Yesterday I had a wonderful morning photographing flowers and plants in our backyard and then editing them with textures. This is why I retired!
Textures are from Florabella.
Look for the Helpers
In the wake of last week’s tragedy, I thought of this clip I saw on Facebook a few months ago. Such wisdom from Mister Rogers . . .
For Texture Tuesday- edited with two layers of Kim Klassen’s 0303 texture.
Sweet Peas
This is one of several photos I took at our book club grandma shower a couple days ago. I was showing our hostess, Kathryn, the effect of aperture on depth of field (she has a DSLR and would like to learn more about how to use her camera). I really like this shot showing shallow depth of field, which is enhanced with a layer of Kim Klassen’s sybil texture.
Grandma-to-be!
Our Book Club has a tradition- we celebrate the impending birth of member’s first grandchild with a Grandma Shower! At last night’s meeting, we honored Diann, whose first grandson will be born in a few weeks. After a taco salad dinner, we ate a delicious cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes and actually talked a bit about the book (The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris). Then Diann opened her gifts- lots of books and clothes and a pack ‘n play from the whole group. We certainly know how to welcome our friends to grandma-hood!
Here’s Diann getting ready to eat taco salad.
And here she is getting ready to read Goodnight iPad to the group.
Appropriately, this week’s Texture Tuesday topic is celebration. This photo of the beautiful cake (with sweet peas in the background) is textured with Kim Klassen’s sybil texture.
I Heart Tea
It’s more closeup shots today- these feature my heart-shaped tea infuser with one of my grandmother’s teacups. I edited both with one layer of Kim Klassen’s sybil and another of return for this week’s Texture Tuesday.
Head on over to Kim’s site to see some beautiful textured images!
Backlit Tulip
It is the end of the tulips, I’m afraid. I just have a few left- the purple ones. This shot is backlit- I love how you can see the light through the leaves. This image is textured with two layers of Kim Klassen’s 3003 texture.
For more images edited with Kim Klassen’s textures, head on over to Kim’s site.
Cherry Blossoms
Textured with Kim Klassen’s subtly yours and cora.
Beyond Beyond 10
The words on this image became my mantra today as I worked on Lesson 10 in Beyond Beyond. It was a short lesson, with a Lightroom preset, a texture, and a new video on adding text (this time to a selection). The assignment was to create, create- for the sake of creating.
Text on a path is the most difficult part of Photoshop for me; I seem to have a mental block about it. I am going to master it- but not today evidently. My attempts are not yet ready for prime time- so I did text on a very STRAIGHT path for my CREATE assignment. I used a couple layers of Kim’s subtly yours and an additional layer of cora (to add some pink tones).
These blossoms are from the most beautiful cherry tree EVER (outside of Washington DC). I drive by this tree often and am totally in love with it. You will see more photos on here another day for sure.
More Tulips
I told you the tulips would be back- and I haven’t even posted any of the purple ones yet! This image is for Texture Tuesday- textured with Kim’s Sybil texture again.
Beyond Beyond 9
Fonts! Typing on a path! Typing on or in a shape! Glyphs! Wow- lots of good stuff in this lesson!
I’m a little out of my photography comfort zone- and going back in time about 10 years to my attempts at digital scrapbooking. After having worked with Photoshop for the last couple years, these skills are easier for me now than back then- but typing on a path is still my nemesis!
The author of the last quote was Henry Ward Beecher (I couldn’t figure out how to incorporate it so that it looked okay). Both photos are textured with Kim Klassen’s Sybil texture (yup- still my favorite).
Nervousness and Hysteria
I have been on a decluttering spree. You could have filmed an episode of Hoarders in a couple of my closets- but no more! One of my missions was to organize my yarn. Photography has replaced knitting as my obsession, but I still love knitting and am not ready to give up my precious yarn (which is now mostly boxed up in labeled storage containers, thank you very much!). I had not knitted since my carpal tunnel surgery, so, when I found a half done scarf, I got inspired and am slowly finishing it. And, of course, knitting is a great subject for photography!
The challenge for this week’s Texture Tuesday was to use words in the image. The below is actually my favorite knitting quote- by my favorite knitter- Stephanie Pearl McPhee (aka the Yarn Harlot)- but it was a bit too long for the photo:
“In the nineteeth century, knitting was prescribed to women as a cure for nervousness and hysteria. Many new knitters find this sort of hard to believe because, until you get good at it, knitting seems to cause those ailments.”
Hahaha! You have to be a knitter to really get the truth of this! But, now that I think of it, you could substitute the word photographer for knitter and photography for knitting– and we could all relate!
I came across this quote from Elizabeth Zimmermann, the mother of modern knitting, which I think speaks to the meditative quality of knitting.
I spent WAY too much time on this photo edit: FOUR different Kim Klassen textures to get the tones I wanted (havana, sybil, reentry, and 0303), a hue/sat layer, a levels layer, a blur layer- HOLY COW! I know there was an easier way. . .
Up
I am taking some time this week to catch up on some of the challenges for my Daily Challenge Flickr group. Since I stopped doing a Project 365 this year and am no longer constantly searching for new photo subjects each day, I haven’t been so dependent on this group for new topics. But, it is still fun to participate a couple times a week- I always love seeing what this creative people in this group post.
One of the topics this week is UP- as in looking up or view from above. We are having gorgeous Spring weather here, so I just had to look outside for inspiration.
Texture- Sonata by Florabella
Subtle
Yesterday’s flower photo was pretty dramatic; today’s is subtle. They are both macro images from the same Trader Joe’s bouquet- I always get a lot of mileage out of those! This one I converted to black and white, adding a layer of Kim Klassen’s Anna texture for a bit of warmth. Happy Texture Tuesday!
Beyond Beyond 6
The challenge for this lesson was “From Above”- taking a photo looking down at the subject. Because of my San Diego trip, I didn’t have a chance to go through the lesson until yesterday, so am trying to catch up and get it done before today’s lesson is posted. So yesterday afternoon I stood on my cedar chest to take this shot of blossoms in a glass jar, placed on my mother’s marble top table.
Textured with Kim Klassen’s Anna texture.
Orchids
The Botanical Building at Balboa Park was one of the highlights of our San Diego trip. Orchids were everywhere! For Texture Tuesday, I textured this image with 3 layers of Kim Klassen’s Sybil (my new go-to texture. . .) , using different blend modes and opacities.
melinda anderson photography 