Just a Mom, HA!

Thursday Reveal #38

Wordless Wednesday #38 was taken in the state park just down the road from our house.  I loved this picture as it is a great demonstration of what your digital macro lens can do.  The depth of field shrinks to such a precise size that a butterfly’s head can be focused, but its wings blur into the background.  In the end I did very little to edit this picture, just a faded Lomo-ish tool on picnik.com.

The name I’d give this pic would be: Now Cee Won’t Miss It

(Cee was riding on Daddy’s shoulders at the time of this pic and I didn’t want him to miss this lovely creature.)

My contributions this week were considerably better than my title, so we had a few ties.  Here are the top 3 spots:

1 – Calista with: Small and Simple Things

2 – A tie between Mama D with: Mother Nature at Her Best and Proud Grandpa with: A Delicate Balance

3 – A tie between Jay with: A Butterfly’s Helipad and AJ with: Pit Stop

Thanks for playing along and see ya next week!

Thursday Reveal #37

Sorry that this is another late Thursday Reveal.  We had  house guests coming Thursday night late and I was busy cleaning, and getting ready.

Wordless Wednesday #37 was taken in our kitchen.  Using picnik.com I made the overall effect first with Focal soften around Cee, then Orton-ish with no bloom, higher brightness, and faded, then I put Cross process over that, slightly faded, with Focal black and white, faded at the end.  Yikes, that’s a LOT of Filters!

The name I gave this pic is: That’s it! I give up!

My top contributions of the week were:

1 – Proud Grandpa with: Toddler Etiquette by Cee

2 – Mama D with: Forks are fun to fly food around with, but fingers are what’s best for eatin’ and I gotta have this bite NOW!

3 – Jay with: Mom, you’re a great cook I can’t be bothered to use utensils.

“Thursday” Reveal #36

This “Thursday” Reveal is so late – I hope that you’ll forgive me.  Last Thursday was when my cold really hit hardest and with babysitting, taking care of a sick hubby, and doing some much needed retail therapy time just kind of slipped away from me.

This pic was taken in my kitchen of Cee helping his Grandma.  I love his hand gently resting on her leg and the sunshine in the window.  I used a TON of filters on this pic from picnik.com and now I really wished that I’d written them down.  I think it went something like faded sepia, boost, Film Grain, then Orton-ish over everything.  The point is to keep trying things out – even filters you don’t like that much can turn to something you love when added to something else.  Yes, order does matter, so use that Undo button to try things in many ways before you’re satisfied with your final pic.

The title I chose was: The Littlest Helper

My top contributions for the week:

1. Mama D who came closest to mine with: Grandma’s Little Helper
2. Sara N with: Grandma, the dishes go in here…now can I have a cupcake??
3. Proud Grandpa with: Grandma, wasat?

Thursday Reveal #35

Wordless Wednesday #35 was taken on the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio.  For editing I wanted to try something a little different – Lomo-ish is one of my favorite tools, but sometimes its focal point gets a little too orange, so the first thing I did was use the focal black and white tool on picnik.com to make a black and white spot in the center of the pic.  I used the fade button to bring some of the color back, but not much.  I then used Lomo-ish over the top producing this result of vibrant colors around the guys, but not such a strong tone in the middle.  I really like the added bit of gray that it put into my dad’s hair, making him clearly the wise, Grandpa figure in the shot.

I thought I’d call this pic: Three Bumps on a Bridge

My contributors gave me a HARD choice this week.  I think these suggestions made me laugh the most of almost any pic I’ve done so far, and the serious ones were so sweet, that choosing just 3 is impossible.  Let’s break it down this way:

The one that would have made me shoot water out of my nose if I had been drinking goes to:

• Amber with: Extreme Toddler Sports: Duck Watching

Other top funnies, were:

• Jay with: “Dad, I promise I will behave … don’t throw me over”
• Proud Grandpa with: Toddler Centaur

Best of the tear jerkers goes to:

• Angela with: On the Shoulders of Giants

Thanks for playing along! See you back here next week.

Thursday Reveal #34

Wordless Wednesday #34 was taken in our little neighborhood park.  Using picnik.com I darkened the exposure, used Lomo-ish to brighten the colors, but then did a faded black and white over the top to mute out the colors around Cee making him the focus and essentially what gives life to the picture.  The paintbrush tool for many of the Picnik effects really help to make an impact, and I did this in hopes that you’ll try experimenting with them too.

The title I’d give this pic is: Growing So Tall

My top 2 contributions of the week go to Betty and Proud Grandpa who both used the idea of height that I was going for:

1 – Betty with: Mr. Tree, will I ever be as tall as you?

2 – Proud Grandpa with:  If I climb to the top, can I touch the sun?

And the 3^rd spot goes to Mama D who captured what Cee was most likely thinking with: Wow!! I can make this thing shake all the way to the top! What do you call this thing? Look, Mom! I can make it shake!

Thanks for playing along! See you next week.

*Picnik doesn’t know I do these messages, I just share them for free editing advice.

Thursday Reveal #33

Sorry friends/readers.  I can’t remember what I did to make this pic look like it does.  I know I cropped it, and I’m thinking some faded black and white with Lomo-ish over the top.

Oh well. One week without specifics won’t kill anybody but my ego.

And my ego can take a much bigger wallup than that.

My title for this pic: (Said in a stuffy British accent) “Say there my fine fellow, is there anything a bit odd on top of my head?”

The top contributions of the week:

1 – Jay with: Umm, why is there a dead raccoon on my head??

2 – Sara N with: Davie! Davie Crocket! Man of the wild frontier! (or we could just call him Cee Crocket too..)

3 – Amber with: King of the Poopie Diapers (instead of the Wild Frontier)