Miss Fix-It

So yesterday I posted some pictures of my blog about Mr K -who(dagnabbit!) captured my sweet littlest Monkey's heart and attention.

Well, I posted those pictures straight out of the camera.

Which I should not have, but I did.

I know that there are these talented people who take the most amazing pictures in composition and with a trained and artistic eye, and then they get on Photoshop, and they can make that photo EXACTLY what they imagined in their minds as the shutter flew!
They are artists!

But poor, pitiful me! I do not have Photoshop any longer.
My free trial ran out.
And even during the trial, I had NO IDEA how to use it!

Would you like to see the fruit of my efforts?

The original:

Ok. Cute, sweet baby! But there is some work that needs to be done, she looks blue, and poor sweetie has some of that baby acne stuff going on.

So here is MY first attempt at Photoshopping the picture:
Do you see the difference?

Me neither. For everything I did, there did not seem to be any change at all.

Effort 2:

Do you see the difference now? No?

Not surprised. I can't find a difference either.

I think I am not very good at this.

So I called my OOBER-TALENTED sister
(who just so happens to have this whole photoshop thing down, you know) and the result took my breath away!
I have NO IDEA how she pulled it off! But all the baby acne is GONE, her skin is rosie and lovely, and her eyes are even more twinkly!

That is worth another look!
Beautiful!

Here is what she did in Black and White:
Lovely!

You can see the family pictures she took of my family and me HERE and HERE.


Now, I am inept at Photoshop, but there are a lot of things that you can fix with simple Windows Media.

So here is the photo of Mr K straight out of the camera as you saw it in THIS post:

Ok, we can see that there needs to be some work done. Here it is on my laptop.

My poor laptop sure gets a workout!

First head to the "Fix" at the top left-hand corner of the viewing screen.

Now, you all may wonder WHY I am walking you all through it! Well, I am guessing that there are people who read this blog who are just like me. And I, for all my intelligence (no comments from the peanut gallery!) had all this on my computer for THREE YEARS, and JUST realized THREE WEEKS ago that I could actually DO something with it!

So those of you who have gotten all this figured out, sit back and watch all the rest of us "Ooooh!" and "Ahhhh!" at the discovery. Just laugh where we can't hear you, OK?

I HEARD that!

Back to business.

Now a menu will drop down on the right.

It looks like this:

With Mr K's picture I decided to start with the "Auto Fix" option. Sometimes it makes the picture just perfect.


Here is the result:
AAACK! I think it made it worse!
Mr K looks like he has been holding his breath for WAY too long!

Back to the drawing board.

So first I pulled up the "Adjust Exposure" option:
I bumped up the contrast just slightly, and simply nudged the brightness down. Not shown in this picture, since I took it AFTER the fix, and I did not want to mess up what I had just done!

Next I picked the "Adjust Color" option:
Now, I went up in the color temperature, making the picture a little warmer. Mr K is actually that tanned and dark from being in the sun, so it was appropriate.

Next, I nudged (there is that word again) the saturation to the right. You really don't want too much of this one, but a little bit can keep a picture from being too washed out!

Here is the result!

Well? What do you think?


Before:

After:
I like that one much better!

See I CAN do this "fix-it" thing!

This is a really easy way to fix pictures without the expense of Photoshop and the training needed to be really effective at it! Now of you want to make this a profession, you are going to need much more than Windows Media, but for the shutterbug, this can really be a lifesaver for your favorites that need help, and give your pictures a new dimension.


I like this also because you can fix red eye:

When I found this particular feature I went through all my old pre "natural-light-love-affair" days and fixed them all!

And crop pictures too:

So, you can use this feature if you just cannot figure out how to make Photoshop work for you, or if you are cheap, married to someone who is cheap, or an expensive program like that is not in the budget for you. Make the best use of Windows Media, and you might be able to make your photos pop!

Just don't forget THIS amazing, and TERRIBLY important button!

Located in the bottom right-hand corner of your window, make this little puppy your friend.
Simply click repeatedly to undo multiple steps!

And then have some fun!

Mr K

This is Mr K


He is the giving soul who is providing the horses to ride for my Girls' lessons this summer.


Because, you know, lessons might not be NEARLY as productive if you don't actually have a horse!

Just a thought.

I just LOVE taking pictures of people when they have no idea!

Don't you?

I like Mr K. He reminds me of my Daddy that I MISS TERRIBLY!

See the resemblance?

But it is more than that just the facial hair.

They both have cowboy's souls! We may live in an age where the traditional cowboy and the need for them has greatly diminished, but cowboys are alive and well! They just carry it in their hearts.

A sense of right and wrong and the willingness to fight for it.
A chivalry that is not dead.
A love of the things that are given to us freely, but worth more than all the money in the world.
Sunshine.
Love.
Work (yes, it IS a gift!)
Making your word count for something.


And even though my Daddy is not wearing his hat in this picture, he is a cowboy at heart and can be seen sporting it on any given day!

There is one other thing that is alike about my dad and Mr K.


Babies LOVE them!

This is Mr K with a sweet little girl that appeared for riding lessons too! I believe that she is a past client, and knew him, and couldn't wait to see him!

And THIS was the reaction of the tiniest of my monkeys (yet without a monkey name) when she first got the chance to meet Mr K!
Do you see the little bit of surprise at him bending down to talk to her -and his hat, I am sure.
And the delight at being talked to -and the hat too, I am sure.
It was love at first sight!

And THIS is what she did when he asked if SHE was going to ride a horse:
I said, "She sure does like you, Mr K!"

To which he replied, "Honey, there ain't a baby in the world that don't love Mr K."

Matter of fact. Not prideful, not bragging, just fact -like "The sky is blue."


THIS was her reaction when he asked of she was going home with Mom now:

I hear crickets.


And THIS was her reaction when he told her that Mommy dressed her so sweet:

Uhm, is this thing on?


And THIS is what she did when he asked if he could keep her:

Yeah...

No loyalty! I carried you in my body! I have nursed you at my chest! I have the stretched out abdomen, the broad hips, baby weight, and windsails for clothes, and you go flirting with the first grandfatherly figure to come along!

That is it! We thought all along that we would have to use a bat to beat back the boys, but now I see that if I have any hope of your loyalty, I will need to arm myself against cowboys with facial hair and grandfatherly dispositions!

And THIS was her reaction when he said "You LOVE Mr K, don't you!":

It is ON Mr K!

It is ON!

Born To Ride!

My girl loves horses.
She draws pictures of horses.
She collects horses.
She hangs pictures of horses all over her room!


So she was ECSTATIC when we were invited by a local rancher to take FREE riding lessons.

This is my girl waiting in anticipation to ride while they saddle the lovely and gentle Autumn.

She really is a beautiful horse.

And she really is a beautiful girl!

Doesn't she look like she belongs?

Nothing like Pioneer Woman's kids, who were born ready to ride!

But, for this being the first time she ever rode, she did pretty well!
She is a natural!
After all, she comes from a farm girl!
Good Nebraskan stock!

And I would like to take this moment to say GO BIG RED!




Aww! Do I HAVE to get off!?!?!

So when can I go again, Mom?
Huh? Huh? Huh?
PLEASE can I go again?
When? Soon?
I REALLY want to go again.
When, can I, Mom?
Let's go again!!!!

Now?

How about now?

How about now?

Ok, Now?

Let's do it now.



Now?...

Favorite Things

I love red.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE red?

According to the fictitious "Dr Phil personality test", which is in no way related to Dr. Phil, that means I am "...the lively center of attention, the life of the party...".

Well, I never said it wasn't accurate! I just said it was in no way actually related to Dr Phil!

Any-hoo...

I love red, and you can tell this from my bedroom which you can see HERE.

And here is a picture of me in my favorite room, looking at my favorite nail polish.

Guess what. It is red.

Did I mention I LOVE red?

Here is something else that is red that I absolutely adore.

This is some amazing stationery that was given to me, and it proves the the giver KNEW ME! She appealed to both my loves of fashion and my love of red, and somehow managed to roll it into one amazing piece of paper! If I were to invent and design a pattern for stationery it would look JUST LIKE THIS!

There is something so lovely and charming about the beautiful dress (which I would LOVE to hang in my closet ANY day!) on a hanger.

And even the back of the box is a lesson in beauty!


And in an unusual stroke of paper genius, the dress is rather large, and a focal point in the design -giving it an air of luxury! You know, in a "I-am-pampering-myself-so-much-that-I-don't-even need-to-write-on-the-WHOLE-page-Half-of-it-is-DRESS!" kind of way! It has become more than paper. It is art!

Thank goodness someone designed it, because then I get to enjoy it! And though I love-love-love it, I just can't bring myself to open it and break out a crisp piece of paper and WRITE on it! That would be like allowing a child to scribble on a Monet!

I feel that fashion and shoes are high art forms!

Don't you agree?

You SHOULD agree!

But that is just me!

SO I will have to wait for something REALLY special to send a bit of this lovely vellum (word of the day).

So if you get a letter from me on this, the news is either really good or REALLY bad... let's just go with really good...for someone..probably me!

Hey! Did I mention that I LOVE red?