Braeden's Birthday

These are a few I took yesterday as we celebrated Braeden's birthday:

My "Kids"

It doesn't seem that long ago that this pretty young woman was just barely a teeny-bopper, working the guestbook at my wedding. Now she's the one getting married. She and her fiance graciously agreed to be my guinea pigs. We all had a good time, and I think they might even let me try again soon.

Here's some of the pics I took. All were f/5.6, AV mode. I played in Photoshop a little because they both wore white and it washed out the pictures a little.

Bradford Pears

I had a little time after work and before I had to pick up Braeden, so I headed to the local elementary to shoot the pear trees on the playground. Got a couple that I liked.

PSE Editing

I've had Photoshop Elements for at least two years, and I finally decided it was time to learn to use it.

Here is the original photo:

This is a plain black-and-white, and it doesn't do anything for me.

This one is a "chocolate" black-and-white. I worked on the eyes a little (dodging catchlights, darkening eyelash line), and I really like the way it turned out.

Here I corrected the blue tint and adjusted the eyes like I did in the chocolate B&W. I'm torn between this and the chocolate for my favorite.

The shot was taken on auto setting w/o flash. Until I get a new lens, everything is done on a Nikon D40, 28-55 lens.

Prunes!

I shot a bunch of pictures yesterday in RAW format and now I can't get them to open up on my computer. Seems I am missing a crucial program. So much for an exciting start to a new blog, huh?