Portraits

This is a portrait of my boyfriend Ben relaxing on the couch watching television. I wanted to capture him when his face was neutral so that the viewer can decide for themself what his personality is like. I took the photograph at a low angle starting with his knee to draw the eyes toward his face.

This is my dog Murray. It is really hard to capture him when he isn't moving and although he is in front of a window and I would rather he were not, I really like the image. This is what he looks like when no one is watching. I was also below him when the picture was taken.

Spaghetti's Busy Work Day slideshow

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Clone, Text and Paint

 This is my dog Murray on the left and a friend's dog Buddy.  I manipulated this photo using the clone tool for their extra eyes.  Then I created a text box and put my initials in the lower right hand corner.  Originally I wanted to create a watermark, but I had difficulty and after playing with it for at least an hour, decided I that I like it the way it is in black.  Using the pencil tool, I drew in some toenails and ear tafts to finish off the alien look.

Dodge and Burn, and filtering

This flower shot was taken during a hiking trip last summer.  I used the emboss filter to achieve what I think is a really cool image.

 This is my cat Spaghetti.  I used the cartoon filter on him.  I loved the original image, but it wasn't quite as clear and crisp as I wanted it to be so using this filter helped to distract from that.

This is what I did using the dodge and burn tool.  It is a neat way to create subtle differences.  Or bold differences too I suppose.  

Color manipulations

 For this first photo, I didn't play around with it too much because I really like it the way it is.  What I did was to first adjust the color balance and then the brightness and contrast.  I think it enhanced the photo by making it more neutral.  The light casting in the window was slightly red.

 This second photo I think is pretty cool.  It seems kind of modern so I added a little color using the hue/lightness/saturation adjustment.  I also played with color balance and brightness/contrast.

Manipulation

This is a photo of my dog Murray on one of our hiking trips last summer I believe.  I love that he almost blends in with the background in the widerness, considering he is black and white spotted.  To manipulate this photo, I first cropped using GIMP, then played with the brightness and contrast.  I also played around with the move tool and the selection tool but ended up not using what I had done with them.

This is a photo of my boyfriend Ben and I in a personal plane about to go for our very first ride!  It was a little scary, but amazingly fun!  I really like the lines of the plane.  Especially how the yellow stripe goes across horizontally and the roof line goes at a diagonal.  For manipulating, I used crop again and played with just the contrast this time, to give that yellow line a pop.

Landscape

 My intention in this photo was to capture the amazing rolling mountains and to also capture the glistening white snow that covers them.  I wanted to make sure it is obvious that the mountains seem to roll on forever, and that there is a feeling of cold, and yet warmth amidst it.  I think I captured the vastness of the scene.  I wish I could have taken it while one more mountain was still visible.  There is an enormous mountain in the background of the picture, but it is covered by the incoming snow.  I like this photo a lot.

 This next photo was taken of a little farm on the edge of a lake where my boyfriend and I kayak in the warmer months.  I love that in the background is yet another mountain, and that in the foreground, there are all those baby geese.  My intention was to capture the geese with the mountain in the background as I have doen and then I realized that I managed to capture a cloud moving just in front of the mountain.  I really like that touch.  It makes the photo seem almost dream-like.  If I could change it, I might have zoomed in a little further, to capture the geese more closely.

 I love the colors in this photo.  That was the intention...to show the difference in the vibrant colors.  Because of the angle the photo was taken at, it adds to the height of the trees and ultimately, the interest of the photo.  I wish I could have centered that orange tree just a tad bit more.

 This is a picture taken in Upstate New York of a farm nearby where we were visiting this past summer.  The idea was to make the orange sky really pop, but I think it works even more with the farm off in the distance as well.  The grass in the foreground adds depth and draws your eye downwards.  The picture has a feeling of relaxation and warmth and it makes me happy to think about it.

This last photo was taken from my balcony when the moon was just amazingly bright.  I really wanted to capture the bold brightness of the moon while showing some of the surrounding valley.  I wish the photo were slightly brighter, however, lightening the photo also makes the moon less bold, so I went on a whim and kept the valley dark.  I also wish there were some foreground in the picture to add depth.  That would make it perfect!