Honestly- do you like this?

Original: After pping:

I am very on the fence about this (ha, no pun intended). It is not the shot I wanted to get. But it still compells me to take another look. I keep thinking it's destined for the recycle bin, but then something about it pulls me back in again. I don't know if I need to just play with cropping in tighter, tilt it a little, or give it up.

Is this a case of knowing what I iwsh had been, or momma googles? Please let me know your honest opinion. It won't hurt my feelings, promise!

I underexposed this shot originally-and had to adjust in ACR as well as add a screen light layer, defog, and vingette.

All input is greatly appreciated. TFL!

****ETA****

This is what I did.

I increased the exposure in ACR, since I shot RAW I could do this. The camera metered for the much lighter background, instead of the much darker interior. When I increased the exposure, I blew the background- but I wasn't overly concerned about that.

Once open, I ran a defog, around 60-20-0 (that's my base, and if I need to alter from there, I do).

It was still too dark. I created a duplicate background layer, and on that layer I changed the blend mode to screen light. I'm not sure what opacity I left it on. I usually keep it low, @ 18-35%. But this was dark, so I'm not sure what my numbers were.

K's face was still much too dark. So I cheated. I used the lasso, selected her head, and made it it's own layer (control-J). Then I ran screen light layer blend again, with a really low opacity so it would blend in and not be too bright. It is maybe 7-10%.

I used the filter> distort? > lens correction

to create a vignette.

That's my pping.

On her own path...

S. is my youngest of two beautiful girls. She is different from her sister in about every way, starting in the womb, LOL. She is the one who likes to keep me guessing. I'm never quite sure how she is going to handle something. She can be charming and animated, she can be stubborn and stuck, she can be easily irritated, she can be determined and strong. She loves monster trucks, trains, dinosaurs and lots ofother "boy" stuff; she likes stuffed aniamals who are her "babies", pretending she is a Momma, shoes and pocketbooks. She has her own way of seeing the world, and her own path she follows. A lot of the time, we're along for the ride.
She makes me laugh at least once a day.
She can be so sweet and empathic, she makes you wonder.
She can be so headstrong, she gets herself in more trouble doing it the "hard" way.
S. is a smart little cookie, and funny. She also has a good throwing arm (cool!). If I envision K. as a future cheerleader; then S. is the one on the teams K is cheering!

I really have no idea how this journey on her path will go; I only know it's going to be bumpy, that I probably haven't been on one anything like it, and we are going to have a lot of fun!

I'm not going to give technical info on this pic, as it had to have a LOT of psing. I had to adjust the exposure, fix the horizon and crop out the distracting background. There's just something about her, maybe her "updo" hair, the way she is walking, or the dog-carrier pocketbook she carrying that just made me think of her as older...and that path ahead of her. It's good to sit back every once in a while and think about the big picture. I have faith that we will all end up in a great place. I have faith that she will find a way to go along that is unique. I have faith in God to give us all the patience and strength to guide her as she finds her way.

TFL!

At the park

In keeping with the theme of faith...
It's K, my oldest dd. She's my dreamer, my girl of faith in all that is magical, all that is beautiful, all that is special about this world. She is a kid who can charm you within moments of meeting you. She has a few obstacles ahead of her in the world of learning. But I have faith that with all the supports available to her (and there are many), she will achieve great things.
I have faith that the whole world is open to my little girl.
I have faith in my child as a person.
And I have faith that even when she is at her worst and driving me crazy, she and I will grow into wonderful girlfriends as she grows into womanhood.

Maybe hope as well as faith.

I have a very small deck off of our townhouse, and no yard. But I love being outside. Part of being outside is growing flowers. I have four flower boxes with flowers on my railing and one flower pot; two big tubs with tomato plants, and another two big pots with basil on the floor of my deck.
In the limited space we are allowed to plant in the landscaping, I have a lilac bush (a year and a half old), a two year old peony, and this year I added a rose bush. I'm a reckless gardener who sees something that would be just right, check the tag to see if it can stand the FULL SUN our little bits of garden has, and go with it. If I run into an issue, I simply research later.

Okay, so gardening is a fun hobby. But there is something very, very special about growing life out of the dirt. Food to nourish my family (well, supplement our nourishment, anyway) and flowers to give a bit of privacy to our deck, and to provide us the joy of having beauty to look at each day. It humbles me to serve my God and my planet by growing living things. It gives me faith in our earth, it gives me faith in the circle of life, and it makes me feel great. Can you really ask for anything else from a garden, no matter how small?

Okay, now after the RANT thread, I'm offering this up for HHCC. I am not easily offended and know these are not spectacular. So CC away!!! (please).

Settings: 10D, 50 mm lens, (1/80 for the gerbers, 1/100 for the roses), 3.5, ISO 200. RAW. Natural light. I'm not POSITIVE about my edits, but I THINK this was the deal:

ACR: boost contrast, change wb. PS: light screen layer, probably @ 20%. defog. crop. sharpened and resized for web.

THanks for looking, and am interested to hear the cc!

Just a little faith in me...

You are my lover, you're my best friend, you're in my soul... sorry, I couldn't help quoting another oldie.
I can feel the world melt away when he sits with me, when he grabs me into an embrace every time we are near, when he sits and laughs with me.
We've become adults together. We met at 18. I've learned that in difficult times, he has my back. I've learned that when we are out of synch, although it feels awful, it passes us by. We know. We just know.
I have faith in you and me. I have faith in us.
It is a precious gift to be married to my best friend.

I snapped this last night literally just pointing and shooting, trying to get a feel for my flash/diffuser and the complicated relationship between them. I have got to dig out my flash tutorial DVD again, and relearn the important stuff. But I loved this shot when I opened it. I did very little to it- I probably should sharpen it more for the web- but it just spoke to me. He thinks he looks p'd off; I see the ever so slightly turned up corner of an almost smile. But his eyes are just so perfectly expressive. I swear I can see until forever in his eyes. They are, after all, the window to the soul, are they not?
TFL!

Just a campfire....

Something about the elements. It draws me in, makes me feel contemplative. I usually feel very connected, and spiritual, especially around fires and water.

This is a campfire my older DD talked my FIL into making on night when we were up recently. The burning embers just called to me. TFL!

My princess

This is my princess. She is so creative and loves all things beautiful. She is so excited about her Zia's (aunt, in Italian) wedding. She is one of the flower girls, and she is fully thrilled.
When we were up for the engagement party at my in-laws, she was in her glory. She has this dress up, which she put on herself. She then drew beautiful? :) tattoos on her arms and face. She used tulle that had been part of some of the presents, and created the ensemble above. She posed for me as above- I wish she would let me pose her, and move her away from you know, the light ploe, the electric switches, move the other chair out of the way...
but I take them as I can get them. Because this photo screams with K's personality out loud.
TFL!!!

A day in the week...

Looking for fairies....

Feet. Notice the dress, and the plain ol' shorts. That's pretty typical of them.

I don't know if it is Momma goggles- something about this one appeals to me. the color bugs me though. I ran a soften color action, I tried b/w, sepia, color saturated... none of them looks quite right. So I settled for soft color. What do you think? TFL!

the kids are getting big!

K. lost her upper tooth last week, just before going out to dinner. She wiggled and jiggled it, and finally bit into an apple to make it come out. Love that toothless grin!
Posing (her idea) with the toothfairy box, the tooth, a magic star that was her gift to the tooth fairy, and a corner of the apple that made it all happen.
S. decided yesterday that we needed to take her doggies for a walk. She was the Mommy, and I was the Daddy. Our walk around the neighborhood was a "field trip". She then decided it was an Army field trip...I don't know why. But she full enjoyed her little game of pretend.
Making a wish!
Just for fun, a pic snapped with her new "pup". She got three shots yesterday (poor kid) which in our house means she gets a toy. She picked a puppy that she can be a vet to- and that drinks a bottle, and has sounds as he whines, barks and licks us.
TFL!

A few favorites from the camping trip

THe white "snow" is soap that firemen ran from firehoses onto a tarp. All the kids jumped on, and went sliding, a la slip and slide. They "cleaned off" by jumping into a pond at the end of the hill, and got back on line for more. Amazingly fun...

1st annual Cousin Camping Trip

A giant thank you to B. and M. for organizing us, and floowing through to get this off the ground! It was so nice to be able to kick back with each other, and to get to celebrate Christmas in August is about as great as it sounds. Thank you again, you crazy camping nuts!

Up to july 4th....

I did mention I am really, really behind in pictures? Ugh. I'll get there.
This is my parents' yard, looking through the woods, over the stream and out toward the neighbors. They are called smoke bombs, right?

This is S with my mother's only sister. I wrote about her before, but quite a while ago now. Bad exposure, but I was really winging it. Shoulda gone auto as I didn't really want to miss the relationships and action and stuff. Oh well.

And this, is "my Buddy". My uncle was so great with the kids, both he and my aunt wanted to relate with them. So they both went out of their way to connect with both girls. But there was something special about S. and my Buddy, as she came to call him. Uncle Jim, she still gets excited and asks if you're going to be at grandma's house!
Miss K. decided to stop pouting and to go have fun, already! I love the color and smoke and her own little sense of style in this one- notice her wearing Mom's crocs!
Dh is really a good guy. He loves to entertain the kids, and family too. He is, though, very into things that burn...
TFL! And thank you for the feedback yesterday. I will continue to play with those shots.

Relationships by the sea...okay, lake!

Okay, so- hit me with the cc. I will say, that I do like the composition of the first, the second and third seem off to me. Which really annoys me, because the moment in them is cool. Rats!
So, hit me with what you can, or with anything that strikes you at all. The first two are of different friends that we were with up north, and the third is my DH with S. TFL, and all HHCC is welcomed heartily!

some catching up...from our visit to the Adirondacks

These three shots were taken while the kids played in and around the "playhouse"- which includes a swingset attached, a picnic table down below, and a small deck for lounging! Can you say fun???
And yes, K and friend A are pretending to fly to Neverland. I am happy to report they made it there, but narrowly escaped Captain Hook. Thank goodness we're friends with Perter Pan and Tink!

TFL!

Street Music

Sorry if you saw these already on the boards; I took these with the summer challenge (street photography) in mind.

My mom and I took the kids to Central Park, mainly to the zoo. If you can go, if you have young children or just want a smaller zoo that you can take in an afternoon, this is the place to be! It is amazing to know that you are in the heart of one of the largest cities in the world, and be surrounded by a rainforest!

The trumpter kindly allowed me to take his photo; S was done walking around and was happy to dance to his blues. He asked if we'd come back tomorrow- many people stopped to watch him play and her twirl around! It was great! The shots of her dancing with him aren't so great- true street photography- had to snap as I could, I couldn't get the perfect settings and framing. Plus, there was only so far I was willing to back up away from my little doll on a busy walkway.

He was playing just steps away from the Delacourt Clock (it marks the entrance to the CPZoo- and is beautiful- it plays music every half hour, as 3/4 size animals dance around in two circles. Beautiful!), in the underpass of the 79th street crossover. The stone was beautiful, and the sound of his music bouncing off the walls all around us. Great stuff!

Not even a block away, we found this group. They had a fun, jazz sound as well. The girls stopped and had a quick popscicle break awhile we all listened.

I wish I'd gotten a better shot of the bass. It was a rich nutmeg color, with lots of nics and lines in it. I was too pooped, and was lazy at that point.

Anyway, TFL!

From earlier this month...

I have to admit, I was very psyched to get this gull as he flew over my head on the beach a few weeks ago. I was using my telephoto, and with the first and last shot, I did not run photo/ color enhancement stuff- I did decrease my exposure a hair in ACR, and obviously, I cropped- but that's it other than sizing for web.

The middle one has a defog and sharpen for web.

I was jumping up and down excited. I got a shot of something in motion without screwing it up! Hurray! Okay, so it's in full sun and has a nice big beach under its belly as a reflector, but c'mon, I'm still so pleased. I hope this picture is interesting to someone other than me...

TFL!

Snapshots of "S"

So, I had been thinking about the summer challenge, playing around with coutre-jour. When S came out onto our little covered portico to hang with Momma and Dad, I ran to get my camera. Now, it isn't exactly shooting into the light source, but she was backlit pretty well. Behind me, there was an open space that had light, but nothing directly lighting her, KWIM? Just enough to create catchlights in her eyes-in some of these, anyway- as well as even out the light on her face...yes!

This is her,"I'm up to no good" smile.

I played with this one, can't decide which version I like the best. This is my first attempt at a more chocolate-y conversion- is it too copper-y?

Thanks so much for looking!

Christina's summer challenge

I stumbled over the summer challenge thread. Now that it is half over... I figured I'd post these two now, so I can jump in on Monday with the next one. I appreciate the challenge, it has me thinking differently. Tomorrow, I'll post the great snaps I got of S, inspired by thinking about coutre-jour (sorry, I know I butchered that spelling).

Thank you for the posts yesterday. I'm glad I stirred some memories for others, too. And the nursery school didn't start until after the children were much older- my dad was in high school. Thanks again for the thoughtful responses!