways and zooming in.

4. The WOW factor! this isn't the same for every shot or every person, it's something you'll have to develop for your own style. It's just something extra...more often than not, it's not technically correct and almost always it's something that either makes or breaks a photo. You can't generalize and say that a certain "something" works for every shot, so play around and see what you like. It could be interesting use of light and shadow, or an interesting angle or tilt, or an interesting use of negative space. It could be a certain type of action or post processing technique, or even selective color. Most often, when it doesn't work for that particular photo, it's the first thing I notice...but when it works...WOW! Other tips: If you're shooting outside in full sun, avoid harsh shadows or use fill flash. When shooting babies, always smooth their skin, the perception is that babies pop out all smooth and perfect with "baby soft skin" we know better, but parents don't want to see the diaper marks, rashes, etc, so do a little smoothing. =)

My Beautiful Daughter!

My daughter, Gabrielle is 13 years old and the apple of my eye! She is beautiful inside and out! She is such a tremendous help to me. I am so very proud of her and all her accomplishments. I took these photos to commemorate a very special occasion. My husband of the last 5 years adopted her as his own. We are all very excited. She now has the same last name as all of us, including her two baby brothers! She is so happy! I took these photos in my living room with my brand new Canon 50mm 1.8 lens! I love it and for less than 100 bucks I am so glad I bought it! I am biased because I think she is so beautiful but I think I did a little better on these pictures. I still used the flash and I did some post editing and added some actions, my new favorite thing to play with! I think I shot most of them on manual mode, I am still terrible at remembering my settings! I didn't have to edit these as much though!