eye spy

eye spy

i love photoshop. it has so many cool features, it seems like you'll never run out of cool things to learn. clearly my latest photoshop addiction is post processing pictures. mainly defogging and sharpening. all digital cameras leave a bit of a fog or haze on pictures that you don't really notice until you compare them side by side. i took this pic of my niece today when she & my sister stopped by this afternoon. the picture below is SOOC (straight out of camera). it doesn't grayish toned, and doesn't show off her beautiful greenish brown eyes. hurray for the magic of photoshop! oh and i got a fun new photoshop action today from mcp called eye doctor and dentist. this is one of the actions she makes that does work in elements (not all of them do), just check the item description if you're wondering. anyway, i was itching to try it out, so i begged maddie for a pic! :)

madison SOOC

how lucky am i that my mom, sister & niece came and had lunch with me today! my mom wanted a new facebook profile pic (LOL!) so she got her pic too. i'm not sure i really like how the post processing turned out... she looks kinda gray to me. sorry mom! but isn't she beautiful!

i also got another chance to try out my new super secret spy lens from photojojo. see madison holding the spy lens attachment with one creepy looking eye staring back at me. :) (my mom made that super cute little hat for her.)

now, it's way easier to get people who are standing or sitting still with the spy lens... but it is getting slightly easier to use. also, the more light you have available the better. once it gets warmer, i plan on bringing it to some bbq's and catching people unaware. my mom, sister, niece and i all messed around with it this afternoon. i got this shot of my mom knitting on my couch.

holy moly

holy moly

holy moly is right! i think we have a herd of fast digging (or fast breeding) moles in our yard. their little mounds are popping up everywhere, and we're starting to look like a scene from caddy shack. :) if anyone has any good mole-ridding tricks, let me know!

beside that though, it was a beautiful day. i had coffee with my sis & our friend jennifer. we took a walk and hung out for a few hours while all of the kids were at school. just a nice mom day to enjoy the sunshine. we also busted out my new super secret spy lens from photojojo. getting used to it was a bit like trying to pluck a gray hair out of the back of your head using two mirrors to pin point it. it can be done, but it takes some practice. lol.

after jennifer took off, i decided to walk around my yard a bit looking for some fun pics, and to mess around with my *spy* lens. (none of these 4 shots were from he spy lens.) oh, and to answer the question about the middle pic from yesterday, i defogged it in photoshop, and sharpened it.

i think madrona trees are so cool looking. their bark is a bright rusty orange color, and they're always peeling all over the place. just a cool weathered looking tree trunk.

this moss was on some old fallen trees in our yard. it was so fuzzy looking, and in that bottom pic... those little mushroom looking things reminded me of something off of a scifi movie. :)