Week 28 good to WOW Edit Summer

Somehow I managed to take 3 photos and turn them into 6 photos, so let's get started.

First the statue.  I combined 3 photos (actually used PSE6 New File--Panoramic--selected my 3 photos) so that almost the whole statue is in the picture.

I also copied the words from another image to make them a little clearer, desaturated the green in the lower right corner, and darkened the trees in the background a little.  It is a pretty good photo of what I saw that evening.  But it did not have the emotion of the statue.

Here is a soldier in full gear (except he isn't wearing his hat) reaching down to help his fallen comrade, possibly his friend.  Yet the plaque below lists those in this town who have lost their lives to our current war.  They cannot be helped.  It is a reminder for us to reach out our hands to the soldiers and their families, to remember those who maybe we didn't know but who sacrificed their lives for our freedom, and to help and support those with whom we do come in contact.  So I edited another image from that day to try to capture the mood a little better.  Even in the midst of trouble he is reaching to help.

The sky was completely white behind him, so I added Kim Klassen's Texture Granny's Cupboard.  I do not remember exactly what I did, but I think this is hard light 100% with 30% removed from face and words.

I also went with a creative edit of the rose because it just wasn't that interesting and a clean edit didn't make much difference.

The red channel in the middle of the rose was completely blown, so I took the same portion of a rose that was not in the sun and layered it over the middle to add back some details.  Then I ran PW colorized action.  Then I took away the details I added by using 3 layers of Kim Klassen's Aurora texture--One 41% hard light, masked off of the middle; one 100% multiply; and one soft light 76%.

Then the sunflare or clock or building whatever part you like best.  I had several shots exposed for a silhouette, but in most of them the sunflare was gone.  The sun only peeked through the clouds while I was facing that way for a few seconds.  But for one edit I did take some friendly advice and here is what I got.

I played with the exposure and blacks until the details of the building were gone.  Then I straightened and cropped much closer to remove excess building detail.  Then I did a Brightness/Contrast boost and masked it off of the building.  I forgot to do a hue/saturation but I liked the colors.

But I wasn't sure if I wanted a silhouette or not.  It isn't the best sunflare, so I wasn't sure I really wanted it to be the focus.   I couldn't give a picture of the whole building because I didn't take a picture of it, but I did really like the clock.  So I tried another edit.

This edit I focused on the clock.  I straightened and cropped closer.  I ran MCP Actions Mini-Fusion and I liked the colors it brought out in the building.  I did an adjustment layer for brightness/contrast, but now I prefer the darker sky of the original.  Then I added text. 

Looking through the photos I took that day, I did capture one silhouette/sunflare combination that is the one I like best now. Actually, I think I will enter this in my friend's Picture Perfect July photo challenge--Summer.

I cropped this square and resized for the web, but otherwise this is SOOC.

So those are my edits and additions for this week's good to WOW edit challenge hosted by Jill and Ashley.  Make sure to check out the other summer edits--most areas of the country are actually experiencing summer (and hotter than summer) weather.

Water

It has been overcast and gloomy the last week and a half, so I was starting to worry that I would not have a chance to take any fun shots for water.  Finally, Wednesday I decided I should take some photos of the raindrops on the flowers since it might be the only water I would see.

But then, Thursday, between my son's 5th grade graduation and his celebration dinner, my husband, daughter, and I had an hour to kill AND it was gorgeous out.  So we went to a park with the lake and I was able to capture a few really cute water pictures.

Enough really cute water pictures that I had a hard time narrowing it down, but I did pick a favorite.  Then my dilemma became do I like it in color or black and white better...so I am entering the color one in the Crazy Days of Summer Water challenge:

And the Black and White in Ordinary Miracles and the Crazy Eight's monthly photo contest Picture Perfect.  This month's theme is black and white, and I had a hard time finding one.  I just do so love color.

But this photo seems to work very well in black and white.  Love my pretty girl and sparkly water!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

I really love these scavenger hunts, and even though I wasn't sure I would finish it myself, I did go look at some of the ones posted last night because I just love seeing all the different interpretations of the same theme.  I am always in awe at the creativity and beauty the other participants show.  Be sure to hop on over to Ramblings and Photos to see the others.  Here are my hunt finds.

Give Me Flowers: 

Visual Contrast:

Straight/Circles; Metal/Plant; Hard/Soft; Focus/Out of Focus--I'm not sure it is an interesting photo, but I do feel confident it fits the theme...I think.

Friendship:

I realized after visiting a lot of other hunts that most people actually have, well, friends in this photo--meaning people.  However, this photo does fit, really, because I took it while out on a "play with our cameras day" with my best friend.  It represents the many similarities and differences we have that make the entire friendship beautiful.  We both love taking pictures and love this whole scene, but I took lots of up close pictures of the red and blue boots and she took pictures of the orange boots.  No fighting over crayons for us!  (Too bad we can't say the same for our three year old kids.)

I am also entering the above picture in Picture Perfect over at Ordinary Miracles and the Crazy Eight.  This is the second month of her new monthly photo contest and the theme is COLOR.  Feel free to head on over and enter your own photo or to view the other photos.





Before:

After last week's irony, I thought you might like to know how tall our grass is now.  I am happy to report that while it did get tall enough for the grass to start flowering...

We did finally have a long enough break in the rain in order for my husband to be able to mow it--two days in a row since it was so tall.

And After:

As you can tell, it still needs more work, but it is no longer up to Sunflower's waist, and it has started raining again so the work will wait.  I love where we live, but the rain makes for really green and constantly growing grass that is almost always wet.

Dark:

I really struggled with this one since how do you take a picture of dark?--I'm spending all of my time "seeking the light!"  After seeing the other hunts, I have lots of great ideas, but THAT would be stealing...so here is my dark.  The dark, dark blue.  You do not always recognize what is dark unless you see what is light, thus my choice of this picture.

Be sure to go check out more Scavenger Hunts and in the meantime, Happy Hunting!

Picture Perfect -- Color

Over at Ordinary Miracles and the Crazy 8 it is time for the May photo challenge.  This month's theme is color.  Since I didn't use my daughter as my muse last month, though really she is what I take pictures of the most, I thought I would enter a new picture of her.  My goal was to frame her with color.  What do you think?  I also did a color pop action to really brighten things up.  Too bad there isn't a wash hands and face action to apply.  I could use it on all of my pictures.

To see other entries and to enter your own Color Themed photo be sure to go over to Ordinary Miracles and the Crazy 8.  Have a great weekend!

Picture Perfect

My first internet friend is starting a monthly photo contest.  It is simple, fun, and for photographers of all skills which is great because this lady has some crazy photo skills (and I have a ways to go).  Follow her button if you want to join in the fun!




The theme this month is Your Muse; and while my children are usually my muse, I have spent the last 24 hours editing baby pictures for my friend, so I am going to show one of my favorites so far.  (Can I just say I will NEVER complain about professional photography fees again?  I did this for fun and practice and professionals being more qualified will probably spend less time, but their results will be way better!  Not that I'll be able to pay the fees, just that I won't complain that they charge them.)

My Muse for the last two days, you'll probably see a lot her in this next week:

Yes, I did read the tip on not shooting up the baby's nose, but this baby, only 13 days old, moved a lot!  I'd set up the pose and she would move before I could get back to my camera.  Taking the jammies off totally woke her up never to sleep again, so I have very few shots with her eyes closed.  Good thing I'm in MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers 0-5) and ladies have babies all the time.  I'm sure to get another chance to play with poses.  In the meantime I have 5-20 fairly decent photos (out of 400) for practice editing.