Picture 352

So….everything OK?
 I have to be a good day to be a good time to get a new one is a great day to be a good day to be a great day for the next few years ago.
Sorry.

My iPad has the predictive keyboard.
It tries to guess what you're going to say next.
So, I just kept pressing the button without typing anything.
It made that weird sentence.
It's beautiful.
I can't think of what to type.
It been a weird day.
My week was fine.
It's just yesterday…I was…weird.
I didn't feel like typing this post or uploading the picture.
I just wanted to do nothing.
Which is what Wednesday's are….Me days.
I just conveniently do my pictures on that day too.
I was born in a Wednesday.
FUN FACT!
I haven't been working on my sites as of late.
I did make the little white bar that's on the top of the screen.
But, I haven't done much else.
I have typed up the updates for that as well.
Or uploaded any update videos.
I have them uploaded, I just never added them to e sites or typed up the corresponding post.
Maybe it's typing.
Actually, typing is fine.
I'm doing right now.
It's just….the work.
It working something that no one sees.
No one watches my videos or looks at my sites.
Why try to do things now when I can push it off tomorrow.
No one’s going to miss it.
If I actually had a proper fan base, I'd work way harder.
But I don't.
It's just me….and my family.
I don't blame people for not liking my videos.
I can work better on those and make them more entertaining.
But then that goes against my mind.
I don't really care what people think.
I mean, I do.
I'll take advice and listen, but I do my own thing most of the time.
I'd mostly take advice on the how to use the camera.
Better settings to use and how they work.
But the stuff in the picture, that's my space.
Not MySpace the website.
I haven't used it in a while.
I used the upload my pictures there too.
Poor MySpace….
Off topic…
Plus, people don't really watch my videos anyways.
I get about three views per video.
I was getting 30 or 40 on my videos.
That was back when I was making video videos…not this vlog style stuff.
Then my computer broke and I went dead for a month or two.
I fixed the computer and then it broke again for a whole year.
The people just dropped off.
I just need to get out there more.
That’s what the contests are for.
I did win an award.
I am a winner!
It wasn't first in any of the categories….
….but the people voted for me.
The people know what they want.
Judges are crazy.
I can't get in their minds because….I'm not them.
I opened up a little shop so you can buy a few pictures of mine.
But I haven't kept up with it.
No one’s buying.
I am thinking about making a calendar.
There’s an option to make one through the host site.
My picture are calendar worthy.
I'll have my mom help me piece on together.
I just need to feel like I'm not doing this alone.
This post is going downhill…..
On to the picture!
This one was a hard one!
Finally! I had a challenge!
I have done this picture twice and they both failed….in my book.
One was when I FIRST got Photoshop.
And the other was a follow picture a few months later that wasn't any better.
So, it about time that I do it right!
It's been a few years.
And that's how long it took to make this one.
Ha!
It took two hours….ish.
That's the Photoshopping part.
I record my computer screen when I work and the capture was two hours long.
The actual idea and photo shot only took five minutes.
Maybe ten.
It wasn't that hard.
The reason why it took so long was because I wanted it to look right!
Look good!
So, I had to erase the edges on me so I blend in better.
I had to change the lighting on me so it matches.
Highlights, shadows, that kind of stuff.
And lastly, I actually wanted a shadow…shadow.
I didn't want to paint one in.
I wanted it to look right!
So, I made a copy of the layer with me on it and made it black.
Then I used free transform tool and lined it up so it looked like my shadow.
And lastly, I used radial blur.
That filter defuses things in whatever way you want.
I used it for light rays in a few pictures.
But that was zoom blur.
There is another feature that's spin.
It's hard to explain.
Here’s a link to a video about it.
I cold find one that uses the filter the way I did... :-\
You can just watch my video.
But I time-lapsed through the part.
My shadow needed to be defused because it wasn't direct sunlight.
It was ambient light through the window.
Now I feel like I should explain lighting.
I think you get it.
That shadow took the longest time.
It had to be perfect and rendering it took a while.
I had make an adjustment…render…see if it worked…adjust…render….blah blah.
I have to turn the quality of the shadow down so it went faster.
I forgot to turn it back up….
I wanted the best type.
Oh well, it looks fine anyways!
I glad I fought through.
It turned out perfect!
So, with the shadow and the blending…this took a while!
But it paid off!
It looks like I'm up there!
Yeah, if you look close you can see bloopers.
No big deal, they are always there.
That was the Photoshop part.
The last step was to bring it into Lightroom and make it look pretty!
I didn't do too much this time.
I turned my usual contrast, clarity, and saturation up 25%.
Which is less that what I used.
I did bump up highlights a lot to help me blend better.
It already looked ok without doing anything.
So, I didn't want to ruin it.
So, over all this took about 2.3 hours to make.
I could be wrong.
I'm sure I am.
Ok, now we have some comparing to do!

Hover your mouse (the computer one :-P) over the original picture to see the after editing one.
If you're on a touchscreen device, just tap on the picture. You may have to tap more than once.

 I flipped the original to make it fit compare better.
It was originally not flipped upside down.
Now compare JUST the Photoshopping bits.

 Now compare just the Lightroom bits.
Without the cropping and straightening.

AMAZING!!
Just what I wanted!
Let's try the Image Slider.
Here's how it works...
There's a blue bar in the middle of the picture.
That's the slider.
The slider will disappear when you move your mouse off of the image.
I did that so you can really see the split.
But, it'll come back when you hover over it again.
You can CLICK on it and DRAG it around to get our on split image.
Or, you can use these presets.
Before FULL, After FULL, 50/50, Before a QUARTER, or After a QUARTER.

Before

After

ALRIGHTY!
Wasn't that delightful!
I like my comparisons.
I made them!
I flushed out a few bugs in the Slider.
I worked on it and I found a few issues after I did.
But they should be fine.
Let me know if you see something wrong somewhere.
I have a contact form in the side bar that you can use to send me a direct email.
Or use one of the comment sections at the bottom of each posts.
Ok, now it's video time!
It covers the WHOLE PROCESS of the picture.
With a few extra bits for me about my week.
It’s almost 30 minutes long!
It's those extra bits.
But I like them.
I seem to be the only one watching the videos anyways
You can CLICK HERE to see the video or watch it below. 
Ok ok ok!
That's it
I already shot next week's picture last night.
We’ll see how it turned out.
I had a weird day and couldn't sleep.
I didn't upload the picture because I felt weird.
I couldn't sleep.
So….I did something productive!
 I have just had a lot of stuff on my mind, as of late. 
You'll see in its BTS video.
I lost my mind remember….
I need to get working on the in the tub picture again.
I have been pushing it off.
It's a strange picture and video.
I'll get it done.
Don't worry!
I have to go eat some homemade white chocolate fudge!
My favorite kind of chocolate!
COME BACK NEXT WEEK!!!