Saturday, June 12, 2010

Saturday encore ~ Mon petit fleurs and a few thoughts on Photoshop ... and we announce the winners

First things first. Thanks to everyone for participating in the "I'll do my best to fix your photo" contest. I was trying to think of a clever way to randomly select the winner, but I couldn't. So I've decided that all 26 of you who left a comment on this post are winners. I will Photoshop the digital photo of your choice and make it as perfect as I know how.

Now don't go thinking I've lost my mind - there's something in this for me, too. I've been thinking that when I retire from my day job, I'll need to do something to keep busy, and fixing other people's photos might be one of those things. So fixing your photos will be a test to see if Photoshopping my way into old age is something I really want to do.

Here's what you need to do to claim your prize:

1. E-mail the picture you would like fixed to: the7msn at gmail dot com. Please send the highest resolution/largest file that you have. Or if your photo is available somewhere online, send me the link.

2. Tell me if there is something specific you would like to see fixed (e.g., remove my ex-husband, make me a blonde, get rid of those wrinkles), otherwise I'll use my best judgment and do to your photo what I do to mine - improve the color, maybe crop it, bring out the details, etc.

3. Let me know if I have your permission to share the before/after of your photo on this blog. This might be the start of a regular feature here – Touch-up Tuesday or something like that. We'll see. If you don't want your photo published here, that's perfectly fine, too.

Thanks again for playing along ... and helping me plan my future.

* * * * *

This post from November 2009 seems most appropriate for today's encore presentation because it's about ...you guessed it... Photoshop.


The feline bouquet was arranged for dinner.

Daffodil sat atop the washer, looking like the prim and polite pile of purr she pretends to be.


Rosebud relaxed on the dryer, with her one big ear and one little ear (a story for another time), staring soulfully into my eyes.


Snapper (officially Snapdragon) snarled while he waited for me to snag his dinner and stop snapping pictures.



The lighting was perfect, and the felines were looking their expressive best. Too bad about the yucky white appliances, the electric cords, and the not-so-flattering paint color on the walls behind them.

Enter Photoshop.




Applying textures in Photoshop seems to be all the rage these days, so I thought I'd give it a try. I like what this texture* does to these images. Almost makes me want to repaint the laundry room.

Photoshop is to today's digital photographer what the darkroom was to yesterday's film photographer – a tool to make a good photograph better, or to express or enhance one's style. I use it all the time, if for no other reason than to remove the specks that show up in the sky because I neglected to clean the camera lens.


*Texture is courtesy of Jessica Drossin Photography , via the MCP Actions site. Thank you, Jessica and Jodi.

14 comments:

  1. Congrats to ALL of us! You totally spoil us Carson.

    Amazing what you do with pictures.

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  2. That is so exciting that you picked us all! (Doin' a happy dance!)

    Thank you so much, and I will get my photo in to you, pronto!

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  3. Your generosity of spirit is overwhelming. Thank you so much for deciding to choose not to choose.

    I love how simply applying a new texture enhanced these photos so much.

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  4. Thin Q, thin Q, thin Q very much!
    I am so excited that my lousy photo of what I think is a great subject will be 'fixed'.
    Hooray!
    It will be on it's way shortly!

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  5. Christmas in June! Can't wait to see all the pictures and the fixes. You are helping me learn all this. If I could just retain it.

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  6. yay! I can't wait...I've not always had a positive attitude about Photoshop bc I've seen so many photos that people have overdone. But, when a friend of mine was able to photoshop another teenager out of an otherwise beautiful shot of my firstborn, I realized there was a time and place for Photoshop. This post is another example. I LOVE the first shot especially...make a work of art out of the photo of your precious cats...which is why you were taking the photo in the first place! :) can't wait to see what you do with other photos :):)

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  7. Love these before and after pictures... so inspiring! And too bad we can't use Photoshop on the real walls;-)

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  8. I remember this post of your Cats' portraits. Love it just as much today as I did then.

    Everybody wins ? Really ? That's wonderful ! And do we get to see everybody's before and afters too ? That would be so cool. I'll email my picture file right away. Thanks so much !

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  9. Linda, this is incredible generous of you. I was too embarrassed to submit a photo before, but now I'm ready, thanks to your "everybody is a winner" decision.

    I've posted two photos on my blog at http://zeesgowest.blogspot.com/2010/06/digital-challenge.html. Since I don't really know what Photoshop can do, I'm letting you choose the most reasonable one.

    You can be the judge of what needs to be done and, yes, you have my permission to use the photos in any way you want.

    Thank you!

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  10. How cool! And the cats are adorable. I love they way the texture brings them out.

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  11. Wow, I can't believe how much better the cat pics look with that background!

    Thanks for fixing our pics, I can't wait to see them all.

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  12. Totally cool, Carson. I can't wait to see what you do. :) And I love the idea of Touch-up Tuesday - awesome!

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  13. woooo-hooooo! I love a contest where everyone wins :)


    THANKS>>>>

    now....just where ARE those pics of mine.......

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  14. Aww, love your puddy-tats! :)

    Re: Textures. I have a piece of acetate that I 'scrubbed' with a bit of sandpaper and I scan that into my computer when I need texture. Depending on which later type you use, you can get lots of really interesting effects :)

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