3 Quarters Today

My Life, my photography, my passions

365project

Day 94/365: Burpee Seeds, Think Spring!

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Day 94: Time To Think About the Garden
Day 94: Time To Think About the Garden

Somewhere spring is on it’s way, or at least I’d like to think so. This Burpee Seed display at the grocery store reminded me that yes, warm weather will be coming eventually. But until then I hear the rumor of 8-10 inches of snow. I refuse to think that. Nope, it’s March, I don’t care if I live in Nebraska the seed packets going in the shopping cart.

Anyone notice the sign is for vegetable seeds and what is showing is flowers? Cucumbers were on the rows below….

Photoshop CS2 Notes: Florescent lighting in the back of a grocery store throws off my FinePix S1500 camera and gives a yellow hue. The flash was too glaring.  Someday I will remember to adjust the white balance, but until then I added my standard action layers and adjusted the decreased the yellow in all ranges, brought up the contrast, and use used the desaturation sponge tool to whiten the upper left portion of the sign.

Day 94: Burbee sign SOOC
Day 94: Burbee sign SOOC

Day 93/365: Cat on the Porch

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Day 93: Cat on the Porch
Day 93: Cat on the Porch

Another trip to the mailbox and a stop at my neighbors house, her cats will be a common subject as the weather gets nicer.  It was a drab overcast day and I was disappointed with the original picture. No sun, no oomph, so I worked some photoshop magic.

Photoshop CS2 Notes: Regular adjustment layers with smart sharpen, then went in and decreased the lighting, bumped up the contrast, and added a warming filter. What a difference! After adding some additional sharpening on the face and whiskers and  I was happy.

SOOC (Straight out of camera)
SOOC (Straight out of camera)
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Day 92/365: Oven Baked BBQ Chicken

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Day 92: BBQ Chicken
Day 92: BBQ Chicken

Just a simple and easy Friday night supper, oven baked barbecue chicken with mixed fruit for dessert. Tried something different this time. Normally when basting sauce onto unbaked chicken the sauce doesn’t stick. The moist skin won’t hold the barbecue sauce, and I like a LOT of sauce on my chicken.

COOKING TIP: Dust the chicken in flour before cooking, then baste with sauce before placing in the oven. Perfect! The flour gives a dry base for the BBQ sauce and even thickened it a little so a second coat could be added when I turned the meat at the half way point.  I will have to remember this for other basting sauces in the future.

Day 91/365: Zebra Stripes

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Day 91: Zebra Clutch wallet at Coop de Ville

Yes, I bought it. I guess every three years I need a new wallet. I’m drawn to classic style with a bit of flair. Black and white will go with everything, any color purse, and I can carry it by itself. Ok, you can’t see the whole wallet, but just the fabric the watch is sitting on, but trust me it’s a soft faux suede with leather like corners and silver buttons. I LOVE how it feels.

The watch I liked too, but today it just had to be an accent piece in my photograph. This is a teaser for the Coop de Ville series of pictures which will come later, don’t forget to subscribe at the bottom of the page to an email update, or click on the WordPress link at the top (if you’re signed in of course) There’s also the RSS feed, if that’s what you prefer.

Photoshop notes: I cropped and straightened the photo slightly, then added the standard layer actions/ My Finepix S1500 camera does a poor job in artificial light, I should try using the white balance more often or the lighting option and see if that improves things, but I often forget when I ‘m in a hurry. So I adjusted the color (decreased the yellow and green), desaturated and sharpened the embellishments. The original SOOC (straight out of camera) is below.

SOOC for comparision

Day 90/365: Bangles at Coop deVille

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Bangle jewelry bracelet
Day 90-: Bangle bracelet,

This week I went shopping at one of my favorite stores, Coop DeVille & Feathers, in Louisville Nebraska. Both stores are a woman’s shopping heaven. Everything from funky jewelry, purses, whimsical gifts, and decorating doodads made out of the most unique items. Everything is displayed in the most creative fashion the whole place is a feast for the eyes in an array of color.

These bangle bracelets  is just of one of my favorite pictures, love the way I captured the sparkle and shine, but I took so many that I’m going to break the rule of the 365 project and post pictures from the same day in this series. Hey, it’s my project, so I can make the rules.  Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss a thing.  In the meantime you can visit the Coop de Ville & Feathers Facebook page.

Photoshop Notes: Cropped, added standard action layers, added more sharpness to the rhinestones, adjusted layers brought the right marker to the edge of the histogram,adjusted the color to get the original pink color of the bracelet. The original image is  below.

SOOC (straight out of camera)
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