I love to shop

I love to shop! Photoshop, that is. So, I thought I’d share some examples with you because it is amazing what can be done with Photoshop. Mind you, I am by no means an expert, but I have played with it for years now and I keep learning, albeit very slowly.

 

Above, an image of a boy in Poughkeepsie, NY, circa 1978. I got lucky with this shot.

As you can see from the original image, right, Photoshop helped a great deal in creating the arresting image it became.

An edited image of a  geranium, above,  and the original, at right. The edited version of an image isn’t necessarily better than the original,  but it’s always interesting to see where a little fussing with the settings may lead.

 

At left, a gorgeous little girl I spotted at a friend’s wedding. Unfortunately, there was a mess of distracting arms and legs surrounding her precious face, as you can see, below. 

Once again, Photoshop came to the rescue.

Above, another shot from the wedding celebration, this time of a charming boy named Finn. 

The original photo was okay although a little flat. I could have just popped the contrast and be done with it, but I decided I really wanted to isolate the image of Finn, which is what I did in Photoshop. 

 
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PHOTO :  ADELINE CRITES-MOORE

 

TTFN

Eco-Dye

 
 

I was visiting Jude Hill's blog recently and I saw she had experimented with azalea blossoms in her dye pot. She posted a beautiful image of a pale pink piece of cotton and I fell in love with it. Lucky me, my azalea bush was in full bloom, so I immediately went outside and picked a bunch of blossoms and decided to spend some time experimenting.

When I went searching for cloth to use, I came across bundles of flowers I had wrapped in newsprint and put away at some point in the past. I decided to give them a whirl along with the azalea blossoms. I really have very little idea of what I am doing. It seems every year or so, I try some natural dye experimentation for all of a week or so, and then I drop it until another year passes! Maybe this time I'll stick with it for a while - I'm feeling optimistic. 

I think my introduction to eco-dye was via India Flint's marvelous book, Eco Colour: botanical dyes for beautiful textiles. What a wonderful book!  That book was followed by Second Skin, another book I'm pleased to have on my shelf. The book I am using while I attempt my latest foray into the World of Dye, is a sweet little book by India, titled the bundle book.

I made quite a few cotton bundles with a variety of ingredients, even adding nuts and dried fruits to one of the bundles. The most gorgeous combination was when I dusted the purple glads with turmeric. It may not work well as a dye, but it sure does look spectacular in the "before" photo!

DRIED GLADIOLUS BLOSSOMS, DUSTED WITH TURMERIC.

I spent quite a bit of time making various bundles and I'm hoping my jotted notes will be sufficient to remind me of what I've done. All I have to do now is be patient and try not to unbundle them too soon. It does occur to me, rather belatedly, that green (dyed?) string might not have been a wise choice. We'll see.

GOOD THINGS COME TO SHE WHO WAITS.  AT LEAST I HOPE SO.