Photo Recipe: Using Textures to disguise a background

I am attempting my 4th Project 365 (I made it about 75% through the first one, completed a second and then let's not talk about the third time.)
Some days, I am inspired. Other days, I look around my house for something-- anything-- to shoot. This was an "other" day. An, "Oh, crud, it's time for bed and I didn't take a photo today." I looked at my dining room table, covered in the paraphernalia that broadcasts, "Two very busy kids live here" and saw my son's new baseball glove. I took one shot, didn't like it, re-positioned the glove and ended up with this:
 I liked it, but then again, I like photos that document my kids' lives. What I didn't like was the warmth of the glove against the cool white window frame, green curtains and that chair on the right.  I went to my favorite textures from Love that Shot, the Old World Collection, and chose "Madrid."
I have a penchant for the dramatic, so even though I toyed with taking the opacity down a notch, I ended up keeping it at 100%, soft light. I love the brick texture on the left and how it made the photo seem more artistic.
 

 I decided to apply a layer mask, though, and remove the warmth off of the baseball a bit.

 

Finally, I added one last texture from the Old World Collection, "Salerno."  I applied it at 50%, soft light, to give the photo a little more vignette and to draw focus to that ball and glove.
  I really liked the way that the photo went from being a snapshot in my dining room to something a little more artistic. The warm background isn't as much of a distraction from the glove and ball.
If I can do it, with no formal training, you can too! Misti and Michelle at Love that Shot have taught me all that I know. If only they could end this long, drawn-out winter so we can play some ball!

 

Photo Recipe: Fun with a snapshot.

Last week, I was lucky enough to go to Las Vegas with my husband, just the two of us.  I left the DSLR at home, so that I wouldn't be all-consumed by trying to find neat angles and interesting subjects and in turn, ignoring my husband.  I would like to say that I was moderately successful.  I was still a little obsessive about documenting the trip, but not as crazy as I would have been with lens choices.  :)

One of my favorite photos from the trip is this one of flowers in the Atrium at The Mirage.


I was pretty darn happy with it, SOOC.  I like my little point-and-shoot.  But, I also like to play and to see what fun changes I can make to the photo.

This time, I decided to concentrate on using Love that Shot's Simplicity Photo Veils.  My favorite one in the group is called "Fire."  It's great for warming up a photo that is too cool.  I applied it in overlay mode at 50%.



I liked the way that it made it seem like we were in the warm wonderful sun, and it added a slight vignette, drawing your eye to the tulip.  I decided I wanted a little more vignette, so I chose the "Northern Lights" Veil and applied it in overlay mode at 25%.


And because I can't just leave well-enough alone, I decided that I wanted a little texture.  The "Twinkle" texture is totally fun.  At full-strength, it will give you the feeling of light being reflected off of a disco ball, or bubbles underwater.  I restrained myself and dialed it down to 50%, soft light.



If you look closely, you can see the texture in the sky.  I think it makes it look like there are clouds floating by.



Hop on over to Love That Shot to check out all of the photo veils and textures that you can use to make your photos more eye-catching!