www.reflectingthedesigner.com

Well, I’ve been very busy on some projects recently as well as other “life” stuff that have kept me from being able to post as much as I’d like to. I just completed a full WordPress website for a company that I did a WP blog for several months ago. They wanted their whole site transformed and consolidated into one WordPress Site. It was a huge process as I had to set up WordPress in their current hosting location, transfer the old blog over to it, and completely design and add content to their site from top to bottom.

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Well, as you can see if you’ve visited my site before, I’ve just updated the theme again. I like to create new design themes for my own site both for variety as well as to demonstrate some nice Artisteer, Photoshop, and WP tweaking techniques. I’ll list a few of those techniques in this post.

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This was another Christmas card I just did for a family who wanted a very customized look. They also needed a few different versions of the same card for their business, close family and friends, and others on their Christmas card list.

The image to the right is the family version, but you can view their business version in my gallery.

This is what they requested: Read the rest of this entry »

This was a project for a family who wanted to send out a family Christmas Card but in a 5×7 size to easily fit into a frame. They also wanted a theme that was more of a wintertime feel rather than strictly Christmas and wanted to include their family picture as well as individual pictures of their kids. And, of course, they wanted the original snapshots edited to remove red eye, the background, touch up the coloring, etc. Try finding a template online to do all of that! However, just using Photoshop, I was able to take all 5 snapshots they sent me and turn them into a fun winter card that can be printed out as a photo or as an actual card. I used some of the elements from the previous Christmas card I made, so the design work was quick and easy to do, and fit all of their specifications.

Let me know if you are interested in a personalized Christmas card that is not just the run of the mill template you see everyday. I can usually turn a project around like this within a day, so shoot me an email to get started!

This is a photo I took while in Guam this past year. I edited and designed this picture specifically for the hand carved frame pictured here. It is formatted to be printed as an 8×10, and I have both the image with a verse (Proverbs 3:5-6) as well as an image with the verse part left out so that you can add your own quote or verse if desired. This was just printed out on my own home printer, and it turned out nicely.

Please note that these are copyrighted images and can not be re-produced or sold without permission.

Image with Verse – $10

Editable Image – $10

I’ve just uploaded the prayer journal I’ve been talking about to my Store page. It’s a free Word Document that is completely formatted and ready for you to add in your own person details and print. See the store to download and for more details. Along with the free document, I’m providing binder covers and tab insert designs for unbelievably low prices for those interested. It’s a nice touch for personal use but they would also make a nice gift as a part of completely printed journal. This is my first one, but there will be many more to come and several different designs offered.

This theme was done with a good friend in mind who loves lavender. It includes a 6.5″ x 8.5″ cover graphic, and four 5.5″ x 8.5″ tab pages that correspond to the divisions of the prayer journal I uploaded. These are all High Resolution JPEG images and each can be printed directly onto 8.5″ x 11″ paper. It works best on a photo paper or cardstock.

I’m selling these designs at such a low cost because they are designs I’m already doing for personal use and gifts. Because I’m already putting the work into them, I can pass along these pre-made designs to you at incredibly great rates. If you are interested in customized versions of these designs or your own personalized design, let me know and we can discuss price, etc. I’m willing to print and ship any custom designs, but would have to charge some additional fees to cover this.

Click on the Buy Now button to purchase this graphic pack for only $10. You are free to print as many copies as desired, but these are my own personal copyrighted designs and you do not have the permission to resell them or edit them in any way. Enjoy!

I did a post a couple of months ago on this topic when I was working on one picture of a set for a customer. I’ve now finished the other picture which is of his precious baby. This one is done in black and white to match the other, and also has a deep vignette. It will also be printed onto a gallery wrap canvas, so most of the dark edge will be wrapped around the sides and top of the picture.

This is an example of how you can take a small and pixelled photo and turn it into wall art. There are a few things to remember, though.

1. Up-size your photo using Photoshop’s Actions. By only up-sizing the image in 10% increments you will greatly reduce the overly pixeled look of the final product. (Let me know if you are not sure of how to do this)
2. Create a new layer on top of the layer with the photo, and do all of your editing on that layer so that if/when you make a mistake you don’t have to start from scratch.
3. Match colors found in the original (you may want to adjust the color, brightness, hue, and/or contrast of the original first) and use appropriate sized paint brushes with a very low opacity and with no hardness on the edges to “paint” over the original smoothing out edges and creating the desired effect.
4. The easiest way to add the vignette without affecting either of the photo layers is to add a new layer and fill it with the color you want your border to be. Then, simply using an eraser with a low opacity and no hardness, erase away the middle to reveal the picture beneath.

That’s the simple version. Of course, depending upon how much editing needs to be done will depend upon how long it takes to finish your picture. It can be a slow and tedious project, but it is well worth the effort. Click on the picture to see both the originals and edited versions located in my Photo Gallery.

I just finished a landing page and WordPress blog theme design that was so much fun to work on! Good friends of mine are going to be traveling on an evangelistic team beginning this fall, and they will be holding youth rallies on most weekends in churches all around the country. They wanted a fun site where kids who’ve attended or are going to attend theses Coffee Wars rallies can log look at pictures and video from the week, get updates, have access to more Christian resources, and stay in touch. It’s also designed to help out churches or individuals planning to attend a rally by offering necessary information and downloads to prepare for the event. Because they won’t be officially starting until the fall, there is a lot of information, pictures, pages, and video that will continue to be added as time goes on.

I designed the landing page using Sitegrinder, a Photoshop plugin. The elements of the blog theme were also designed in Photoshop and then completed through Artisteer. There are still a few plugins that need to be uploading, but for the most part the setup and design are complete. I will be creating a personalized Twitter background to match the site as well as an image to use for the site’s facebook page as well.

Please contact me if you are interested in a landing page and blog combo or any other design requests, and I’d be happy to discuss pricing and options with you.

Click on this link to visit The Coffee Wars.

Some good friends of mine were just married in December, and while they had a beautiful pictures taken, Becky wasn’t sure that she wanted to decorate the house with a Christmas theme. So, she asked if I would edit them and change the backgrounds on some of her favorite professional pictures and snapshots. Thankfully she purchased all of the rights to her professional shots. As a note if you are getting married, MAKE SURE TO PURCHASE THE RIGHTS TO YOUR PICTURES!!! That way, you can edit, print, and use them however you like.

Here is a sampling of what I did. I also added full black and white and sepia versions of both edits, too. Please contact me at info@reflectingthedesigner.com if you are interested in professional and affordable photo editing with a quick turn around time.

This is another example of how you can turn a simple snapshot into a portrait style picture with some edits in Photoshop. This took me less than 30 minutes to complete. The beauty of Photoshop is that you don’t have to pay for expensive Photo Shoots or worry about the time or hassle to set up an appointment for family portraits.

While this is an extremely simple example, the possibilities for edits are really endless. You can have different backgrounds, superimposed images, artistic effects, color changes and blending, and you can fix those little issues that need to be fixed. You’ll notice that my beautiful mother got a “trim” of her hair in the edited version since she hadn’t had a chance to get a hair cut before the photo was taken.

A Few Tips and Tricks When Editing in Photoshop

• If you are going to add a different background, make sure that the light is coming from the same direction in the new background as it is in the original photo you are adding to the foreground.
• Make sure to think about the angle that the picture was taken from if you are going to add a scenery background. For example, if a picture of a field or trees was taken from above looking down at an angle, you won’t be able to add in a picture of your subject taken straight at eye level.
• Make sure that the saturation and brightness of the background matches the saturation and brightness of the original photo, or edit the photo to match. Always do this first, even if you are going to turn the photo into a black and white or sepia image.
• Blurring the background is the easiest way to bring out the subject that you want to highlight.
• When you have finished your edits, make sure adjust the canvas size to common print sizes (4×6, 5×7, 8×10).

Please, let me know if you are interested in photo edits no matter how simple or complex. I’d be happy to discuss design options and prices with you, and most edits can be finished and back to you within a couple of days time.

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