Erica Argüello Photography

This and That

2011-08-26T18:28:00.000-07:00

A Beautiful World

2011-08-24T22:01:00.000-07:00

Whitney Hendrickson's Statue Dedication

2011-08-24T19:57:00.000-07:00

NikonD5000

I went to high school with Whitney, but didn't know her very well. Her life was cut short in March 2009, and is greatly missed by so many. She holds a special place in many people's hearts. There was a statue of her dedicated at the Miramont Castle in Colorado Spring, Colorado this summer. The first picture is of her uncle speaking after revealing the statue. The facial expression of her sister as she watched her uncle was full of love and peace. He was talking about how so many pictures there were of Whitney jumping. Standing in front of her, I couldn't help but smile and see the light she had in her eyes. The second picture is of Wes, her brother and a wonderful friend to me. Though there were tears, there were laughs and smiles too remembering who Whitney was. The third picture is of Whitney and the beautiful garden the statue is in. The last picture I snapped really quick, but I loved how it captured Whitney and Marina so happy together again. May her statue and spirit light up the garden to all those that may pass by.

“You can shed tears that she is gone,

or you can smile because she has lived.

You can close your eyes and pray that she'll come back,

or you can open your eyes and see all she's left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see her,

or you can be full of the love you shared.

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,

or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember her only that she is gone,

or you can cherish her memory and let it live on.

You can cry and close your mind,

be empty and turn your back.

Or you can do what she'd want:

smile, open your eyes, love and go on.”

~David Harkins

The Little Things

2011-08-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

NikonD5000

I love takin pictures of the little things in life. I think sometimes we are so busy in this chaotic life that we forget to look around us. There really is beauty all around us, we just need to slow down and open our eyes.

Lex, Karissa, and Asher

2011-08-23T22:51:00.000-07:00

Nikon D500

Here are some pictures of some of my favorite people that were about to have their little baby boy Asher.

My Roommate and Sister at Heart ~ Janice

2011-08-23T16:09:00.000-07:00

Avante Garde ~Leslie

2011-08-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

NikonD500

Leslie works at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. She helps design and make costums, from dancers, to actors. We had decided to have an Avante Garde shoot in Downtown Colorado Springs. Leslie designed the outfit she is wearing. I was in it as well, but decided to take some pictures while I was there. Yet her make-up and outfit is interesting, it was a fun experience!

Melissa

2011-08-23T15:30:00.000-07:00

Nikon D500

This is one of my best friends Melissa. I have known her since we were little. She is such a beautiful person inside and out. I'm grateful to have met her and have such a strong relationship with her.

Marilyn

2011-08-23T15:10:00.000-07:00

Meet Marilyn. She had asked me to take a few pictures for her because she was applying to enter the Miss Texas Pageant. She was very easy to photograph. Marilyn's eyes are breathtaking!

Kendra & Doug

2010-11-24T22:09:00.001-08:00

I only edited the above photo.

I only edited the above photo.

Ha. Yep, they are hitched for eternity.

I took some engagement pictures for my sister Kendra at Provo Canyon, Utah. I took the pictures around the time the sun was setting which gave pretty good light. Here are just a couple that I'm putting up.

Scanography Border

2010-07-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

Border Scan

Pink Perfum Bottle & Lai

I place the lai and the perfum on a scanner. Then I scanned the objects. I used a Double Fade Border for my creative border on this scan. I had to crop the photo, then I added an inch on the canvas size.I Pulled the orange color from the flower. Then I used the rectangle tool using shap layer. I drew a white rectangle just inside the image leaving a gap. Then I added a layer mask to the shape layer using the rectangle tool but used Fill pixels. Then I drew a black rectangle which then disappeared because of the making on the white rectangle. I reduced the opacity of the border. I made the inner border blue from the flower. Then I selected the middle mask, went to filter-blur-motion blur. Angle 0, Distance 45 px.Then did it again, but changed the angle to 90.

Scanography Blends

2010-07-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

Collage of Glowing planet and Stars

Star Notepad

Glowing Planet

I edited both the star and the glowing planet in camera Raw, by just adjusting the saturation and the blacks. I took the quick selection tool and selected the star to copy it onto the planet photo. I copied multiple pictures. On some of the stars, I used the Fresco filter, using glowing edges.

Fine Art Template

2010-06-22T09:59:00.000-07:00

Brooke Playing Guitar; 6-01-10; 11:15pm; Carriage House Apartments; f 5; 10/200; Nikon D60

Taylor Chapel; 6-22-10; 10:30; BYU-Idaho; f 5.6; 1/1000; SONY DSC-H7

For both of these images I put them into a fine art template. First I created the template by using the rectangle and filling with black. Then I held shift and made 4 more rectangles. I put the text "Erica Argüello Photography" using the font Tekton Pro. I then opened an image and placed it onto of the 5 rectangles. In the layers pallet, I pushed option and clicked the chain so the image would insert itself behind the rectangles. I moved the images around to where I thought it would look good.

Photolusion

2010-06-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Britt Lost in the Weeds Blended

Weeds; 6-21-10; 8:11pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 4; 10/1250; SONY DSC-H7

Brittany Looking;6-21-20; 8:10pm; Rexburg; Idaho; f 4.5; 10/2500; SONY DSC-H7

Water Bucket Falling on Brittany Blended

Watch Out Britt; 6-21-10; 8:24pm; Porter Park; f 4; 10/1000; SONY DSC-H7

Water Bucket Water Park; 6-21-10; 8:34; Porter Park; f 4.5; 10/1250; SONY DSC-H7

Brittany Smiling with hammock; 6-21-10; 8:32pm: Corner House; f 3.2; 10/500; SONY DSC-H7

Diana lovin' her ice cream; 6-19-10; 4:32pm; Idaho Falls, ID; f 7.1; 1/125; SONY DSLR-A100

The straight photolusions were hard to take because you want to think outside the box. You don't want to have a picture other people would think of. I saw this ice cream on a building, and had my roommate act like she was holding it. The other picture with Brittany, we saw a hammock and it looked like a smile, so I made it part of her face.
For the edited photolusions, I took Brittany on both of then, used the quick selection tool, and placed her in the background photo. Then I shrunk her so she would look miniature next to the things around her. I changed the levels on all of the but the bucket. I also added a vignette on all the photo except for the blended weeds with Brittany.

Edge Effects

2010-06-15T10:55:00.000-07:00

Brittany; 5-30-10; 7:50pm; Rexburg Temple; f 4.2;1/320; NIKON D60

For All Eternity; 6-15-10; 7:30pm; f 3.5; 1/500; NIKON D50

Rexburg's Greens; 6-15-10; 8:35pm; Idaho, f 8; 1/200; SONY DSC-H7; Shutter Priority

For Brittany I used the flexible brushed-on effect. I used this one so that if I messed uop I could bring it back. I added a new layer, filled it wil white. Then I put a black mask on the image layer placing it above the new layer. Then I used the think brushes and changed the opactiy.
For Doug and Kendra,I did a burned border by using the marquee tool. Then I hit delet. I added text at the very end as well.
For the Rexburg greens I used the sprayed edge effect. I put a quick mask on, used filter, sprayed effects. Then I changed the radius. Then I used the eyedropper to pick out the color of the sun to use it as my background.

Night & Light

2010-06-15T08:24:00.000-07:00

Great Balls of Fire; 6-15-10; 12:34am; Rexburg, ID; f 2.7; 80/10; SONY DSC-H7

Head; 6-15-10; 12:21am; Rexburg, ID; f 2.7; 80/10; SONY DSC-H7

Circles; 6-15-10; 12:50am; Rexburg, ID; f 2.8; 16/10; Sony DSC-H7

For each of these I used blue and green glow sticks. For the circles I tied the glow sticks on stings and spun them. The shutter was open for 4 seconds.
For the head, the shutter was open for 8 seconds and 3 people moved around the glow sticks.
For Great Balls of Fire, I stood in that position and had my roommates outline me like I was holding fire. Shutter was open for 7 seconds.

Template & Clipping

2010-06-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Original Template

A Photo a Day in Rexburg, Idaho.

I first opened the original template in Photoshop. Then I opened the images from the week's photos. Next I clicked on the layer with a photo frame Iwanted to use. Then I dragged my image over the photo frame and size it down. In the Layers palette, I right-clicked the new photo layer and choose Create Clipping Mask. After doing this, I added the text "Live*Laugh*Love." I also changed the dates, and added the word "Journey," instead of "Dates."

7 Day Journal June 1-7, 2010

2010-06-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

Brooke Playing Guitar; 6-01-10; 11:15pm; Carriage House Apartments; f 5; 10/200; Nikon D60

Rexburg, Idaho LDS Temple; 6-02-10; 9:02pm; Idaho; f 5: 10/1000; Nikon D60

Kirkam Chandeliers; 6-03-10; 9;45pm; BYU-Idaho; f 5.6; 10/600; Nikon D60

Dancers; 6-04-10; 10:17pm; BYU-Idaho; f 4; 10/300; Nikon D60

Temple Lights; 6-05-10; 9:34pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 5.6; 10/300; Nikon D60

Field; 6-06-10; 9:02pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 4; 10/600; Nikon D60

Lightning Clouds; 6-07-10; 9:53pm; BYU-Idaho; f 3.5; 10/50; Nikon D60

For Brooke playing the guitar, I used an adjustment layer, using the overlay application. I changed the levels slightly. I wanted the top of the guitar to be clear, and the rest blurry and that's how it turned out luckily.
For the Rexburg Temple, I also used the overlay application using an adjustment layer. I changed the levels, mainly the gray slider so the temple wouldn't be so dark.
The chandeliers looked pretty good in color, but I wanted them in black and white to have an older look to them. I put a vignette on this photo. To make it black and white, I used an adjustment layer , using the gradient map. I adjusted the levels slightly.
I used an adjustment layer on the dancers, using the soft light. I cropped it to take out the couple dancing...but not in the mirror. It seemed distracting to only have part of the girls body and not the man. I then put a vignette.
For the Temple Lights, I used an adjustment layer, using soft light. I then adjusted the levels so the bottom of the light wasn't so dark.
For the field across the Rexburg Temple, I used an adjustment layer, using the multiply application. I also changed the color balance. I increased the blue and greens. I put a vignette on it , but increased the midpoint.
This last picture was taking during a lightning storm!!! It took a while to actually get the lightning. I clicked half way on the camera and waited and waited for lightning to come and clicked the rest of the way. I focused on the clouds so it would be clear. I put and adjustment layer on and used the overlay application. I increased the blue in the color balance slightly

Enhancements

2010-05-30T21:51:00.001-07:00

Julie; 05-31-10; 9:45am; f 5.6; 10/1250; Nikon D60

Julie Replaced Color

I used the replace color under adjustments to change her blue shirt to a purple pink. I increased the fuzziness and adjusted the levels slightly.

Kendra & Doug Engagement; 05-17-10; 7:33pm; Provo Canyon; f 5; 10/1000; Nikon D50

Enhancements: I used the clone stamp to remove wrinkles and blemishes. I selected Doug's teeth with the quick selection, used the color yellow, and adjusted the saturation. I adjusted the lightness up a little. There was a blur on the rocks in the first place, but I wanted more, so I added a slight blur. I also added a vignette using the lens correction filter.

Kati Peters; Match Color for picture below

Kati Peters; Match Color; 05-31-10; 6:51pm; f 6.3; 10/1600; Nikon D60

I used the photo above Match Color, to use that color light. The original was really bright, so it darkend the image to where I wanted it. I changed the saturation, and the levels a little.

Portraits

2010-05-30T21:11:00.000-07:00

Brooke & Julie; 05-31-10; 9:33am; BYU-I Ricks Gardens; f 5.6 1/1250; Nikon D60

Kati Peters Piano Room; 05-30-10; 6:14pm; Eliza R. Snow Building; f 4.8; 10/150; Nikon D60

Julie Carvar Expressing Her Personality; 05-30-10; 7:15pm; Rexburg Temple; f 5.6; 10/12500; Nikon D60

Brittany Sandry; 05-30-10; 6:30pm; Rexburg Temple; f 5.6; 10/1250; Nikon D60

For Brooke and Julie, I added a slight vignette, and adjusted the levels. I used the soft light option to lighten up their faces. I love this picture because Julie was sporadic, and they both look so happy. I like the soft look it has.
For Katie at the piano, I really liked the photo in black and white. She loves to play the piano, so I took her to the snow where I know there was a grand piano. I love the reflection of her hands in the piano! I changed the angle, and opened the lid of the piano. After using the gradient map, I adjusted the contrast slightly.
I wanted to have a different portrait picture, and I caught her laughing! I just love how in the moment this picture is. I adjusted the saturation, and adjusted the levels slightly.
Brittany's picture had great light. Her eyes look bright and big. I added a slight vignette. I cleared up some blemishes, and cleared up her eyebrows. With her face structure, I changed the angle instead of having it horizontal and I felt like the focus was really on her.

High Dynamic Range

2010-05-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

Mine House; 5-21-10; 3:31pm; Bannack Ghost Town; f 10; 1/640; Sony DSLR-A100

HDR

Bannack Tombstone; 5-21-10; 6:32pm; f 11; 1/125; Sony DSLR-A100

Using Dynamic Photo, I used three photos to create the first HDR effect, and one photo (tombstone) for the second HDR effect. I used a tripod for the first HDR effect, but the tripod didn't have the foot, so it was more complicated then it should have been. For the Tombstone photo, the picture was taken hand held.

Macro Abstract

2010-05-25T07:42:00.001-07:00

Web Door Knob; 5-21-10; 9:28am; Dubois; f 4.5; 1/8; Sony DSLR-A100; Macro setting

Mine Lock; 5-21-10- 3:14pm; Bannack Ghost Town; f 4.5; 1/15; Sony DSLR-A100 Macro Setting

Brown Wall Texture; 5-21-10; 4:35pm; Bannack Ghost Town; f 4.5; 1/5; Sony DSLR-A100

I really like the web on the door and the antique look the overlay with the brown wall gave to the picture. For the first picture, I used the overlay mode, then burned the edges, and used the opacity to adjust the burned edge effect. For the Lock, I just used overlay and did nothing else too it. It is simple, but looks more antique, which was what I wanted.

Reverse Shallow Depth

2010-05-25T07:11:00.000-07:00

Bannack blur in Distance; 5-21-10- 3:53pm; f 13; 1/160; Sony DSLR-A100

Clear Bannack in Distance; 5-21-10; 3:53pm; f 9; 1/320; Sony DSLR-A100

For the first picture I focused on the bush in the foreground and blurred the background. For the second picture I focused on the background and blurred the bush. I like the way it turned out. I changed the temperature, contrast, brightness, recovery, and addaed a little vignette.

Action Blur & Freeze

2010-05-25T07:01:00.001-07:00

Hotel Ghosts; 5-21-10; 2:25pm; Bannack Ghost Town; f 8; 6.0; Shutter Priority; Sony DSLR-A100

Josh as a kid again; 5-21-10- 1:24pm; Bannack Ghost Town; f 5; 1/800; Sony DSLR-A100

I opened both pictures in camera raw. For the ghosts, I change the contrast, recovery, clarity and black. Then I changed the levels. I really like the yellow effect because it seems to capture the color of the natural sunlight. I added a vignette so the eye would focus right to the ghosts. With Josh, I adjusted those listed above, but also the clarity and desaturated just a little bit. I also changed the temperature.

Portraits

2010-05-25T06:36:00.000-07:00

Amber at the bar; 5-21-10; 4:51pm; Bannack Ghost Town; f 6.3; 1/8; Sony DSLR-A100

Josh; 5-21-10; 5:07pm; Bannack Ghost Town; f 6.3; 1/100; Sony DSLR-A100

On both Amber and Josh, I opened the picture up in camera raw. I adjusted the temperature, the clarity, brightness, exposure, and blacks. On josh I desaturated the picture a little. I put a vignette on both photos.

Raw Edit

2010-05-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Tree Mountain; 05-14-10; 7:25pm; f 7.1; 1/200; Nikon D50; Flash

School Park Sunset; 05-14-10; 7:38pm; Provo, Utah; f 7.1; 1/200; Nikon D50; Flash

I opened this sunset photo in Adobe bridge using camera raw. I adjusted the temperature, tint, exposure, brightness, fill flash, recovery, clarity, and vibrance sliders to my liking. I like how I could bring the green of the grass back out of the picture since it was too dark and could not see it. I did the same thing for the mountain picture.

Panorama

2010-05-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Provo Canyon; 05-15-10; 6:57pm; Provo, Utah; f 9; 1/320; Nikon D50; No flash

I took seven photos of Provo Canyon at Timpanogos Park in Utah. I opened them in Adobe photoshop and used automerge to blend all the photos together. I cropped the photo, increased the saturation, and adjusted the levels.

Flexible Edits

2010-05-11T08:03:00.001-07:00

Pond; 05-10-10; 6:37pm; BYU-Idaho Ricks Gardens; f 4.5; 1/80; Nikon D60; Flash

I used the smart filter to edit this photo in Adobe Photoshop. I made it into a smart object, the aded the Dry Brush filter. I increased the brush. I wanted to take away some of the texture on the green vegetation so you could see more of the shape with the lines. To do so, I used the black paint with the paint brush.

Thunderstorm Sky; 05-10-10; 6:46pm; BYU-Idaho Ricks Gardens; f 4.5; 1/125; Nikon D60; Flash

Using Adobe Photoshop, I took out the fence infront of the left building, and the red curb. I did that because I found it distracting. I then used the Multiple Blending Mode the darken the photo. Using the mask that was given, I then brought back the foreground using 100% opacity.

Flora & Fauna

2010-05-11T07:49:00.000-07:00

Turtle; 05-11-10; 11:45am; BYU-Idaho Benson Building; f 5.6; 1/30; Nikon D60; No Flash

Spring Blossoms; 05-10-10; 5:46 pm; BYU-I Ricks Gardens; f 5.3; 1/225; Nikon D60; No flash

Yellow Daffodils; 05-10-10; 6:24pm; BYU-Idaho Ricks Gardens; f 8; 1/80; Nikon D60; No Flash

Pine Sap; 05-10-10; 5:56pm; BYU-Idaho Ricks Gardens; f 4.5; 1/125; Nikon D60; Flash

All of the flora pictures wre taken in the Ricks Gardens. It was a cloudy, windy day, which made it hard to take pictures, but I put my favorite up. Using Adobe Photoshop, I adjusted the levels because the photos were too dark. I adjusted the color balance for the Spring blossom picture so the pink would show up a little more. I love the pine needles because you can see the sap on them probably because of the flash. I wanted to get a variety of colors, so I got green, yellow, white, and pink. I took the picture of the turtle in the Benson building.

Blends and Type

2010-05-04T08:14:00.000-07:00

Polk a dot texture with type.

Bird Painting; 05-03-10; 5:34pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 4.5; 1/15; Sony DSLR-A100

Polk a dots; 05-03-10; 4:30pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 3.5; 1/30; Sony DSLR A-100

Blending of the Blue eye and blue tile.

Swimming Pool Tile; 04-30-10; Rexburg, Idaho; f 5.6; 1/3; Sony DSLR-A100

Blue Eye; 05-03-10; 7:01pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 2.7; 10/8000; Sony DSC-H50

I took the picture of the blue eye, and put it with the picture of the bluw swimming pool tiles. I like how it turned out. I think it looks like the eye is seeing the tiles. The painting is in my apartment, and the lue bird realy sticks out. I used "fly high" since the bird is obviously flying up. I only dropped the opacity levels in the final pictures.

Color Study (Blue)

2010-05-04T07:25:00.000-07:00

Devotional Chairs; 05-01-10; 4:42pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 11; 1/15; Sony DSLR-A100;

BYU-Idaho Stadium Thunderstorm; 05-01-10; 5:51pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 11; 1/1oo; Sony DSLR-A100

Soccer Goal; 05-01-10; 4:30pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 3.5; 1/1250; Sony DSLR-A100

Swimming Pool Lane Lines; 05-01-10; 5:11pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f 4; 1/5; Sony DSLR-A100

All of these photos were taken on the BYU-Idaho Campus. I chose the color blue because it is one of my favorite colors. I adjusted the color levels in Adobe Photoshop in each photo. I love the sky in the Stadium photo. The weather was really bad, but the sky was a beautiful gray, blue color. I cropped a little bit out of the soccer goal and the stadium, so it would look more appealing. For the first two photos, I used a deep depth of field, and for the last two photos, I used a shallow depth of field.

Cutouts

2010-04-26T22:26:00.001-07:00

1. Stop Sign; 04-26-10; 10:15am; Rexburg, Idaho; f/9; 1/250; Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS; Cutout
2. Stop Sign; 04-26-10; 10:15am; Rexburg, Idaho; f/9; 1/250; Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS; Original

1.Lilly; 03-18-10; 2:43pm; Colorado Springs, Colorado; f/3.1; 10/6400; Olympus Imaging Corp.; Cutout
2. Lilly; 03-18-10; 2:43pm; Colorado Springs, Colorado; f/3.1; 10/6400; Olympus Imaging Corp.; Original

Using the quick selection tool in Adobe Photoshop, I selected the Lilly without the green leaves. I took just the lilly and put it into a new document, feathering around the edges of the flower. I lowered the hardness, so the edges would look softer. I didn't use a shadow because it looked better without it. I used black behind the stop sign instead of white because it would be hard to see the rest of the actually sign.

Past Photographs

2010-04-26T22:16:00.001-07:00

Blooming Rose; 05-15-09; 6:47pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f/3.1; 10/300; Olympus Imaging Corp.; Flash; Original

Close Up Rose; 05-15-09; 6:48pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f/3.1; 10/500; Olympus Imaging Corp.; Flash; Macro; Original

Ecuador; 10-19-09; 11:25am; Rexburg, Idaho; f/2.8; 1/8; Canon PowerShot SD790 IS; Flash Suppression; Macro; Original

Pink Flower; 04-10-10; 3:46pm; Colorado Springs, Colorado; f/3.1; 10/200; Olympus Imaging Corp.; Flash; Original

Thunderstorm Sunset; 07-21-08; 8:05pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f/5.9; 10/800; Olympus Imaging Corp.; Original

Sunset Parachuter; 07-02-08; 7:41pm; Rexburg, Idaho; f/6.5; 10/6400; Olympus Imaging Corp.; Flash; Cropped

These are six of my favorite photos that I have taken these past two years. I like taking photos of sunsets and flowers, as you could probably tell. All of these photos are originals, except I cropped the sunset with the parachuter. I like having the contrast between light and dark. The contrast will usually catch my eye, and as a result I'll take a picture to try to capture what I see. The contrast gives me a sense of hope, which is something that everyone needs in this life. I try to capture moments like that, so I can feel the warmth of that in my life.