What Could be Better than Cheap Family, Engagement, or Senior Portraits? FREE!!! To Anybody in the Redding, California Area Who Would Like to Help Jamie Solorio Build her Photography Portfolio... Please Read the Following Announcement!

The sun is actually shining today!  Holy Cow, it is a miracle!  A great reason to celebrate, which is why I chose this image of  my daughter with the balloons!  Just seeing the sun out makes me want to get out there and practice my photography.  So, if you or anybody you know is looking to give about 45 mins of your time to help me build my portfolio I would LOVE to take your pictures.  You can see some of my portrait work HERE and HERE.  If you live in the Redding area and do help me out, I will give you a cd with 5 full resolution edited images with a copyright release for your time and as a big Thank You!  Then around 10 more images will be supplied to you in a web format for your Facebook or social networking place with my logo on them. Please email at jamiesolorio@hotmail.com if you are interested with "FREE Portrait Session by Jamie Solorio" in the subject line.  You can also click HERE to learn more about what a portrait session would be like.  Currently I have the 18th and 19th open in April, then after that the 1st and 2nd week in May available.  This is a limited time offer and is subject to change at any time.

Here are a couple of the images from a couple of my past sessions that I really liked!  Thanks for looking! :)

Well, I think this is all I feel like putting up for now.  I am sorry to all of you that I didn't include...your images are on my external hardrive and I think I am done with this post for now. :)

Why is it that Children are so Afraid to go Down the Hall at Night?

We as parents need to remember what it is like to walk down a dark hallway at night!  The lightness in this picture towards the bottom is light from that door too, crazy!  I think that I might try this again but put a creepy doll in that spillage of light in the foreground.  My daughter just got some of those poreclin dolls which would work perfect, I just won't show her either of these images. :)

I am trying to get back to my 365 project, which I totally slacked on!  So, I figured now would be the best time to do it, and now happened to be super late at night.  Which is why I posted a picture of a door at night! LOL.  And why I want to try it again with a doll tomorrow night, since my bed is so cozy at the moment!

Photoshop Tip with Regard to the Brush Tool and the Color Selector Dropper

Just saw this and didn't want to forget it...hence the post.  When using the brush tool and you want to sample a color all you have to do is click "Alt" while selecting the color you want on the image.  Cool!  I will be using this one a lot!

So ready for the sun to come out!  This was taken a couple of days ago when the sun was actually shining here for a few minutes!  Rain Rain Go Away!

Cartoon Like Images Using the Smart Blur in Photoshop

Picture without the Smart Blur effect

Picture with cartoon effect using Smart Blur

Who knows if I will ever really need to do this, but it was fun just the same.  Since it was something new that I haven't tried, I thought that I would make a post about it, that way in the future...I could reference it again if I needed to.  To create this cartoonish effect, I played around with the Smart Blur in the Filters Menu in Photoshop.

1.  Open image that you would like to make cartoon like.

2.  Duplicate the layer, can be done by hitting "control and the J key".

3.  On that new duplicate layer, go up to the menu bar and select the "Filter" Menu and go to "Blur".

4.  A drop down menu will pop up and towards the bottom you will see "Smart Blur"...click it.

5.  A little dialog box labeled "Smart Blur" should pop up.

6.  On this image I used a "radius" of 10.9, and a "threshold" of 26.  Just play around to see what looks best to you.  Note: you can click on the little plus/minus sign to see your image in that box, and just click on the black image and your picture will pop up in color.

7.  Still in that box on "Quality" click on "Medium", and for "Mode" click on "Edge Only".

8.  Click "OK".

9.  Now you should have a black layer with some white lines on it, so now you need the inverse.  Click "control and I key" at the same time to get the inverse.  It should now be mainly white now and look cartoon like.

10.  Now go to your blending modes, which is right next to your "Opacity" slider above your Layers Palette and select "Soft Light".

11.  At this time you can lower your opacity to what you think looks good, I did about 85% or so.

12.  I wanted a little more definition, so I made a duplicate layer "control and J key" and changed that blend mode to "Color Burn" and then adjusted the opacity for that layer also.

That is it!  Easy Peasy as my friend Alexis would say! :)

Here is a different example of a building and instead of soft light blending mode I picked hard light.

Original

Cartoon like...sorta

Photography on the Back Patio.

My oldest helping me out yet again with my photography!  What a beauty! :)

2nd Saturday ArtHop of Redding, Ca - March 12th, 2011

This ArtHop was full of so many talented artists of all different ages! That is always exciting to see,  art does not discriminate when it comes to age.  There was such a range of artists, from budding to mature.

 To begin, I was drawn in by the most beautiful photographic images by the ever so gifted Stephanie Luke.  The North Valley Art League located at 42 Quartz Hill Dr of Redding, Ca was kind enough to be her host for the evening.  Stephanie went digital around five years ago and before that she was in a dark room developing her amazing photographs.  She is a self taught artist and there is no doubt in my mind that she has a great understanding of telling a story through a photograph in the most pleasing way possible to the eye.  Stephanie is inspired by life around her, and if she notices something that strikes her interest...she captures it.  I was listening to her and a man who was admiring her artwork speaking, she said, "Any time I take a picture, I don't worry since it (the picture) is for myself.  And if somebody buys it...it is a bonus."  I couldn't agree more, I think this is a great way to create... for yourself.

I LOVED her "Nothing But Blue Skies" photograph!  It just made me happy looking at it, and jealous at the same time...why can't I think of something so creative! :)

Lady with Glasses - Pamela - Not For Sale

It Can't Happen Here - $150

Another Dry Year _ $150

Nothing But Blue Skies - $150

Rainy Day at Sunnyside Beach - $175

Next on my list was to head on over to Carnegie's located at 1600 Oregon St. Redding, CA.  Their featured artist was the young and beautiful Makaylah Fazzari displaying mixed media. 

Keep your eyes for that name in the graphic world one day, what a talent.  I asked Makaylah what inspired her, she will take inspiration from anything from magazines to bird skulls. Currently Makaylah is working on her AP portfolio while deciding on which Art School would be the best fit for her.  She has already received the Merit Scholarship for The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which is quite impressive.  I asked her if she has sold any of her work yet, and she told me that she does hoard her work a bit...and I can not blame her for not wanting to let go of her art.  I was very impressed with Makaylah's talents, she had pencil drawings, acrylics, watercolors, and pen pieces.  My personal favorite of her works was called "Burned", which was a pen and watercolor piece that was really interesting. 

Burned - Pen and Watercolor

Disaster Button - Acrylic

I am sorry...I forgot to jot down the title

Last on my list for the night was the mixed media show of Foothill High School of Redding, Ca.  The kind people over at Pacific West Graphics located at 1455 South St. of Redding, Ca were the hosts.  The art teacher for the last five years, Kris Dickey was present and was a pleasure to speak with.  There was a vast array of art displayed by some of the local youth of the Redding area.  My favorites were "Child's Stare" by  Justin Sparkman and Samantha Seaman's "Alive with the Glory of Love".

Alive with the Glory of Love - Ink - Samantha Seaman

Child's Stare - Pencil - Justin Sparkman

Prosper - Chalk Pastel -Natalie Lenci

Star - Acrylic- Alyssa Scherado

Aislinn - Mixed Media -Isabella Greenleaf

Julius Caesar - Charcoal -Jessa Garrett

Normally I like to take some extra shots from the night, but I have to admit that I was in a hurry to go check out the Roller Derby.  Which was a blast, nothing like girls on skates who can seriously take a hit.  It is amazing to watch the skills that these talented ladies have.  Plus, we have to cheer for our favorite player..."Canna Bull".