PHOTOSHOP... FINALLY

As the post title states, I FINALLY got Photoshop... YEAH!!!!! I still have A LOT to learn, but after following a few on-line tutorials at The Pioneer Woman, using my "Photoshop for Dummies" book, and having a little learning session with my photography mentor, Denise Feagans, I felt somewhat confident that I could take on a client. And what better client than my oldest son Luke, who turned 4 last month.

Here's my photo session with him. We started at the Town Hall building, because of the stone and the red doors, and then went to my husband's Hunt Camp for a beautiful nature backdrop.

This next one has been a favorite of everyone who's seen it on FB, and I think it's one of my favs too. Just love the red door with his shirt.

I think this next one is my all time Favorite. I just LOVE his eyes. And don't you just love the band-aid? We had a little argument about it before we left because I wanted him to take it off - I didn't want it in the shots. But he insisted he still needed it for a week old Boo-Boo. I eventually gave in, figuring I could eliminate it during editing. But once I started the editing process, I decided to leave it alone because that's what he is all about at this age.

Luke did really well!! He's a great little Model. However, he is a REAL stinker when it comes to getting him to actually "Look" at the camera. Out of the approximately 150 shots I took, the 8 or 9 above shots were the only ones where he "Looked" at the camera.

VALENTINES

Week before last, I spent a couple of minutes one day, trying to capture a picture of Luke holding a particular pose...

Grey was not to be left out. I got his shot with one take.

And why do you ask, was I trying to capture this pose?

Well, I guess these Valentines were all over Blog-land last year, but I didn't see them until this year... and as soon as I did, I knew that I wanted to make them for Luke's Pre-School class.

Are those not the cutest things you've ever seen? Of course, Grey doesn't have any classmates to give them too, but because his picture was so cute, I made a couple of them for him to give to some of our neighbors.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

MIXING BOWLS... OR MODERN ART?

My two little boys have recently discovered the storage drawer under the oven, which is where we store our nesting stainless steel mixing bowls. The other day while I was folding laundry in the bedroom, I heard the clanging of the bowls, and knew that when I came back in to the kitchen, there would be a mess all over the floor - like I have MANY times before.

Much to my surprise, this is what I found...

an orderly line-up. I'm sure my oldest, who has some OCD tendencies, is responsible for this organized display. Of course, I had to snap a shot of it, and then I thought, I could turn it into some modern art.

I went to my favorite photo editing site - Picnik and played around a little bit. These are what I created.

The first one, I just cropped and rotated.

Using that same photo, I did further editing...

this one, I adjusted contrast, boosted color and then went black & white

this one I boosted color, applied the HDR tool and the "Posterized" it

this one, I boosted and then inverted.

What do you think? Would one of these make for some interesting Modern Art?

COULD I OR COULDN'T I... THAT IS THE QUESTION

So the question is... my oldest is due for his 3 Year Old portraits, and I'm thinking about trying to do it myself. I practiced a little this morning while we were outside getting some fresh air, and then did some editing with Picnik. My favorites are the first one and the fourth one. What do you think? Should I give it a try?

Love the Eyes

So Serious!!

Pouting because his tricycle keeps rolling backward.

Nice Smirk!

This one's a little blurry, but I love the expression.

Total Luke.

PHOTO EDITING

This evening, during bath-time, I took this picture.

It was cute, but I wanted it to be "Adorable".

So after some quick editing using the free online service Picnik,

I think it became "Adorable".

"Tiny Butts"