Photoshop or Lightroom & Tutorial

So the other day I was discussing with my brother whether I use Lightroom or Photoshop for editing. (He is sort of a do everything kind of guy and also uses these programs just to edit his own personal photos). 

The answer is both, but more so lately, only Photoshop.

The reason is that I feel like I have more individual control over the photos, but I love the workflow of Lightroom. 

Lightroom also makes is a cinch to create your own presets (like actions in photoshop). I have yet to make my own actions in photoshop and rarely use them in that program. I did purchase some amazing ones called Addy Lane Actions and use free ones I find here and there. 

But if I am editing in Lightroom I will almost always make my own. If I have a huge workflow and lots of faces to edit or teeth I use Lightroom. And then finish in Photoshop.

I do more "clean" editing in Photoshop and in Lightroom more effects...and I decide which photo I think should look more natural and which should have an effect...

I also thought I would share how to make your own presets in Lightroom.

Step 1: After making desired adjustments to your photo go to the top left of the screen where it says Develop>New Preset

Step 2: This screen will pop up. Give your preset a name. I named this one Landscape Pop, so in the future I will know just what this will do if I select it. Press okay.

Step 3: When you are in develop mode, you should be able to see to the left your navigator screen. You can find your newly created preset under "user presets"...or at least that is where I chose to have mine located.

I think it is important to have both programs as they both have different strengths. I began in Lightroom and find it a lot easier to understand, but if you have patience and time, learning Photoshop has its benefits too.

Improving Pictures In Blogger

Lately, I have been really having issues getting my photos to look as good as they do in the editing software when I upload to blogger, and I am still trying to resolve this with facebook! 

I did a little browsing, and stumbled on this...I thought I would share for those who may have the same issues.

What happens to me is that the picture looks out of focus, or grainy...or just blah! 

Very disappointing when you spend all that time editing and trying to get it right!

The top picture is without any changes....just regular old blogger. And then the one beneath is with this formatting...

 And again, just to emphasize...

Huge difference, right?!

So, follow THIS linky and then the directions when you upload your pictures!

Photoshop Tutorial | Creating a "Brush" Watermark

I just wanted to share a tutorial on how to create your own watermark in Photoshop and save it as a brush to layer over your photos.

Step 1:  File>New document and choose your dimensions, name it and at the bottom make sure your background contents are selected as TRANSPARENT.

Step 2: Next Select the 'T' for Text  in your tools side bar. 

Set your font, size and centering to your taste, located at the top of the screen. Be sure to also select what color text you want. My default was set to white which is hard to see...but remember you are layering this over photos, so what color do you want? I did black because I can change the color later as I brush it onto each photo.

Step 3: Next Click File>Save As>Photoshop (*.PSD; *.PDD) and name your file so you can find it later. (Saving it as a PSD file ensure that transparent background stays that way.)

Step 4:  Reopen your newly saved file under File>Open

Step 5: Once opened, go under Edit> Define Brush Preset> Name it and press OK.

Step 6: Open a new photo that you wish to brush this new watermark onto under File>Open>then pictures (or where ever you have them located)

Step 7: Under your tool bar select brush tool (not art history tool or history brush tool...but BRUSH TOOL)  and at the top of the screen scroll through your brushes until you find your saved one. It was the last one in my case. Select the size and color you wish. (I selected 2500px, mode: Normal and 100% Opacity.)

Step 8: Now the last part...on your tools click the background color (top one) to the color you wish...either black or white, press ok.

Now select where you would like to brush it on and click to set it down onto your picture. I usually do this step last in my editing...once all my layers are merged...

Create a new layer (ctrl +J) that way it can be removed it if I don't like the placement, size or coloring.

Under your layers you can play with the opacity...or select normal, soft light, hard light..etc. Play with it.

And there you have it!