"No, I'm simply saying that life, uh... finds a way."- Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
Since I read this photoshop tutorial on using textures several months ago. I've tried it on a couple dozen photos. I think I've got the "how" part down pat. I'm just not so sure about the end result. Every time I do it to one of my photos, it comes out looking like "What's that weird stuff doing there marring an otherwise okay photo?" I guess part of the skill in applying textures to a photograph lies in the judgment to choose what photograph and what texture.
So instead, I'm using the exact same subject from the tutorial: a dandelion about to go to seed from our front yard.
When I first read the tutorial, I noticed she called them "wishing flowers." I'd never heard that term before and thought it was lovely. As kids we did blow on them and wish - the number of seeds left after blowing was supposed to represent how many years it would take before your wish came true. But we just opted for the less poetic name: "dandelions." Being fairly unimaginative, I still call them that, but interestingly, I started to notice that The Dormouse also calls these "wishing flowers." Must be something she picked up at school because I'm pretty sure The KoH calls them "those blasted things that spread weeds around."
Anyway, here's my straight out of the camera photo:
Here's the same photo with some sharpening and a color boost.
Now here it is with the texture applied. I think I left out a step and bumped up the hue/saturation levels at the same time. Hence the bluer blue.
And here's that photo with a color applied over top. I went with an odd kind of color choice... one that a friend would refer to as "stool yellow."
So what do you think? The photo with the textures and colors? Or just the straight out of the camera shot? I'm still on the fence. Maybe it's just not my style.
This one is much cuter.
As opposed to "naughty tree," which is an entirely different thing.
Each year for work, my office plans and hosts an annual convention. It's gigantic, not when you consider the size of the attendee list, but when you take into account that we use very few paid workers, there are only seven full time people working in the office, and we each have committee chairs, presentations, and politicking business as part of our everyday jobs to accomplish while we are there - which is a very full workload until itself, not to mention the stuff we have to do to keep the conference running.
To deal with the pressure, we use humor - because apparently someone decided it was not appropriate to lie on the floor kicking and screaming in front of the registration desk. Each year there is a list of phrases and events that will go down in infamy and be told and retold. This year, we started the list even before we traveled to the conference location. Not all of these are my direct experiences; some of my colleagues contributed to this list. I will, however, withhold the names to protect the innocent.
You know it's conference time when...
To deal with the pressure, we use humor - because apparently someone decided it was not appropriate to lie on the floor kicking and screaming in front of the registration desk. Each year there is a list of phrases and events that will go down in infamy and be told and retold. This year, we started the list even before we traveled to the conference location. Not all of these are my direct experiences; some of my colleagues contributed to this list. I will, however, withhold the names to protect the innocent.
You know it's conference time when...
- You've awakened at 3:00 am every day for a week, but you still haven't seen a sunrise.
- You pack your two year old's baby toothbrush instead of an adult one and have been using it for four days. But you only realize this after the fourth day.
- You look through the program to see if they have mislabled your credentials because so many barely-more-than-strangers have come to you for marital and psychological advice.
- You are so brain dead that the most witty and cerebral thing you can add to a conversation is "That's da bomb.com" ...yet your colleagues are so similarly affected that they think it's hilarious.
- You walk around with a $20,000.00 check in your pocket all day because you're afraid if you put it "somewhere safe," you'll forget where that "somewhere safe" is.
- You subsist on free granola bars and hotel mints because you spent all your per diem on clothes before you got here.
- You come into your hotel room to find your freshly made bed with a letter bearing your name on the front. It turns out to be from the transportation manager explaining your departure plans and ride to the airport, but before you open it, all you can think of is "CRAP. WHAT AM I IN TROUBLE FOR NOW?"
- You drop two Alka-Seltzer in a glass, promptly forget that fact and then think you're hearing things because you can't figure out where that bubbling noise is coming from.
- You travel a bit too much & never put away your quart ziplock bag of airplane/travel compliant liquids or your roller bag suitcase from the trip you made last month.
- You never put away your ziploc thingies from last year's conference travel bag.
- You not only put your undies on wrong but you put on two different colored socks.
- You would rather drink the margarita fixins prepared for the silent auction basket rather than actually deliver the basket to the donation location.
- When you hear the accompanist for the soloist at the opening night concert has to cancel, you suggest kitchen band accompaniment instead.
- You miss your husband and children, sure, but what you're really longing to see again is a televsion channel that doesn't have constant Roseann reruns on it.
- You consider writing a book of conference tips and tip #1 is: to avoid embarrassment at a professional conference, when you register yourself on-line, don't put "studmuffin" in the nickname or first name as you would like it to appear on your name badge field.
- Tip #2: when trying to motivate volunteers, avoid phrases like, "If you're just standing around, you can leave." Try instead what you really mean, which is, "If you've completed all the tasks I assigned you, I don't have anything more for you to do. So you can go and enjoy some of the conference now. Thank you for your willingness to help." (at least I hope that was the intended message)
- In a discussion about technology and the profession, when your colleage asks, "Does anyone have a Wii?" you think she said, "Does anyone have any weed?" and you aren't the least bit surprised or concerned.
When we hit the pumpkin patch a few days ago, we called up some friends who lived close and asked if they wanted to join us. And because they choose to humor the people who can never make plans ahead of time or give anyone notice, they met up with us en route. (Personally, I think it was because they thought that we just might show up on their doorstep and wanted us to stay the heck away from their house.) We stopped by the side of the road so they could catch up with us and follow us to the not-so-easy-to-find farm. I looked out of the car window and felt like I could have walked across the street and into a movie scene set in the early 1900s.
And then was jarred out of nostalgia when I looked to my left and found the Free Clinic:
And then was jarred out of nostalgia when I looked to my left and found the Free Clinic:
It might be stretching a bit, but these leaves always remind me of spiders.
The Dormouse picked this flower up and carried it around for hours one day. By the time she finally went to bed, it was lying on the table, looking slightly worse for wear and a quite embattled. I was about to throw it out but happened to be sitting down next to it and got up close to see all the petals it was really still quite beautiful. Sometimes it's all about perspective.
As a follow-up to this post, the answer is no, I never did find plastic vampire teeth - mainly because the universe hates me. But I did finally come across this set of wax vampire teeth (further lending credence to my theory that all Halloween stores stock their shelves directly from Oriental Trading Company). And so I give you most haphazard Halloween costume you've seen this year - Vampire Pirate Girl:
It was just pointed out to me that I never posted photos of the Halloween costume extravaganza. So here they are - for posterity. I consider these costumes a great coup because:
a) I managed to convince them to wear costumes that go together. (Although, as The Dormouse will tell you, SHE is a Pirate Girl. The Caterpillar is NOT a Pirate Girl. The Caterpillar is a High Seas Buccaneer... and that's completely different.)
b) I managed to convince The Dormouse to wear something non-pink and non-princess-related (I was gonna say non-Disney-related, but I guess that doesn't apply anymore.)
c) I managed to find pirate costumes that don't make them look like tiny strippers in a theme bachelor party. (No easy feat with little girls' costumes these days.)
a) I managed to convince them to wear costumes that go together. (Although, as The Dormouse will tell you, SHE is a Pirate Girl. The Caterpillar is NOT a Pirate Girl. The Caterpillar is a High Seas Buccaneer... and that's completely different.)
b) I managed to convince The Dormouse to wear something non-pink and non-princess-related (I was gonna say non-Disney-related, but I guess that doesn't apply anymore.)
c) I managed to find pirate costumes that don't make them look like tiny strippers in a theme bachelor party. (No easy feat with little girls' costumes these days.)
I grew up mostly in the Southwest, where there are spectacular, jaw-dropping sunsets almost every night.
Here: not so much.
I'm told that it's because the Southwest is *echoes* distant... dry... dusty (and if you get that reference, then I know you grew up there too). Basically, when there's dust in the air, the light refracts off the particulates and creates the brilliant colors you see in pictures like this.
As we were leaving the House ofmental illness Halloween the other day, I looked up to catch these pretty colors. It's no desert sunset, but every once in awhile the Mid-Atlantic area gets it right.
Here: not so much.
I'm told that it's because the Southwest is *echoes* distant... dry... dusty (and if you get that reference, then I know you grew up there too). Basically, when there's dust in the air, the light refracts off the particulates and creates the brilliant colors you see in pictures like this.
As we were leaving the House of
I just can't figure out how they were able to sing while having a scope run down their throats.
Usually, this little mosquito hatchery pond in the woods near my house looks like a big garbage dump. Isn't it interesting how fall colors make everything more Victorian?
Spiderman = mine
Surprised Frankenstein = The Dormouse's creation
Tiny angry pumpkin = The Caterpillar's (with a little help from The KoH)
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