Edit Me Challenge & Your Sunday Best

The Edit Me Challenge was such fun to try. I discovered this weekly challenge while visiting A Rural Journal. A photo is provided for download and then the editing begins.

This week's photo shot by guest judge, Kristy from Life-n-Reflection is below.  

My edit of the photo...

My goal was to create a vintage looking photo. I used Elements 10 for my editing.
Layer 1:  Adjustments and Gradient Map.  Click on black to white gradient creating a black & white photo. Set opacity to 70% bringing back some of the color.
Layer 2: A Distressed Jewel texture was added and the mode set to Multiply.  The opacity level set at 69%
Layer 3: A French Kiss overlay, Glorious Grunge Edge gave the photo an aged look to it.  I set the opacity to 51%   A masking layer was added to remove some of the scratches from the yellow flowers
Finally, I stamped the photo with a French Kiss brush, French Script No1, Meilleurs. By holding down ALT I changed the text color to a dark gray. 

Linking up at A Rural Journal for Your Sunday Best Challenge.  I like to go through my week's photos and choose the one I like best. The Sun Worshippers conveys multi-layers of meaning and emotion, at least for me.  A lonely barn, decaying in the morning sun, yet vibrant with life as turkey vultures stretch their wings greeting the light of the day.  I wish I could have gotten closer, but a field separated me from the barn.

I have a question:  Do you ask before shooting?  I knocked on a couple doors hoping to get an ok to walk on their property and take photographs, but no one answered the door.  Instead, I stood respectfully along the side of the road grabbing what photos I could.  It limits the shots, but makes me feel less invasive.

There's more Sunday Bests at...

Texture Tuesday

What a morning! While snow fell like dancers in upturned tutus

the daffodils huddled against the house in a catatonic state.

  This year winter's mild manners have flora and fauna confused.   Outdoor daffodils with buds this early are taking a chance.  So I decided to do an experiment.  I cut three buds and brought them indoors.

Will they bloom?  Only time will tell.

I titled this last photo, Daffodil Hope because I hope these three buds do burst into trumpets of bright yellow.

Daffodil Hope is part of Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday. The photo was edited in Elements 10 with various basic editing techniques and then layered with Kim's texture Felicity and a final layer of Rosy French, a texture from French Kiss. View more texture love by clicking on the button below.  Have fun!

Life is Like a Bowl of Cherries

Christmas Greens

The fresh smell of pine wafts through the house when the tree is brought in to be decorated.  It was an exciting time when we went off to find the Christmas, whether it was cut-fresh from a tree farm or selected from a local Christmas tree vendor it's what I imagine the bringing in of the yule log must have been like from the Christmases of long, long ago.  The stories of ancient Christmas traditions fascinates me.  I prefer to use fresh greens over artificial.  Fresh white pine that reminds of me of spidery fireworks in shades of green creates a base.  The legendary holly bearing plump red berries is so lovely to set upon window sills and add to garlands, wreaths, and in arrangements.  And then, English ivy, the little evergreen with so much spunk that it will grow up stone and brick walls.
  


So I gathered a few greens and those bright berries that wink at me outside my window. Placed in an English trug the greens and berries could be from the Christmases of Eleanor of Aquitaine or Anne Boleyn.  I love that about Christmas...the tradition, the legends, the lore, the memories.

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The textures used on the photo are Kim Klassen's new one for today, Providence layered twice, and then Edward to add a timeless look.  You'll find more tantalizing textured treasures at....

Day 2: Mom's Recipe Box

One of the happiest holiday memories I hold deep in my soul is baking with my mom and siblings. What fun we had frosting cookies and each other.  Oh my the glorious smells that wafted through the house during the holidays...sugar cookies, gingerbread men, peanut butter blossoms, and many more.  She was a passionate candy maker, too.  Chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, penuche fudge, divinity, peanut brittle, buckeyes, caramels and taffy filled tins. 

As we grew up and moved on with our own lives, we still came together to make candy. By the time each of us arrived the recipe box was open with a stack of recipes at the ready.  We got busy kneading, mixing, dipping, and creating.  Sisters and sister-in-laws came and went as life sent us in various directions, but the tradition continued for those who could make it until my mom became too ill to open her recipe box.

Now when I hold those recipes in my hands and admire the lovely handwriting that was my mom's I can hear the music of her kitchen; the deep, rich sounds of Bing Crosby singing White Christmas, the laughter of the ladies in my life, and for a moment she is right here once again.

*Blowing a kiss to the heavens above*

This is day two of Kim Klassen's 12 Days of Textures.  Each day she's sharing a texture that can be downloaded for free.  Here's your chance to give textures a try on your photography.  Follow the cookie crumb trail here.

Celebrate Them Home

I've not done so well capturing 25 days in December, but maybe I can get in Kim Klassen's Twleve Days of Texture.  She's giving away a texture each day for the next 12 days.  It's amazing how a texture tells a different photographic story. 

The ornament hangs on my friend MJ's tree.  It's one of those lovely retro ornaments that we hold dear and inspires to recall Christmas past. Each year as I decorate I am reminded how I got this ornament, where that Santa came from, and mostly of those that are no longer near by. Oh how I wish I could celebrate them home. 


I fell in love with today's texture, Lily, by Kim Klassen.  Find more texture love here.

They Overstayed Their Welcome

Carnations are one of those flowers that people relegate to the 'filler' file.  Use the confused, multi-petaled flower just to fill in the gaps and round out a design or bouquet.  A carnation standing on its own?  Nah, not on my table or so some people feel. I'm at the other end of the spectrum or was...until today.  As of today, I'm seriously tired of carnations. What's a good thing when money is tight and you want a bit of long lasting color and fragrance becomes a bad thing when you want somehting new and different to decorate the mantle and photograph.  I wish the darn things would just fade away now.  Yes, there's a few brown edged petals,but nothing major. After nearly two weeks, I've run out of ways to photograph the puffs of pink, so they need to go.  The carnations have overstayed their welcome.

This is it...I'm not going to take one more shot of the pretty in pink flowers.  This is the last of the carnation photos for a while.

 Did I just hear a collective sigh of relief? 

I processed this photo in Elements 9 using Texture 40 from Ellenvd on Flickr and Kim Klassen's dusty rose texture.   

Tomorrow I'll have the next chapter of my Cape Cod story up.  I hope you'll stop by and take the journey with me. 

Learning & Doing

How are you today? Ice, snow, and cold winds blew across nw Ohio yesterday creating a winter wonderland that belies the treacherous side of nature.  I have some before and after photos to share with you.  I can't believe how much can be learned in a few short days.  I have a long way to go, but I'm getting a feel for just what Photoshop Elements can do for photography. 

Very little processing was actually done to this photo.  A boost of color, a bit of softening and adding text were the lessons learned. 

Learning about layers, blend modes, and levels in the adjustment panel dominated this lesson.  Yes, the photo is dark.  Besides taking the photograph shortly after sunset, while there was still a bit of light left, I also wanted to capture a darker mood.  By the way...read the storybook Imagine a Night with paintings by Rob Gonsalves and text by Sarah L. Thomson.  Read it to yourselfl, read it to a child, it's a beautiful book.

I created this vignette trying to convey the feeling of a lover's letter returned.  In this lesson we were introduced to textures.  I've fiddled with textures before, but never in Elements, so it was a lesson I was anxious to learn.  I used Kim Klassen's textures that she creates and generously shares. If you're curious what textues look like you can peruse Kim's Texture Shop here. 

The texture assignment called for two photos, so this is the second one I texturized.  Again, I used Kim's textures.  I'm bothered by the dark line just below the roses.  I tried to brush it out, but it only made it worse so I left it. I sure hope I learn how to get rid of unwanted bits like that at some point. 

So this is what I've been up to.  What have you been up to, my friends?  Are you keeping warm and cozy?  I''m leaving you with a line from Imagine a Night that sums up the spirit we each have to fly...

"Imagine a night...

...when you take just one last ride;

beneath you, the hill grows steep

and your wheels grow wings."

~Sarah L. Thomson

Eclectic Views

Flowers for Five

Last winter I purchased flowers for five dollars and snapped hundreds of photos satisfying my penchant for the view through the lens.  These golden lovlies created a Thanksgiving tablescape along with glass cubes, filled with cranberries and water for five plus two. Oh what can do be done for a couple bucks. 

Textrued Holiday Spices

I used one of Kim Klassen's textures to add some vintage wear & tear to this photo.  I admit it...I love baking, the smell of whole spices, especially freshly grated nutmeg.  Kim Klassen Cafe is amazing and if you like textures you'll find lots of love there.

Oh the lovely, fruity ways to use cranberries...

As sauce, in a relish, chutney, salad, string on thread for a garland, inside glass jars, on wreaths, in arangements, the smile of a snowman, to photograph.

120 Gallery   Bryan, Ohio

Dear Santa,

We stood waiting outside Kathy Fundersburg's art gallery in Bryan, Ohio, while waiting for Santa's arrival last Friday night.  Oh what wonders to behold within the walls.  Visions of pastel painted fairies, just like the ones we looked at, dance in my head.  Just thought you'd like to know.  

                                                                                                Teresa O