Taking a Photograph from blah to better!

This is my Ru Ru. Well she isn’t exactly mine. She belongs to my son but she has no idea that she is not one of my grandchildren. She thinks that I go over just to see her. Her real name is Rudie but I often call her Ru Ru. I spoil her. Whenever I babysit her I take her for a ride in the car which she loves. Last time I watched her I took her for several walks and a ride in the car. I even sneak her up on the couch with me sometimes. Ssshhhh don’t tell her mom and dad. That isn’t allowed at her house 😦

As you can see this first photo is a little blah. Using Photoshop we are going to use the content aware tool to remove the water hose that is behind her head. So we begin by using the marquee tool to make a selection around part of the water hose. I don’t go all the way to her head because it will pick up from that. Next go to Edit > Fill > Contents > Use > Content Aware. Blending Mode, normal, Opacity 100%. And like magic the part of the photo that you don’t want disappears.

Then I used the clone tool to clean up the rest of the small bits of the water hose that were close to her head.

Now we can work on perking things up a bit. Under Image go to Adjustments then levels. First use the black eye dropper to pick out the darkest part of your photo. I used Rudie’s nose.

Next do the same thing with the white eye dropper.

Next use the gray eye dropper. This one you may want to click around on various shades of gray in your photo until the overall color is what you think it should be. Sometimes what you think you should click on isn’t going to work. Do this a few times and you will see what I mean. The first time I clicked on the white part of her chest that was near the bottom sort of shaded. The photo was still to dull. Then I decided to just try clicking on the silver part of her black collar and I knew that was where it should be.

I always use the dodge tool set to about 12 to highlight the sparkle in the eyes and the iris as well.

Now isn’t that so much better?!

A Watercolor Painting – Not

A friend told me about this interesting method of painting. Take a photo that you like and turn it into a black and white. Then fade it considerably. Then print it out on watercolor paper and use watercolors to “paint” over it. Sounds like fun except that when I printed the photo I was going to use I couldn’t bear to put a paintbrush to it. I love it the way it is. I will have to try again on another photo. This is my Darla.

To Be a Bee

The New Me

I borrowed this mannequin from a friend for a later tutorial so I thought I would also use her for a new avatar. I think she is so much fun but she is probably going to scare the heck out of me when I get up in the middle of the night. She is sitting in the living room.

Layers

Pink and Blue

The Life of Pi – Book Discussion Guide

I found this fabulous book discussion guide by the Skokie Public Library for the book The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It is in pdf form. Loads of discussion material here.

I read the book several years ago and found it to be quite interesting and rather startling at the same time. My grandson just saw the movie so we have been having a lot of fun talking about it. I thought it was a bit much for an eight year old but then again I am only the grandparent.

It’s the kind of book that can be read over and over and probably should be. As an animal lover it was difficult for me to read so I know that I will not watch the movie. Probably not the kind of book you want to read before going on a cruise nowadays with all of the craziness going on in that industry.

Light and Leaves

Digital Fish Abstract

Condoms

Something you take for granted right now. If the United States were to suffer a total economic collapse or fall victim to a far reaching disaster of any kind the stores might eventually run out of condoms. Yes even in times of great peril people still want to have sex and that would certainly be the most inopportune time to get pregnant.

Stocking up on this most precious commodity now seems like a good idea to me. You know the old saying, if you fail to plan you plan to fail.

So even if you aren’t a prepper you should add them to your emergency list:

1. Water

2. Toilet Tissue

3. Non-perishable food items

4. Pet food

5. Batteries

6. Condoms

You’re Welcome