Self Portrait Outtake--Orphie and Me

I had to use two cameras for this, LOL! 

SELF PORTRAIT OUTTAKE - Fed Up!

Fed up with taking pictures of myself! Will this never end!

Kate Jackson

Self portrait outtake

Working with Layers

You both may already know all this, but I've had a number of questions from BPers about layers in the past few days, so I thought I'd make a few remaarks about it.

Layers are really extremely simple (once you get the hang of it). Well, they can be complicated, but they can also be pretty easy.

The first thing I do when I set off to work on a picture is make a duplicate copy to work on (in case I mess up!) and the very next thing I do is to make a duplicate LAYER to work on. Then all the original unchanged info is available in case I need it right in the same picture (readily available for access). This also immediately protects the picture from data loss.

I use adjustment layers to change brightness and contrast, levels, hue and saturation, warming etc. You may already know this, but those things work just the same, but they don't bruise any pixels and if you don't like them, they can be easily removed or readjusted at any time without affecting later work (you don't have to back up and do things over). You can clone from one layer to another, add things and subtract them again, etc. After you play with it, it becomes very intuitive and not much different than not working with layers except that it is so much more versatile.

If you need any help let me know. The easiest thing of course is to have someone show you.

Season: Spring Outtake: Torch

Season: Spring Outtake: Torch (Geranimum from the inside), photo by Mary Stebbins, click on iamge to view larger. 

Season, Signs of spring: Daffodil Outtake

Photo by Mary Stebbins 

Season Outtake signs of Spring: Moss

This is not a great shot, but some idea of how green and lush the moss gets at this time of year.

The Black Daffodil--Outtake

The Black Daffodil--Outtake, well, some of my outtake maybe should be intakes and vice versa but it's a new day. I probably WILL post this to BP. Tell me if you think I should not. This month's theme is Black and white. They should have done that theme in the WINTER, not spring!!!

Season Challenge #3

Starting in April, We will be posting our "Season" pictures on the first Monday of the month. This month will include such topics as "Signs of Spring," Winter's Fury, Summer Lushness (?), etc. To post to this challenge on a date other than the April 3, be sure to change the date on the Post and comment Options on the lower left (tan bottom bar) to April 3, etc. Include the actual date of the photo, if desired, since the posting date will not necessarily be the taking date or the editing date. Leave a comment below if you need further assistance.

SEASON INTAKE Apple Blossom Time

Shot this morning at the back of our neighbour's field. I wasn't sure about the light strip across the top. I cropped it slightly but decided I preferred it left in.

SEASON INTAKE Pastoral Scene

I would have loved to have got a shot of the little lambs jumping in the air but that was not to be. Maybe during this month I will try. This is Messing Park where we held the Brunch at the big house the previous Saturday. The sheep were not in the field then as they let people walk across the fields to reach the house. That was lovely as normally these grounds are not open to the public. But I will have to ring up the owners and ask if I can have free roaming to take pictures.

SEASON INTAKE Catkins

Just catkins

Val's Pig Waitress

Pig Waitress by Val Gratto. I adjusted this in the following ways:

Auto levels
VP Snap
light saturation
skew to straigthen (under transform)

 

One more Daffy Shot

 

Rainy Daffodil, Spring Season Intake

Rainy Daffodil, by Mary Stebbins, click on image to view larger.

Season Intake (Spring!): Daffy-Down-Dilly

Season Intake (Spring!): Daffy-Down-Dilly, photo by Mary Stebbins. Everyone's always taking the backs of flowers lately, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and try it. Generaly speaking, I think the fronts are prettier. Click on image to see larger. Let me know if you think I should post it at BP. 

Daffy Crop

Are any of these daffies worth posting on BP, and if so, if I were only to post one, which one?

Season/signs of spring: Skunk Cabbage Flowering Outtake

Season/signs of spring: Skunk Cabbage Flowering Outtake, taken 3-27-06 at Hamlin. In upstate NY, one of the signs of sring is the flowering of the skunk cabbage in the swamps, and here it is, in full flower.

Click on image to view larger. Photo by Mary Stebbins

SEASON OUT/INTAKE Messing in Spring

Ran out of intakes. Couldn't resist putting this one in. I cloned a car that was parked in the driveway in front of the little peach outhouse. Possibly could have spent a bit longer getting it all a bit darker to blend with the top but decided it could possibly look like that anyway and no-one would notice? Hmm it must have been a van as it came up to the guttering.

Getting Out the Discs

I don't know if this is any better or not. What I like to do it try different things and see if I like them. I LIKE ths picture! (Yours, I mean)