Wesdotphotography.com

I am very excited to have had one of my images featured on the cover of United States Lipizzan Federation Fall 2013 magazine. This is Favory Toscana 18 which I had the honor to photograph in 2012 at White Horse Vale in Goldendale, Washington. He is one glorious Lipizzan stallion.
If you are an equine fan and especially a fan of this rare, beautiful breed take a few minutes to check out these websites:
http://www.uslipizzan.org/
http://whv-lipizzans.com/
And if you notice the top banner of the USLF website you will see another of our photos featured. This is Aramis, another wonderful lipizzan from White Horse Vale which I photographed at another shoot.

DISCOUNT SPECIAL BEGINS TODAY!

11/09/2013

Fine Art America is the premier online marketplace for purchasing fine art originals and prints.  It is also the easiest way to discover new artists and art galleries and to stay connected to your local art scene!   Visit our gallery site at wes-and-dotty-weber.fineartamerica.com

Looking for some early Christmas gifts? Or just want a WesDotPhotography print on your wall? Now is the time!

I know the shopping season can be very hectic so I'm starting my annual Christmas discount early so you can get a jump on things. So starting today, November 9th, 2013 I am running my annual Christmas discount at our Fine Art America website.

By entering the code XZZUGV the first 30 buyers will receive a 20% discount off our markup.   The base materials e.g. frames, mats, stretched canvas, etc. will not be included in this discount offer.

If you would ever like to see many more of our images 'Like' our page on Facebook by following this link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/WesDotPhotography/183908382540

Thanks so much for your continued support.

Dotty & Wes
wes-and-dotty-weber.fineartamerica.com

How To Do Your Own Copyright Symbol - Part 2

07/18/2013

So what does this strange picture have to do with making your own copyright symbol you might wonder. Well from my previous blog post showing how to create a 'copyright' action I had promised the next step in automating the creating of a web-sized image or many images at once. This would be that next step using Adobe Photoshop CS5.

1) Open one or several images that are all of the same format. For this example we will open up several portrait images from Adobe Bridge. To open several completed JPEG images click on each image holding the Ctrl button down. This will select each image. Then either click enter or right click on one of the selected images and then select 'Open in Adobe Photoshop'. All images will appear in Photoshop with the active image in the preview area of your screen and all others in the tabs above the preview. That is if you have your Photoshop screen set up as I do. See screen print below for an example of two images opened.

2)   Run the 'Copyright Portrait' action that you created in the prior blog post 'How To Do Your Own Copyright Symbol' to apply the copyright to the 'active' image.

3)   Click on each image by selecting the 'un-highlighted' image tab to make the next image active and run the 'Copyright Portrait' action. Do this for each portrait image you have opened in Photoshop.

4)   When all images have the Copyright Symbols added and arranged to your liking you are ready to re-size the images and make them ready to add to Facebook, Twitter, Google+, your website or share online. Here are the steps:

5)   Click on 'File' at the top left hand size of your screen. This will open the drop downs.

6)   Click on 'Scripts' towards the bottom of the list which will bring out a 'flyout' box.

7)   In this 'flyout' box, click on 'Images Processor'. The box that will appear next is the same as the screen print at the top of this blog post. The items to pay attention to are:

1) Select the images to process. I use the 'Use Open Images' button as I want the images I've just copyrighted to be processed.
2) Select location to save processed images. I use the 'Save in Same Location' button as I like the copyrighted images to be saved in the same location as the original. A new folder will be created in this folder called 'JPEG'.

3) File Type. This has several options.
As I save these images as JPEGs I use that file type by checking the 'Save as JPEG' box,
I set the quality at '6'. This will make the image size small enough that if someone does try to print from this it will be pixallated if printed in a large print.
Check the 'Convert to Profile to sRGB' box. This is the best profile for the internet to keep colors from shifting.
Check the 'Resize to Fit' box. This box is crucial to resizing the images to portrait, landscape or square format. For Portrait use W: 687 px H: 1024 px
Use all the prior steps for Landscape images with the exception of changing to W: 1024 px H: 687 px
The same for a square format image except change to W: 1024 px H: 1024 px
4) Preferences. You can add Copyright Info which would embed into the images by typing that into the box and click on the 'Include ICC Profile' box if you wish.
Click on 'Run' at the upper right hand area of this box. Each image that has been selected will process and re-sized images will populate into the new created 'JPEG' folder within the original folder.
CRUCIAL LAST STEP: All the images that you have just processed will remain in Photoshop. In 'File' select 'Close All'. As you close each file make sure you do not 'save'. You do not want to have your originals stamped and re-sized.

OUR PHOTOS FEATURED AT FIRST THURSDAY ART GALLERY

06/07/2013

Last night we were honored to attend this wonderful event at Pacifica Senior Living that is home to 60 of our photos. It was a fun evening with many new and long time friends & family along with a table filled with delicious appetizers. Plus some awesome music was supplied by Nate Botsford. Rounding out the evening three lucky attendees left with a raffle prize of a 12x18 framed print of one of the images hanging in the hallways of this beautiful senior living home.

We are very pleased to know our images are making the lives of the residents and their loved one who visit a little brighter each day. It is very touching to know we are a part of giving these hallways a warm, home-like feel. This is one of the nicest homes that truly cares for the health, happiness and care for our seniors. If you are now or ever in the need for a home for your aging loved ones this is a place well worth looking into.

Wes and I would like to thanks Dana, Executive Director and Kristi, Community Relations Coordinator at Pacifica Senior Living, as well as Anne from Encore Senior Living for making this evening happen. We also thanks all the employee of the community who made this event enjoyable for all.

Dotty & Wes

Please visit Pacifica Senior Living website at this link: http://www.pacificaportland.com/

You can also visit the management company, Encore Senior Living website using this link: http://www.encoresl.com/

OLD MASTERS--MEMBER ARTIST OF THE WEEK (05/05/13)

05/07/2013

4 Comments

Foggy Morning On The Steens D8701

We were honored this week with being named 'Featured Artist of the Week' on the website, Fine Art America that we use to sell and market our images. This website has what is called 'Groups' for different subjects that focus on many different topics. It also makes it easier for visitors to the site to locate images centered around what you might be looking for.

This group is a fun group as it focuses not on a single subject but instead on the photographers, hence the name 'Old Masters'. It's not what it appears to be but is instead....well, I'll let their 'About the Group' explain:

"YOU MUST BE 60 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER TO JOIN THIS GROUP, which is established to promote the work of mature artists OVER SIXTY.
All others are welcome to look (and buy!), but please do not join this group if you are under 60 years of age! "

After clicking on this link scroll down a bit on the Fine Art America web page to see the featured artists: http://fineartamerica.com/groups/old-masters--photographers-and-digital-arts--5-a-day.html?tab=overview

Come take a peek at one of our latest Kudos and while there click on one of our images from this link. That will take you to our images where you can browse around. Or once in our images you can also click on the 'Gallery' tab above the image to look at specific albums.

Enjoy and I would love to hear any and all feedback. It helps us in our growth!

Thanks

Dotty & Wes

4 Comments

Visitor's Map

05/01/2013

Large Visitor Globe

A map of your visitors on your site.

The website "Revolver Map" as a very clever map to show who visited your website. It is a free tool and it looks very nice. See above who visited wesdotphotography since I installed this map.

This is a very highly customizable map, mine shows depth of the oceans as well as snow caped mountains and poles. It will also change based on the seasons of the year. It can shows flag and locations of your visitors as well.

Enjoy
Thierry

Visit http://www.revolvermaps.com/?target=setup for more detail.

How To Do Your Own Copyright Symbol & Your Business Name

02/09/2013

There has always been an issue with the images that we all love to share on Facebook and many other social networking internet sites being used without our permission. Sometimes even sold by others for their own profits. While I've never liked putting a big ole ugly copyright stamp on my images I've found a bit of a work around as displayed in this image.
If you would like to use this method I've given step by step instructions for you to create your own action to do this below:

Open an image with a portrait format as mine above is.
From the Window Tool Bar at the top of your Photoshop CS screen drop down click on Actions. This will open the Actions box. (This step will create an Action that you can have Photoshop add your copyright automatically)
Click on the 5th icon at the bottom of the Actions palette which looks like a folder with a box in the bottom left hand side. It will bring up a box called 'New Action'. I named this Copyright Portrait and then click on 'Record'. Now each step that you take will be recorded into this new action.
In your Toolbar on the left hand side of your screen right click on the Icon that is the 2nd Icon above the magnifying glass. You want to bring up the Custom Shape tool. The icon looks like a weird star with rounded corners.
In the Tool Bar at the top of the screen Click on the 3rd icon in the box next to that weird star. If you scroll your cursor over this icon it is called a Fill Pixels icon.
Still at the top of the screen click in the drop down arrow to the right of the word Shape to bring up the drop downs. From the list towards the bottom you will find the copyright symbol. Click on that to make it active.
You need to have your layers palette open. Create a new blank layer by clicking on the 2nd to the last icon on the bottom of the layer palette next to the trash can icon.
Click on the Foreground color swatch in the Toolbar on the left hand side of your screen and select a light grey for your Foreground color.
To place the 'C' copyright shape to the image press the 'Shift' button on my keyboard. While holding this key down click on the C in the actual tool bar at the top of the screen. It will look like there is nothing on the screen but while still holding the shift button down drag the cursor that you moved the 'C' to the image downward and to the right. This is how you will size the 'C'. The release both the shift and cursor.
Now click on the Layer Style icon at the bottom of the layer palette which is the 2nd icon that says fx. Click on Bevel and Emboss from the drop down list and then click on OK.
Now use the Type tool from the left hand side Toolbar making sure the color watch still is the light grey color. Placing the text bar on the bottom of your image type the word Copyright and your business name. I like to use the font Casmira.
Repeat the Layer Style as listed in #10 above.
In both the 'C' and the text layer change the layer mode at the top left hand side of the layer palette box from Normal to Hard Light. This will make the stamps transparent.
Change the 'C' copyright layer to about 30 to 35, keeping the stamp visible but not so much that person viewing the image can't get a good look. But making it hard for someone else to remove the stamp.
On the text layer I keep the opacity higher as it's on the bottom of the image and I want my business name to be more visible.
The last step is to stop the action that we are creating. To do this you click on the first icon that is simply shaped like a box at the bottom of the Actions palette.
Once completed you will want to flatten the layers and I usually run the Image Processor from the File tool named Scripts for my web images. But that will be another blog on another day. There is nothing like Photoshop automation.

Now any time you want to stamp your portrait oriented image you can run this action. You should run these same steps for a landscape oriented image naming it Copyright Landscape.

You might have to move the copyright symbol or your text layer to fit the image but you will have the layers ready for you to make your adjustments.

Hope you found this helpful!

C A V A L I A !!

01/27/2013

So, it's been over a year now since I had the honor to photograph the fabulous show, Cavalia. I had never done a bog but have posted many pictures on my Facebook page. If you have never seen this show and have the opportunity to do so by all means do it. You will be rewarded with one of those memories you'll never forget. They have now taken their show to Australia which has their opening at Brisbane on March 6th, 2013. Visit their website for more information and make sure you click on all the tabs to get a feel for the beauty of the horses and masterful talents of the riders.
http://www.cavalia.net/en/cavalia-show

This slideshow below while it has many of my favorite images from my shoots at the Portland Oregon show in 2011 and Seattle Washington show in 2012 is but a small amount of my images. If you would like to see even more images check out my Facebook page to view the album links listed below:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150504452337541.365322.183908382540&
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150474729397541.361340.183908382540&
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150431168882541.354250.183908382540&
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150361159562541.345858.183908382540&
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150353877492541.344967.183908382540&
I hope you enjoy as much as I enjoyed experiencing the show in person.

CALIFORNIA IN APRIL OR BETTER YET GO IN FEBRUARY!

01/04/2013

Clearing at Half Dome--Yosemite National Park

Death Valley, Yosemite & Mono Lake in One Vacation is possible! The images in this blog was from a trip we made in April
several years ago. Please see the link at the bottom of
this blog as to why I suggest you go in February.

Seeing these three beautiful places in California in our 2-week vacation was our goal. But what time of the year seemed to be most favorable to us? We settled on the first 2 weeks in April. Here are some of the things we considered during our planning:

If we went later than April, Death Valley will be very hot. So we made this our 1st destination and even with that the temperature peaked at 97° in Badwater. So going in February the weather would be awesome. But another thing to consider for going in early April is that the spring flowers can be spectacular with some luck and the right weather conditions being on your side. So many decisions to be made!

Zabriske Sunset-Death Valley National Park

To include Mono Lake into this trip we drove up Hwy 395 from Death Valley to Lee Vining which is the nearest town to Mono Lake. We had one snowstorm overnight but by mid-morning it had melted. Again in February you'll probably see more snow. By the way, the tufas at Mono Lake are way cool covered in snow. One more down side to February is missing a visit to the great ghost town of Bodie as the road will not be passable yet.

Mono After The Storm--Mono Lake, California

The road over Tioga Pass into Yosemite Valley from Lee Vining is only 77 miles does not open until mid May. This causes a detour to a pass that is open, meaning about a 6 hour drive. This was our route:

Drive North on Hwy 395 to Minden Nevada.

Take Carson Pass (Hwy 88) to Jackson California

Then take Hwy 49 South to Big Oak Flat

Hwy 120 which will then take you into Yosemite.

If we went earlier than April, Yosemite would still be quite frozen. Even in mid April we had two overnight lows of 15° and 19° and one snowstorm overnight which melted by early morning. This time of the year also means we escaped the summertime crowds and saw the waterfalls flowing throughout the valley. So Yosemite in February means you need to be ready for possibly a lot of snow and very cold temperatures.

But here is my MAIN reason to suggest a visit in February. You see there is this crazy, beautiful photographic event at Horsetail Falls that happens only around mid to late February. Conditions have to be just right, enough snow melt for water to be coming over the cliff, and enough of a break in the clouds at just the right time around sunset for the light to hit the falls to see what looks like lava flowing where Horsetail Falls should be. I've never seen it but it's on my bucket list of things to photograph. And as I've not seen it myself I have no images I can share. But here is a link from Yosemite Park to visit and see why it's a must see! http://www.yosemitepark.com/horsetail-fall.aspx

We had a fabulous trip in April but I would bet you would have a 'WOW' trip if you go in February. I know the next time we go I'll be aiming for a February trek!