Just a Mom, HA!

Thursday Reveal #49

Wordless Wednesday #49 was taken at Animal World Snake Farm petting zoo.

To get this effect I used picnik.com to add a faded sepia tone to the picture, and then I used the boost tool over the top of that.

The name I gave this picture was: The Great Toe Escape

My top contributions this week (slim pickin’s, but VERY good) were:

1. Proud Grandpa with:
2. Mama D with: Okay, “Kids”, follow me!

Thursday Reveal #47

Wordless Wednesday #47 was taken at a friend’s house during a rousing afternoon of sidewalk chalk, bubbles, balls, and sprinkler fun.  I actually ended up doing LOTS to this pic, some of which you may be able to guess.  On picnik.com I first used the boost tool (faded), then the black and white tool (faded), with paintbrush option to bring back the chalk colors on Cee’s shorts, leg, and shoe.  After all that I put lomo-ish with extra blur around edges over everything.  My last effect was to use the tint effect (reversed) to put the pink color onto the chalk piece, which was actually white, but I wanted it to match the shorts.

I had such a fun time with this editing!

The name I picked was:  The Shorts Meet a Chalky End (bottom end, that is)

My top three contributions of the week were:

1. Amber with: The Evidence is in the Chalk
2. Jay with: Caught Red Handed (well sort of)
3. Proud Grandpa with: Honest Mom, I never even saw the lipstick.

Thanks for playing along!

Thursday Reveal #46 w/ Photo Challenge

Wordless Wednesday #46 is a series of pics taken across a series of locations.  Since I was wrapped up in Black and White this last week as I worked on my collage project, I thought I’d share some of my pics and ideas on this particular topic.

My name for this photo series was: The Young, The Old, and The Ancient

My top contributions for the week were:

1 – Mama D with: How Sparky would see things if he were still here. Not that he would be very interested or even focus on these things, but if you threw a tennis ball into the picture, that would get his attention. (Maybe this isn’t the most fitting, but it had me laughing so hard thinking about my old dog that I had to give it the top spot.)

2 – Proud Grandpa with: The Beauty is in the Details (Very Fitting)

3 – Sara N with: A Sea of Rock Soldiers

For a great black and white pic I do things backwards from a normal picture.  I start first with the black and white filter on picnik.com, then I go back to the edit tab, and use the exposure button to slide the contrast until I have a very strong black and a very sharp white.  The contrast is what makes black and white great instead of flat.

Here’s my canyon pic, in black and white, but without any contrast work:

Now here it is, after having been adjusted for contrast:

The added texture and depth is really what makes this pic real and important even without it’s colors.

The same principle works well for people too:

It’s important to remember as you adjust contrast, that all you need is a good deep black in the shadow areas, and clean, crisp white in the highlight places.  Pushing the contrast too far will make you lose details, like the texture in Cee’s shirt.

PHOTO CHALLENGE: Pick a picture that you love, with great colors, lights and darks, and turn it into a B/W masterpiece.  It won’t take long, but it will be fun!  I’d love to see what you come up with if you’d like to share. : )

Thursday Reveal #45

Wordless Wednesday #45 was taken at the park at Enchanted Rock State Park, just north of Fredericksburg, TX.  I used picnik.com to add a faded lomo-ish filter to this pic which gave a slight boost to the color and some added shading. It was a very simple edit, but sometimes that’s all you really need.

I also did another edit of this pic just in black and white since the shot lent itself so well to such a filter.  It’s okay to make several edits to one pic – I do all the time when I can’t decide what I like best.

I named this pic: The Smile at the End of the Slide

My top contributions for the week were:

1. Proud Grandpa with: Ready, Two, three, juuuuummmmmmp!
2. Jay with: This is so much fun. I love the right slide. But the left slide is no good.
3. JoAnn with: Is that all there IS??

Thanks for playing along!

Thursday Reveal #44

Wordless Wednesday #44 was taken in our neighborhood park.  I used picnik.com to add an Orton-ish filter with no bloom to harden the light.

I call this pic: Careful Cliffhanger OR Sawdust Toss

My top contributions for this week were very hard to pic, but after much soul searching I landed on:

1. Betty with: To infinity and beyond!
2. Jay with: One small step for mankind, one giant leap for Cee
3. Mama D with: OKAY! Here I am! Where’s the slide?

Thanks for playing along. I appreciate my die-hard readers who’ve had the patience to stick with me this month.  We’ve had batch after batch of horrible sicknesses around here (I’m still getting over strep throat that hit me on Monday), so there’s been little time/energy for writing, cooking, or anything worth posting.  Hopefully we’ll be back to full steam soon.

Thursday Reveal #43

Time for the “Thursday” Reveal.  Sorry about it being a day late, but I had a big day yesterday…

Wordless Wednesday #43  was taken on a hike in Government Canyon.  I used a faded black and white filter on picnik.com with a faded boost over the top to get the effect.

The name that I picked: Hiking to Opera

My top contributions for the week were:

1. JoAnn with: Wow!! Is it edible?
2. Proud Grandpa with: Organic toys, cool!
3. Sara N with: This is the best flower I have ever seen! And mommy gave it to me!