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Featured Photo Friday

Posted on June 20, 2014June 19, 2014 by Loni Townsend

I don’t take many pictures of people, except for my husband and children. If you follow me on Instagram, you’d know they’re my most favorite subject. So today’s featured photo was a bit different for me.

As a habitual DIYer, I try everything (within reason) myself and then consult the experts if I fail. I have a vision for what I want my Cera Chronicles book covers to look like, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find stock photos to match what I wanted. I asked Carrie Butler (because, you know, she’s an expert) what she thought my odds were of finding what I wanted. Between same model and awkward poses, the likelihood was low.

So I set up my own mock studio in my living room and hit up my creativity buddies for a bit of help. Dani agreed to be my model and Cami helped with hair, make-up, directing, and photographing. Cami actually has a fancier camera than I do, but we both took over 100 pictures each.

Out of all the pictures, I fell in love with one pose in particular. This was for Gritty Crime World (working title)–a noir/hard boiled detective parody. I downloaded the picture to my phone, threw it into Snapseed, and used a dark drama filter. Dani gave me her permission to post it to my blog.

Gritty Crime World

This isn’t what the cover is going to look like. For one, Cera has bronze skin and red hair. But still, it made me say “wowza!” (We’ll ignore the wrinkles in the bed sheet behind her.)

Since I already had the picture in Snapseed, I decided to play with it more. Again, the coloring and effects will differ, but the cover will be closer to this.

GCW - Cropped

Dani was a great sport, though I think Cami had the most fun out of all of us. The great thing was, I had many of the props on hand, including: fedora, katana, pearls and corset, opera gloves, and flame red lipstick.

I probably won’t be the one doing final editing on the pictures for the book covers, but at least I have some material to work with.

Are you a DIYer? Do you have friends who are willing to help you with your creative endeavors? Do you have any weird props at your house?

14 thoughts on “Featured Photo Friday”

  1. Alex J. Cavanaugh says:
    June 20, 2014 at 6:17 AM

    That’s a really great shot. Your friend was a sport for posing for you. Be cool to see the final shot.

    Reply
  2. Meradeth says:
    June 20, 2014 at 8:01 AM

    Great shot! That’s going to make an awesome cover for sure 🙂 Hubby’s been obsessed with Richard Avedon’s photography for a while now and we’ve set up several shoots with some friends. It has been a blast!

    Reply
  3. Cherie Reich says:
    June 20, 2014 at 8:06 AM

    That’s an awesome picture, and it definitely has book cover potential. 🙂

    Although I’m not much in taking pictures, I do like to sometimes create my own cover art from stock art, if I can find what I need. I must admit I really love formatting my own books too.

    Reply
  4. M.J. Fifield says:
    June 20, 2014 at 8:06 AM

    Oh, I love that shot. That’s very cool. I’ve never attempted anything like that, but I think if I did, I would have a few friends who might be willing to suffer through it.

    Reply
  5. Stephanie Faris says:
    June 20, 2014 at 8:34 AM

    Love it! It looks like it’s for a Broadway show!

    Reply
  6. Lexa Cain says:
    June 20, 2014 at 2:14 PM

    Go you! I really thought they were professional when I first saw the one at the top. I wouldn’t have known if you didn’t explain about it. I kinda like the wrinkled bedsheets! Actual photos are too hard for me, but I’m really good at taking bits and pieces of others’ works and airbrushing them together. I really like photoshopping things – it’s a great respite from writing. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Chrys Fey says:
    June 20, 2014 at 2:19 PM

    It’s kind of funny that you ask because I took my author photo at home. I did my makeup, hung up a couple of different sheets of fabric on the wall, and “hired” my sister to be the photographer. It was a lot of fun and I think my author photo turned out pretty well.

    I’ve also drawn the four covers for my unpublished supernatural-thriller series. If I ever get an agent, and then a publisher for them, I hope to pass my drawings on to the cover artist(s) as inspiration. 🙂

    I think the three of you did a great job capturing that photo. I love the look of it with the fedora hat angled over her face and the bow tie!

    Reply
  8. Jeri says:
    June 20, 2014 at 3:56 PM

    Now that I’m not teaching, I finally got rid of my weird box of props. Such memories though of all the mileage students got out of the weirdest things when we did skits.

    Reply
  9. Julie Flanders says:
    June 20, 2014 at 5:46 PM

    What a great shot! And it must have been such fun for both you and your friends. Love the fedora. It will be fun to see the final cover!

    Reply
  10. Cathrina Constantine says:
    June 21, 2014 at 6:32 AM

    I love pictures. Great shot.

    Reply
  11. Southpaw says:
    June 21, 2014 at 12:37 PM

    So cool. I like the way the photo looks – and whoever edits the final work (or if you do it – like try using GIMP for photo manipulation) can make the hair red and even chance the background. I am a DIYer too.

    Reply
  12. Milo James Fowler says:
    June 22, 2014 at 10:40 AM

    I think it turned out great — and I look forward to hearing more about this parody. (I wrote about a doofus detective in the 1930s when I was a teen.)

    Reply
  13. SD Neeve says:
    June 27, 2014 at 3:05 AM

    Definitely cover worthy. Your talents show no bounds, Loni. Most impressed.

    Reply
  14. Sarah says:
    June 15, 2016 at 2:22 PM

    Love it. Where is this hard-boiled detective story you speak of?

    Reply

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Welcome to my blog. I post here on Wednesdays most of the time, but you can find me on social media any day of the week. My topics include my stories and writing, life at the Town's End, creating and tinkering with graphics, things I learn and think might be helpful to others, and the occasional amateur photo. Thanks for stopping by! I hope to see you around.

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