A BFA (or Bad First Attempt)

The Web being what it is, sometimes it's impossible to find what you're looking for and sometimes you stumble upon it like some kind of...well, great old stumbling thing.

Today I found this website, which has lots of little helpful hints for using Photoshop and other CS5 applications, and thought I'd try my hand at retro-ing a photo.

I already have a bit of software for giving photos a Polaroid effect, but doing it via Photoshop is a whole different kettle of fish madness. However, as I'm currently doing my best to avoid a certain (paid) work-related task, I thought I'd give it a shot. Past experience has taught me that Photoshop can buy me hours of procrastination time.

This tutorial assumes I know more than I do (a little awkward really but I thought I'd try and fake it). It took me about an hour, and I fudged a couple of the steps. Really, it's a BFA if ever I saw one. The result is not so much retro-pic as cheesy B-Grade movie poster-pic. I'm half expecting Bo Derek to walk into the shot with hair braids and a white bikini. Still, now that I've got my first attempt out of the way, I can move onto what will hopefully be a SBSA (Slightly-Better Second Attempt). 

That should eat up another hour at least. Procrastination-City...here I come.

x

PS pre-Photoshop pic below...

For anyone interested in the location, it's beautiful Geordie Bay, Rottnest Island.

Photographer's Assistant take 2

You may remember earlier in the year we skulked around Fremantle working as Photographer's Assistants to my lovely daughter - she with my Nikon and me with my iPhone (which incidentally, I am going to be calling my iCamera from now on as the phone function on this nifty little toy mysteriously stopped working about three days after the warranty ended. But, I digress...).

Fast forward to now and we are assisting again, only this time we are a few hours from Perth on a farm just out of Pingelly. Not-so-much farming happening here though, it's more your junk yard type farm. (Think Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome minus Tina Turner).

Our model was one of my daughter's very good friends ,who obligingly balanced atop old trucks in the highest-of-high heels. Me and my iCamera just kind of hung around, snapping away happily.

Good (if a little dusty) times.

x