monkeying around

We don't have enough art in our house.  And while I know what I like, my husband has a hard time finding anything he wants to look at daily for the next few years. (Ahem. Excluding me.)

I was looking on-line at some posters, trying to hash out some idea of what to put in the livingroom, when B whirled, his eyes shining. 'I know! Let's put up some of your pictures!'

I lurvvvve my camera, but I am an amateur photographer at best.  I was skeptical. 'Really?'

And he nodded. Well, dayum. I wish he'd told me that several years ago!

Off we went to look at the trillions of photos I'm holding captive on my hard drive.

We found several we thought were nice - the kids, scenery, sky shots - but they lost their lustre and a lot of the energy they had once they were printed out.

It was time to spruce them up.

First things first. I like Picasa, since it's easy (and free!) and I can't figure out Photoshop. Picasa offers some great editing and punching-up features, like a 'warmify' button or a 'filtered black and white' option, and is a great tool to fool around with.

But I wanted more pizzaz.

Looky what I made:
from this:

to this:

(from Flick'r toys)
and this:

warms up nicely to this:

(Photoshop Express)
yeah, yeah, but this is the EASY Photoshop...

and even crazy things like this:

(PhotoFunia)

and now instead of nothing to put on the walls, I have too much.
(You saw this coming, didn't you?)

Hmph. Now since I did all this creating (or playing around, take yer pick)  he should winnow down what he likes, right?

Which brings us back to the debate thing again.....sigh.

Oh well. At least we'll have plenty to talk about this winter.

What are your favorite photo sites?

Comments

[Woman in a window]

That last shot makes me so jealous. Nice. Adobe is my friend but only 'cause my husband coaches me.

[Denguy]

I've been using Photoshop since version 1.0, so I tend to stick with that, but my kids use Photo Booth when they want to mess with pictures.

By the way, who wrote this article?