Photoshop: single of Melynda

So, I feel like this is my first major redo of a picture in Photoshop.

In the past I've cropped and changed finishes on a photo, but this time  I erased a whole person.  Ta da.  Magic.

Well, I guess I should give some background info first.

As you know, we had family pictures in December.  Well, while I thought we did almost every possible combination of "this person with that person", so on and so forth, it turns out we missed getting a single shot of Nina.

Turns out that Mom wants to put a single shot on the wall of each of the kids.

Uh, that would be a problem.

So I poked around and fixed that problem.

Exhibit A: Picture of Melynda and Zan

Now, there's nothing wrong with this picture.  I find it perfectly lovely.  But sorry Zan, I cut you out.

Exhibit B: Same picture, but now of just Melynda

Isn't she purty?

It's not perfect, as it is my first attempt.  But I had to clone her hair from another picture and then rotate it to fit right and then change the saturation and light levels on just that piece of hair to make it look like the rest.  Then I cloned a part of the wall that is above and to the right of Zan's head and put it over Zan's head.  And then I cropped to be a close in head shot.

Whew, got all that?

Spring

Sunshine and flowers.

I am happy.

Happy Birthday Lane!

For such a skinny kid he sure started out chunky.

Hey, hope you have a great day.  Love ya.

Jewelry Organization

So, up until now I've had the really classy jewelry organization system shown below.

Great huh?

Understandable how I forget I even have accessories.

Well, I decided this past weekend to remedy the situation.

So, I picked up some chicken wire from the hardware store...

...and this handy staple gun...

(can you believe I've lived without one of these so long?  neither can I.  especially as it was only 8.87)

...and stapled the wire to an extra frame I had lying around...

Perfect fit, it was meant to be.  I only had to trim two sides.

...I just clipped with my wire cutters...

...and then rolled over the sharp edges so they wouldn't scratch things...

ta da

I hung it in the closet.

The idea being that I can see everything as I'm getting dressed, and maybe it will remind me and I can actually use the things I have.

I forgot to get "s" hooks from Home Depot.

No biggie, I made my own out of wire that held the roll of chicken wire together.

Cost: Nothing

So Fun.

What do you think?

Let's dissect a picture, shall we?

If this were a spelling bee I would have just gotten "dissect" wrong.

I've spent the last few weeks being a little more social than normal.  It's probably good, development of inter-personal skills and all (and seeing as how it's been so much fun), but sometimes I want to call a full retreat.

At any rate, my home projects haven't moved very far in a while.

So, to fill in the home decorating hole in my heart I am feeling, let's take this picture from my April "House Beautiful" magazine that I am in love with and find what I like and what I don't.

(exhilarating, I know)

wow

Well, first off: I heart these eggs in display cases so much!

They are my favorite colors, they are interesting, and the dome glass covers are just so pretty.

Plus, museum feel.  Like. A lot.

Continuing the theme in the background: covered nests!  How fun.

Uh, I think we already established with my living room wall of pictures that I love the whole repeating dark frame thing.

Plus, I am insane about trees.  Great picture series.

Hello gorgeous multi-story high windows.  I will have you someday.

The only slightly off note (in my opinion)?

I can't look at this light fixture without wanting to reach over and straighten some stuff...It's driving me nuts.

Family Pictures

So, with the trip home in December naturally a family pictures session was arranged.

I put in some research hours to find a photographer with a few specific things I was looking for:

1) I needed the high resolution images digitally 

I can mess with a less than perfect image's colors, crop, treatment (basically anything that you could want) after the fact, but I didn't want just 30 or 40 images, and I certainly didn't want my family or myself to have to pay through the nose to have pictures printed through the photographer.

2) Yeah, price is always a factor

Yes, you want to compensate someone for their time and talents, but come on, some photographers cost sooo much.

3) I was looking for a "look" that I liked 

lets face it.  Some photographers can take pictures that may be technically good (lighting, etc), but that are still, well, boring.

Almost every other factor was not a deal breaker, but here are some perks that we enjoyed from the photographer we used, Ashley McFarlane (she's totally nice, by the way, and her blog is here).

- some photographers would ding you by how many people you have, not her

She dealt with our huge family for the time we booked, no added cost.

-She went the extra mile.

Seriously, it was like face falling off freezing and she was out working her camera with no gloves. Amazing.

Anyways, I've been using the images on different posts for a bit, most notably in the one where I printed pictures for my living room, but I'll show a small sampling of my favorites here.