Sunday Non-Political Edition: Photography

Posted Sun, 04/25/2010 - 1:45pm by Kristen Hawley

Tony and I work quite well together – He likes to take photos and I like to Photoshop.

Neither one of us are pros in anyway – just self taught.

Our Tools

Tony
– Nikon D80
- Nikkor 18-135mm (This is the lens we purchased with the camera)
- Nikkor 50mm (He is not quite used to this lens yet - but starting to play with it more)

Kristen
-Adobe® Photoshop® CS3

When we go on vacation or just a good long road trip Tony will take the photos (he has the steadier hand), but I normally choose what's in the photo. After we get home and I have time (very rare) I Photoshop them.

Photoshop is definitely a great application but the in the beginning it can be overwhelming.   The neat thing about the Adobe suite is you can change the way it looks – meaning you can change the icons to fit your needs.   Pretty much anything you want to learn can be found with a quick search through a Google search engine. One of my favorite places to go is The Pioneer Woman, she is amazing and so helpful. Check out site for some great tutorials.

Before & After

Sometimes I go a little crazy –LOL

We always keep both because sometimes the original is better. I always like the Photoshop look better but some like it like plain. =)

 

Another way to edit your photos is through Picnik, a free application that you can use through Flickr. Tony has been using Picnik on a lot of his photos because its easier (and lets face it I just edited photos from a year ago).

You can see more photos at our Flickr accounts – I just changed mine from a different Flickr account so I am missing quite a few.

Kristen’s Flickr

Tony’s Flickr 

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Everyone needs at least one day of no politics…  I am making that Sunday.

I will be posting other things that interest me on Sundays.

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Kristen Hawley,

Kristen hawley

recently graduated from the University of Michigan, earning her BS with a concentration in Ecology and a double minor in Field Biology & Geography. Despite her scientific background, politics is her true passion. Kristen has always been on the conservative end of the political spectrum – a rarity among college-aged Michiganders – but has never felt the pull of liberalism. To the great relief of her boyfriend and others subjected to her ranting, she developed Angry Female Elephant in October of 2008 as a forum for her political frustration.

On November 5th, 2009, a day when conservatives around the country were still in mourning, she found a new motivation to change the direction of her country and threw herself into online activism. Several months later she discovered Smart Girl Politics, and knew she’d found an organization that would connect her with other conservative women who were as ready for action as she was. She dove in feet first and volunteered wherever she could. Kristen is currently acting as the Director of Operations.