The Exciting World of Split Toning!

Ok, so I took this photo of my little niece, Margot, playing on the swing set earlier this fall. It wasn't the worst photo I took, but it was a gray, yucky day, so none of the colors really popped, and it didn't seem to evoke much emotion. I guess my eye never settles on one particular spot in the photo, so it's not super interesting. I wanted to try and do something to bring a bit more focus to the shot. She was in a very dreamy sort of mood that day, closing her eyes and just swinging and swinging, and I thought that the right kind of processing would allow me to bring out that mood more in the photo. Here's the original photo for you to compare.

I tried turning the photo black and white to see if it helped at all, but it still didn't help to draw the focus anywhere, if anything it made it worse by taking away her bright red sweatshirt. It just felt even more flat. I love the richer look of split toning so I thought I'd give it a try on this photo.

Here's a tutorial on how I achieved the look above.

Step 1: Add an adjustment layer that turns the image black and white


Step 2: Add a Color Balance adjustment layer, select highlights, and move the dials towards the red, magenta, and yellow. This will warm up the bright areas of the photo.


Step 3: With the Color Balance window still open, select shadows, and move the dials towards the cyan, green, and blue. This will cool down the dark areas of the photo.


Step 4: To get the soft, dreamy look and punch up the contrast a bit. Duplicate the layer that your photo is on. Go to Filter > Blur > Lens blur then play with the threshold and radius to get nice bright spots that will highlight the sunny spots of your photo.


Step 5: Select the layer you've just blurred and change it's blending mode to "Soft Light"


Step 6: Now lower the opacity on the image so that the "dreaminess" isn't overpowering. (Unless that's what you're going for) In this case, I just wanted a subtle hint of it.


And now you should have a nice split tone dreamy effect on your image. I'd love to hear thoughts or other tips that you may have concerning this photo or tutorial.

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Adventures In Canning

As part of the home made Christmas gifts that Alex and I will be giving this year, we decided to try to make and can our own salsa.

I'd never canned before, so didn't realize how much is actually involved! In all honesty it felt a bit like a science experiment. It was a fun thing to learn, though, canning. It was probably all the sterilizing and making sure everything was the right temperature that made it feel like a science experiment. Well, that and the giant odd shaped tongs and magnet wand that were involved.

I suppose the extreme attention given to sterilizing is a good thing. Nobody wants to give, or get, botulism for Christmas.

Alex and I had the jars, and my parents let me borrow all their little canning tools which made things much easier. They gave me a run down of the process and I headed home with all my stuff ready to cook and can the afternoon away.

As most first time attempts go, it probably took us 3 times as long to do the sterilizing and canning bits than it probably should have. But hey, 100% success rate on the vaccum seals was worth the extra time to get it right!

My friend Erin came over and said she would be more than happy to be a little salsa slave for the afternoon, so we did all the chopping and cooking, and sterilizing of equipment in boiling water. (She totally earned herself a jar of salsa) Then she headed home for the evening and Alex helped me fill the jars with the salsa and prep them for the vacuum sealing.

I'll put together a little how-to with lessons learned later. For now, here's wishing everyone a happy Sunday.

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So what's wrong with being granola?

I find granola delicious, and I don't care what you say. This was my first attempt to make my own, and it was ridiculously easy. Not to mention it was a heck of a lot cheaper than what you can buy at the store. Here's the recipe I used. I got the recipe from Ellie Krieger. Side note, I don't know if it was just my oven or what, but I needed to take it out closer to 25 min. It got a little too brown for my liking at 30 min.

Ingredients
Cooking Spray
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup chopped raw, unsalted walnuts
1/2 cup chopped unsalted almonds
1/2 cup chopped unsalted pecans
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins, optional

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl combine the oats, nuts, maple syrup, salt, cinnamon and the raisins, if using. Spread the mixture onto the baking sheet and bake until golden brown, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a cooling rack and let cool completely. Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

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Something to warm me

I've been getting the bug to bake lately. It's not hard to understand where the bug is coming from. It gets dark so early it's hard not to feel like a prisoner being kept from the sun. I guess to keep from letting myself get too frustrated with the arrival of the winter and the dark, I've been trying to compensate with other things that make my senses happy. In this case, that thing was cinnamon-y, sweet smelling carrot cake-like muffins. The thought of having something home made, fast, and warm is a little extra motivation for me to leave my cozy covers in the morning as well.

I got this recipe from the Joy of Baking website. It's awesome.

Ingredients
1/2 cup (50 grams) pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
2 cups (270 grams) grated raw carrot (about 2-3 peeled carrots)
1 large apple, peeled and grated
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated white sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3.5 grams) salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
3 large eggs
3/4 cup (180 ml) safflower or canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Place paper liners in 18 muffin cups.

Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

Peel and finely grate the carrots and apple. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Stir in the nuts and coconut. Set aside.

In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Fold the wet ingredients, along with the grated carrot and apple, into the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 10 minutes remove the muffins from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Makes 18 standard-sized muffins.

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