Purple

Today marks the beginning of a series of posts dedicated to color. I have a ton of pictures to share from recent weeks and I thought it would be fun to group them together according to the predominate color found in them. And because purple was always my favorite color when I was a little girl, that is where we’ll begin. Some of these shots were taken in my mom’s yard, some in my own and some are from our recent visit to the beautiful Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park…

For these next several pictures, I used Kim Klassen's "Golden" texture...







Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

A few beach favorites…

We spent our Father’s Day with my parents at one of our favorite places … the beach! The kids played in the sand with Nana and even braved the chilly 51 degree water for a quick dip with Papa while Joel and I sat in our beach chairs and watched it all. It was perfect!

[all shots taken with my 24-70mm 2.8L … edited in PSE9 …

texture added to the first two using Kim Klaussen's textures and brushed off the skin]

Strolling through the garden

I haven’t felt very inspired or creative this past week so in an attempt to pull out of my photographic slump, I decided to revisit some pictures I took early last week during a visit to our local Calendar Garden. I hadn’t edited any of these until today. Hopefully working on these shots was just what I needed to find my creative groove again. If nothing else, it certainly made we want to take another stroll through the garden…

Simply Sweet (Texture Tuesday)

I actually took this shot a few weeks ago (on Mother’s Day) while visiting a park close to my parent’s house.  I hadn’t edited it until this weekend, however.  I did a quick clean edit and then added Kim Klassen's new Stained Linen texture.  And I love it!  I can almost smell the simply sweet pink and white blossoms through my computer monitor.

To see more beautiful (garden themed) photos, visit Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday.

As always, thanks for stopping by and thanks for the encouraging comments!

Pretty in Pink

 

My Recipe:

*Opened in ACR … slight adjustments to exposure, recovery, blacks and contrast

*Opened in PSE9 … Levels adjustment layer and solid color layer (cream) … high pass filter for sharpening

*Added Kim Klassen's Yesteryear texture … Soft Light & Screen blending modes at default opacity

To see more incredible shots visit Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday and Life With My 3Boybarians's Sweet Shot Tuesday.  I’m linking up to both today.

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating Texture!

I recently stumbled upon Kim Klassen Café – a super website that celebrates texture.  Since I love using textures on my photos I felt right at home.  Each week the site hosts a challenge/link up.  This week the challenge was to incorporate at least one texture on a photo of a tea/coffee cup.  Although I am an avid tea drinker, I do not drink coffee.  I chose to photograph two special mugs – mugs my mom made for my kids – filled with warm, spicy chai tea.

Each shot was given a clean edit in both Adobe Camera Raw and Elements 9.  After the clean edit, I applied a different texture to each picture.  The details are as follows:

#1 – Texture:  Love … Soft light blending mode: 66% … Multiply blending mode: 54%

#2 – Texture:  Life is Good … Soft light blending mode: 45% … Color burn blending mode: 23% (brushed off the drink)

#3 – Texture:  Chamomile … Soft light blending mode: 48% … Color burn blending mode: 15% (brushed off drink)

#4 – Texture: Silence … Soft light blending mode: 45% … Color burn blending mode:  23% (again, brushed off drink)

As I glanced through the thumbnails of the other entrants, it was interesting to see all the different interpretations of the challenge.  If you want to take a look, visit Kim Klassen's Cafe.

Tiptoe through the tulips…

I’ve always been afraid to plant tulips in my yard because of the number of deer that visit my flower beds.  Since deer love tulips I fear planting them would just invite snacking at my expense!  My mom, however, has several planted at her house so when we were there for Easter I was delighted to see them in bloom.

I ran a clean edit in both ACR and Elements 9 and then added Kim Klaussen's Serendipity texture.  I kept the texture subtle because I wanted to keep the vibrant reds and yellows intact.  For the final touch, I added a black frame which I think makes the colors pop all the more.  I really like how this one came out.  It says “drama” and “spring” all at the same time.

Thanks for stopping by!