Back to the Louvre

Oh my gosh, what did we do before digital photography??  Well, mostly I didn't....too much fuss and expense.  Now it's so easy.  So here I just brought up a photo I had taken in the Louvre a couple of years ago and I did a small rework.  I am still working on the extraction tools and haven't yet tackled anything as fussy as 'flying hair' but soon!  But a few extra layers, borders, backgrounds, overlays, tons of fun and c'est fini!  Such an interesting journey this is!

This pic had some other bits and pieces in the original that I can now remove easily (no flying bits here!....well, just the wings I guess)  and I am getting more comfortable with adding borders, lighting, etc.  Oh this does make living at my kitchen table so much more palatable!

I'll be back....

A little frustration and a small view

I am still playing with my photos, trying to understand image size, save for web, importing into Lightroom (good grief, where did it go??), messing about in Photoshop, and basically moving files around from here to ..... where???

So this is one I have played with before. A street scene in Arles.  I am adding it here to see how it might look after all the madness I went through to get it here: I imported it from a file of my 'web version' photos, then ran it through Topaz Impressions (which I may or may not have installed correctly, so I seem to have to run it outside of Photoshop), then I re-saved it, then I brought it into  Photoshop, applied some layers, filters and effects, and when I checked the image size, it was about one inch by one inch.  All-righty-then!

More baby steps.  LOTS more baby steps!
Learning, learning.  I'm going out for coffee.  Seems the sensible thing to do just now!

I'll be back.

Topaz Impression

I have purchased a programme that works inside Photoshop and that allows one to make some pretty exciting pictures, using one's own photos.  It's great but it reminds me a lot of some of the apps I purchased to use with my iPad.  Except that the iPad apps are a lot (LOT) less expensive.  Still, it's lots of fun and I will certainly concede that I have only just scratched the surface of its possibilities so I expect that in time I may change my mind.  Some of the work that other people have done is awesome.

Anyway, it's called Topaz Impression and is just one of a number of possible purchases under the Topaz umbrella.  It's all pretty amazing!

Lots to do, tons to learn,....I'll be back...

Roses

Still playing about with Photoshop and all the bits and pieces that that entails.  Working my way through (ALL!!) the classes I'm doing at the moment....thank goodness for 'lifetime access'!

This is a pic I took 5 or 6 years ago at a B &B we stayed at in Port Townsend.  Lots of lovely bits of ephemera about the place.  I'm still just trying out lots of different layers, filters, layer masks, etc.  I've installed (sort of) a couple of 'plug ins' and because of my lo-tech (read: total lack of) capabilities, I'm never sure if they are running properly or not.  Lots of deep breaths!!!

But some progress.  There's no hurry.
I'll be back.

Edges and borders

More busy-ness with the courses that I am taking.  Which is great.  I have been learning about adding borders and edges to my pictures.  It's a good job that I am taking notes as I am watching these lessons because I would never remember all the steps.  The old brain just can't cope with all this information anymore!!!

These two pics, of a window in Arles, show two different edge effects.  One with a blurred edge and the other with a more solid line around the edge of the image.  They are also both set into a white border (not sure if that will show up once I have hit the 'publish' button.  I notice that Google puts a bit of a border around posted pictures anyway, so this might be a two for one!  We'll see.)

I have also started using a Intuos Pro tablet for my Photoshop work and am trying out using it for all my computering.  It's interesting and a bit of a learning curve....one sort of throws out the mouse and goes for it.  It means that one simply places the cursor where one intends to start typing or working an effect.  Some things are a bit awkward, but I can see that in the long run, especially with Photoshop, things will move along a lot more quickly.  And soon, efficiently, I hope!!!

And one more, just so you know it's not all about just windows!!

With this one I played with the lighting as well.  So much to learn!!!

But it's great fun, and as long as I can remember what it is that I have been doing, hopefully I'll remember where to find the information again should I want to repeat any of these steps!!!  Never a dull moment!!  It's all good.

I'll be back.

Breakfast out.

One of the lessons I am studying is the Watercolour Lesson  with a line art layer.  I love it and am playing about with it quite a lot.  It's fun.  This one is a table in a restaurant from many years ago.  Coming back to life here!

I'm still not done with this technique!!  I'll be back!

Oh the madness!!!

Still playing but the possibilities are pretty much infinite.  And at some point one has to say 'Done!'
I think.  These are two pics from Lille, France.  The gite we stayed at there had a spectacular garden.  And so I have LOTS of pics to choose from.  And here I am trying to choose between cropping, or not.  Which filters to use.  Which overlays.  Warmer, cooler.  And my laptop screen shows a much lighter, warmer version than my iPad.  Agh!!  And so, with photoshop, and Life, too, I suppose.....what is real????

The fun part is real.  I'm going with that!  Which version do you like best?