Be Lovely

To read my devotional Lavender thoughts, go here

Container Garden in June

These are the containers in my front yard. Already they are more lush. This week's heat should give them a growth spurt.

Oregon Blackberries

Made with Picasa collage, picture pile style.

Click to view huge-*giggle*

Sepia challenge

My entry for the Sepia challenge. (click button to visit iheart faces)



Click to see large

This was a raw edit that needed help. It was a spontaneous shoot with the very last light of the day. I played so much with this it's hard to recall. As a final step I did a bit of selective dodging to deepen the shadows in areas.

materials used from Crystal Wilkerson's 365 project kit.

Tip: Taking Photos in The Snow

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If you have a snow setting on your camera, be sure to use it! In a snow environment, your camera thinks there is too much light and darkens your photos. The snow setting will take a more normal exposure for you.

If you are shooting in manual mode or similar, take a test shot and use your exposure compensation to get a lighter result.

To lighten a dark snow photo, open photo in editing program, copy to a layer, set blending mode to screen. If this is too light, reduce opacity. If it is too dark, copy the layer again until the photo is correct. If the final layer is too bright, the opacity will help you to refine. Flatten. Save.

In Picasa, First gently use the highlights slider watching to preserve detail in the photo's brightest spots. Then carefully use the fill light slider. For the snowiest of snow photos, go to the "glow" effect. Reduce slider if need be, apply. Next go to sharpening, use the slider and watch to see if the sharpening improves your photo, apply if you like it, cancel if not.

*The glow effect is fabulous on snow photos, you gotta try it.

(paper by Summer Driggs)

This is Me: First Car

background paper: by Dielle