Month: December 2010

When it comes to photo editing, I’m of the “less is best” school. Oh I think it’s AWESOME when I see people doing cool things… it’s just not for me.

Sometimes I don’t even bother with Photoshop either. Like for red eye (which Becca gets ALWAYS if flash is used). I just open up the windows picture thing & click. Easy.

Of course sometimes I do love my PSE – one example is when I want to “desaturate” people or background that is bugging me…

See the difference between photo on left and right? This worked especially well on this photo since the people were in front of brown/non colorful things. Now the bright colors are just the ones I want.

To do this I just select a nice round brush, set settings to desaturate (usually around 30% and I go back over much as I need to) then mellow out the people I don’t want to have in focus/so bright. I do this sometimes with group shots or on occasion where the colors are just really distracting. To do that I just go to enhance and adjust the saturation of the photo so that it’s more tinted then full color.

Mostly though, I’m a print & make it work kind of girl. I just finished editing, backing up, and ordering all my prints from Oct-Dec 2010 (I got a bit behind) so I’m READY, slate all clean for 2011…

bring in the new year!

I love the holiday season, and I love all the gatherings and fun… but this weekend I’m really looking forward to some quiet time!! Some catch up on ordering photos, create a bit, and be productive time. I’ve already started – here’s some photos (and thoughts) as I edit/sort/delete/and order holiday prints…

I can’t quite bring myself to delete this one. It reminds me of a swirling transition in an old superhero movie/show or something. Then there is my FAVORITE photo:

Girls in their holiday socks + new skirts + unbrushed hair… holding our elf on the shelf (it’s ok to hug him on Christmas I said) and the slightly messy remnants of Christmas morning behind them. Such a unplanned (and un-cropped) moment and I love it. Much like I love this photo…

I have such a thing for imperfect family photos. When not everyone is smiling or somebody looks goofy or something is wrong or not cropped well or whatever – I LOVE IT!!  It screams “real” to me and reminds me of the pre-digital era when we didn’t know what photos had turned out until the film was developed.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with some editing tips that I use a lot – and watch for more information about my upcoming BPS class and a give-away this weekend!!

I saw this in Target, at 7:01am on the 26th of December man… not funny.

I was there to return/exchange one of Becca’s santa presents… not to get overwhelmed!!

In happy news: Christmas has been removed from the inside of my house. My deadline is always by 12/30 so I can ring in New Year fresh and clean.

Speaking of fresh and clean, back to the laundry mountain range…

Wishing you all the best for some super happy holidays!!!

One of our Disney World “holiday” shots… it was SO COLD!! We had sweaters, hats, and loads of layers on always. Not real photogenic mostly, but we were cozy.

Around the holidays we were big puzzle people when I was a kid. It was kinda cool – even in teen years I might come home from a party and work for a while with grandpa or a cousin, aunt, or mom… some people would stay up late working, other people just wander in & out picking up a piece or two. 🙂 I have fond memories of that, in fact last time we had a big family gathering here at my house several puzzles were done. Love it.

This 1000 piece puzzle is one I bought last summer. I also have a new (much smaller) puzzle that Elizabeth and Becca can help put together too. But the one above? I’m going to do it by myself this year (mostly)… that’s intentional. You see, I’m taking off for a while for some peace & quiet… or at least as much as a mom of 2 young girls can get. I’ll probably still be posting on Twitter & Facebook though… Oh and some books to read. and some creative PLAY. Ooh and baking. and quality family time. and general staring at wall and doing nothing because I can time. Ah, but I wouldn’t leave you without a gift.

I’ve been making some cards, and pairing them with some Girls’ Paperie chipboard letters (in a festive red) and sending out some post-Christmas happy mail sounds like a lot of fun. So if you’d like a homemade card + girls paperie surprise then leave a comment here! I’ll draw a winner when I return to blog-land around the 29th…

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!

They check out all your prints. They claim to do their best to maximize your images & give you best possible.

Well they did great by me, and as long as you’re ordering 100 prints (which for me, isn’t that hard to do!) the pricing is pretty fair for what you get. They shipped my orders the first business day they had it (even if post office held one ‘hostage’ for 8 days!!), and I was impressed with the sharpness, clarity, and color quality of my prints. Yes I ordered 2 batches from here about a week apart. Not one print did I say “oh, maybe I’ll go photoshop this a bit then re-print…”

(bad color on pic above – don’t blame printer!!) I also sent them my Disney photo CD prints – and unlike some places (Costco!!) I didn’t have issues with the edges being cut of or off center. Oh – and they take paypal (hooray)… so there’s a lot to love about Persnickety for me.

http://www.persnicketyprints.com

But here’s the rub: They don’t have a big variety of sizes, and if I’m ordering small batches the prices are way higher.

So where does that leave me? Well I’d recommend them highly, and I think they lived up to expectation and promise. I will also be a return customer. But I can’t be monogamous with them – they don’t have all I need and sometimes I only need maybe 50-75 prints.

Do you have favorite photo place(s) for printing? Who? Where? Why? Feel free to share!