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!

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!

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. : )

Holy cow, I’m getting old.

In HS, I loved black and white photography and tried to follow in the footsteps of Ansel Adams. As a college freshman, I bought a desk calendar of his photos and planned to make a collage out of my favs when the calendar expired.

Winter 2000 to Spring 2010 and I finally did it. I made two frames into collages of his work and some of my own with red accent papers and plan to hang them stacked above my bed. Can you tell which pics are his and which are mine? Some you may recognize from my blog, but some date back to my HS darkroom over 10 years ago.

The frames were on an amazing deal, so I got this as my Mother’s Day gift to me. I know it seems silly to be making my own Mother’s Day present, but it’s something that I’ll enjoy everyday and I love that they are MINE. (And at this point the only things Caleb can make for me are messes and poopy diapers.)

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!