my puppers...

this is my baby girl, kerouac. best little husky ever.


check out all the other great pups at I Heart Faces this week...





thanks!

-marika

still "no flashin" at i heart faces (adults).. :)

hey hey... i made it into the top ten last week over at i heart faces for my adult entry into the "green" contest! fantastic!


This is my adult entry for this week's theme "no flash" at i heart faces...
i took this portrait of my mother with her dog Bingo (he has since passed away) in an abandoned home across the slew from her house. the cherry wallpaper is one of my favorite details.






thanks for stopping by!

-marika

No Flashin' @ I Heart Faces... :)

This week's theme at i heart faces is "no flash." I love window light just about as much as I love my puppies and lemonade... :) also, just about as much as I love this little blue eyed lady... my dear friend's baby girl, emri.








thanks!

-marika

Green for i heart faces!!

This is my entry for the I Heart Faces "GREEN" contest...
I live in the Skagit Valley in Washington State, and in a few weeks we have our annual Tulip Festival...

Today, I can't help but have tulips on my mind...






Thank you!!

i heart faces... creative crop...

This is my entry for the I Heart Faces adult category of "creative cropping." enjoy. :)

thanks!

-marika

Fix it Friday at I Heart Faces...

I am brand new to I Heart Faces. I came across it by using the "next blog" feature at the top of the blogger page while reviewing my own blog the other day. It is a wonderful site for photographers to participate in. So, today I am posting my edit to a beautiful photograph titled "contemplation."

I used Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom to create this gritty, moody, effect. Here are the steps I took...

1. after importing the image to Lightroom, I took it over to Photoshop for some editing.
2. Copy the background layer (Ctrl+J)
3. make sure to change the mode to 8 bit so that you can use the entire filter gallery.
4. under the "filter" menu, choose "texture"- "grain"
5. in the filter gallery under "grain type" choose "vertical"
6. play with the intensity and contrast sliders until you like what you see
7. click OK to return to the main screen.
8. select "screen" under the blending options in your layers palette
9. apply a mask to the layer and use a big soft brush to paint black to turn off the effect over the face and any other areas you want.
10. use the "curves" tool to create a new layer with a little contrast.
11. save and close the image to return to Lightroom
12. locate the new edited image and create a copy of it
13. with the copy in the "Develop" module, select "Direct Positive" in the creative Presets
14. play with the saturation tool to soften the color.
15. feel free to play with all of the sliders to create any sort of look you want. :)

Thank you!

-marika

just a taste...

welcome to the blog of photography by marika... I hope you'll enjoy my work.

-marika