fix it friday

Sorry for my absense in the blogging world this week. Between watching the pastor's kids twice this week and volunteering at our church's VBS, things have been just a bit...busy. And tiring, but mostly just busy. Oh, and another things that happened this week? I was stung by my first yellow jacket, that was in my hair. Beforwe you think that I have a stinger in my skull, let me say this: when Clark told me I had one in my hair, I subsequently reached back and shook my hair. Turns out those little suckers can hang on for dear life! When I reached up again, then I was stung. Right on the hand, but at least it wasn't my right hand. I jumped and screamed and cried...then cried some more. Poor Sam and Caleb...they had to witness my ugly cry. :)
And that concludes my totally unnecessary story, but hey...I've updated you on my life so far. You can thank me later. Also? Here's the real reason for my post!
This week's photo (original):

My edit:

Popped the colors a little bit and cropped the mailbox out of the frame. I wish I could blur out the light pole thing because I'd have totally done that by now. By the way, boy in the picture...I love how you're going for that I'm too cool for you attitude!

fix it friday

Yep, it's that day of the week again. I've now realized how it I really blog about without it being a certain day of the week post. Ya'll aren't getting tired of that are you, because if you are, feel free to leave me a comment saying so. I rarely ever get offended, and I really would appreciate feedback! Thanks in advance...
This week's photo (original):
Look at that cutie! I love how she's not looking directly at the camera, but off in the distance. I'm assuming someone's calling her name, so I guess that's the reason.

My edit:

Cropped it, and turned everything a pink-ish color too match her shirt. :) I'm so OCD most of the time...
Make sure to vote on my new profile picture, okay? I've only gotten one comment so far, but I'm not letting it get to me. Pretty please with a cherry on top!

fix it friday

No long, wordy explantion this week, just the pictures. And, to tell you the truth...I like it that way!
This week's photo (original):
I loved the angle to begin with, but, as most of the pictures for FIF, it was just not colorful enough. I know some photographers like the washed out look, and some edit the picture until it hurts to look at it because it's so bright. I'm in between, but I definitely like color in photos.

My edit:
Upped the brightness, saturation and color temp as high as it could go, along with bumping up the contrast just a bit. Also, cropping the photo wasn't necessary, but I did it anyway. Wow, I actually remembered what I did this time! Anyone want to pat me on the back?

I've got "Five Reads for Friday" scheduled for late tonight, so make sure you stop by tomorrow morning to see what posts really got me this week! And I promise that a real picture post, or two, is on its way.

fix it friday

Yay! I'm two for two in blogging each week for Fix It Friday. Small victory, I know, but seeing as I wasn't the greatest blogger in the world when I first started, I think I've had good progress...
Before we get to the pictures, there's some technical stuff that needs to be addressed. Angie and Amy (the founders of i heart faces) have recently been made aware that the generous people who have been supplying the pictures for Fix It Friday found out that their photos were being used without their permission. Since that happened, Angie and Amy have decided to only use the pictures that their official submissions people offer up for us, along with their photography business photos.
Now that all the techy stuff is out of the way, on to the pictures!
This week's edit (original):

My edit:
It was such an artistic shot already, but the color was off. I played around with it for the longest I ever have, but the only way I liked it was in black and white. At one time it looked like a 4-D ultrasound picture, and I considered leaving it that way since the original does look like the newborn is in the womb, but I decided to go with the B&W. I also cropped and rotated it, but that's just about it.

Enjoy your weekend, dear blog readers! We've got a little get together planned for Clark's Zoology co-op buddies, along with a bridal shower on Sunday for one of our favorite ladies, the Children's Director for CBS.  Needless to say, my blogging might be few and far between, but I'll be back with a great surprise later this week. Aha! I've got your attention now, eh?

fix it friday

Yay! I'm finally getting to post a Fix it Friday on the same week it's supposed to be done. Actually, I have to confess that I toyed around with the idea of not doing it this week, for the sole reason that I had some other idea for posts that were also "blog-about-this-thing-this-day" type thing. Why, oh why does very thing have to be on the same day? Why can't it be on a Tuesday or something? Oh well, "Fix It Tuesday" doesn't quite have the same ring to it, I guess...
Before I go off on a rabbit trail, which I do quite often, I'd better direct you to this week's photo that's in need of some help! I'm pretty pleased with my edit, although I have no idea what in the world I did to make it so pretty.
This week's edit (original photo):
They are too cute, don't you think? I can't get over their candid faces! I measure a photographer's success in the candid shots they take, actually.

My edit:
I know I messed around with everything option I had, like exposure, brightness, saturation and all of that. And  I wish I knew how I turned the background that awesome blue color, but, of course, I don't. The good thing about having photoshop? You can save the way you made certain pictures look and then, with a click of a button, apply it to any photo you upload. Sigh...It must be really nice to have that feature, especially for a forgetful person like me.

I'm working on some other posts, scheduled for this weekend, so be sure to check back later tonight and tomorrow afternoon. But, as you know, no posts on Sunday. :)

fix it friday

Seems like I can't do a Fix It Friday post every week! Granted, we were at the beach last Friday, and there were many reasons why last week's picture didn't get posted. A computer that would make the picture black whenever I tried to edit the color temp, brightness, etc. was only one of them...
Last week's photo (original) :

My edit:
It's a little fuzzy, no? I think I messed around with the editing tools too much. But it's an improvement from the original; the first one was dark and washed out.

This week's photo (original):
She's a little cutie, isn't she? Such big, dark eyes! And that dress she's got on...so pretty.

My edit:
Just cropped it, played with pretty much everything until it turned black and white. And, man...those eyes are really getting to me! I also love how I made the background blur a tad more, kinda like bokeh.

Feel free to download these photos, but only the originals, for your own Fix It Friday post, then link up at I heart Faces.com and leave me a comment saying you did it! That last instruction was mainly just for me to see your edits. :)

fix it friday

I first found i heart faces over at Miss Lori's, but it hadn't occurred to me that I could actually submit anything. Since I don't have a nice camera, I guess that was my reason for it, but when I saw a "Fix it Friday" on Leslie's Photography Blog, it suddenly dawned on me that I didn't have to have a fancy camera, although my dream of owning one is alot closer than I thought it would be, and I most certainly didn't need some expensive photo editing thing. Windows Photo Gallery has served me well, and I think these pictures turned out pretty awesome.
For those of you who are new to the whole "Fix it Friday" thing, like I am, I'll share my limited knowledge with you, but if you want the official instructions, go HERE. As far as I know, you download that week's picture, which is submitted by a reader who needs somebody to help them perk up their photo a bit, edit it on whatever photo editing program you use, post on your blog, and go on back to the site to submit your edited photo with their really cool  Mcklinky thing. Am I the only one who thinks Mcklinky's are the coolest thing ever? Yes? Okay, then. Moving on to the pictures.
I actually have last week's and this week's photos, so here we go...
This was last week's photo (original):

The edited version:

Not real sure what I did to it, but I know I upped the Brightness and...something else. I need to keep better track of what I do, don't I?
Here's this week's photo (original):

The edited version:

They turned out pretty well, don't you think? Who needs Photoshop and Lightroom when you have good ol', trusty Windows Photo Gallery? Oh, who am I kidding? I really want a nice photo editing program, and that little pep talk I gave myself didn't help. :)