Cutouts

Below are some photos that I have practiced my cutout skills on. I used two pictures that I took that I feel would best help me utilize the skill. The first set are of a pretty girl that I used a partial cutout on. On the second set are on a spring flower that I did a full cut out.

Partial Cutout

Pretty Girl - April 23, 2011 - 9:34pm - Rexburg, ID - f/5.6 - 1/6 - ISO 1600 - Nikon D3000

Full Cutout

Spring Flower - April 24, 2011 - 8:18pm - Rexburg, ID - f/5.6 - 1/6 - ISO 400 - Nikon D3000

I found the full cutout to be the most difficult to manage. I need more practice on refining the edges and using the lasso tool to smooth out the edges and make a better selection. I used the quick select tool in Adobe Photoshop to make my selections and then used several different layers to select areas that I did not want in my partial cutout photo. I refined the edges of my selections using the softness and feather tools.

Old Photographs

1. Rexburg Temple - July 13, 2010 - 5:32pm - Rexburg, ID - f/3.5 - 1/50 - ISO 100 - Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 - No flash - Auto Exposure.

2. Mt. Borah - February 20, 2010 - 7:05pm - Mackay, ID - f/4.5 - 1/80 - ISO 50 - Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 - No flash - Auto Exposure.

3. Flowers - February 11, 2011 - 4:52pm - Rexburg, ID - f/4.1 - 1/15 - ISO 200 - Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 - No Flash - Macro Mode.

4. Old Faithful Lodge - August 26, 2010 - 4:55pm - Old Faithful, Yellow Stone National Park, Wyoming - f/3.5 - 1/30 - ISO 400 - Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 - Internal Flash - Auto Mode

5. Religious Boat - July 6, 2005 - 6:17pm - Asuncion, Paraguay - f/2.8 - 1/320 - ISO 100 - Sony Cybershot - No flash.

The majority of these images have been taken within that last year, but I included a photo from my mission. I like to take pictures of scenery and structures. I don't have many with people in them. I like to look for color and structure in my pictures that I take. I like to find pattern and repetition also to make the picture interesting. I find the sun to be my best friend when it comes to light and color. I just love how sunsets and clouds can distort the sunlight and create different colors and effects.