Annie Knits

Picture Play

I've been toying with my camera and with photo editing software I got for my computer.

When Hubster got me the computer last year, he got me Apple's professional photo editing software, Aperture.  For this Photoshop girl, Aperture was a mystery.  I couldn't even get beyond uploading pictures.  Very frustrating as all the forums I read kept touting how intuitive the program is.  My intuition must be broken.  Or skewed by years of Microsoft programs.  Whatever.

The classes for using Aperture are offered the first Monday of the month at a far away mall's Apple store and that always seemed to be a time when I couldn't up and leave the house from 5:30 to 9.  Well, I didn't make it a priority and when I'd look at the class schedule once in awhile, I couldn't go that month.  Whatever again.

Enter Apple's new program, iLife.  Phew.  Now I can do more complex photo editing with iPhoto.  I can manage tone and tint and balance with easy slide icons.  I can mess with fun edge treatments.  I still have to figure out how to layer in text, say for a banner image for the blog.

Above is the un-retouched photo.  Pretty, isn't it?  With the red and not-quite-traditional-Christmas green bulbs in a cracked glass bowl with December twilight in the background?  I lost this picture for a year on a misplaced San-disk or I'd have used it for a holiday blog banner this year.  Maybe next year.  Anyway.

Play with the color saturation, the edge focus, and the contrast a little, crop a little and voila:

A lovely picture made more vibrant and arresting I think.  I don't know, maybe your monitor doesn't register a difference.  Mine does.  

Those of you who blog, or even you who don't and just save your pictures digitally, do you retouch your pictures before you post or save them?  

Just curious.  I almost always do, even though it often adds 45 minutes to an hour to my blogging time because I'm just not familiar with this software... yet.  

Maybe I should use this image for a Christmas card next year.  That would, of course, require sending Christmas cards.  Which I should do anyway, but have gotten out of the habit of doing...  Perhaps this could be the motivation.

*Cricket Noises*

My life is sucking the life out of me.

Right now I'm thankful for:

• Hallelujah Chorus flash mobs.    

Since Father John said I'm not to be thankful for my health or my happiness (actually an excellent homily on Thanksgiving morning -- again, I say, we're lucky to have this guy) I'm thankful for the things that contribute to those things (which I do have, thankyouverymuch...)   

  

Like this spinning group meet-up at the shop.  We spun.  We carded.  We ate cookies.  What a great afternoon.

On Thanksgiving proper, Dear Daughter and I spent the morning with our Parish family making Thanksgiving dinners for our elderly and shut-in parishioners.  That's always a party.  Dear Son and Hubster helped deliver the dinners.

That afternoon, after eating Thanksgiving dinner out for the first time in my life (the food was fine -- made better, of course, by the fact that I didn't have to cook it all nor did I clean up after the meal), I got to sit in my in-laws' family room and knit.  All afternoon.

To whit.  Yay me.  (Vogue Knitting, #11 Eyelet Cowl, Hello Yarn fiber, 4.2 ounces.)  

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely too.