I've been working hard lately, trying to get just the right photo the first time, straight out of the camera. The better I learn how to use my camera, obviously, the better my photos will be!

This however, wasn't one of those terrific shots to begin with. Oh, it was a good picture, but I saw that it had much more potential.

At the same time I'm learning to use my camera, I'm also increasing my Photoshop skills. This is a great program, and I've been using it for more than 7 years now. Even with all those years, there is still so much more to do with it. It seems to me sometimes that I've barely even scratched the surface!

So I took this pretty good photo into Photoshop. I did some cropping, color adjusting, some layer masks, blurring, erasing and much more! About 1 hour later I came up with the finished product. I can hear you asking, "Why spend so much time on one picture?" Well, look at the finished results and I hope you'll agree that it was time well spent!

I took this photo at my Mom and Dad's house last summer. If I ever want to get some great Flower Pictures, their house is THE place to go! Flowers all around the house, and some great diversity of flora too!

Here's the before and after together. What a difference huh!

Title: Black Eyed Susans
Size 8" X 10"

Going outside yesterday morning to warm up the van, it was cold, really cold! As soon as I went out the front door I saw the frost on the windows of the van and thought, "Hmmmm, I'm so glad I'm doing this!" Did I mention that I hate to scrape windows in the early morning? (or anytime) Well, imagine my delight when I opened the door and saw this view through the passenger windows!

The sun was just beginning to peek over the neighborhood houses, and the sky was that gorgeous mix of pastel shades. This kind of sky has been etched in my memories from childhood, when my brother and I would wait for the bus at the end of our loooonnngggg lane. Beautiful!


Anyway, as soon as I saw the light shining through the frost, I just knew I had to get a picture of it. I ran back to the house, grabbed the camera, went back out in the cold, and started shooting. Got back in the house, then remembered the reason I went out to the frozen tundra, that is my driveway, in the first place was to start the van. . . . oops! Back out in the cold to get the job done.

It was so worth getting a little frostbite to get these images. I see God in them.