More Action Fun

Pioneer Woman is generous with the number of actions that she has made and given away and I am more than happy to download them and try them out. Katie is again my willing subject. Let's see what we can do with today's photo.

First, the photo the way I would edit it.




I think I can do better or should I say Pioneer Woman can do better. Let's see what her action called Warmer does. It is warmer but I am not sure I really like it.




Let's Cool it off shall we? I'm not sure I like the direction this went.




I think I will just Dim The Lights.




This is her Colorized action.




Mmmm. Not feeling any of these yet. Ah, Sunshine. It turned out to be so much sunshine that I turned down the opacity. You don't want to see what it did look like.




The Seventies are up next. It's different but I think this one may be my favorite. The seventies weren't all bad. I did turn the opacity down on this one too so it isn't as "seventies" like as it could have been.




Here's one after my own heart, Heartland.




Last but not least, Sepia.




I am going to Preview this so I can see them in a bigger format then I will let you know which one I like the best.

I'm not sure now. I think I would pick the seventies but none really rock my world. I have more actions to play with so maybe I will find something I like in the next set. What do you think?

Ready, Set, Action

I think I said in the previous post that I am now editing all of my photos on my Apple. No more freezing up in the middle, no more waiting for it to act on my commands and no more small screen. One of the advantages is now I can use "actions" on my photos. Actions are steps that are used to get the photo from one place to another. For example taking a photo from color to black & white. Someone has taken the steps used and recorded them. Then with the press of one button the steps run automatically. They are a huge time saver and easy for someone like me who doesn't want to figure out all the steps on their own.

One of my favorite blogs is Pioneer Woman. She loves photography and has many actions on her photography site free for the taking. I have loaded them in and they work. I never could get them to work on my PC. Could have been the computer, could have been user error. Well, they work now and I thought I would try them out. These are her Set One-Updated Actions.

First is the picture I decided to use SOOC, straight out of the camera. Well, kind of. I did crop it. Now you know what my pictures really look like.




As you can see it is alright. I have to say the exposure was good but it needs some pop. Here is what I would have done to the photo left to my own devices.




Actually I like it but let's see what PW can do to this picture.

Here is her action Lovely & Ethereal. Is it lovely & ethereal? You decide.




This is her vintage action. I have to say at 100% I could barely see Katie. So I turned the opacity down (yes, I know how to do that!) to 50%. I don't think this is the photo for this kind of action but it is interesting.




This is her Black & White Beauty. It is somewhat different than the way I have been converting pictures to black and white. I have a couple more black and white actions to try so I'm not sure if this is the one I will be using for day to day use.




Boost. It does exactly what it says.




This is her Quick Edge Burn. If you look you can see that the edges have been darkened. If I remember it darkened the photo more than I cared for so I lightened the it up a little. A lot of photographers burn the edges of their photos. It just isn't something that I do a lot.




Being Pioneer Woman she had to make an action called Old West. I'm not sure this is the photo to use this on. It could be interesting with the right picture.




The last one is called Define & Sharpen.




So which is your favorite? I think I like Lovely & Ethereal the best for this photo but you may like another one better. It will be interesting to see your comments. More actions to come.

Which Is Harder?

Which is harder? Me trying to figure out this whole Apple thing or Dave attempting to ski? I think learning this Apple. I have made the switch. I have the Mac version of Photoshop and my printer is now hooked up to this computer. It has been a slow process. Things are set up a little differently so I have spent some time searching for buttons. It saves my pictures differently so that has slooooowed me down. Let's just say spinning circles aren't good. The good thing is I now have these really cool actions to run on my photos. My pictures will probably look a little wonky until I figure out the actions I like and when to use them. Look for a coming blog with some examples of what my little actions can do. Anyway I think I finally have it all figured out and am ready to get to Dave's ski adventure.

Before fun chores have to be done and this day was no exception. The grass needed cutting and Dave was up to the job.




Sarah volunteered to be the photographer so after this photo was taken I ran my camera down to her on the boat. The rest of the photos are hers. She did a pretty good job.




I think he is ready.




Will he get up or won't he?




He did! On the first attempt. It must be like riding a bike because he made it look easy.




He even crossed over! Go, Dave, go.




Is he looking a little tired to you too?




He came in for a soft landing. He may be half a century old but the old guy still has it.




Meggie was there to greet and congratulate the old guy. Good boy, Dave.

Another Ball Game

Before we had attended Katie's game we had gone to our nephew Pat's game. He has now graduated from high school and is headed for Butler University in Illinois this fall. These photos were taken near the end of his senior year. Sometimes he pitches but on this day he was playing first base.







The brothers were there. I hope that isn't the game ball Dave is holding in his hand.







His mom and sister Katie are standing with Bob. I think they were getting to leave for Katie's softball game.




Not only do they let him bat but he also gets to bat.







That is Pat on the left.







This is my favorite picture of the day. I think he actually caught the ball.

Play Ball!!

When we were in Chicago last month we took the time to go to my niece's softball game. This is her travel team and they hadn't been playing together for too long when we were there. In fact, I believe this was a scrimmage and not a "real" game.

Like her brother she is a pitcher. She hasn't been pitching long but she is working hard at getting better.













In addition to pitching she gets to bat too!









She had a hit





and ended up with a single.





Here she comes!





If I remember correctly she did end up scoring. We ended up leaving in the middle of the game (it was late and we hadn't had anything to eat) so I don't even know what the final score was. It doesn't matter really because it looked like she was having a lot of fun.

Just Because

Well, hello there.





While Jo was at camp last week she enjoyed a spa treatment which explains the ribbon on her collar. Orange is her favorite color so she was quite happy.





I don't know why she likes to hang her head over the edge of the chair but I frequently find her sleeping in this position. She's a strange one all right.

Summer Fun

Most of you know Dave and I spent the weekend at Bob's lake house this past weekend. We were celebrating two graduations in the family. Katie is graduating from grade school and Pat is graduating from high school. One of the highlights of being at the lake is well, the lake. If the weather is nice you can be assured we will be on it. This past weekend turned out to be warm enough for tubing and Katie and her friend Shannon took full advantage of the sunny day.







While the girls were tubing Sarah sat in the boat and enjoyed her cappuccino. We tried to get her in the water but she wasn't cooperating.




Maybe she stayed in the boat because she didn't want to end up like Shannon. If you look closely you can barely see her behind the raft in the water.




Despite that I think the girls were having a good time.




Even the driver was enjoying herself.




A good time was had by all.




Stay tuned because Dave will attempting to ski later in the day. Will he get up or will he wash out? Check back in to find out.