A friend (and my hairdresser) asked me to design a website for their new guest suite in their home. It’s an incredible piece of property in the heart of Cumberland, BC. If you are looking for a place to stay that is conveniently located near all the adventures of Vancouver Island, this is it!
http://www.rawelement.ca
WAY back in the early 2000′s, I was asked to do a website for Bubblees Beer and Wine Store in Penticton, BC. The outside of the store had a beautiful mural on the side of it and I found inspiration from that mural for the website.
I took a photo of the mural and had to do some editing, of course. I had to lighten it up, skew the proportions, eliminate the truck, windows, poles and creases, and then enhance the colors. Just another example of what is possible in web design.
Bubblees Website Design
Bubblees Website Design
(PS. This was one of the first web designs I ever did — I’ve learned a lot since then! It’s fun to look back though.)
Today I did up some before/after photos in Photoshop to give you an idea of what happens “behind the scenes”. Photos are the backbone of a good website (most of the time) and they are rarely perfect fresh off the card reader or film. They are often retouched in Photoshop to give them that extra pizzazz, to make them truly pop off the screen or page.
This was a site I worked on not too long ago, for Larry Stopper, a fishing guide out of Portland Oregon, USA. This is one of the pics he sent to me to add to his site. Of course we all love bright sunny days on the water but it doesn’t always make for a great photo. In this shot, I reduced the shadows cast from the sun, enhanced the colors and improved the definition. Of course, I brought out the details of the fish! Nice catch Larry!
Nice Catch by Caption Larry Stopper of Legend Sportfishing of Portland Oregon, USA
Next, I used a photo of our little Miss Mazie. She’s our adorable 7 month old lab puppy and she just loves to go out on the water with us. For this shot, I obviously cropped it, reduced shadows and removed the shadow on her side. I also removed some rope and the blanket plus enhanced the colors. It didn’t take much to make this a great shot but still worth the effort I’d say.
Mazie on the Boat
For this next shot, I am so envious of this lady’s fish! Our good friend Laurel from Absolute Sportfishing here in Campbell River, BC guided her into this fish. It’s a HUGE fish! Needless to say, we wanted to make this shot a feature one for his website so we did a little bit to it to bring out the best features in it. The bright sun was an issue for this lady, casting a shadow across her face that wasn’t the most flattering for her and it made her squint to see. I corrected both of those issues, tidied her hair from the wind, fixed her jacket that was sticking out and removed the blood off her prized catch. Now the focus is truly where it should be — on that amazing fish!
Nice Fish! Absolute Sportfishing, Campbell River, Vancouver Island, BC
Finally, we go back to another picture of Mazie. This one I cropped it, rotated it slightly, reduced the shadows and increased the overall contrast which brightened it up substantially. I then created a shallower depth of field and enhanced the colors and details. Nothing overly spectacular really but she is cute so I thought you wouldn’t mind another picture of her, LOL.
Close Enough for a Puppy Kiss!
So, I hate to break it to you all, I do not work 24 hours a day. Just this past weekend I was able to sneak out on the water for some fishing with my hubby, my father-in-law and of course, our dog Mazie. We caught pinks, sockeyes and a really nice Spring (Chinook) salmon. The fishing ROCKED. This is the time of year to get out salmon fishing if you love to fish simply because so many species are available. A lot of the guides run more rods at this time too, so it’s quite common to get double or even triple headers. I can highly recommend the following guides if you are interested in booking a charter.
Absolute Sportfishing in Campbell River, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada. Laurel, your fully certified fishing guide, is top notch and knows daily where the fish are. He has a new boat this season too and it’s impressive.
Absolute Sportfishing
Legend Sportfishing in Portland, Oregon, USA. Captain Larry is one of the nicest folks I have met in a long time and he has a real passion for fishing. His enthusiasm is contagious and you are sure to have a great day fishing with him. I am hoping to go sturgeon fishing with him one of these days.
Legend Sportfishing
Of course, here is a picture of Mazie. She does so well in the boat.
Mazie High-Fiving After Catching a Spring Salmon
And so it begins…
This is my attempt at maintaining a blog. I am usually quite busy with my 2 careers so I’m not sure how this will go. I have been quite content the last few years to work by word-of-mouth referrals only but have recently been inspired to create my own site. Can I practice what I preach and keep my blog up to date? We shall see…