Category Archives: photos

My Daily Photo 8/20/09

August 20, 2009   Russell Martin   No comments

Altar

Today’s photo was actually taken this past week when I led worship at St Marks UMC in Houston. It is of their chancel area.

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My Daily Photo 07/23/09

July 22, 2009   Russell Martin   No comments


This past summer I spent 3 weeks leading worship at Lakeview Methodist Conference Center in Palestine Tx. I have done this for about 12 years now. This sign is in front of the camp where I started.
– Post From My iPhone

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My Daily Photo-08/16/09

July 21, 2009   Russell Martin   No comments

This photo is of the steeple at our church. I used photogene app to add some effects.

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Free Background- Palm Trees

March 29, 2009   Russell Martin   2 Comments

color-palm-treesTook this photo on Galveston Island last year. Feel free to use it for your worship slides, announcements or other publications. Enjoy.

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Free Background- Garden Angel Blur in 4 Colors

January 02, 2009   Russell Martin   No comments

One of the most downloaded backgrounds on this site has been the Garden Angel Blur that I made from a photo I had taken this Summer at one of my work camps.  I thought maybe someone would like it in a color other than green… so here they are. Click on the image once to go to the gallery, and then again to view the full sized image. Then right click and save. You are free to use them for your worship services, announcements etc.. It would be cool if you would let me know how you used them.

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Two Free Cross Backgrounds

December 17, 2008   Russell Martin   No comments

Here are two cross backgrounds that you can use for worship slides, web pages or whatever. The original photo of the “message cross” is the big white cross at Peace Chapel of Lakeview Methodist Conference Center where I have spent many many weeks leading music for youth camps. The original picture for “Hanging Cross” was an out of focus “mistake” that turned out to make a good background. It reminded me that even an out of focus photo can be redeemed and used for good.  Enjoy.

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Free Backgrounds

October 30, 2008   Russell Martin   3 Comments

I have shared some free image resources that I have found or created before. Here are a few more sites I have found that have photos and backgrounds free for you to use. Of course it is always fun to create your own.

Creative MYK- I have mentioned this one before but they have added a ton of stuff since last time. They have not only background slides but Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop files, jpegs and more. Make sure and check out my waterfall slides.

Flickr Shared Worship Background Graphics- This flickr group is designed specifically for worship backgrounds. I have also started my on Flickr site of backgrounds.

Simply Youth Ministry Background Freebies- These backgrounds are some they use for youth talks, worship services etc.

Tim Schmoyer of Life in Student Ministry always has some great giveaways. Freebie Friday #95 has some sky background pics from me, and freebie #43 is a set of powerpoint backgrounds from Stevan Sheets.

What other sites do you know of that have great free worship backgrounds?

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How to- Make Your Own Worship Backgrounds

August 06, 2008   Russell Martin   3 Comments

Everyone is searching for worship background slides. Instead of buying photos on CD or from a download site I would encourage you to make your own. Really all you need is a digital camera and some photo editing software. I take my camera wherever I go and take tons of pictures. Remember that on a digital camera there is no cost for film so take as many pictures as you like. I will take pictures of people, pets and places, but I also go crazy and take pictures I think might make a good background. I have captured brick, water in a swimming pool, really up close shots of leaves, and other strange things. Once you get your photo you can do many things in your editing software. If you have a picture that is out of focus, maybe adding even a little more blur would make a good background. You can also take a good picture and add a solid or semi-transparent box that you can later use to put lyrics. Be creative and be persistent. You will probably come up with many pictures that don’t quite work, but then you will also create the perfect slide for your slide.

Here are some other suggestions of things that might make a good background slide depending on your need: candles, Christmas lights, Christmas tree ornaments, clouds, sun sky, plants, close up of a wicker chair, close up of old lumber or boards, bible, crosses.

Here are some pictures I took on a recent trip to my grandparents house. These pictures are either left alone or have some effects added. Some also include the text box to add your own text. Please feel free to use them for your own purposes. Also I’d love for you to share your creations with others. If you have some original backgrounds email them or a link to Russell@forkintheroadmusic.org and I will put them up here for others to use. Oh and you’ll get a huge thanks and a link to your site or blog.

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Free Stuff: Angel Background

July 27, 2008   Russell Martin   2 Comments

 

OK.. so everything is free on this site. That’s kind of the whole idea but I wanted to be able to have a place to share resources that come my way or that I create. The first one is fairly simple. It is a background I made using a picture taken at College UM ARMY of an angel statue.

Right click the link and save as.

If you have resources you would like to share please email them to me. If I post them I will give you a link back to your site and a huge thanks. Thanks.

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Media: Where to Find Graphics

July 23, 2008   Russell Martin   1 Comment

I remember 10 years ago going to a mid winter camp for our conference and the worship leader was leading music and the words were on transparencies being “projected” onto a sheet. A few years later I was at the same event where the white words were projected onto a black background. It seems today though that a slide isn’t a slide without countless number of background graphics. While I sometimes wonder if we may have gone overboard, putting a different picture with every slide, not staying with a theme etc, I do realize the value of a well chosen graphic to go behind the words that we are singing, or for a sermon, announcements and other uses.
There are several websites where you can go to find free graphics for you to use. Here are some of my favorites:

Stock Exchange- http://www.sxc.hu/ – This is a photo exchange where thousands of photos exist for your use. All the photos are huge, big enough to print, but can be easily compressed down for use on screens. Most of them are covered under the normal licenses which allows you to use the photo for free unless you are using it to make money by selling it in a design set or something like that. Some photos require you to notify the artist when you use the photo in public.

Creative MYK- http://www.creativemyk.com/ Creative MYK adds a different twist on the traditional photo site. It allows people to upload not only photos but also Adobe InDesign, Photoshop and Illustrator Files. Most of them upload in layers so if you see something you like you can edit it for your uses. I actually have a gallery here with a few photos.

There are a ton of other sites out there. These are the ones I use the most.
Where do you find your graphics?

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