new photoshop overlays

A few months ago, I bought my first DSLR.  I bought it mainly to take product pictures for Invites by Jen, but was also looking to be able to take better pictures for this blog and to capture future family moments.

I mean, my original product listing pictures {way back when I had no clue how to even use a point and shoot} went from this:

{yikes, can you see the discrepancy in the color of the cardstocks?…and the items were made using the SAME colors!  I now know that my white balance was completely off in these pictures}

To pictures like this:

I am still learning how to actually use the DSLR and all the many settings {and I will never STOP learning, I am sure}.  But, along with using the camera, I have also started teaching myself Photoshop for my post-processing {until now I didn’t even get that post-processing was just as important as the actual taking of the picture}.

After receiving an email, from one of my new favorite places to find overlays and video tutorials {http://www.kaleidoscopeshoppe.com/}, letting me know she was offering 40% off everything in her shop, I knew I was going to be able to snag some of her light overlays that I had been looking at acquiring.

I have been thinking about creating a nice photo for the Beaver Dam Community Garden website anyways, so I figured I could play around with some of these overlays in trying to create a new picture.

I realized I was going to have to rework a picture that I took with my old point and shoot {I haven’t taken any pictures at the garden site with my new camera…it is now on my to-do list}.

Here is the before:

{it isn’t THAT bad of a picture, but could certainly use some tweaking and I wanted the picture to be filled with more of the signage}

Here is the after:

Plain and simple, I am not “over the moon” excited at how it turned out.  That says nothing about the light overlays and other post-processing tools I used…..all it means was that I tinkered TOO much and tried TOO many things.

I was going for a vintage look and then wanted to use one of my new light overlays to make it look like the sun was beaming out of the left hand corner.

If I were to start over, and now that I have watched a couple more of Patti Brown’s tutorials {I like to tinker with the items first and THEN watch the tutorials}, the end result would be much better.

However, I think I am going to wait until I can take a few new pictures with my DSLR before trying to get THE picture for the garden’s website.

Until next time!

Jen

P.S. {If you want to take advantage of the 40% off discount, make sure to head on over to Patti Brown’s blog to find the discount code….the sale is going on through May 22nd}

P.P.S. {She has no idea I am referring you to her website, so no, I am not receiving any sort of kick back if you decide to purchase something!}

UPDATE:

I just couldn’t leave it alone.  So, I quickly took another shot at the picture.  This time I focused on just the overlay impact {versus trying also to achieve a vintage look}.

Here is the new after:

And until I can take new pictures, I have added this one to the garden’s website.  Check it out!