I’m sick of wind! I work a lot outside, and when you come inside and your hair is crazy looking, it’s not a good thing. Cleaning out your ears with more than two Q-tips. No bueno. It’s not a good look!!! Anyways, I decided we would plant some more “flats” as they are called in the gardening world (who knew?). Gotta keep the munchkin busy when its crap outside.
Gotta love dirt indoors…yeah, not really, but luckily I have mostly tile floors. I’m sure everyone is sick and tired of hearing about this garden so on another note that is completely off the subject…does anyone ever see their “views” skyrocket in an hour or two? Mine did today but I’m not sure if it’s a “bug” or something. I’m thinking it was, because it wasnt just by a few it was like 70 hits in two hours. Not normal for my little ole’ blog.
Afterwards we read about animals. What you see here is the crocodile! Ahhhh….scary! I’ve been reading a lot about B&W lately. I see the term “flat” used a lot, but I’m not sure what it means. What makes a good B&W photo? Emotion, shadows, etc. etc.??? Help would be appreciated!
I know there is a lot of debate about textures and if they improve or ruin a photo. I would have to be on the side of artistic expression, therefore improvement, for lack of a better word. For those who have been with me on my journey so far, you know I love to use textures. Here’s the thing though. I don’t do them necessarily to make a photo better, but to play. It keeps me inspired to see different looks for the same image. I think about what photo’s I would like to try to take and what texture I would like to apply to it. Mostly though, I do it to learn how to work the archaic PSE I have. I find out new things every time I try to apply textures. I just learned today that you can apply textures to 3 different layers. Not sure why you would do that, but I’m sure there’s a reason. I also learned how to make a layer by itself in PSE today….I think. Its fun! So I do it!
As a side note about watermarks, I have found some amazing tutorials on watermarks, and always appreciate it when people are willing to teach (I think I say that a lot, but it’s true), however, until today I never fully understood that when you put a watermark on a texture or layer it doesn’t work. Maybe its just me, but I have to put it on my duplicate of the original. Maybe it’s because I have a really old version of Elements or maybe I missed something? Either way…learning by leaps and bounds.
Miss Morgan's 365 Photo Project 
Mar 07, 2011 @ 22:14:51
Looks like Roman had a great time with the flats! 🙂
I like your textures! I think done correctly, they add to an image. I have seen some textures overpower the actual image (not a good thing), I don’t believe you do that. Well done on the texture image, V looks great!
Mar 10, 2011 @ 21:08:51
He sure did! What kid doesnt like getting dirty indoors? :). And thank you!
Mar 07, 2011 @ 23:19:27
Great perspective on the shots with Roman. I like!
B&W? For me (and I have nothing technical to offer on the matter, unfortunately) it’s all about mood and the emotion it evokes. My mom always took the shots in B&W that she said she wanted to keep forever, because color fades (back in the day when we printed everything out). As far as it being “flat” I think it has to do with the tones. Your B&W has good depth and contrast. When the contrast isn’t great enough and the photo is more grayish and washed out – that’s when they look flat to me. I hope that makes sense. That’s just me trying to explain what my eye sees! Yours is very sharp. 🙂
I think it’s great that you’re looking for more creative things to do with your photos!
Mar 10, 2011 @ 21:08:22
Thank you Jolene! And thank you for explaining “flat”. I understand finally! Sometimes it takes me a little while! And Im always trying to learn and improve. Now if I could figure out why my colors are red on everyone elses computers and prints, but not on mine, I would be happy!
Mar 08, 2011 @ 05:03:36
Hey, thanks for the mention! I’m happy to help, in whatever way I can! 🙂 When I do a b&w photo, I end up playing around with the colors until I get the look I want. Hey – you just gave me another tutorial idea! 🙂 I think your texture photo looks great – I actually just posted a texture photo of one of my cats last night!
Mar 10, 2011 @ 21:05:40
No problem. Thanks for teaching!
Mar 09, 2011 @ 14:16:39
Like Jolene, I use b&w mainly for mood and emotions. Though for some images, because of poor technical details or washed out colors can become interesting when converted to b&w. As for textures, it depends on the image and what you want to convey. And of course it’s great for saving an out of focus but other wise interesting photo.
Mar 10, 2011 @ 20:58:47
That seems to be a common reason. Im going to have to start playing with it more!
Mar 09, 2011 @ 15:09:39
I really enjoy watching you play and learn. It helps me play and learn, too. 🙂
I’ll be working on flats when I get home. I’d better start deciding what I want to plant this year!
As for the wind and hair, I know what you mean! The wind here in Florida has been incredible. I actually found my hair looking pretty good for a day or two, somehow being arranged in a wind blown look that I would find impossible to recreate. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.
Mar 10, 2011 @ 20:56:49
Thats an amazing complement! Thank you!
Im so jealous of you going into Florida! Im glad you had a wonderful time!
Mar 09, 2011 @ 19:18:16
great idea… I think we should probably start some flats of our own!
Mar 10, 2011 @ 20:53:31
We’ll see if they work! Let me know if they work for you!