header info

To see what jewelry creations are currently available Click here!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Most Jewelry... new listings and such

Jewelry

Finally got some new listings up.



And... finally got my gratitude reminders listed.



I am grateful I have such a beautiful and willing model to photograph our jewelry on. Thank you.

Had great fun with my clearance sale. All pieces were purchased by previous customers. Yay!



Hockey


I don't think Mon has anything this weekend, but Gabe has two games. He goes to his first CAHA of the season weekend after that… and Mon's team starts the NorCal season.

Watching the Sharks (early game) now/tonight… then Supernatural.


I will try to catch up more tomorrow.

Oh, did you go to my other blog (Going Green Jewelry) to see the info I posted about my new photo set-up?

Some new listings using old beads

Thanks Tina, for posting a comment about the size of photos on monitors!

Okay, let's see… what green things have I done lately? I haven't done too much of anything, green or not, because hockey has occupied me for many days in a row. But I should have some time this weekend to work on more projects.

And I have a package from Thompson Enamel at the leasing office… hope I remember to pick it up after my walk home (I'll be listening to the Sharks game on the radio). I don't really remember what I ordered, but I'm sure it will be fun. I also need to find my actual enamels.

Well, at least I got the "Large Handcrafted Bronze Textured Earrings" listed.



And then drawing from my bead stash, here are other new listings...

Faceted Amethyst and Citrine Large Beads Necklace with Sterling Silver



Turquoise and Sterling Silver One of a Kind Necklace


Bracelet of SRA Boro Lampwork Beads in Green with Blue Accents and Swarovski Crystals


Bold SRA Lampwork Glass Art Beads Bracelet in Red and Black with Bali Sterling Silver


And I got started on the listings for my new idea.

Oh, here are two large silver beads I made… they are sub-par so I'm keeping the bracelet for myself, but I do plan to try this some more. I like big beads.



Okay, I'll be back later with more updates of green stuff. TTYL!

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Color Correction in Adobe Photoshop (and/or Elements)

Melanie-Pearl said... oh geez! you have downstairs neighbors? haha. it's a good thing you stick with metal clays! if you get a stump be sure it was cut awhile ago or leave it out to dry for awhile. otherwise it will mold on your floor.

thanks for all of your photos ideas and for sharing your secrets! i would never have known what a difference this stuff makes without seeing it illustrated on your blog. i am still amazed.

as usual, one hobby leads to another...guess I get to learn more about color correcting, etc. now.


Well, I’m glad I have something that I can share with people. I’ve picked up so much from the internet, books, classes, etc.

But wow… that photo on your October 8th blog entry. What a gorgeous creation!

Anyway, here’s a bit of how I do my color correction.

As mentioned in a previous post, I put a small, stark white piece of “something” into the frame of each jewelry photo I take (in the example photo, I used an earring card).



I have done nothing to the above photo other than make it a size that fits here. Otherwise, it’s raw, straight from the camera.

I do CTRL+L, which brings up a “levels” pop-up box. If it’s in the way, you can just grab the top and move it over out of the way.



You can see three eyedroppers on the right-hand side of the pop-up. The left eyedropper represents black, the middle one is gray, and the far right one is for white. White is the one I use most often.

Click on the white (far right) eyedropper, then click on an area in the photo that is supposed to be white. I often try a few different spots, while keeping my eye on the jewelry, reminding myself that what I’m after is for the jewelry to be the same color and shade in the photo as the jewelry that is right there next to me at the computer with a good light (preferably OTT) on it so I can see it clearly and accurately.



The rest is just cropping and adding a watermark, etc.

Here’s what before and after look like together.



The concept behind “color correction” is that you are putting something into the photo that you can tell the photo software exactly what color it is. So instead of having to tell the software exactly what shade of yellow that bead is. You just say, “See that? That is white. Make THAT white and everything else will become properly colored according to it.”

Make sense?

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

More Details on My Photo Set-Up

Melanie-Pearl said... Wow! What a remarkable difference! It looks like a totally different bracelet. Did you take that photo on a plain piece of paper---Hope you don't mind me asking--- or is that some effect that makes it look mirrored?

Thanks, Melanie! And no, I don’t mind you asking at all. I love sharing techniques for doing things.

The top photo was taken on my usual gradient paper (which I’ll explain in a second)…



... while the photo underneath it was taken on an actual stand (details to follow).



The thing that impresses me, though, is that the bracelet itself seems to have better focus on the bottom photo.

In this photo, you can see the entire sheet of gradient paper.



So, the details…

I made the gradient paper myself (after months of searching in art supply and craft stores… I probably should have tried photography stores).

Here’s the URL for it if others want to try printing one off quickly.

http://srajewelry.com/Blog/gradient2.jpg

It may look “weird” on your computer monitor… but I think if you right click on it and save it to your hard drive before printing it… well, I don’t really know… maybe it works either way just fine.

Anyway, I print on glossy photo paper.

The second item I shoot on is a slightly reflective “stand”. Let me go see if I can find the vendor….

Ah… it’s the “silver riser” from Table-Top Studios.

BTW, that’s a great idea in your about the tree stump. I just realized my downstairs neighbors probably have no clue what I’m doing on “hammering nights”. Eek!

A Harold Cooney Listing, Metal Clay, Driving Lessons, Jewelry, and a Short Survey

Hi everyone.

I have a short survey for anyone who doesn't mind answer 2-3 multiple-choice questions (we're talkin' seconds here). I'd really appreciate your help as this survey has to do with my upcoming (maybe even tonight!) gratitude jewelry.

The Survey

Thanks!!!


Jewelry

Tonight's hockey has been moved to Friday, so I will try to get some photographs done tonight.

In the meantime, entertain yourself with my clearance sale.


Driving Lessons

Gabe's getting more and more driving in, but I told him yesterday that he won't have a clue how to drive during daylight. Ha ha ha! Seems all we ever do is go to hockey practice. But he should be able to get some daylight hours in this weekend. He can drive the whole five minutes from our apartment to the Oakland Ice rink. Heh… He'll probably also opt for the 7am drive to San Jose Sunday morning… VERY little traffic.


Metal Clay

I got two silver beads out of the kiln this weekend, but the jewelry I wanted to make around them isn't coming together quite yet. Hm…


Update… now that it’s 8pm and I’m starting to drag. Ha! I’m SOOOO a morning person. Okay, I just don’t feel like taking pictures tonight. Sorry. Maybe I can get them in tomorrow before Gabe goes to hockey practice.

I made (as in COMPLETED) three of the “Gratitude Reminders”. Not sure how they’re going to be received. I mean, looking at them, you would never get the impression they have anything even remotely to do with… metaphysical or “feel good” type stuff. They don’t have positive mantras stamped onto them or anything like that. Hm… hope I didn’t go too “out there” this time. Well, I like ‘em and that’s all that matters. :-)

Rather than do photos tonight, I’m going over to those two pieces of silver I made and I will tell my beads to help me make the bracelet I’m envisioning. I mean, how hard can it be, right?


Something neat…

I thought this was rather cool… different…

A Harold Cooney (I’m probably spelling his name wrong, though) Lampwork bracelet (sort of).


Well, I’d better go… or even that simple soon-to-be bracelet won’t be happening. ‘Night!


funny pictures of dogs with captions
see more dog and puppy pictures