The Pocono Record asked me to blog about my experiences at hunting camp this year. Just today they included the first segment of my story. You can view it online here:
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131127/NEWS/131129691
I will be writing more soon.
I started my photo blog back on September 28, 2009. I enjoy sharing photographs, photo tips, software suggestions, and more on my photo blog. It is a fun endeavor. Sometimes I blog almost every day of the month, while other times, like when I am traveling or busy, I only blog a few times during the month.
I use WordPress as the software medium for my blog. As for videos, my editing needs haven’t gone more than what the software at https://www.makewebvideo.com/en/make/3d-text-intro-video offers. It was very easy to set up and I do enjoy its interface. Over the past year I was reading of the advantages of moving from WordPress.com to WordPress.org. The difference would include a few upgrades on my hosting site and require me to host the WordPress software on my side of things instead of just over the internet. I also had to move all the past blog entries, which I knew was going to require some time.
Well, I think I’m there! I moved all the blog entries after setting up my website host properly. This is my first blog post in WordPress.org for me. I am very happy with the progress so far and especially the customization available with this new format. I still have some tweaking and adjusting to do, but I think I’m going to go live with this today.
Technically speaking, there is only a subtle change for you, the visitor to my blog. The url used to be bobshankphotography.wordpress.com Now, the new url is:
http://bobshankphotography.com/blog/
I will put a link on the old site so visitors can easily get to my new blog, but please change your bookmark to my site when you get a chance. Spread the word, too, about my photography blog. As I was looking back over the past five years of entries, I was surprised to see all the many and different topics I blogged about so far. The future looks bright for me, too! I keep learning more and more about how to capture better photographs. I am getting published in our local newspaper with my sports photographs, and my wildlife photography is getting better, too!
Stay tuned for some exciting blog postings, which will be forthcoming. I have some ideas on sharing some of what I do both behind the camera and in post-processing. I will re-visit my photo workflow to show you how I quickly sift through all the photos of a shoot to focus on the best photos for editing, captioning, publishing, and sharing with others. I will also talk about software I find helpful, my take on what editors are looking for in a photograph, and how I am improving in my sports and wildlife photography.
So, I hope you like this new blog format. To be honest, I was getting a little sick of the orange text in my old blog. I hope you like this new format, but more importantly I hope you keep visiting and checking in to see what I am blogging about each week. I truly hope there is something helpful for you here. If so, share my blog with your friends and colleagues. My photography passions are growing each day and I always enjoy sharing this deep passion with others!
I wanted to create a framed matte for my photographs that also incorporated a shadow effect with the photograph. It took a little time to figure it out and create it, but now with the use of a Photoshop Action, I can recreate this effect in a matter of mere seconds!
Here are the steps to create a framed matte effect yourself:
Step 1: Open a photograph in Photoshop (I already have it resized in Lightroom)
Step 2: Duplicate the layer
Step 3: Highlight the original layer and click on Image and then Canvas. Set the width to 1 and the height to 1, and the background to white. Click on Image and then Canvas again. Set the height to 1 and then click the up arrow in the anchor, and again set the background to white. Now, click Image and Canvas and set the width and height to .0625 and set the background to black.
Step 4: Double click the copied layer and setup the drop shadow. I set the angle to 120, distance to 10, and size to 10.
Step 5: Insert a text box with your name or title for the photograph. Set the font and size.
Step 6: Save the newly created framed photograph as a jpg for use in your blog.
It actually sounds more difficult than it actually was for me to set up. Once you’ve been through the process a time or two, do it again this time recording the steps as an action. Then you will be able to repeat this process with one simple click.
