We're Stylin'

We are super honored to have been given this award.  It's our first!!  The amazing ladies over at Crafty Life and Style bestowed it upon us.  Now to share seven fun things and pass it on to 15 amazing blogs.  (Note only one half of Shields Photography is up for sharing things.)

1. Mel drinks almost a gallon of faux sweet tea a day.  It's sweetened with sweet and low.
2. At work, everyday, at 1:00 she buys a Dr. Pepper and drinks it.
3. Mel doesn't care what others think, she loves her crocs.  She also has an extensive collection of what the other half calls ugly shoes. (They aren't ugly they are high fashion shoes that help a short girl out.)
4. Mel has been to known to cry over Folgers Commercials, Hallmark Commercials, and the finale of Big Love.
5. Mel's first ever published picture was of feet.  The other half's first ever published picture was


6. Mel loves That 70's show.
7. Last but not least Mel loves to bake!

Ok that was harder then I thought it would be.  Now for the easy part, 15 favorite blogs!.
(In no order!)

1. Dollar Store Crafts
2. The Idea Room
3. Blue Cricket Design
4. Infarrantly Creative
5. Be Different Act Normal
6. Crap I've Made
7. Homemade by Jill
8. Ruffles and Stuff
9. Someday Crafts
10. Tatertots and Jello
11. Eighteen25
12. Sew Dang Cute Crafts
13. I <3 Naptime
14. Sew Much Ado
15. Iron Craft

Nik Software Silver Efex Pro 2 Review

I told you last night that I would show you today how I got the photo for the pillow.  Well here we go.

I started with this picture.

I ended up with this picture.

So how did I do it?  With NikSoftware Silver Efex Pro2 plug-in for Photoshop CS4.  I first processed my RAW file.  For more on how I do that you can click here.  I opened the jpg up in Photoshop.

Then I clicked on the Silver Efex plug-in.  It's next to my history window.

This is what the Silver Efex work window looks like.  It is very user friendly and I have to admit that I didn't use the program to it's full existent for this project.

On the left hand side is numerous presets.  I scrolled down and picked the over exposed one for this.

This is the right hand panel.  It's where you can fine tune how your picture looks.  I only adjusted the toning for this picture.

There are 23 tones to choose from.  I picked number 23 that's hiding behind my tool bar.  Then I clicked OK and was taken back to Photoshop.

Then I cropped it to an 8x10.  I did this because I only wanted a small photo to work up into a pillow.

For more information about all this plug-in can do please visit niksoftware.com.

My thoughts on the software:
I love it!  It is a little over whelming at first.  Between all the presets and all the ways you can tweak each preset you can start to get lost in it.  The more I use it though the less overwhelming it is.  I'm a big fan of black and white photography and this brings a more realistic black and white feel to your digital photos.

*Please note all opinions in this post are mine and mine along.  I was in no way compensated for it.  I have no affiliation with NikSoftware.

Photo Craft Project

If you came over hoping to find the new Iron Craft Challenge, it's moved here.  I hope when I get this figured out for real that I can post a tutorial for you all to make one yourself.  But right now I just want some feedback.  What do you guys think of this?

I made it with one of my own photographs.  I tinted the picture yellow because that's the color of fabric I had on hand.  The white lines are because I didn't get the fabric right.

I'll tell you how I did the photo tomorrow!  I'm going to review a new plug-in for Photoshop.  It is not washable.

While I kind of like it, it's not the same.  Do you like it?  Should I think about including it in my product line?  Is it too crafty for my product line?

*Note all photos on this blog post were taken with my iPhone.

We Are On The Web

I know we are really already on the web because we have our little blog here.  But we have our own website now.   From there you can purchase any of our art photographs directly from us.  We only accept payment via Pay Pal.  You can also learn all about our portrait services.  If you are in our area we'd love to hear from!