Picture Upgrades.. Again...

A while back I was looking through an Etsy treasury that featured one of my products.   I noticed that my photos were looking gray and dull compared to many other photos in the treasury. It dawned on me that this is probably why I have not been featured in many treasuries each week.

After sitting down and working on my photos, I found a way to remove the dullness and perk up the photos. It literally looks like day and night. While I am a long way from fixing all the photography problems I am seeing, this is a definite improvement.

So what did I do? I tweaked the contrast. Using the levels function in Photoshop CS4 (Ctrl+L), I used the drop down menu to choose "Increase Contrast 3."

In the cases where that does not provide exactly what I am looking for, I then begin moving the white, black, and gray triangles on the level window to tweak the image and coloring.

I have discovered that the black triangle, increase the depth and sharpness of the shadows in the photo.

The white triangle increases the overall lightness of the photo, including the background and your object. A little of this one goes a long way.

The gray triangle helps to adjust the mid-tones of your photo. This is a good one to tweak if you object looks good, but the overall photo looks a little dark. To fix this, simply move the gray triangle towards the black triangle until it looks like what you want.

So how well has this worked for me?

Before

 

After

 I think they are more eye catching. How about you?

If you get a chance, be sure to stop by Christie Cottage's blog today and join the twitter tree!
http://ChristieCottage.blogspot.com

 

Playing with my doming block...

So for Christmas a friend of mine gave me a new toy to play with. A doming block..

 My 2 year old thinks this is the coolest thing in the world because he can use his Pat (a blue hammer from Handy Manny) to hit the blocks like mommy does. lol

I have been able to make a couple of sets of earrings using my new toy though. And I thought you guys may like to see them.

I think the silver inlay are my favorites so far.

Have a great day y'all.

Twitter Tree Wednesday 2-9-2011

This wonderful idea was started by ChristieCottage and has already brought in sales and promotional opportunities to those involved.  Remember “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Francis Bacon. ”  I saw that quote posted on Twitter and it seems to fit the idea, so let us create more opportunities to be seen.

The Twitter Tree will be hosted by a different shop each business day.

Monday: http://christiecottage.blogspot.com/
Tuesday: http://audreyscountrycrafts.blogspot.com/
Wednesday: http://elunajewelry-nc.blogspot.com/
Thursday: http://aneedleinthehaystack-debbie.blogspot.com/
Friday: http://sweetybird09.blogspot.com/

Here are the 3 items that I would like tweeted today:

twitter account: elunajewelry

Beautiful Copper Heart Earrings http://etsy.me/et07Or #gift #bluebird #etsy wonderful #gift for your favorite girl via @elunajewelry





  

               Pretty In Pink @elunajewelry http://etsy.me/f2FzKT #bluebird #etsybot #handmadebot #valentine

Silver Wire Wrapped Amazonite Cabochon Earrings http://etsy.me/hygoL2 #etsy #bluebird #etsybot #buy #gift via @elunajewelry

If you follow me on twitter - please let me know. I don't follow everyone back if I don't know who they are :)

The Twitter Tree Instructions:

You post the item(s) you tweeted for me along with your twitter account so I can follow you, and list 1-3 items (clickable links, Twitter Ready please) from any of your online shops that you would like for me to tweet for you. ( No "mature" items, please). Be sure the item is twitter ready. (Please include a description, not just the link and any #hashtags you would like to use.) 

Check back throughout the day to tweet the other items listed in the comments. To make life simpler for all those tweeting, please add the hashtag #bluebird to your links. This way it will be easier to re-tweet later in the day. Also if you add the #bluebird hashtag to your items, it will give you a random chance to be featured in the #bluebird daily twitter paper. 

By reaching out through our blog and twitter network, we hope to increase promotion for all our stores and hope to gain a new audience and possibly some sales. 

 

Hope you have a wonderful day and see you in tweetland.

Twitter Tree Wednesday 2-2-2011

Let me start off by saying... "Happy Groundhogs Day".

This wonderful idea was started by ChristieCottage and has already brought in sales and promotional opportunities to those involved.  Remember “A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds. Francis Bacon. ”  I saw that quote posted on Twitter and it seems to fit the idea, so let us create more opportunities to be seen.

The Twitter Tree will be hosted by a different shop each business day.

Monday: http://christiecottage.blogspot.com/
Tuesday: http://audreyscountrycrafts.blogspot.com/
Wednesday: http://elunajewelry-nc.blogspot.com/
Thursday: http://aneedleinthehaystack-debbie.blogspot.com/
Friday: http://sweetybird09.blogspot.com/

Here are the 3 items that I would like tweeted today:

twitter account: elunajewelry

Long Dangle Copper Earrings http://etsy.me/ewxa2E #gift #bluebird #etsy wonderful #gift for your favorite girl via @elunajewelry





  


Beautiful Green and Gold Moss Agate @elunajewelry http://www.etsy.com/listing/64976609/gold-and-green-moss-agate-pendant #bluebird

Silver Wire Wrapped Amazonite Cabochon Earrings http://etsy.me/hygoL2 #etsy #bluebird #etsybot #buy #gift via @elunajewelry

If you follow me on twitter - please let me know. I don't follow everyone back if I don't know who they are :)

The Twitter Tree Instructions:

You post the item(s) you tweeted for me along with your twitter account so I can follow you, and list 1-3 items (clickable links, Twitter Ready please) from any of your online shops that you would like for me to tweet for you. ( No "mature" items, please). Be sure the item is twitter ready. (Please include a description, not just the link and any #hashtags you would like to use.) 

Check back throughout the day to tweet the other items listed in the comments. To make life simpler for all those tweeting, please add the hashtag #bluebird to your links. This way it will be easier to re-tweet later in the day. Also if you add the #bluebird hashtag to your items, it will give you a random chance to be featured in the #bluebird daily twitter paper. 

By reaching out through our blog and twitter network, we hope to increase promotion for all our stores and hope to gain a new audience and possibly some sales. 

 

Hope you have a wonderful day and see you in tweetland.