Raindrops on Roses & Whiskers on Kittens

I have all these random photos from just...life.  

Normal, everyday life.  

So, since this has been a tremendously hard, exhausting, and draining week, I thought I'd post them.  

Because it's easy.  And I don't have to think (much).

We'll start off with the Raindrops on Roses

I love taking photos of flowers in the rain.  Of course that's something we Californians rarely see anymore.  These were taken probably two years ago at Gigi's house where my mother lives. 

Also these gorgeous hydrangeas.

Mushrooms in the rain look cool too.  And slightly phallic.  lol

And this one time?  In LA?  We went to Milk.  Delicious.

And on the way back to Sacramento, I stopped at Frosted.  Because I love cupcakes.

Yum...hazelnut.

Once back in my "lovely" hood, there was the usual police action. 

And that beautiful Sunday when I went downtown to the Farmer's Market and saw the car of my dreams.  

I want to go to there.

On a lovely Saturday, I went to the @SactoMoFo food truck meet up at the park by the river.  Good times.

Of course I have to go to as many Food Truck @SactoMofo events as possible, and this time I dragged Melanie, Gracie, and Kevonne along for the ride.  It was fun.  Food trucks and a concert in the park by the river.  

And one day there was a gorgeous sunset with awesome clouds.

Now it's time for the whiskers on kittens.

For a few months, whenever we went out on the balcony, a surprise visitor would pop up.  He scared me quite a few times.  

He would just sit up there on the roof...watching...  

Occasionally at night I would hear him galloping around up there.  

Probably chasing squirrels.  

We never, ever saw him during the day. 

And now for myriad pictures and poses of my two fur-babies.

Chavvy loves shoes.

Whiskers! 

  

Here is Chavvy trying to understand Ellie's fascination with being under the covers. 

 Upside down kitties

Chavvy loves shoes and Ellie loves ironing boards.  

I love my babies.  

And I love my life. 

Sometimes it's hard to remember to be grateful.

Photos like these help.

xoxo

Experimenting With Photoshop Filters

This was fun...  I think these turned out so cool!!

All photos taken with my Nikon D3000 using telephoto lens to soften the background and enhance detail.

Above is a pot of Iris on a flat headstone.  Taken in Sacramento Old City Cemetery in March 2015.

I used Photoshop Elements 11 and make a duplicate background layer and then added a watercolor filter.  I then changed the opacity on the watercolor layer to about 60%...basically until I felt enough of the back ground was through to add detail.

Next, I added a Layer Mask to the duplicate filter.  Using the brush feature,  I went over certain areas with the brush to further bring through the background to enhance shading and add more depth.

I like it!

Next up is...

This is another photo from my Sacramento Old City Cemetery visit.  

This one I did very similar to the first.  

I created a duplicate background layer.  This time I chose the Pastels filter and manipulated it with the sliders until it looked interesting to me.  I did not make it at all transparent this time.  

I added the Layer Mask to the duplicate layer and then used the brush again. This time, I went over the entire Robin to bring it through and make it clearer.  I left just a bare edge with the Pastel filter; I've learned the hard way when editing photos that if you err on the side of grabbing part of the background, it's very noticeable.

So Pretty!!

Last for today is this coy horse...

I loved this horse when I was out walking about Gibson Ranch County Park one day.  I have another photo (that I will post below) in color and he is just a gorgeous, different looking equine.  

After I had taken a couple photos (I always take at least 4 of the same subject haha), he turned a little and angled his head like this.  Posing for me, but playing coy.  However, there was one problem.  He has a slightly unattractive redness outlining his eye.  It was way more noticeable when he tilted his head like this.  But loving the pose, I tried to save the photo.  

I chose the Sketch filter and then selected Pen and Ink.  There are four color choices and I chose black (obviously).  Again, I just played around with the settings until I got it where I loved it.  

This was the easiest to edit.

Here is the same horse, in living color. 

xoxo

Testing My Newly Learned (And Still Working On It) Composite Photo Skills

This is a composite of a grave marker that touched me.  I love the inscription which says:

My wife how fondly shall thy memory

be enshrined within the chambers of my heart

(illegible) worth was only known to me

and I can feel how sad it is to part.

Sacramento Historic City Cemetery

Composite of three photos.  

• White Iris from the City Cemetery for the background, changed into Water Paper and then darkened and blurred. 
• Full photo of the headstone.
• Photo of just the inscription which was then sharpened and made slightly transparent.

Nikon D3000 with telephoto lens edited in Photoshop Elements 11

Photo by:  Jeanette 
Taken in March 2015

xoxo