Making this year Christmas Message

It’s been some time since my last blog, but I have been fighting an illness, and now I am back. I thought I would end 2023 with how I made this year's Christmas message from my wife Lisa and me.

Iphone picture at Bronner’s in Frankenmuth,MI

It all starts with an idea. As I wandered the store, I liked this ornament of the two snow people. This may be this year's message. Out came my iPhone, and I took a few pictures. Next, I went into Photoshop to start the magic. First, I needed to cut it out; next was to pick a background that would work for this image. This is again done in Photoshop. Once I had the two, I had time to make a composite. After making the composite, I made some minor cleanups and color changes. Finally, I added the text. After all, it was a ready product, or at least I thought. :)

I started looking at it, and I thought, why not an animation? Once again, Adobe is to the rescue. I went into After Effect and thought I would add some animation of snow. I don’t know about you, but I think it makes it much more alive.

Now you know how I did it and what my mind thinks. Just think, it all started with an idea and a picture from the iPhone. Here is a quick look at the steps I did.

Merry Christmas, and I hope you have a great New Year. Stay tuned for 2024, for Paul J Zeinert Photography will be changing. It will be a different business model for 2024. (Stay tuned)

Avenue of Angels

For us that live in the Valley, we know what this means. Downtown Appleton, WI. I have such memories of the downtown. I remember when I was young, taking the bus from Neenah, WI, to Appleton, WI, when it used to be known for shopping. Me, I hanged at the music stores. Then we had a family tradition on Christmas Eve, and we would go and see all of the decorations, including Appleton. So, where did the avenue of angels come from? Back in the day, with all of the shopping, College Avenue had angels on every poll and every intersection. It was so beautiful. Today they do a modification of this. Nothing is more pretty than seeing the angels in the snow. Enjoy this weekend, enjoy family and friends, and don’t forget to consider an angel or maybe two. Merry Christmas.

Taking away things you don't like

I hope everyone had a great time during the Holidays. For Lisa and I, we sure did. We got to spend some family time. As with any event, you always want pictures. In this case, it was no different. We went to a restaurant in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, and after we were done, we wanted a quick picture. So you got it, the waiter took it with my iPhone. The picture is great for us. It did what we wanted. A memory.

We got back home, and I looked at the picture, and I thought. I wonder what this would look like if I got rid of the distractions. This will be an excellent picture to practice on. With that said, I opened photoshop and started to get rid of what I call the easy distractions. The easy thing I used is what is called the patch tool. Easy items would be like the glasses in front, the silverware in front. For me, it starts looking good. Next was let’s finish it with some of the hard things. Like Lisa with the napkin. Notice her hand is blocked. With that, I needed to make fingers that looked like they belonged. Out came the clone stamp. I had other tuff things and used a combination of clone stamp and brush tool. I got what I think is a better picture.

Final Image

Practice makes perfect, the old saying goes. I m always practicing something. One to keep up with the new things out there, and second, to be good at anything, you need to practice and, yes, practice some more. That's what this exercise was all about. You see, the first picture will be fine; after all, it's not going to any magazine, but my thought was, what if a client wanted something removed? Can you do it?

Frankenmuth, Michigan

It's been two years since Lisa and I have been able to go to this German-like city in Michigan. Frankenmuth, Michigan, which is about 2 hours north of Toledo. You feel the Christmas spirit almost immediately when you get into the city. The looks and sound of Christmas. Our day started by going to the Frankenmuth Brewery for lunch. Next was time to go shopping. No, not me. I have a camera and looking for pictures to take and visit with some of the people. Speaking of people, it's lovely to talk to so many friendly people. After walking all day. Time to get ready for dinner. We went to The Station 100. A European-style menu. It was so lovely to feel that I was in Europe again for a short time. The owner was so friendly, and it was so relaxing.

Downtown Frankenmuth, Michigan

After dinner, it was time for another walk, and how could you walk by the Frankenmuth Fudge Factory and purchase any. Yep, you guessed it. Had to. I never saw so many choices when it came to fudge. Like Sugar cookie. (By the way, it was good)

The Frankenmuth Fudge Factory.

With our continued evening walk, it was time to have a nightcap, and with that, it was time to talk with others again, and we spoke with a young couple from the Toledo area. What a great day. The next day was what I had been waiting for. It's been 2 years, but it never disappoints me, and that is Zehnders. I love the looks of the indoor of this restaurant. It looks like something from Hallmark.

Zehnders in Frankenmuth,Michigan.

The food is family-style and likes the Thanksgiving feast, but it's chicken. The hardest part is after eating, and all good things must end and time to leave. But before leaving, we need to make one more stop. Yep, time for Bonner's, the largest Christmas wonderland. You want something for Christmas; this place has it. For us, it's been a tradition for us to get Christmas balls for our Grand Daughters.

The Christmas spirit is in us what a small little city can do to people. For me, this is what I remember when I was young. Friendly people and we once again could talk again. Food out of this world and what the Holidays are all about.

What a year

Wow, my last blog for 2020. What a year it has been, but I don’t have to tell you. So many negative out there that I thought I would share the positives for me. My goal for the year was to get more creative and learn more about Adobe Suites. I practiced more at home on both my photography and took the time to learn Adobe, Premiere, Rush, After Effects, Illustrator, Indesign, and Dimension. While I am still learning, as you can see, I am looking at getting into videography. Video is so much different than still, but you guess it, you need to practice, and I have been doing this. I will be interested to see what my videos look like today compared to tomorrow.

My love is still photography. Even in this area, I am looking at making some changes. I am looking at staying in some area’s and getting out of others. Commercial, Product, and Travel photography will be my more focus area for 2021. Photoshop has still been a learning process for me, and with the help of some professionals, I have learned a ton about what I can do in Photoshop.

Winter Truck in Fog

Take this picture. One thing I learned in 2020 is imagination before the picture. While in Nashville, I saw this truck at night time and thought to myself, I think this would make an exciting winter picture. In photoshop, I wanted to add lights and make them on. Lights need to be on. With the lights on, I thought winter is usually dreary. With that in mind, added fog. Cleaned up some of the distraction and now I have a photo that I will be making a canvas of.

2021 will be coming in less than a week, and I have so many goals in my photography and look forward to sharing with you next year. Thank you for being a part of me every week. I hope that you have a great New Year and that your dreams come true.