Photoshop fun

I'm still waiting on my FABULOUS photoshop book, but until then I've found a few tips on the internet. I'm seriously contemplating our wedding album and now I want to design it myself and have it printed by someone else. We are meeting with Jodi, from Life in Print, when we stop through St. Louis next weekend. I'll ask her if this is a feasible idea and how much money we'd save with my own design. Not to mention that I'm a little anal with album design and [call me crazy] I think it would be in everyone's best interest for me to do it my way, instead of having to make tons of changes to their design.

Anyway, I figured out some fun textures/lighting effects in photoshop. Here are some before and afters.

1. Did you see that Browers is offering gigantor canvas prints now? I TOTALLY want one, and that inspired me to try a canvas texture on this print:
2. Then there is the fun "Omni" lighting effect. Kind of like a soft spotlight:

3. And the shadow/highlight effects are WAY cool. Browers had this shot on his main page for awhile in black and white, but it seemed a little brighter and easier to read. So I tried my stuff at it:
So we'll see what happens. I've tried to set up a few canvases in Photoshop to play with image placement and framing and whatnot. It went okay, but I'm hoping my book makes me a pro:)

On another note: it's snowing again. We probably have another 2-3 inches on the freshly plowed roads. We are going to a winery today for a little tasting and we'll also be purchasing a massive amount of coffee. Coffee is a necessity for weather like this, trust me.

Also, I have my work holiday party tonight and it should be pretty fun. I'll try to take a few pictures of the chaos. We made gingerbread cookies for the exchange and I'm skeptical about their taste. I don't know, they are just kind of weird.Oh well, we'll be the typical 'newlywed' couple who hasn't mastered cooking yet:)

Finally, I received my 'old time wedding' prints. I put my set in an existing Crate and Barrel frame, but I have better ideas for my gifts. Stay tuned for the results!