I must be feeling a bit down. That last post included the word “tight” twice with copious pictures of Paul working on the outbuilding, and yet, I let that golden opportunity pass. Tight? Golden? … aye, my heart’s just not in it. So much for my reputation as the internet source for home improvement porn.
As I try to rev up for this year’s Mardi Gras season (we’re still working the Devo theme, despite Will’s ever-changing cast of character requests: Spider, Cowboy, Knight, and Luke Skywalker), I’m attempting to clean out my Aperture folder and properly archive and organize the photographs. But you know? It’s way more fun to play around studiously learn Photoshop techniques.
Remember Kate’s New Year Tai Chi? Where she is terribly lit in intense direct sun? The moves are so classically Kate that I wanted to see if I could improve the quality of some of the pictures. Work with the captured moment, so to speak.
Here are the originals:
Then I decided to try and soften the harsh light and overall brightness of the image. I played with curves, brightness, dodge and burn, and levels. What I should have done was used one set of commands that I liked and then just applied the actions to the rest. I didn’t. I just went all willy-nilly and did whatver I liked as the mood struck. Don’t expect anything earth-moving.
Yeah, I know. Is that all? Then, because I’m reading all of these artsy books about black and white photography, I decided to play around some more.
I think I like these last ones best.
Here’s hoping I get around to backing them up before Mardi Gras!
spokethecat | 13-Jan-09 at 9:53 pm | Permalink
thanks for putting me on your blog roll. i was beginning to get a complex. cute pics by the way.
Melanie | 14-Jan-09 at 6:24 am | Permalink
Great pics! I have Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. I can do basic fixes, but I’d really love to master them. Someday… It would probably help to learn all the buttons and menus on my camera first so I can take better pics though. Ha!
kitty | 15-Jan-09 at 7:35 pm | Permalink
I could get lost for a week learning Photoshop. It’s something I always go to if I’m bored.
I like the black and whites best. The addition of soft light is great.
You may want to consider resizing the photos (as a copy) before you upload to the web, I notice your pages take a long time to load on my computer even though I have broadband.
Not that it bothers me, but some people won’t sit still for a page to load, learned that the hard way, LOL.
Holly | 15-Jan-09 at 9:04 pm | Permalink
Thanks, all!
Kitty: it means a lot to hear photo comments from you regarding black and white… you take my breath away with your collections. Thanks for the sizing suggestion — I’ve been just sizing them down by half (just because it’s an easy option within Aperture) and will try a lower reduction now. I appreciate the help!!
kitty | 16-Jan-09 at 6:18 am | Permalink
Thanks Holly, also, meant to say, I love the new blog template.