My beautiful and inflating wife

Sharkbait · Sep 6, 2004

Only a couple months left until our little Molly makes her appearance (shooting for around Dec 12), and snapping photos of Kelly left and right ot make sure we've got the whole thing documented.

Here are some from today (I discovered a new technique for simulating a soft-filter in PS, so giving that a try on several of these)...

Harpper · Sep 6, 2004

Nice pictures John. I do like the soft look that you gave it. Sometimes a sharp lens doesn't work well for portraits.

Corry · Sep 6, 2004

Aw! That's what I like about this forum...we all seem to get to know each other so well, and I'm getting to where I look forward to watching the progression of you and Kelly's pregnancy...and really looking forward to seeing pics of the little one!!! Great shots!

2Stupid2Duck · Sep 7, 2004

I love the softness. Thanx for sharing these mate. Great shots.

K8 · Sep 7, 2004

Very nice pix, I really like the last one..........

Alison · Sep 7, 2004

I love them all, but the 1st one really caught my eye. Do share what technique you used, please?

JonMikal · Sep 7, 2004

Great stuff John! Looks like you'll have this event documented fairly well.

Sharkbait · Sep 7, 2004

AlisonS said:
I love them all, but the 1st one really caught my eye. Do share what technique you used, please?

Lemme see if I remember it. I might have to correct this when I get home tonight.

1. Create 2 copies of your background layer
2. Hide the middle layer, work on the top layer. Switch its mode to darken. Apply a 40pt gausian blur.
3. Hide the top layer, work on the middle layer. Switch its mode to lighten, apply a 60pt gausian blur.
4. Create a blank layer. Hide the background layer, select that new blank layer, and merge the visible layers.
5. Change the opacity of that layer to ~35%.
6. To bring some areas back in sharpness, apply a layer mask to that newest layer and with the brush and a black foreground color, brush areas that you want sharp.

I think that's it. Honestly I don't know enough about PS to know what it's doing exactly; I got the technique from a PS book. It works pretty well though! There's at least one more opacity change in there too. Hmm, don't remember which step. I'll post again this evening with the right info.

Big Mike · Sep 7, 2004

Nice effect.

I was just thinking that Chase had better set up a special forum for you before the little one arrives. Otherwise you will be flooding the gallery with 1000's of shots each day.

That's not a bad thing, it's just that it would squeeze out all the other pics.

Alison · Sep 7, 2004

Thanks John. I will have to try that. I just did a senior shoot and there are some poses that this would work really well on.

Sharkbait · Sep 7, 2004

Big Mike said:
Nice effect.

I was just thinking that Chase had better set up a special forum for you before the little one arrives. Otherwise you will be flooding the gallery with 1000's of shots each day.

That's not a bad thing, it's just that it would squeeze out all the other pics.

LOL, I promise not to have too many Molly floods when she gets here. I'm going to be quite the proud papa though. :mrgreen:

Alison · Sep 7, 2004

That's a bunch of bologna and you know it

There's no way you'll be able to keep her photo off these boards because she will be the most beautiful child in the world (next to mine of course) and you'll want to share every expression that she makes. Trust me on this one

Karalee · Sep 7, 2004

lmao Ali.

Lovely photos shark, you always have a way of capturing Kels "glow" the first shot itself is the best in the series IMO.

deb · Sep 7, 2004

I have no problem with the technical aspects of the shots, but I do wonder why you are so quick to share something this personal. When I was pregnant, I allowed shots to be made, but they've been kept very private. Maybe it's old fashioned but I still believe there is such a thing as too much sharing.

I do think that sharing the pictures of the baby will be more appropriate.

I know you are excited, and I wish you the best with the coming event, and I hope you won't be offended by my observations.

Sharkbait · Sep 7, 2004

Honestly I don't see a difference in sharing these as compared to sharing photos of Molly after she's born. My wife and I see this is as a glorious and beautiful thing. We've tried to get pregnant for three years, and have had one miscarriage already, so seeing Kelly growing and feeling the baby kicking is nothing but pure joy for us.

Photography is communication, and for communication to occur there must be two parties. We have friends here, and wished only to communicate our joy and love for our growing family to those friends.

:?