Vero's Visual Art

Sunflowers

2011-08-26T13:54:00.003-05:00

At the Marina

2011-08-24T21:15:00.002-05:00

Railroad Tracks

2011-08-24T21:14:00.002-05:00

Ducks and Ducklings

2011-08-16T18:46:00.000-05:00

Is it me, or does this little guy have an attitude?

Athens, AL part 2: The Cemetery

2011-08-16T18:40:00.000-05:00

The statue below caught my eye when I was walking around the college. I wanted to get a closer look and found other interesting subjects. It was a bit odd for me to be walking around a cemetery but I figure working out of my comfort zone might help me grow as a photographer. I think I got some interesting images so it was worth it.

I thought it would be interesting to process this one with an aged look since it is a marker from the 1800s.

This next one was interesting to me because of the dates and because it says "confederate". I have always lived in the geographic south of the US but have never lived in the cultural south. It made it real for me that I am, in fact, living in a former confederate state.

Athens, Alabama

2011-08-16T18:23:00.000-05:00

I recently took an impromptu trip to the neighboring town of Athens. I stopped off to take a picture of the welcome sign first then went to the historic college district. On the way I saw and old time gas station so I parked there. After taking a few pictures in that area I walked over to the college and captured some images of the campus buildings.

This first image was processed using HDR toning. I thought it gave it an interesting look so I played with HDR toning on a few more images.

More Reflection Art

2011-08-16T18:20:00.000-05:00

Reflection Art

2011-07-31T14:06:00.003-05:00

Streams and Rocks

2011-07-31T14:02:00.001-05:00

Outdoor Model Train

2011-07-28T14:14:00.002-05:00

I sat down on the ground to take these. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. It's true what they say, try different angles and points of view and you can get some great results.

Reflection

2011-07-28T14:01:00.002-05:00

I have discovered British photography magazines. They rock. I have gotten several great ideas already. Take today, for example. This is a reflection in water that I flipped and added some contrast , color and texture to. I love this.

To my fellow photographers out there I highly recommend you check out the British magazines, if you haven't already. Digital Photographer, Practical Photography and Digital SLR Photography. I buy them at Barnes and Noble.

Dragonfly

2011-07-28T12:12:00.001-05:00

iheartfaces: Photo Contest: Water

2011-07-25T11:45:00.005-05:00

This image was taken at the downtown pop jets. I was on one side of the circle and my son was on the other. I thought capturing the image through the water would be interesting.

iheartfaces.com

Flower Wall Art Collage

2011-07-24T21:03:00.003-05:00

I was feeling creative. Here is a wall art collage I made using one of my flower images from last year.

Water Photography part 2

2011-07-09T18:53:00.005-05:00

While creating the images in the last post I also played with the low angle and the water fall. Here are some of the images I captured.

And here is another water fall image. This one is more straight on rather than from a low angle.

Water Photography part 1

2011-07-09T18:24:00.004-05:00

Once again I was inspired to try an idea from a British photography magazine. This time the magazine was Practical Photography. They had an article on water photography. There were several ideas in the article. One of them was shooting really close to the water in a pond. I went to Big Spring Park and used the stream. The camera was mere inches from the line of water. At one point I actually got my arm wet because the water was closer to me than I thought. Thankfully the camera stayed dry. The example image was of a rubber duck but I chose to do it with real ducks. My favorite is the third picture, even though the duck is not facing me.

Fireworks

2011-07-08T09:17:00.004-05:00

Some of you have already seen these on Facebook or Flickr but I am doing a blog post so I can share on Community Photo Challenge.

A Study of Lines, Curves and Shadows

2011-07-03T07:44:00.004-05:00

Windmill: A Study in Curves and Shapes

2011-07-02T08:25:00.002-05:00

Rocks: A Study in Composition

2011-07-01T09:57:00.003-05:00

I recently bought an issue of the British magazine Digital SLR Photography. In the June issue there was an article that showed an abstract image using rocks as the subject. I thought it was interesting and wanted to give it a try. This is what I came up with. I realize the subject of the second one is really the water but it fits better with this theme than with the others I'll be posting.

Little Bunny

2011-07-01T09:51:00.003-05:00

I took my son to the Botanical Gardens yesterday morning. As we were walking along the main path we were pleasantly surprised by this little guy.

An American Flag

2011-06-29T20:44:00.005-05:00

With the 4th of July coming up, I thought a post about the American Flag would be appropriate. I walked by one the other day and just go the urge to photograph it. This time, though, I thought zooming in would make for some interesting images. (I have flags in other images but none of those focused on the lines, stars and colors the way the following images do. In those other photographs, the flag is part of the whole.)

I think my favorites are the third one and the last one.

(I have added this post to Brenda's Photo Challenge.)

Flickr Photostream

2011-06-26T08:16:00.003-05:00

I've been playing a lot on Flickr the past few months. While I do try to still do some blog posts most of my photo sharing is on there now. If you would like to follow me there too (or instead) you can find my photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/vbeaudryphotography/

Playing with Sky Textures

2011-06-23T08:53:00.003-05:00

Each of these images has a sky texture as well as others. Chasing Dreams Photography has two sky textures I like. It helps to make the images look better when the sky gets blown out. Or I can pretend it was a nice sunny day instead of a cloudy one. (Which was the case with the barn. It was raining when I took that picture.)

Squirrels at Big Spring Park 6/13/11

2011-06-14T16:33:00.005-05:00

The squirrels were really cooperating yesterday. It was nice.

People of Portland

2011-06-07T20:03:00.003-05:00

Images of Portland 2

2011-06-07T19:31:00.004-05:00

Images of Portland

2011-06-06T14:54:00.002-05:00

Oregon Zoo 2

2011-06-02T13:39:00.004-05:00

Oregon Zoo 1

2011-06-01T20:32:00.003-05:00

Portland Street Photography 3

2011-05-31T22:49:00.005-05:00

Portland Street Photography 2

2011-05-29T22:02:00.004-05:00

Portland Street Photography 1

2011-05-29T16:43:00.004-05:00

Purple Irises

2011-05-25T19:48:00.004-05:00

Flower Art--May 2011

2011-05-25T13:15:00.004-05:00

Lakeside Outing

2011-05-20T20:59:00.002-05:00

iheartfaces: Fix It Friday # 99

2011-05-20T09:11:00.007-05:00

Original Image

Edit 1

1. Applied my high pass + contrast action.

2. Applied the "Hot Tamale" texture by Chasing Dreams.

3. Used Gaussian Blur around 50 or so on the entire texture in order to keep the color but soften the texture.

4. Used soft light blend at 40%

5. Saturation at +12

6. Flatten

7. Apply "Lovely and Ethereal" action by Pioneer Woman.

8. Change group opacity to 70%

9. Brighten slightly. I used curves at output 197 and input 185

Edit 2

1. Using the Edit 1 image, I then applied my "Monochrome 1" action which is made up of the following steps.

a. Apply black and white adjustment.

b. Color Balance +19, 0, -18

c. Color Fill with color #f6d2a3

d. Contrast +60

More Photo Walk Images

2011-05-19T09:21:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more photos from my last photo walk at the Botanical Gardens.

Strawberries

2011-05-16T19:08:00.003-05:00

I'm not sure I like how the above one came out. I want to like it but I don't know that I do.

Wednesday's BG Photo Walk

2011-05-13T19:44:00.004-05:00

The Dancer

2011-05-13T19:36:00.003-05:00

I met up with some friends on Wednesday to do a nature photo walk. As part of the photo walk we also took photos of this lovely teenager in one of her dance costumes.

Texture "Recipes" 2

2011-05-10T17:19:00.002-05:00

I felt like doing another Texture Recipes post. Here are three more.

Before and After 1

1. Copy of original layer -- multiply 60%

2. Texture "Cicada Song" from Isabella LaFrance Photography --- soft light 100%

3. Texture "Lichen" from Shadowhouse Creations --soft light 100%

4. Flatten

5. Apply "Dry Brush" filter. All sliders at maximum.

Before and After 2

Textures used are by Chasing Dreams Photography

1. Texture "Moss" -- multiply blend 100%

2. Texture "Truffle" -- soft light blend 100%

3. Copy the first layer and move it to the top. Soft light blend 100%

4. Color Balance +25 on Yellow/Blue slider

5. Flatten image

6. Apply Craquelure filter (spacing 11, depth 3, brightness 5)

7. Curves Output 188 and Input 169

Before and After 3

Textures used are from Shadowhouse Creations.

1. "Book Cover 4" --soft light 100%

2. "Parchdelic" -- multiply 85%

3. "Vintage 3"--soft light 100%

4. Curves Output 200 Input 174

5. Flatten

6. Copy background layer

7. Apply texturizer filter on new layer. Texturizer settings as follows==canvas texture, scaling 200%, relief 7, light- top right.

8. Reduce opacity of the texturizer layer to 60%

9. Color Balance +11, +6, +25

Feeding Time

2011-05-10T17:17:00.000-05:00

At Guntersville Lake 2

2011-05-08T12:34:00.003-05:00

Texture "Recipes"

2011-05-08T09:50:00.004-05:00

I haven't done a post like this in many months so I thought it might be fun.

All textures used here were created by Jerry at Shadow House Creations. He is also on Flickr as Skeletal Mess. While I am using the names of the textures be aware that, in some cases, there is more than one texture with the same name.

Before and After 1

1. Curves Output 39 Input 62

2. Saturation -49

3. Texture "Old Canvas 5" with Soft Light blend at 100%

4. Repeat step 3

5. Contrast +46

Before and After 2

1. Texture "Entropy 5" with Multiply blend 100%

2. Texture "Raised Paper 2" with Soft Light 100%

3. Texture "Subtle Type Thang 9" with Soft Light 100%

4. Texture "Bone Matter" with Soft Light 100%

5. Curves Output 53 Input 75

Road Side Flowers

2011-05-07T21:31:00.000-05:00

At Guntersville Lake

2011-05-07T15:00:00.004-05:00

Variety of Images

2011-05-06T20:09:00.003-05:00

Baby Girl Bailey

2011-05-05T21:17:00.003-05:00

The Ladybug in the Neighbor's Yard

2011-05-03T19:06:00.004-05:00

The house next door has been empty for some time now and the backyard is over grown. There is no fence so I was able to walk over there on Sunday and take some pictures. At first I was experimenting with the little white flowers but then I saw the ladybug. She's actually in the first picture too. I'm pretty happy with how these turned out.

Backyard Bluejay

2011-05-03T10:13:00.000-05:00

Flower Art

2011-05-01T18:12:00.002-05:00

The first two are two edits of the same image. I couldn't decide which version I like better. What do you think?

Flowers and an Interesting Looking Plant

2011-04-24T10:21:00.003-05:00

At the BG Rose Garden

2011-04-16T15:10:00.003-05:00

April 3rd Photo Walk: Part 2

2011-04-12T15:40:00.003-05:00

I am really proud of this first one. I think I am going to have to get it in a large stand out. We'll see how I feel by the weekend.

Zoo part 5: The Gorilla

2011-04-10T08:15:00.000-05:00

I am pretty proud of these pictures so I am giving them their own post. The second shot is my favorite.

Zoo part 4: Primates

2011-04-10T07:59:00.003-05:00

Zoo part 3: Three Birds, a Wild Dog and a Kangaroo

2011-04-09T15:41:00.003-05:00

Zoo part 2: A Giraffe, a Zebra and a Lion

2011-04-09T09:48:00.003-05:00

Birmingham Zoo part 1: The New Elephants

2011-04-08T16:09:00.002-05:00

Since the elephants are in a brand new exhibit I wanted to devote the first post to them.

April 3rd Photo Walk: Part 1

2011-04-05T17:36:00.004-05:00

I've noticed that taking photos of flowers again this spring isn't as interesting as it was last year. It is feeling very "been there, done that". In order to make it more interesting for myself I decided to play around in photoshop. Apart from using textures I decided to also play with some filters this time. I was able to use some filters I would not have thought to use in the past thanks to some of the techniques I have learned through tutorials.

Nashville in October 2010

2011-04-05T17:32:00.003-05:00

These are some images that I re-edited using textures. They were taken in October of last year when my husband and I went to Nashville for an overnight date.

The Blacksmith

2011-04-02T19:36:00.001-05:00

The Banjo Player

2011-04-02T19:26:00.002-05:00

Texture Work 4

2011-03-30T15:23:00.005-05:00

Texture Work 3

2011-03-30T15:06:00.000-05:00

Color or Black and White?

More Texture Work

2011-03-28T19:38:00.003-05:00

I can't seem to get enough of working with textures. It is so much fun. Here are two images from a trip to San Francisco with my husband back in 2006. These were taken with out Olympus point and shoot. Who knew that one day I would have a DSLR and be a photography and photoshop addict?

Each set of photos was edited the exact same way until the end. Once I had finished the texture work I decided to experiment with coloring. I think I like the "soft and faded" action the most on both Alcatraz and the ship.

Textured Landscapes

2011-03-28T10:44:00.002-05:00

These are three images taken last year. The first and third were taken at the Botanical Gardens. The second one is a view from Monte Sano State Park.

iheartfaces: A Slice of Life

2011-03-27T11:38:00.000-05:00

Groups of Tulips

2011-03-26T09:17:00.000-05:00

Cherry Blossom Tree

2011-03-26T09:05:00.001-05:00

Tulips in Triplicate

2011-03-25T16:54:00.004-05:00

As I was playing with the blending mode for the last layer, I discovered some neat color effects. I saved all three so I could see which one I liked best and I can't decide. I like them all so here you go. Three images. They were all edited the exact same way. The only difference was the last step.

Before and After: Photoshop Rocks

2011-03-25T13:53:00.003-05:00

Gotta love photoshop. Here is a before and after for you. The first one is the straight out of camera version. I messed up a bit and didn't have my settings right. I love how photoshop allowed me to salvage the picture.

Photo Series: Twickenham Homes 4

2011-03-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

Photo Series: Twickenham Homes 3

2011-03-25T09:33:00.002-05:00

Photo Series: Twickenham Homes 2

2011-03-24T15:10:00.007-05:00

Photo Series: Twickenham Homes

2011-03-24T14:06:00.005-05:00

Over the next few days I will be posting a series of images of houses from the Twickenham area of town. Some of the houses down there are from the 1800s and some are more modern. When I took my walk the other day I took pictures of houses that I liked and that I thought would allow me to create an interesting image. I hope you enjoy the series.

Here is the first image.

Below is the straight out of camera photograph. I applied a variety of textures, actions and filters to create the final image.

Little Blossoms

2011-03-24T12:19:00.002-05:00

Portraits with an Artistic Flair

2011-03-23T14:25:00.002-05:00

Birdies

2011-03-23T12:17:00.000-05:00

A Squirrel at Big Spring Park

2011-03-22T21:23:00.003-05:00

The first one is my favorite.

Triple Edit

2011-03-22T21:07:00.003-05:00

I thought it would be fun to do several edits of the same image. I tend to forget about joining in on the Fix-It-Fridays on iheartfaces so here is my own. The first one is my favorite.

Flower Mix

2011-03-20T19:25:00.001-05:00

Little Birds at BG

2011-03-20T19:20:00.002-05:00

I was so excited when these little birds actually stayed close enough for me to see them that I had to take several photos. Here are my favorites.

Hyacinths

2011-03-18T21:30:00.002-05:00

Roses and Tulips

2011-03-18T21:27:00.002-05:00

Yellow Flowers

2011-03-18T21:12:00.003-05:00

Old Time Lamps

2011-03-17T20:14:00.002-05:00

In the Old Days

2011-03-17T14:28:00.004-05:00

All of these images have the action "old west". Some have additional actions and a few also have textures. I wanted to give them an old time feel since all these items are at Burritt on the Mountain, a living museum with log cabins from the 1800s and early 1900s.

Alphabet Wall Art

2011-03-16T21:32:00.003-05:00

Another project for my son's wall. These were printed up as 12 x 12 pieces. They will be hung in a row so the alphabet will be in the correct order.

On another note, I received my order today and one of the pieces was the sports collage I posted earlier. It looks awesome. I ended up getting it as a 20 x 20 because a 16 x 16 is not available. I'm kind of glad I had to go larger. It looks fantastic. I am really pleased.

Peek

2011-03-14T20:56:00.002-05:00

Red Barn

2011-03-08T21:25:00.003-06:00

I have admired this barn for some time now. Pretty much every time I drive to Birmingham. I finally stopped to take some pictures today. Unfortunately it was raining so the sky was very dull and grey. That's part of the reason I chose to use texturing. I'm still pretty happy with how they turned out.

Sports Collage

2011-03-08T17:41:00.002-06:00

I put this collage together as wall art for my son's room. I am going to order it as a 16 x 16 standout.

Little Creatures

2011-03-05T10:52:00.001-06:00

These are two of the pets at Kidventure, an indoor play ground for kids.

Random Images

2011-03-04T18:17:00.001-06:00

It is Spring: part 3

2011-03-04T17:22:00.001-06:00

Here are the last of my images from the Botanical Gardens photo walk on Tuesday.

It is Spring: part 2

2011-03-04T13:04:00.003-06:00

Here are some more finished images from Tuesday's Botanical Gardens photo walk.

It is Spring

2011-03-02T20:39:00.003-06:00

On Tuesday, I went to the Botanical Gardens with my son. Here are three images I am really happy with. I am still working on processing the rest. I will post more over the next few days.

Backyard Wildlife

2011-03-01T16:25:00.003-06:00

I got a chance to photograph a squirrel and a bird in one of my backyard trees today. I applied the "Old West" action from Pioneer Woman to all three.

More Fun with Photoshop 2

2011-02-28T20:46:00.000-06:00